Tag Archives: Stars

#52weekproject: Week 24: Moonset over the Pacific

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52WP-W24 Gold Bluffs Moonset

 

 

Taken on Tuesday, September 30, 2014, while camping at Gold Bluffs Beach Campground (near Orick, CA, in the Redwoods National Park).

 

This is one of the frames I took while attempting a timelapse of the milky way over the ocean. Using an iphone app called The Photographer’s Ephemeris, I was able to plan ahead and figure out where and when the moon would be setting. I took a walk down the beach from my campsite to where I had eaten breakfast on a log earlier that day. That spot was key since it gave me a place to hang out while I waited for my timelapse to run, and I thought would be foreground for a few pictures. The key to nice milky way shots is to have really dark and clear skies. Which means, being far away from any city lights or any light pollution, no moon, and low humidity. Fortunately (or unfortunately), the weather was pretty warm, and humid, so the Milky Way was not super bright, but it was definitely there. (Ideally, it’s best when the weather is colder and the atmosphere can’t hold much moisture, but then you have to deal with battery issues, and trying to stay warm, but I digress.)

I’m pretty happy with this photo, but would have liked to have spent more time there, since I only had a few hours to work with. (I was only up until around 2am since the following morning I needed to pack up and leave my campsite before 8am so I could drive 9 hours to Fresno to meet up with my brother and sister.)

 

Also, here’s a photo of me setting up this photo:

52WP-W24 Gold Bluffs Moonset bts

#52weekproject – Week 23: Mazama Village Campgrounds

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Crater Lake, Oregon

52wp-W23 Crater Lake Mazama Campground 2014-09-27

Taken Friday, September 26, 2014.

Drove into Crater Lake National Park, well after sundown. After we set up our tents, I decided to set up my cameras for some long exposure timelapses of the sky, even though I was kind of exhausted. Really wanted to do this timelapse over Crater Lake, but driving back up those switchbacks in the dark from the campground didn’t seem appealing. Unfortunately, putting off til tomorrow what could have been done that day came back to bite me, as the following night was cloudy, and windy, so unfortunately, I didn’t end up getting any starscapes over Crater Lake. Looks like I’ll have to go back out to some other time!

I did crop the photo a bit to balance the image, and cut out the truck and the light from the bathroom. And, since I did do a timelapse with this, I was also able to stack the photos into a startrails photo. Using a different method than I have before, I stacked these in photoshop, grouped them as a smart object, and set the Stack Mode to median, which I think gave a more pleasant result than I typically get (the trails usually look more jagged and noisy). I’m still learning some of the post-processing on these photos, but overall, it’s pretty solid! Let me know what you think, or if you have any tips, or tutorials to share!

Mazama Village Startrails stacked

Big Sur Timelapse

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So after Christmas with my family in San Jose, California, I rented a car, and drove down the coast to spend time with my friends in Los Angeles for New Years. My plan was to camp for a night in Big Sur, and do some timelapse photos, but with everyone being on vacation and the weather being super nice, all of the campsites ended up being booked before I got there.

I didn’t get to spend much time in Big Sur, since the sun was starting to set by the time I got there, so I just found an area I could pull over, and hike around a bit. I set up my camera and started shooting, but after the sun set, the air cooled, and the fog and moisture seemed to literally, come out of thin air. So, in my mind, I thought I wasn’t going to get really great photos of the sky since it was starting to get foggy, so I ended up skedaddling after about an hour and a half to find a hotel.

Anyway, after checking my photos, it turns out I didn’t end up with enough shots to make a real long timelapse, but I decided to put it together anyway and make it more like a fast moving slideshow.

But I guess it’s a learning experience. Just another reason for me to return to the West Coast sometime, and plan on spending more time out there!

That’s it for now!

P.s. Be sure to watch it in HD for full effect.

Montana Timelapse

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Greetings from Ashland, Montana from Justin J. Le on Vimeo.

Stick around, the cool part starts at 00:00:35.

I tried to manually bulb ramp, which is why the exposure bounces around in the beginning, and then I moved the camera later on. Would have loved to have a longer timelapse, but I pulled a total rookie move, and had my battery die on me at the end there. Would have loved another 30 minutes worth of photos.

Shot over Thanksgiving, 2013 from the top of a water tower.