Tag Archives: motion controlled

8K Timelapse

Dakotalapse 8K Timelapse

Badlands Night Sky Workshops – Join me this June in the Badlands of SD and learn how to shoot stills and astro timelapse.

Dakotalapse 8K is a compilation of timelapse I have shot in the last few years. It was shot in South Dakota and Wyoming. and is the first footage I have posted online in 8K.

Available in 8K resolution for licensing

The timelapse was shot with Sony AR7II, Canon 5DSR and Nikon D810. The D810 isn’t quite 8K native, but I think those shots still turned out better than the 5DSR night shots, which are much larger stills.

Photography and Editing – Randy Halverson
Produced by Randy Halverson – Dakotalapse, LLC
Opening Dakotalapse graphics – Luke Arens
Music Epic Cinematic by Eric Dillen, licensed through Audiojungle.net

Thanks to Cheyenne Camping Center for the great deals on the travel trailers you see in a few of the shots.
http://www.cheyennecampingcenter.com

Contact for licensing footage, shooting rates or anything else.
Randy Halverson
dakotalapse@gmail.com

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4K, Aurora, Milky Way, Motion Control, Timelapse

Field Of View – 4K UHD Timelapse

 

2016 Badlands Night Sky Workshops Join me this summer in the Badlands of SD and learn how to shoot stills and timelapse at night.

Field Of View is a compilation of timelapse I have shot in the last year. The first shot of the sunset supercell was done on July 23, 2015. That storm dropped multiple Tornadoes in eastern South Dakota, I was shooting it from central SD.  Other locations in the sequences are Aurora in central, western South Dakota and the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming. The Red Desert in Wyoming, Bandlands and Buffalo Gap National Grasslands area of South Dakota. Bighorn and Teton Mountain areas in Wyoming.

You can see the rest of the 100+ full length sequences, on the 30+ minute “Field Of View” feature, which you can download here or the link below. Music on the feature is by Simon Wilkinson at http://www.thebluemask.com

Available in 4K UHD, up to 4096 X 2304, for licensing.

 

Boars Tusk, Wyoming timelapse
Boars Tusk, Wyoming

Photography and Editing – Randy Halverson
Produced by Randy Halverson – Dakotalapse, LLC
Opening Dakotalapse graphics – Luke Arens
Music – “Uplifting” by Nick Perrin – licensed from Audiojungle

Flagstaff Micro Lite Camper while shooting timelapse in Wyoming
Flagstaff Micro Lite Camper and Aurora

Sponsors:
Cheyenne Camping Center – They gave me a great deal on a Flagstaff Micro Lite camper, which worked great while shooting timelapse in remote areas. They also have a great service department.

 

Camera Gear Used
Nikon D810
Sony AR7II
Canon 5D Mark III’s
Canon 6D

Lenses
2 Nikon 14-24
Rokinon 35
Zeiss 21
Sigma 15mm Fisheye
Canon 70-300

Contact for licensing footage, shooting rates or anything else.
Randy Halverson
dakotalapse@gmail.com

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Instagram

Twitter

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4K, Airglow, Aurora, Gravity Waves, Meteor, Milky Way, Motion Control, Sprites, Still Photos, Timelapse

Trails End UHD 4K Time Lapse

Trails End is a compilation of some of my favorite timelapse shots from 2014, with a few Aurora shots from early this year. On many of the locations, I used my Palomino SS-1251 truck camper from Cheyenne Camper Center, often ending up near the end of some remote trail.  It was shot in Wyoming, Utah and South Dakota. You can see the rest of the 100+ full length sequences, on the 30+ minute “Trails End” feature, which you can download here or the link below. Available in 4K UHD, up to 4096 X 2304, for licensing. 2016 Badlands Night Sky Workshop schedule

 

 

 

Canyonlands Utah Sunset
Canyonlands Utah Sunset

 

Some events to watch for:

The slower moving light streaks are airplanes, the fast ones are satellites. I also caught many meteors which are only 1 frame or 1/24th of a second on the timelapse.
:56 Bolide Meteor
1:01 Aurora at Devils Tower and throughout video
1:33 Two Bolide Meteors
Meteors With Persistent Trains 2:29 very fast and short persistent train to right of the Milky Way, a better one at 3:20
2:43 Final Boost Stage of GSSAP and ANGELS satellites
 2:55 Owl sitting in tree
3:00 Pink Aurora in the sand dunes of Wyoming’s Red Desert
3:14 Sprites and Gravity Waves

 

South Dakota Aurora
South Dakota Aurora

 

Photography and Editing – Randy Halverson
Production Assistant – River Halverson
Opening Title graphics – Luke Arens
Music – “The Last Stand” licensed from Audiojungle
Title and Credit Music – Simon Wilkinson at TheBlueMask.com

Palomino Truck Camper
Palomino Truck Camper

Sponsors:
Cheyenne Camping Center – They gave me a great deal on a Palomino Palomino SS-1251 camper which worked great, they also have a great service department.

Camera Gear Used

2 Canon 5D Mark III’s
1 Canon 6D
Nikon D810

Lenses
Nikon 14-24
Rokinon 35
Canon 16-35
Zeiss 21
Sigma 15mm Fisheye
Sigma 8mm Fisheye
Canon 200mm
Canon 70-300

Contact for licensing footage, shooting rates or anything else.
Randy Halverson
dakotalapse@gmail.com

Follow:
Facebook facebook.com/dakotalapse

Instagram instagram.com/dakotalapse 

Twitter twitter.com/dakotalapse

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Final Boost Stage – 4K UHD

satellite launch final burn stage

 

Cropped view of satellite and stage burn.
Cropped view of satellite and burn stage.

Final Boost Stage on Youtube. Be sure to read description and click HD or UHD and watch full screen.

On July 28th, 2014, I was set up to shoot the Milky Way near Kennebec, South Dakota.  I was shooting a Canon 5D Mark III with a Nikon 14-24 lens on an eMotimo TB3 mounted on a Dynamic Perception Stage Zero Dolly. I had looked through some of the stills but didn’t notice anything unusual. In December 2014 I was editing timelapse that had been shot during the year. When I got to the July 28th sequence I noticed something different on it. At first I thought it was another meteor with persistent train, but I had missed the meteor in between exposures. I had already caught several meteor with persistent trains on timelapse last year, so I was watching for them. Then I looked closer and noticed the flash was dimming and getting brighter. Also, when I zoomed in I could see a satellite or object right before the first flash. I searched and found the the GSSAP and ANGELS satellites had launched on July 28th at 7:28 EDT.

I emailed Mark “Indy” Kochte who works on the Mercury MESSENGER program. He showed it to his colleagues Nick Pinkine and James Hudson (Solar Probe Pluse Mission Ops Manager and MESSENGER Mission Analyst) and they agreed that it was the AFRL ANGELS satellite burning it’s final boost stage.

The first flash you see on the timelapse happened at 1:09am July 29th (camera time) so that also seems to match up with the timing for the final burn the article mentions. You will also see many other satellites moving through the cropped timelapse, there are also some geostationary ones.

Camera Settings: 30 second exposure with 3 second interval, ISO 6400, F2.8

Music by Simon Wilkinson at thebluemask.com

 

 

Motion Control, Timelapse

eMotimo TB3 Motion Control

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eMotimo TB3

eMotimo TB3 video music by Simon Wilkinson

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.

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4K, Aurora, Meteor, Milky Way, Motion Control, Timelapse

Horizons

18 Comments

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Horizons from Randy Halverson on Vimeo.

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.

Get the 30 minute long Horizons feature here

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.

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tower

Photography and Editing – Randy Halverson
Production Assistants– River Halverson
Color Correction – Jeff Zueger – Spectrum Films 

Equipment Used
Canon 5D Mark III, sometimes with a 2nd from Borrowlenses
Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 60D

I used a variety of lenses, many from Borrowlenses

Canon 14, 16-35, 24-70, 50 F1.2, 70-200mm lenses

Zeiss 21, 25, 35mm lenses

Nikon 14-24mm with Novoflex Adapter

Available in 4K resolution for licensing.

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Contact for licensing footage, shooting rates or anything else.
Randy Halverson
dakotalapse@gmail.com
Follow:

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/dakotalapse

Twitter http://www.twitter.com/dakotalapse

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4K, Aurora, Meteor, Milky Way, Motion Control, Timelapse

Horizons Feature

10 Comments

 

 

 

Above: Preview the first 2 minutes of the Horizons Feature.

Opening Scene from Horizons 30 minute long feature film.
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.

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Equipment Used
Canon 5D Mark III
Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 60D

I used a variety of lenses

Canon 14, 16-35, 24-70, 50 F1.2, 70-200mm lenses

Zeiss 21, 25, 35mm lenses

Nikon 14-24mm with Novoflex Adapter

Available in 4K resolution

__________________________________________

Contact for licensing footage, shooting rates or anything else.
Randy Halverson
dakotalapse@gmail.com
Follow:

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/dakotalapse

Twitter http://www.twitter.com/dakotalapse

 

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4K, Aurora, Meteor, Milky Way, Motion Control, Timelapse

Temporal Distortion Extended Cut

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Temporal Distortion Extended Cut

 

See the Temporal Distortion short with Bear McCreary’s music here.

This extended cut excerpts video, features Simon Wilkinson’s music. Buy and download the 23 minute extended cut below.

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What you see is real, but you can’t see it this way with the naked eye. It is the result of 20-30 second exposures edited together over many hours to produce the timelapse. This allows you to see the Milky Way, Aurora and other phenomena, in ways you wouldn’t normally see them.

In the opening “Dakotalapse” title shot, you see bands of red and green moving across the sky. After asking several astronomers, they are possible noctilucent clouds, airglow or faint Aurora. You can also see the red and green bands in other shots. This video has Milky Way, Aurora, Meteor and Moon lit night timelapse.  This was shot entirely at night.  If it looks like daytime, it is actually the moon lighting up the landscape.

This was shot with Canon DSLR’s as stills, and consists of over 33,000 stills shot in RAW format, at the highest resolution possible, on each camera.

Music on the Video

Featuring two original scores by Simon Wilkinson http://www.thebluemask.com  and also some from his Royalty Free Collections.  This does not have Bear McCreary’s music on it, his music is on this video.

Order Prints and Gallery Wraps

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[add_to_cart item=”1009″ quantity=”user:1″ ]

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South Dakota residents must pay 4% sales tax.

All downloads are for home or personal use only.   May not be incorporated into a production, altered or uploaded to other web sites.  For those uses contact.

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The Temporal Distortion feature is 23 minutes of night timelapse featuring the following segments

Milky Way Segment 8+ minutes

Aurora Segment – 2+ minutes

Desert (Colorado/Utah) – 2+ minutes

Moon Light – 6 minutes

Deer Lapse – 1.5 minutes

Fall Skies – 2+ minutes

Behind the Scenes (timelapse of timelapses)- 1 minute

You will see the same scenes as the online Temporal Distortion video. But this was a completely different edit, with the shots seen at full length, and you will see a bunch of new ones.

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The Aurora were shot in central South Dakota in September 2011 and near Madison, Wisconsin on October 25, 2011.

Most of the video was shot near the White River in central South Dakota in September and October 2011, but there are other shots from Arches National Park in Utah, and Canyon of the Ancients area of Colorado during June 2011.

Canon 5D Mark II and Canon 60D
Canon 16-35, Tokina 11-16

Shot in RAW format. Manual mode, Exposure was 30 seconds on most Milky Way shots, 15-30 seconds on Aurora. ISO 1600 – 6400 F2.8.

Thanks to Dynamic Perception for their support, and for making the Stage Zero Dolly, which I used on most of the shots.

I used a Kessler Crane pocket dolly and KC Lite Crane on a few shots as well.

Photography and Editing – Randy Halverson

Music – Simon Wilkinson

Additional Photography – River Halverson

Production Assistants – River Halverson and Kelly McIlhone

Opening title by Gus Winkelman // Winkelmedia LLC  // Contact Guswinkelman@gmail.com for creative solutions

Available in 4K Ultra HD for licensing.

Contact for licensing footage, or anything else.
Randy Halverson
dakotalapse@gmail.com
Follow:
Google + https://plus.google.com/115274420552571826637/posts

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/dakotalapse

Twitter http://www.twitter.com/dakotalapse

Still frames of some additional shots on the extended cut.

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4K, Aurora, Meteor, Milky Way, Motion Control, Timelapse

Temporal Distortion

7 Comments

Temporal Distortion

[add_to_cart item=”1011″ quantity=”user:1″ ]

[add_to_cart item=”1012″ quantity=”user:1″ ]

Featuring an original score by Bear McCreary (Battlestar Galactica, The Walking Dead, Eureka, etc) Bear wrote about composing Temporal Distortion here. Thanks to Bear for taking the time to do this!

Download an MP3 of Bear McCreary’s Temporal Distortion on Amazon or on Itunes

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There is a 23 minute long extended cut, available for digital download here.

The extended cut is 23+ minutes of Milky Way, Aurora and other night timelapse, it has two original scores by Simon Wilkinson, as well as some from his Royalty Free collection.

________________________________________________________________

What you see is real, but you can’t see it this way with the naked eye. It is the result of 20-30 second exposures edited together over many hours to produce the timelapse like taking . This allows you to see the Milky Way, Aurora and other Phenonmena in a way you wouldn’t normally see them.
In the opening “Dakotalapse” title shot, you see bands of red and green moving across the sky. After asking several Astronomers, they are possible noctilucent clouds, airglow or faint Aurora. I never got a definite answer to what it is. You can also see the red and green bands in other shots.

Order Prints and Gallery Wraps

At :53 and 2:17 seconds into the video you see a Meteor with a Persistent Train. Which is ionizing gases, which lasted over a half hour in the cameras frame. Phil Plait wrote an article about the phenomena here.
There is a second Meteor with a much shorter persistent train at 2:51 in the video. This one wasn’t backlit by the moon like the first, and moves out of the frame quickly.

Watch for two Deer at 1:27 (look for a quick flash in lower left)

Most of the video was shot near the White River in central South Dakota in September and October 2011, but there are other shots from Arches National Park in Utah, and Canyon of the Ancients area of Colorado during June 2011. The Aurora were shot in central South Dakota in September 2011 and near Madison, Wisconsin on October 25, 2011.

Canon 5D Mark II and Canon 60D
Canon 16-35, Tokina 11-16

Shot in RAW format. Manual mode, Exposure was 30 seconds on most Milky Way shots, 15-30 seconds on Aurora. ISO 1600 – 6400 F2.8.

Thanks to Dynamic Perception for their support, and for making the Stage Zero Dolly, which I used on most of the shots.

Production Assistants – River Halverson and Kelly McIlhone

Opening title by Gus Winkelman // Winkelmedia LLC // Contact Guswinkelman@gmail for creative solutions

Contact for licensing footage, or anything else.
Randy Halverson
dakotalapse@gmail.com
Follow:
Google + https://plus.google.com/115274420552571826637/posts

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/dakotalapse

Twitter http://www.twitter.com/dakotalapse

 

Behind the scenes of Temporal Distortion from Randy Halverson on Vimeo.

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Milky Way, Motion Control, Still Photos, Timelapse

ISS and Milky Way with 3 cameras

 

On 10-16-2011 I caught the International Space Station, rising next to the Milky Way, on 3 cameras that were shooting timelapse. The moon rose shortly after it passed. The timelapse above is slowed down when the ISS passes.

Phil Plait also has an interesting article on it here.

This timelapse, and the others, are on the extended cut of Temporal Distortion.

The first camera was setup on a small lake with calm winds.

ISS reflecting on lake
ISS reflecting on lake

One mile south of there, I had 2 more cameras in the valley of the White River. They were both on Dynamic Perception dollies, doing low to the ground shots.

Second camera with ISS and Milky Way
Second camera with ISS and Milky Way

The 3rd Camera was about 100 yards south east from the second.

ISS and Milky Way from 3rd Camera
ISS and Milky Way from 3rd Camera