Joshua Tree National Park: Milky Way time-lapse

(below) 2005-09-04: Ryan campground (elevation ~4,000 ft) in Joshua Tree National Park, California. The image below is a still-frame from the time-lapse movie showing the Milky Way "traveling" from the south-east to south-west. Laser-beam-like streaks are airplanes. Light pollution can be seen in the south-west and west; it emanates from nearby Indio, Palm Springs and myriad cities in Riverside, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange counties. The silhouette of a Joshua Tree -- and nearby mountain peaks -- can be seen in the foreground. Sample clip avail. on request.

(below) 2005-09-04: Ryan campground (elevation ~4,000 ft) in Joshua Tree National Park, California. This image shows the equipment and setup used to capture the Milky Way time-lapse sequence. The hardest part of capturing was calibrating optimum focus. Once that is done, everything is basically on "auto-pilot" for the length of time one wishes to capture.

Technical stuff:

• Sequence-capture time and duration: 2005-09-04: 20:46 to 22:50 (roughly two hours).



• Camera and settings: Canon Digital Rebel EOS 300; Frame-Exposure time: 20 sec; ISO: 1600; Aperture: 4.5; lens (default Canon telephoto) at ~18 mm



• Processing: Breeze Systems Downloader; Advanced Batch Converter (contrast and color saturation were enhanced) -- used to convert JPG to TIFF; QuickTime Pro -- used to create time-lapse in high-resolution *.mov format; Canopus ProCoder Express convert high-resolution *.mov to MPEG or other formats. Frame-rate: 24 fps

Time-lapse home

• Early experimental stuff and motion control
  • Time-lapse via Panobot 2
  
  
  
  • Pasadena time-lapse via Panobot 2



• Clouds, Weather and Ocean
  • Time-Lapse from Mt. Wilson (clouds)
  
  
  
  • Time-Lapse from Mt. Wison (sunset)
  
  
  
  • Topanga/Parker Mesa time-lapse
  
  
  
  • El Segundo/Pacfic Ocean (sunset)
  
  
  
  • Los Angeles county beach cities
  
  
  
  • Joshua Tree National Park
  
  
  
  • Mt. Baldy (Ski Lift and Waterfall Stream)



• Night, Cityscapes, Stars, Milky Way
  • Mt. Pinos Milky Way time-lapse
  
  
  
  • Dusk-to-Dark Time-Lapse: Looking over Los Angeles from Mount Wilson
  
  
  
  • Joshua Tree National Park: Milky Way time-lapse
  
  
  
  • Mt. Wilson Sirius/Orion constellation
  
  
  
  • Los Angeles Downtown (US Bank Tower)
  
  
  
  • Los Angeles Downtown (various images)

California still images and panoramas

Nature Photography: Tips, Techniques and Examples

Astrophotography: Film vs. Digital

Ohio still images and panoramas

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