In one way, this video is the result of a failure.
My wife Liz and I would love to see the Aurora Borealis on the rare occasions that it appears over our home country of North Wales.
Oftentimes we've driven to various coastal locations we know, on the promise of a show, only to find that we had arrived too late, or given up too early!
The day before I shot the stills for this time lapse is a case in point, having seen on the evening weather report that the Aurora was active we headed out to the coast, only to find we were too late and the Aurora had peaked and vanished.
So on the promise of another potential sighting the following night we set off nice and early this time, heading for Barkby Beach at the far end of Prestatyn, away from the worst of the light pollution that plagues the North Wales coastal strip.
With astronomical twilight due at 8pm, we settled down and I started shooting stills at 7.30pm, carrying on for an hour or so as the tide came in and the sky slowly clouded over from the west.
As usual, the Aurora failed to appear to our naked eyes, and we'll have to wait for the next occurrence to try again.
However, the RAW captures I made that evening still made for a pleasing time lapse, showing twilight and night over the red lights of the Colwyn Bay windfarm as the tide comes in up the beach, stars wheel overhead and underlit clouds pass across the frame.
And, is it wishful thinking on my part, or is that a faint hint of green Aurora on the horizon?
Filename - prestatyn night timelapse 01.mp4
Camera - Canon EOS 6D
Lens 24-105mm zoom @ 24mm
Exposure (start of sequence)
15 secs @ f4, ISO320000
Exposure (end of sequence)
15 secs @ f4, ISO3200
Capture interval - 15 secs
Location - Prestatyn, North Wales
This clip - HD 720p 30fps
Clip duration - 11 seconds
All content copyright © Howard Litherland 2009-2024 unless otherwise stated.