Park Avenue Sunset Time Lapse

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Sunset at Park Avenue in Arches National Park. My first real attempt at time lapse and I learned a lot. First to describe the equipment that I am using. I have a Canon Rebel XS with some variety of lenses and a (at the time) a cable release. For this particular video I was carrying a cheap but super-light tripod that I always carry when I'm hiking. It is not particularly stable but is much more bearable to lug around in addition to my other gear.

The first thing I learned about doing time lapse with a still camera is: invest in an intervalometer. Unless you enjoy staring at your watch and counting off 15 seconds between shots almost 300 times over two hours, purchase the intervalometer, set it up to take the required number of shots at the desired framerate and let it go about its business.

Lesson number 2: pick aperture and shutter speed before you start shooting your time lapse. Lighting conditions will change, and your camera will not meter the scene consistently for every shot. So when your camera changes exposure settings between shots you end up with the horrible flickering seen in this video. Unless you plan to shoot the entire thing in RAW, it will be hard to correct this flickering afterwards. So take a few test shots to determine what exposure settings give you the best balance of lights and darks. Then consider what will be happening in two hours, in this case the sun was setting, so I should expect the pictures to start getting a little darker near the end. Choose some ideal exposure and stick with it. There are programs available to correct this type of flickering but as of now, I have not had much success using them.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• time lapse
• desert
• landscape
• park avenue
• arches
• national park
• sunset