Tag: canon

Monument Valley Time-lapse

April 22, 2022
CanonLandscapesMonument ValleyNational ParksNight sky time-lapseRichard Mack Photographytime-lapseTimelapse+
Images from Monument Valley, Arizona

On my recent trip to the Southwest, we stopped in Monument Valley for one night, too short of a time but that’s all the time we had. We stayed at The View Hotel on the Navajo Reservation which overlooks the Mitten and valley. Perfect location and many rooms have open porches for sky watching. Perfect! I set up two cameras for time-lapse. The main camera, a Canon 5D IV with the 16-35mm lens and another 5D IV with the 28-105 lens. I used the Pulse intervalometer by Alpine Labs for the timelapse.

The technical side. The camera with the 16-35mm lens was the main camera which did both nighttime star timelapses. It was set at ISO 2000 and f2.8 at 20 second exposures. The exposures were done every 30 seconds. The first timelapse in the film took 2 hours and 56 minutes to produce. I’ve seen people using higher ISO’s but haven’t done that yet to se how much noise there might be in the shots. These exposures were about 1 stop too dark. I lightened them among other adjustments in Lightroom. I also adjusted the kelvin temperature from 5500, down to 4500, to bring out the blue and blackness of the sky.

The timelapse of sunrise was done on the second camera with shots every 2 seconds with the settings ISO 100, F11 and shutter ranging from 1/13th to 1/40th of a second. If you look closely, you can see the wind blowing dust and a few small dust devils across the ground. By the time we had to leave there was a dust storm a brewing and it was hard to see the valley.

In post processing the timelapse I use the plugin from Timelapse+ Studio in Lightroom to create the key exposures and then make adjustments to these images and have the plugin adjust the images evenly across the length of each timelapse video.

Images from Monument Valley, Arizona
Images from Monument Valley, Arizona
Images from Monument Valley, Arizona
Images from Monument Valley, Arizona
Images from Monument Valley, Arizona

One great thing with timelapse is if you are shooting from a hotel balcony you can fall asleep while it is playing out! OK, I woke up several times to check things which was good as the Milky Way was rising farther south than I thought even with the star apps I have to calculate it before a shoot. When I started the clouds looked like it could either get overcast or stay partly cloudy. One of those times it will work or not – but if you don’t go ahead and shoot it you can’t get it back!

Images from Monument Valley, Arizona

I hope you enjoy the still images and the video! If you have any questions just ask!

Cheers,

Richard

#monumentvalley #richardmackphoto #nature #timelapse #timelapseplus #astrophotography #Canon5D4 #canon #natgeoyourshot #natgeo #stars #nightsky #milkyway #milkywayphotography #alpinelabs #alpinepulse

Vernal Equinox Sunrise 2021

March 26, 2021
Canonchanging lightenvironmentLake MichiganLighthouse BeachRichard Mack PhotographySunrisetime-lapseTimelapse+viewVideo

My birthday is always either the last day of winter or more often the first day of spring – the vernal equinox. So this year I decided to go on down to my favorite beach on Lake Michigan and capture the sun rising on this first spring morning. I had one camera set up for a low wide angle time-lapse and 4K video with a 600mm lens. Once you have captured the sunrise you have some time to shoot a few other shots to use. You can never have enough shots to use!

The time-lapse camera was using Timelapse+ app which does a great job of changing the exposures smoothly when combined with its software and Lightroom to make final adjustments for a smooth transition seamless. Both camera’s are Canon 5D Mark IV’s the wide angle lens is the 16-35mm. The 600 lens was a combination of the Canon 300 and the 2x convertor. OK, enough geekdome. Enjoy! Richard

#thesweetwaterseas #greatlakes #lakemichigan #freashwater #equinox #canon5D4 #timelapse+view #richardmackphoto

Owls in Evanston

May 21, 2020
Canonenvironmentnature photographyRichard Mack Photography

During these very strange days here in Evanston, Illinois there has been an interesting diversion for those out for a walk or bike ride – a family of Great Horned Owls. The adults were spotted in late February or early March with three owlets born in March. Folks have been watching them in the trees, yes while social distancing and wearing masks, to watch the little ones grow to almost adults currently. I only came to know of them last week when a friend posted photographs of them. I have since been there three times to date and have watched them sleep in the trees, wash themselves while sitting on branches, followed each other through the trees all while waiting for mom to come back with food. Interestingly they seem to have a pecking order on who gets to eat first.

  • Eastern Screech Owl

It has been great to watch these majestic raptors, known in many places as wise old birds of prey and held to an almost religious status. Watching them follow each other from one tree to another or deciding on a tree for themselves has been an interesting diversion from the pandemic spreading over this country.

They are common in North America but in cities they are not as common as in the forests and woodlands. This pair of adults apparently has been coming around north Evanston for a few years. Maybe next year they’ll decide my 300 year old oak is a good place to rest and raise their kids.

For those interested in the tech side, I shot with my Canon 5D Mark IV for both still and video images. The first evening I shot until it was so dark I had to up the ISO to 3200 which left them a bit grainy while watching them eat. On other days when I was shooting in the late afternoon early evening I could use ISO 400 easily. I used the 28-300 f5.6 on the first shoot, my 300 f4 with a 2x convertor the second day and went back to the 28-300 with the 2x convertor and a polarizing filter the third day.

Enjoy.

Richard