Cloud Blanket
Views: 51
It was an unseasonably mild, snow-less and cloudy afternoon in Red Wing atop Sorin’s Bluff in Memorial Park at the lookout. I would not have typically thought about loading up the photo gear to venture out in these less-than-optimal conditions; however, everything was at the ready and loaded from this morning when sunrise wasn’t visible at all – not even a glimmer. I really wasn’t anticipating seeing any moving clouds in the frames and was thinking of focusing more on moving traffic on the city streets. I was pleasantly surprised at what I was able to glean from the sky. Lightroom recently added a very handy feature nestled in between Clarity and Saturation – Dehaze.
Original
Graduated Filter with Dehaze. FYI – a little goes a long way.
Final edited first frame
This definitely provided some definition in the clouds making the scene more interesting. Here is the completed time-lapse video combining all three points of view that I captured. I may have to give this vantage point a whirl after dark. The light trails from the head/tail lights produce a wonderful light show.
Views: 442
December 5th, 2015 – 37 degrees @ 7:00 a.m. (sunrise @ 7:30 a.m.). It would go on to reach 49 degrees as they day progressed; sure beats 20 below. I setup in a familiar place; a favorite site any time of the year for a sunrise. I employed a 3-camera setup this morning as illustrated in the first image below. I moved camera 3 to three more different vantage points. I used footage from only two of four positions that camera 3 occupied. It is challenging enough to get the exposure correct on one camera as it gets lighter out; 3 different cameras had me running a bit. The more I dabble with time-lapse the deeper its hooks get into me. It is challenging.
Here are a few single-frame shots from the time-lapse sequences.
You can view more of my time-lapse projects via my blog or my youtube channel.
The end product of this time-lapse shoot is below. I hope you enjoy viewing it as much as I did creating it.
Views: 344
Fresh Coat
Views: 79
This is the 2nd part of the time-lapse I shot on Friday, November 13th, 2015. This was shot in the same location as Sun Flares; utilizing a different angle of view.
Sun Flares was shot in the direction of the blue arrow and this sequence in the direction of the red arrow. The location is along a stretch of Rustic Road 51 close to from Maiden Rock, WI (off of Hwy 35 and AA). My original intent was to tie the two different angles of view together with a third, but the third sequence did not turn out. The result was two independent parts instead of a three-view start to finish video. I’ll try again.
I didn’t anticipate any traffic, but I am glad I positioned the camera just off the road. Six cars came through while I was shooting. Here is the other view from the 2 1/2 hours of shooting.
Views: 299
I’ve admired time-lapse photography for some time now; mostly through viewing websites on the Internet and what you see on TV from time to time. I can attest that once you get the bug to give it go, you can easily get hook – for a time anyway. As mentioned in a previous post, time-lapse photography is time-intensive. Last week I made some time for more practice.
The second shoot of the week was in another favorite location – Pine Creek. A lovely little spring creek not far from Maiden Rock, WI (off of Hwy 35 and AA; then Rustic Road 51).
I setup right in the stream just off of the road. I did not figure I would encounter any traffic in the early morning hours along this minimum maintenance road, but I was wrong. You’ll notice a few instances of ripples in the video as a result.
The sun had already risen and was making its way along the ridge of the bluff out in front of me. The sun flares that resulted as the sun rose higher in the air were very nice surprise. I had only anticipated cloud movement in the sky as well as reflected in the stream. I also had hoped for some moving shadows; those were more prevalent in the other angle I shot (next post). I shot for 2 1/2 hours in his location. I am pretty happy with the result.
Views: 316
It’s been a while since I have dabbled with time-lapse photography. I had some time the other day and decided to give it another whirl. It was a picture perfect morning for a sunrise. The clouds were a bit thick, but that ended up to be a great feature. The sun rose through the clouds during the whole shoot. The sun rays danced on endlessly through the early morning.
Shooting time-lapse is a significant investment of time – or at least I think so. I brought along a book to pass the time. The three sequence were shot between 6:58 a.m. – 9:04 a.m. on 2015-11-11 in Bay City, WI.
I planned on capturing slightly different views and mashing them up together afterword. As it were, the intervalometer on camera 2 was only set for 90 frames (instead of 999). Live and learn; check every single setting twice. Set white balance. Compose and focus; then switch to manual focus so lens doesn’t attempt to focus for each frame. Manual mode for exposure. Check those setting twice to be sure. It is rather disappointing when you spend a few hours capturing time-lapse only to hundreds of unusable frames. I started shoot these sequences at ISO 200, 18mm; I did however make some adjustments along the way. I started at F/11 @ 1/40 sec and end up at F/14 @ 1/640 sec. The changes where gradual with several frames between changes.
I took this learning opportunity to move and setup with a dramatically different angle of view. There was a nice-sized bit of drift wood on he beach that created an interesting foreground. I’ve only used my new Manffroto PIXI Table Top Tripod a few times; this is exactly what I envisioned using it for.
I ended up with two shorter segments and one longer one – longer being completely relative here as the final product is only 57 seconds long. The time-lapse sequences were produced in VideoVelocity 3 by Candy Labs. The sequences were mashed up together in Windows Movie Maker.
The final product is below with music added by Kai Engle – With Redemption.
Views: 313
Pelican Rapids Fire Department
Views: 43
Sunflowers
Views: 76
Field Road
Views: 21
