On August 20th, 2014 I timelapsed a storm over central South Dakota with multiple cameras. I left for Wyoming without looking at most of the frames. I saw a post by Tom Warner about Sprites he caught on the same storm. Sprites are large scale electrical discharges that occur high above clouds.
When I got back I went through the frames and found 7 with Sprites in them. I didn’t post 2 of them because they are very faint. The Sprites are only 1 frame each, so they will be a quick flash of red near the right side above the storm. The green Airglow is rippled by Gravity Waves, (gravity waves are not the same as gravitational waves) some faint Aurora moves in towards the end of the sequences, on the right side before the clouds cover it up. Thanks to Tom Warner and Dr. Walter Lyons for helping me identify Gravity Waves in my shots. Dr. Lyons also shared a link that will help identify which storms may have Sprites. Look for a large red cross on the map.
See the timelapse of the storm below, and more images in the gallery.
These 2 timelapse frames are from my latest timelapse “Huelux”. Go to 3:20 in the video to see the timelapse.
A bright Satellite flash or Iridium flare, can sometimes look like a meteor in a long exposure star photo. If you are shooting timelapse, it is easy to distinguish between a meteor or satellite flash in the frames. Most meteors enter the atmosphere at 25,000 mph or faster, and burn up relatively fast at a much lower altitude than satellites.
If you are shooting a 30 second exposure with a 3 second interval, the meteor would have to be burning up for at least 34 seconds for it to show up in 2 consecutive frames. I have caught dozens of meteors in timelapse frames and seen many with my own eyes. The longest I have seen with my own eyes has lasted maybe 3 seconds. Satellites are moving much slower than meteors and are much higher, so they take longer to travel across the sky. So they will always be visible, even a faint trail, in 2 or more frames, if they are within the frame. Satellites are an important part of our exploration of space and they are put together with incredibly detailed technology and equipment like transmitters, solar panels, LVDT’s (you can look here for more information on this), to name a few, so to see one traveling across the sky at night is a sight to behold and we can only hope that it is not falling or breaking down.
In these two consecutive frames, you will see the bolide Meteor in the lower center, and a Satellite in the upper left, and another one to the right of the Milky Way core. This was 25 second exposures with a 3 second interval between the two photos. Click image to enlarge.
Meteor and Satellites
The Meteor is gone from the following frame, because it was travelling so fast and burned up, both satellites still have a trail. I think it also missed a bright part of the flare on the upper left Satellite, during the 3 second interval between shots. Some satellites will show up in 5 or more frames and will take minutes to cross the sky. Click image to enlarge.
Huelux is also on Youtube below, in 4K Ultra HD resolution.
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I shot Huelux from April-November 2013 in South Dakota, Wyoming and Utah. The weather in 2013 made it difficult for me to get some of the shots I wanted. There were many times I planned to shoot the Milky Way or Aurora, and the clouds would roll in. But that also allowed me to get more night storm timelapse than I have any other year. I was in Utah for 6 nights, it was clear only one night, it was also 95F at midnight that night. So I couldn’t shoot as high of an ISO as I wanted because of noise, but I still pulled off a few good shots in Zion Canyon.The weather was much the same while I was in Wyoming, it was cloudy 2/3 of the nights I was there. But I did get some of my best Milky Way shots of the year in Wyoming, see 1:45-2:05 in the video. The clouds did make for some good sunrise and sunset shots.
On the Milky Way shots you will see a lot of slow and fast moving satellites, a few meteors and planes. The meteors are hard to see in timelapse, but you may see a quick flash because they only last one frame. If you see a light moving across the sky, it is either an airplane or satellite, not a meteor.
Some of the Aurora I shot were unexpected with no advanced notice. Several nights I was setting up Milky Way shots, when I noticed the glow in the sky to the north. In one case an hour before I got any Aurora notification on my phone. The storm shot at 2:57 has Aurora behind it, which was quickly covered up by the storm. The low Aurora on the horizon were often yellow, while closer (higher in the sky) Aurora were green. If I adjusted the yellow Aurora on the horizon green, it threw the rest of the colors way off.
Aurora behind a building storm.
I came up with the title Huelux, which comes from hue (a color property), and lux which is latin for light. Some of the Aurora and Milky Way were difficult to color correct, so I spent a lot of time with the hue settings, white balance, etc. during the month and a half edit.
The end credit backgrounds are 10 second timelapse exposures of Andromeda Galaxy and Orion shot with a 200mm lens on an Ioptron Skytracker. You will see some satellites moving through the sequences.
In 2012 I had been looking for a new pan/tilt solution to replace the buggy Merlin or Orion head I had been using. I spoke to the creator of the eMotimo TB3 Brian Burling about the TB3, and it sounded like what I was looking for. In December 2012 I received a TB3 Orange and I was impressed with it right away. I didn’t do any real shoots with it for a few months. Then I packed it with me when I went to Australia, a few months later, and it performed flawlessly after traveling more than 11,000 miles (one way) to Western Australia. The small size of the unit is great for travel and it will fit in a camera bag easily. My camera bags were full of cameras and lenses, so it had to go in another larger bag with tripods and Dynamic Perception dollies. So it rode in the belly of the planes throughout the flights.
I liked the TB3 so much, when I got back from Australia I ordered a TB3 Black, which has a few more features than the TB3 Orange. In the Spring-Fall of 2013 I used both of them on dozens of shots. The setup is extremely simple and it can be set up in minutes. It takes me longer to frame the shot than it does to set up the TB3. Setting up a 2 axis move with a TB3 on a tripod, will take 5 minutes or less. You plug the power in, set the start and stop points, set the interval, move duration, static time and ramp if needed.
In the fall of 2013 I also upgraded my TB3 Orange, so it now it has the same features as the TB3 Black. You see my upgraded Orange TB3 in the video above.
For 3 axis moves, I also use the TB3’s on my Dynamic Perception Stage Zero dollies. For that, you will need to get a geared stepper motor from eMotimo. Setup is the same, except now you also move the dolly from end to end when setting the start and stop points in the setup menu. It will take a few more minutes to setup with a dolly, only because it takes a few minutes to move the dolly from one end to the other, then back to start it. I haven’t had any major issues with the TB3’s, only a few minor ones, and the company was quick to get them fixed, or send replacement parts.
The playback of the timelapse I have shot on the TB3, or a combination of Stage Zero Dolly and TB3, have all been smooth. It will add a new range of shots, to your setups.
If you are looking for portable, smooth and easy to set up motion control for timelapse, I highly recommend the eMotimo TB3’s!
Below – Photos of the TB3’s – You may see gaff tape on the TB3’s, I cover the lcd’s and led’s for night shots, and I usually leave it on them so they are ready.
10 of my favorite stills from 2013. Most of these were taken from timelapse. Click arrows to navigate, click on photo to enlarge. Some of these are available as prints here.
Above – Timelapse of Comet Ison – Taken 11-7-13 with Canon 6D and Canon 200mm f2.8 on Ioptron Skytracker. Their was some wind which resulted in some shake and jello stars at times. Stabilized with warp stabilizer. This was about an hour and a half timelapse of the comet.
Most of these are frames from timelapses shot in 2013 in South Dakota, Wyoming and Utah. The timelapse video will be released this winter. These are only some of the timelapse I shot. You can see more on my Facebook page.
If you have ever been in a wide open landscape the most interesting thing isn’t necessarily the landscape itself, but what you see coming over the horizon. Growing up in South Dakota the landscape itself can be beautiful at times, but that doesn’t compare to what the sky can do, especially at night. Combine that with the landscape, and it makes for great photo opportunities.
Bear McCreary (The Walking Dead, Defiance, Battlestar Galactica, etc) once again helped me with some original music for the video. This time he suggested adding vocals to the mix. Brendan McCreary and his band (Young Beautiful in a Hurry) did just that. They came up with “I Forever” The single is available on iTunes, Amazon and other online sources.
I shot Horizons from April – October 2012 mostly in South Dakota, but also some at Devils Tower in Wyoming. From the rugged Badlands, the White River valley and the Black Hills of South Dakota, the horizons seem to endlessly change. I edited Horizons in 4K resolution and the feature is available in 4K.
Above: Preview the first 2 minutes of the Horizons Feature.
Opening Scene from Horizons 30 minute long feature film.
The Horizons feature is 30 minutes of new and never before seen Milky Way, Aurora, Clouds, Sunrise and Sunset timelapse. Set to the music “Frozen White Light” composed by Simon Wilkinson at http://www.thebluemask.com
If you have ever been in a wide open landscape the most interesting thing isn’t necessarily the landscape itself, but what you see coming over the horizon. Growing up in South Dakota the landscape itself can be beautiful at times, but that doesn’t compare to what the sky can do, especially at night. Combine that with the landscape, and it makes for great photo opportunities.
I shot Horizons from April – October 2012 mostly in South Dakota, but also some at Devils Tower in Wyoming. From the rugged Badlands, the White River valley and the Black Hills of South Dakota, the horizons seem to endlessly change. I edited Horizons in 4K resolution and this feature is available in 4K upon request.
A few short clips from my upcoming timelapse film titled Horizons. The online short will feature an original score by Bear McCreary. http://www.bearmccreary.com
