Timelapses

Time-lapse photography is a new undertaking for me, but I have taken it on in 2017 as an extension to my astro-photography. All time-lapses were created using individual images (typically between 500 and 1000 individual shots), then post-processed in Lightroom using the excellent LRTimelapse add-on to create the final video.  

October 10, 2024 G4-Class Geomagnetic Storm

L.L. Stub Stewart State Park, Oregon

Oregon was blessed with two great Aurora displays in 2024. The May 10/11th G5-Class and this G4-Class storm on October 10th. Unfortunately clouds partially obscured the display most of the evening, and the first-quarter moon also subdued the intensity of the lights.  However, even with the clouds it still made for a very interesting timelapse, with the colors often bleeding through and around the cloud cover.

 This timelapse consists of more than 800 images taken over a 2-hour period, from several different directions.

Click here watch a higher resolution version of this video.


Milky Way and Airglow over Mt St Helens

Castle Lake Viewpoint, Mt St Helen's National Monument, Washington

On this night we had the strongest Air Glow that I have ever witnessed. Visually, Air Glow appears as green hues in the sky, sometimes solid and sometimes in bands, and is often is mistaken for Aurora activity. The technical definition for Air Glow is "light that is observed especially during the night, that originates in the high atmosphere of earth, and that is associated with photochemical reactions of gases caused by solar radiation".
This time lapse consists of 676 images taken over  a 3 1/2 hour period.
Click here watch a higher resolution version of this video.

Milky Way Setting Over Mt Hood

Elliot Creek, Near Laurence Lake, Oregon

This time-lapse was taken on the northeast side of Mt Hood from the Elliott Creek washout area on the road to Laurence Lake. The time-lapse consists of 352 shots taken over an hour and forty minute period.
Click here to watch a higher resolution version of this video.

Milky Way Over Mt St Helen's

Castle Lake Viewpoint, Mt St Helen's National Monument, Washington

From a spectacular night of astro-photograhy on May 31, 2019. This time lapse consists of 863 shots taken over a 3 hour period. The glow on the right horizon is light pollution from the Portland/Vancouver area. The haziness on the horizon was due to wildlife smoke that had blown down from southern British Columbia.
Click here watch a higher resolution version of this video.

Milky Way Rising over Mount Hood and Lost Lake

Lost Lake, Oregon

May 11, 2018 did not look like it was going to be a great night for astro-photography. Persistent clouds from the rains of the previous several days lingered into the evening. But, we took a chance and headed up to Lost Lake anyway. The clouds never did completely clear, but the ever-changing cloud cover ended up creating a truly interesting time-lapse. I did have some technical difficulties, my time-lapse camera quit just as the Milky Way was beginning to rise over Mount Hood, so I ended up using shots from my second camera to complete the video.
The bright star in the video is actually the very over exposed planet of Jupiter. The light that the lower clouds are reflecting are from the south side of Mount Hood, probably from Timberline Lodge and Government Camp. For extra points, see if you can spot the two satellites that are in geosynchronous orbit.

Milky Way Time-lapse Over Three Fingered Jack

Marion Lake, Oregon​​​​​​​

July 2017 time-lapse taken from Marion Lake, looking south over the lake toward Three Fingered Jack. For bonus points, spot the geo-stationary satellite (i.e., it stays at a fixed location). Total duration of the time-lapse was around three hours.

High Cascades Milky Way Time-lapse

Historic Gold Butte Fire Lookout, Oregon

Late June 2017 time-lapse taken from the historic Gold Butte Fire Lookout in the Oregon Cascades. The time-lapse was started about 40 minutes prior to moon-set, then ran well into the night for a total run-time of just over three hours. While the moon was up the sky took on a very blueish tint, then quickly transitions to blackness. However, following that watch close for the slow start of the dark sky "Air Glow", the green color that first appears on the horizon then slowly works it way up and eventually covering the entire frame by the time the video ends. 

High Cascades Milky Way Time-lapse #2

Historic Gold Butte Fire Lookout, Oregon

Same video as the previous, but this one uses LRTimelapses capabilities to crop and pan across the video images, effectively simulating camera movement on a traditional slide mount.
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