I was fortunate enough to be asked to do a time lapse video at Sky Lake Camp and Retreat Center in Windsor NY. this place was instrumental to me growing up and I always try and give back when I can. Even with it being the 3rd of April it was a cold night. It was the only clear night I could get while I was on break. (being a teacher does has perks) 

So I packed my gear, for this shoot I packed a nice long extension cord, my A/C adapter for my Canon Rebel T2i and my Sigma 10-20mm lens. I also packed my tripod but more on that later in this post.  After packing the car with gear during the day I had dinner with my wife and son. After dinner it was the usual routine of bath time for Gavin and then a bedtime story and bed. He went to bed and I grabbed my keys, gave my wife a kiss and headed up to Sky Lake

As I drove towards the camp the sky was slowly getting darker and when I arrived it turned to the mark blue hour just before total dark. It was cold and the lake was still frozen over. I grabbed my gear and make my way cautiously down to the boat dock. The was a tiny bit of ice and snow which made the trek a but more challenging that I had anticipated. I plugged in the extension cord on the upper level and tossed it down to the lower level just above the water. I plugged the camera in and got the settings dialed it. Now for the tripod... This tripod is a small lightweight tripod I bought for shooting waterfalls and to carry on my bag. I did not intended for it to be used for long exposures or in windy conditions. Seeing as the last time I used it was at the beach it took a bit to get it set up. (I will be obtaining a new tripod sometime, hopefully, if my wife allows me...) 

Anyways I dial in the camera settings. ISO 1600, f/6.3 and 30sec exposure. Figured this would work and it did

So the next step was to hook up the shutter release and let it run. I shot 270+ frames. A little over 2 hours of sky. I also got to chat with my good friend who is the program manager while I was shooting. 

When I returned home I had the fun of processing the images. After an overnight RAW conversions.(should have shot jpeg but forgot) I put them into a stack to create a startrails image which cam out awesome as you can see: The final step was the video. I uploaded the images in sequence into photoshop CS6 and used a 12 frames per second rate. The video is awesome and I cannot wait to shoot more of these.

I think everyone should try these. Time lapses can let you see things in a different way and also help you rethink the idea of time. 

Sky Lake Info

http://skylakecenter.org/

-Greg