This is the first in a series of time lapse videos that I shot from the balcony of a cruise liner, thirteen decks above the Mediterranean sea, while docked at the Port of Livorno on the west coast of Italy.
In this video, filmed pointing out to sea, we see some lovely clouds dancing over an azure sea, and right at the end of the clip a container ship sails right past our liner, guided by tugboats front and rear.
My wife Liz and I had booked the cruise to celebrate the end of my chemotherapy course, and we really enjoyed seeing parts of the Mediterranean coast of France and Italy that were new to us.
And, of course, I was looking forward to some fresh photography opportunities, but as this was a fly-cruise I had to limit the amount of gear that I took with me.
My biggest sacrifice was my full size Manfrotto tripod, which was just too big, heavy and ungainly to include.
So instead I invested in a heavy duty Gorillapod as a much smaller, lighter and flexible alternative.
And it worked out really well, as I left the Gorillapod wrapped around the rail on our balcony for the duration of the cruise, with my heavy camera and lens hanging out over the sea, thirteen decks below!
The Gorillpod proved solid as a rock, and I was quite happy to leave my camera attached for long periods of time, clicking away taking time lapse videos or shooting actual video as we sailed along.
I'll certainly use this equipment set up again as circumstances dictate.
Filename - livorno timelapse 01
Camera - Canon EOS 6DMK2
Lens - 24-105mm zoom @ 34mm
Exposure (start of sequence) - 1/800 sec @ f/4, ISO100
Exposure (end of sequence) - 1/800 sec @ f/4, ISO100
Filters - 2 stop neutral density graduated filter used to reduce the brightness of the sky relative to the land.
Music - Morning_Stroll - Josh Kirsch
Shooting interval - 2 seconds
Location - Livorno, Italy
This clip - HD 720p, 30fps (4K and HD formats also available)
Clip duration - 26 seconds
All content copyright © Howard Litherland 2009-2023 unless otherwise stated.