Well it's only taken seven months, but I've finally released my second video from my Aurora Adventures in the Yukon. This video is all from one crazy night, the 14th February 2012, and I just happened to be in a beautiful setting with no warning of what was headed my way!
Next time I go on an astronomy adventure, I won't keep traveling for three months afterwards and instead will book another three more months off work just to process images. I'm going to be playing with data from this trip for another year at least!
Thanks to Colin Legg for a gentle kick up the backside when we met in Melbourne that prompted me to take the plunge with Adobe After Effects. It was (another) steep learning curve but rendering straight from the RAW files with Neat Video noise reduction does squeeze a little bit more out of the footage.
A few images attached from the same night as well. Or view the originals on SmugMug.
Really spectacular video, Phil. Thanks for posting it.
thanks Larry!
Quote:
Originally Posted by gregbradley
Magnificent work Phil. Loved it, also loved the music.
Greg.
the music accounts for two out of the seven months work so it's great you like it greg (i do too)! my friend dean (with a toddler, a newborn and a vineyard to look after!) produced the music to match the video, and then we went through a few iterations (with support from more friends) to improve the sound and the mix, all of which takes time that busy people don't have!
Quote:
Originally Posted by alexch
Great timelapse, Phil!
Looking at how slowly stars move in some sequences - it must have been an awe-inspiring visual display.
Thanks for the views.
Alex
thanks alex. yes.. there are three clips around the middle of the video where the aurora was so bright that i was shooting 1/3 second exposures. i then also timewarped those clips (generating intermediate frames) so that they are playing back at only ~5x actual speed, whereas the rest of the video is with typically 8sec exposures playing back at 24fps, so about 200x actual speed.
on storm nights like this, i was literally just swearing at the sky in disbelief.. it was so intense and active at times. pretty frantic with the cameras when it's like that too as the framing required moves all over place.
from this night and one other on the trip i actually also have some live video from a few minutes when the aurora was exceptionally bright. it's very noisy but quite interesting. doing something with those will be project number 4..
Spectacular images Phil,
I grew up near the Arctic Circle and watched in awe as the heavens turned on this kind of lightshow for us on numerous occasions each year.
Beautifully captured and presented, thank you for posting.
You already know that I love this Phil, but I will comment again. A great video. Work like yours has inspired me to take doing timelapse a bit more seriously.
So cool. It's amazing how bright it gets sometimes and the whole snow landscape lights up and reflects the green colors. It really looks like smoke twirls in some of the fisheye sequences. Were some of the sequence near real-time rate by the end. The stars were moving so slowly, yet the auroras were dancing smoothly around.
Is Neat Video noise a plugin for AE or is it a native process within the app?
Spectacular images Phil,
I grew up near the Arctic Circle and watched in awe as the heavens turned on this kind of lightshow for us on numerous occasions each year.
Beautifully captured and presented, thank you for posting.
i don't think i could ever get tired of watching aurora.. even if i lived there!
Quote:
Originally Posted by h0ughy
well that was well worth the effort - great work
Quote:
Originally Posted by alan meehan
Breathtaking Phil.THANKS
AL
thanks houghy and alan!
Quote:
Originally Posted by obsidianphotos
You already know that I love this Phil, but I will comment again. A great video. Work like yours has inspired me to take doing timelapse a bit more seriously.
thanks. and you're inspiring me now with your work greg.. so many ideas so little time!
Quote:
Originally Posted by multiweb
So cool. It's amazing how bright it gets sometimes and the whole snow landscape lights up and reflects the green colors. It really looks like smoke twirls in some of the fisheye sequences. Were some of the sequence near real-time rate by the end. The stars were moving so slowly, yet the auroras were dancing smoothly around.
Is Neat Video noise a plugin for AE or is it a native process within the app?
marc.. check my reply to alex above. yes Neat Video is a plug-in for AE (or can be purchased to work with other video editing applications as well).
Quote:
Originally Posted by iceman
Awesome work Phil. I just sat with my son and watched it.
Some great sequences in there, and some novel ways of showing the transition with the stacking in the last few sequences.
Well done and stunning images!
thanks Mike!
Quote:
Originally Posted by prokyon
Awesome, simply awesome!!!
thanks prokyon!
Quote:
Originally Posted by DavidTrap
That is incredible!
Thanks for posting some exposure details. I'm in Canada over Christmas, and have every digit crossed that I might see something!
DT
good luck David! you won't get much sleep if you're keeping your eye out for aurora all the time! you need to get people you're staying with to take on shifts
good luck David! you won't get much sleep if you're keeping your eye out for aurora all the time! you need to get people you're staying with to take on shifts
Phil
I like your thinking, but somehow don't think the wife and two young kids will agree! Unfortunately, when we're somewhere vaguely dark, it will be full moon - poor celestial planning on my behalf, but it is a family holiday after all. I'll still be keeping an eye on the prediction websites nonetheless.
