Going on a cruise provides the opportunity for some unique photogaphic experiments, some of which work and some of which don't.
One experiment I tried that did work was this overnight time lapse video featuring our sail through the narrow body of water between Denmark and Sweden, called the Kattegat (the cat's throat in old dutch).
I set the camera up on a tripod on our cabin's balcony, looking towards the stern of the ship which, as we were sailing southwards, showed the view to the north.
Then, once the light levels in the sky had dropped enough, I set the camera off with a fresh battery and empty memory card and went to bed.
This far north in summer, the nights are very short and I only managed to film until 4 o'clock in the morning, when the strengthening light of dawn overcame my camera's dynamic range and turned the images completely white.
But it wasn't until after the cruise had ended and I was back home, processing the time lapse video images through Adobe Lightroom and Premiere Pro that I saw all the fantastic events that occured while my wife Liz and I were fast asleep.
First off were the lovely colours of twilight fading away into the deep blue of night, but then, much to my delight, a display of the aurora borealis, or northern lights, broke out over the horizon at the rear of our ship.
Then, all of a sudden, we whizzed under the huge Storebaeltsbroen suspension bridge and sailed on, before finally the light of dawn grew ever brighter to the northeast, overhwelming my camera's sensor.
That's one experiment I'll definitely call a success!
Filename - kattergat night timelapse 01
Camera - Canon EOS 6DMK2
Lens - 17-40mm zoom @ 19mm
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 - The Kattegat Straits, between Denmark and Sweden
Music - Summer of 1984 - RKVC
This clip - HD 720p, 30fps (4K and 1080p HD formats also available)
Clip duration - 59 seconds
All content copyright © Howard Litherland 2009-2024 unless otherwise stated.