Backyard Autumn Night Sky Over New Jersey: Time-lapse Video of the Stars, Star Trails and the Moon.
It was clear and I had several cameras out capturing the night sky. I used the images to create a time-lapse video.
Tag: Time-Lapse Video
Sunday (09-October-2011) — New Jersey
Autumn Nighttime Sky Over New Jersey.
After nearly two months of rain, rain, and cloudy skies — we finally have been able to see the sun and very blue skies. At night, I’ve taken the opportunity to get night sky images, as well as lunar images through some of my exotic 300, 400, 500, and 600 mm lenses. One of the problems I was having for the overnight time-lapsed images was that the lens would get covered by condensation during the night and ruin the night sky images. ARRG! As the weekend progressed, the temperature rose and the relative humidity decreased. I finally got a full night image set with limited problems with condensation. The first time-lapse video and star trail was recorded with a Nikon D3x camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens @ 14 mm. There was a bit of condensation that affected the end of the video from this lens. The second time-lapse video and star trail image was recorded with a Nikon D3 camera and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens looking north from my deck.
Lessons learned: 1) I need to look into a resistive heater to keep the lenses warm enough to prevent condensation. 2) I didn’t know that the 14-24 mm lens would creep if pointed straight up — during one night the focal length changed from 14 to 18 mm. For the last night, I used Gaffer tape to fix the focal length of the lens at 14 mm. 3) My tripod/heads are not strong enough to prevent movement when I change batteries. Look into an external power supply and not batteries for long overnight image session.
Three-Years Ago (19-September-2008) — Utah
Gone to See America 2008. Moab Utah Photography Workshop with Winston Hall. Day 5: Arches National Park.
Time-Lapse Video of a Hike down Park Avenue in Arches National Park. Winston Hall talked me into carrying a tripod on my shoulders so the DSLR camera would be above my head. We set the camera up with a fisheye lens and had it take images every 15 seconds. I used the ~900 images to make a time-lapse video of the hike.
Thanks to Jim Batey, I’ve added an image he took of me wearing the Tripod Headcam.
Two-Years Ago (11-September-2009) — Alaska
Gone to See North America Road Trip. Day 21: Alaska Railroad – Anchorage to Spencer Glacier. (Day 7: Nikonians ANPAT 9).
On our final day, the ANPAT 9 group took the Alaska Railroad from Anchorage to Spencer Glacier. The images I took with a Nikon D300 camera and 18-200 mm lens were combined into a time-lapse video (about 2.3 minutes in length). Some questions. Do viewers like this format, should I add music, or would a slideshow with just the best 20 images be better?
Two-Years Ago (10-September-2009) — Alaska
Gone to See North America Road Trip. Day 20: Alaska Railroad – Denali to Anchorage, Alaska. (Day 6: Nikonians ANPAT 9).
After three full days and five nights at Denali National Park, the ANPAT 9 group returned to Anchorage on the Alaska Railroad. During the trip, I took a lot of images, mainly with a Nikon D3 camera and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens. I’ve put these together as a time-lapse movie. It is a bit jerky, but has the feeling of riding the railroad. I need to add a title and add some music. Any suggestions?