Valentine's Aurora Timelapse

[Phil Hart]

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!

https://vimeo.com/52612008

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 (http://philhart.smugmug.com/Night-Sky-Photography/Aurora-Borealis/Yukon-Aurora-Portfolio/26306435_GhD5m4#!i=2191458421&k=B5W92Cq).

Hope you like it!

Phil

[Larryp]

Really spectacular video, Phil. Thanks for posting it.:thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

Magnificent work Phil. Loved it, also loved the music.

Greg.

[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

[Phil Hart]

thanks Larry!



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!



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.. ;)

Phil

[Kunama]

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.

[h0ughy]

well that was well worth the effort - great work

[alan meehan]

Breathtaking Phil.THANKS
AL

[CapturingTheNight]

You already know that I love this Phil, but I will comment again. A great video. :thumbsup: Work like yours has inspired me to take doing timelapse a bit more seriously.

[multiweb]

So cool. :thumbsup: 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?

[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!

[prokyon]

Awesome, simply awesome!!!

[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

[Phil Hart]

i don't think i could ever get tired of watching aurora.. even if i lived there!





thanks houghy and alan!



thanks. and you're inspiring me now with your work greg.. so many ideas so little time!



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).



thanks Mike!



thanks prokyon!



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

[DavidTrap]

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.

DT

[geoffsims]

This is off the hook. Simply amazing.

[RickS]

Love the pics and the video is fantastic, Phil!

[iceman]

I came back to this again and again.

Inspiring stuff Phil.

It's now IOTW (http://www.iceinspace.com.au).

[Ric]

Amazing images Phil, beautiful to look at.

Congrats for the "image of the week"

[multiweb]

Congrats on IOTW. Waiting on the APOD now... :thumbsup:

[naskies]

Absolutely stunning!

[Octane]

Beautiful work, Phil. Just stunning.

One day I'll make it there. :)

H

[Ross G]

Amazing photography Phil.

Congratulations on IOTW.


Ross.

[Phil Hart]

Thanks Mike! Glad you're liking it.











Thanks H, Ross, Ric, Marc, naskies! Great to know you're all enjoying it.

Hope to see some of you up north..

Phil

[trek1701]

Hi Phil

I just showed this to my brother’s Canadian partner Treena who you have met up at Heathcote a couple of years ago and it even took her breath away.

It must have been an amazing night she can’t understand how you withstood those temperatures

Mark

[venus]

Your imaging is amazing, simply takes one to another world!

[colinmlegg]

Still on the road, Phil, so haven't managed to see this yet - 3G just doesn't cope with video - but from what I saw I know it's great and congratulate you on the dedication and effort you spent to get this footage. Hope you get lots of coverage from it.

ps. You may want to do some shout outs to some of the larger vimeo timelapse groups. That will help get word out. Phil Plait (bad astronomer) is also a good bet for this sort of stuff.

[Setae]

Like it, Phil you underestimate your talent, how could anyone not love it!!.

Thank you so very much for sharing your talent with us. Your passion for the night sky is inspirational.

The photos are stunning, but the video is like nothing i've seen before, absolutely breathtaking! The first sequence through the fish eye is really cute, there is a part where the top section is dark it looks like a sleepy eye, adding to the dreamy quality.

The music really added to the viewing experience.

The entire composition is superb and captivating.

Thank you again
Carmen

[Phil Hart]

Well the temperature that night wasn't too bad.. there were some other nights which were a bit harder!



Thanks!



Thanks Colin.. your input helped a lot to make it what it is now. And thanks for the tips on getting it out there. My existing avenues haven't been too successful so far.



Thanks Carmen for the nice words. Glad you like it so much!

Phil

[Paul Haese]

Beautiful video Phil. Interesting use of the fish eye lens, but I prefer the wide field flat scenes best.