Tag: Time-lapse photography

I Love Time Lapse

The sky was actually quite dull and featureless. It’s only when in motion this way that you see two opposing layers of clouds and all sorts of action.

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Among the things digital photography unleashed was the easy ability to shoot time lapse. It’s the technique which speeds up action so you to see patterns and movements not normally noticeable.

It looks tough to do… and there certainly are a lot of steps… but it’s really simple. The camera automatically clicks the shutter every ‘x’ seconds. Software combines the stills into a movie. Boom, zing. A little polishing in the editor and here it is.

The sky was actually quite dull and featureless. It’s only when in motion this way that you see two opposing layers of clouds and all sorts of action.

I expected blah, but got one of my new favorites.

In Case You Missed The Eclipse

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Last night’s Slooh.com webcast of the total lunar eclipse was a success. Over 426,000 viewed during our webcast with 70,000 watching at one point. I’ve been told we’re now over 700,000 views as people catch up on what they missed while asleep. We had Twitter messages from around-the-world, which was pretty cool.

The whole eclipse was visible from my office window! While on-the-web I let my trusty Nabi Square HD camera shoot it in time lapse. Here’s a look at what you missed, sped up for 21st Century attention spans!

As Long As The Camera Was Out

This seemed like a good day to demonstrate the camera’s mount, so I brought “Clicky” outside, pointed toward the second floor window and fired away. With this setup do the neighbors think I’m a spy or perv or both?

As soon as I walked outside I knew this would be a good time lapse day. Cumulus clouds were building over Santiago Peak in the nearby Santa Ana Mountains. I suctioned my little NABI Square HD camera to the window in the master bath and pointed it skyward.

This seemed like a good day to demonstrate the camera’s mount, so I brought “Clicky” outside, pointed toward the second floor window and fired away. With this setup do the neighbors think I’m a spy or perv or both?

As I walked back toward the house I noticed a hummingbird at my feeder. It’s a little dark for hummingbird shots, but what the heck. Click, click, click, click.

Then I pointed the camera at a daylily near the front door.

The time lapse is dynamite. And, a few more shots for good measure!

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Time Lapse Of Some Very Cool Clouds

A few atmospheric features you don’t usually see showed up. Very cool.

tl:dr Watch the second or third video first.

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The plan was to post a time lapse video of our Irvine sky today. Disappointment. The movie was blah.

I looked more closely.

A few atmospheric features you don’t usually see showed up. Very cool.

In these movies you’re looking northeast. There’s a ridge line, then mountains around 12 miles away. When the direction and altitude are right, mountains cause turbulence, The smooth flow of the atmosphere is disturbed. Standing waves form.

The next thing you know you get lenticular clouds. They are lens shaped and virtually stationary. Without time lapse you might not realize they’re there.

Below you’ll find the full sky time lapse and two ‘zoom ins’ where you can concentrate on just the clouds. Enjoy!

That’s Creepy

Irvine skyAs Stef was walking out to her car, ready to leave, I pointed up toward our bedroom window.

“That’s creepy,” she said without hesitation.

A tiny fire engine red Nobi camera was suctioned to the window, pointing skyward.

Lots of clouds passing by for a nice time lapse.

Sunset At Laguna Beach

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It was a pretty good night for photography at Laguna Beach. I packed my gear and arrived around an hour before sunset. Heisler Park was crowded. There were three others with sophisticated cameras. It’s easy to understand why.

I’m starting to think more about very slow shutter speeds for shots like these. Having the iris open a long time smooths the water surface. It also means using a tripod. Neutral density filters arrive tomorrow to allow these shots in full sun.

There are still some HDR shots to process. A few more timelapse movies too.

The first photo is going over our bed.

Back Up At The Top Of The World

This was not a perfect photo day. Lots of Haze. No Santa Catalina. My still shots are a little washed out.

On the other hand, the sunset timelapse is pretty good. The GoPro was on a rock shooting a single frame every two seconds.

IMG_0795_9967My last trip to Top of the World was so frustrating I needed to get back. Tonight. Sunset. Better results.

This was not a perfect photo day. Lots of Haze. No Santa Catalina. My still shots are a little washed out.

On the other hand, the sunset timelapse is pretty good. The GoPro was on a rock shooting a single frame every two seconds.

While there I saw three kids trying to take a photo while jumping. It just can’t be done with an iPhone. It can’t!

I gave them my card. Whether they retrieve the shot is another story.

Nightfall Timelapse

The window was open and the screen was off. I was suctioning a GoPro camera to the outside of the window, attempting to take a time lapse of the sky at sunset. I don’t have a direct shot.

IMG_20140507_195902One of my neighbors was walking down the service alley behind our house. I looked out the open window, smiled and said, “I’m the mad scientist of the neighborhood.”

Maybe there are others. I’m certainly one.

The window was open and the screen was off. I was suctioning a GoPro camera to the outside of the window, attempting to take a time lapse of the sky at sunset. I don’t have a direct shot.

Here are the fruits of my labor. I like this one.

Sometimes I Get Obsessed

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A few days ago I started fooling around (again) with Magic Lantern. ML is firmware for my camera which makes it do all sorts of things it wasn’t designed to do! Magic Lantern enabled me to get hummingbird close-ups. Now I’m using it for timelapse photography.

This is the norm for me. Once I get a new tool I use it obsessively until I’ve mastered it.

I set my camera up at the end of our street. Cloud timelapses almost beg for a wide angle photography. I used a 10mm lens tilted up to catch lots of sky. Magic Lantern took one frame every second, producing a video 30 times normal speed.

The hills in the background are part of the Loma Ridge, foothills of the Santa Ana range.

Here’s the result of my effort. Click the box to watch it full screen.