One of the things I really like about going on holiday to somewhere warm in the winter months is the ability to photograph outdoors without having to get dressed up like a polar explorer.
But pyjama shorts at four in the morning is surely taking the mickey!
Yet that's how I was attired at the beginning of this time lapse shoot, overlooking the busy seaside resort of Taurito on the south coast of Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands in early February 2024.
I'd woken up for a trip to the toilet (it's an age thing!) and, taking a look outside I saw clear skies and visible stars, not always the case as the air here can be quite hazy, filled with dust blown over from the Sahara desert on the 'Calima' wind.
So I thought 'Why not take advantage?
So it was out onto the balcony in my shorts to set up my camera to capture the movement of the stars in this time lapse video, set against the artificial lights of the hotels across the inlet.
And then I thought, 'Why not just leave the camera running and capture the arrival of the dawn as well?
So that's just what I did, and went back to bed, finally waking up ariound 8am with the camera still clicking away recording completely white, blown out images in the bright morning light.
Back home I ended up discarding about half the images captured as having no detail as the sky became brighter, creating this time lapse video from the RAW files that still showed some detail before the scene was too bright to record at the night time exposure setting that I had my camera set at.
Not a bad result considering the minimum amount of effort I went to to get the RAW files.
Filename - taurito dawn timelapse 01
Camera - Canon EOS 6DMK2
Lens - 17-40mm zoom @ 17mm
Exposure (start of sequence) - 10 secs @ f/4, ISO1600
Exposure (end of sequence) - 10 secs @ f/4, ISO1600
Filters - None.
Shooting interval - 10 seconds
Location - Taurito, Gran Canaria, The Canary Islands
Music - Night Snow - Asher Fulero
This clip - HD 720p, 30fps (4K, and 1080p HD formats also available)
Clip duration - 22 seconds
All content copyright © Howard Litherland 2009-2023 unless otherwise stated.