Timelapse: The Venus and Jupiter Show

[Phil Hart]

hi all

Here's the very first timelapse production from my nine weeks of photographic adventures in the Yukon:

The Venus and Jupiter Show, with special guests Aurora Borealis and the Moon: http://philhart.com/content/venus-and-jupiter-show

This is less about the Yukon aurora and more about the conjunction between Venus and Jupiter which made a very nice evening sideshow during my time there.

This timelapse also features the two best sequences I captured with Fred (bassnut) Vanderhaven's automated twilight exposure control system. When it's working well we only need to touch the camera once during a sequence to twist the lens back onto the camera contacts to unlock the aperture and flick a switch on the control box at the same time.

The servo motors, external light meter and control system adjust ISO, aperture and Bulb exposure duration automatically taking care of everything else for the rest of the sequence. The temperature for the middle twilight to aurora sequence was -30C so it has worked in pretty extreme conditions although we did have some issues with severe cold at other times. As far as I know, there's nothing else like it.

You can read more about the Yukon adventures here:
http://philhart.com/tag/yukon-aurora

Hope you like it!

cheers
Phil

[iceman (Mike)]

Unreal, Phil. The sequence where the aurora comes in is amazing - what a show!

The transition from day to night is seamless. Excellent!

I can't wait to see the rest.

[stardust steve (Steve)]

Looks great. The last scene was my favorite.

[RickS (Rick)]

Very nice, Phil! Great work on the book as well.

Cheers,
Rick.

[gregbradley]

Awesome work Phil. Magic.

Greg.

[Moon (James)]

Been waiting a while to see this - fantastic stuff Phil :-)
James

[Martin Pugh]

Well done Phil.

Very cool.

cheers
Martin

[Joshua Bunn (Joshua)]

Phil, that was awsome.

thankyou very much!
Josh

[h0ughy (David)]

very well executed

[naskies (Dave)]

Amazing! I also really like the scene where the aurora makes a spectacular appearance. The sparkling snow in the foreground reflecting the colours of the aurora were fantastic too.

[LucasB (Lucas)]

Wow! That is some of the best time lapse photography I have ever seen. The foreground setting is magnificent and the sky show just spectacular!
Lucas

[troypiggo (Troy)]

Stunning. Loving the terrain and the show the night sky puts on. Very cool.

[bartman (Bart)]

Awesome Phil!
Loving the book too!
Thanks
Bartman

[RobF (Rob)]

Amazing as always Phil, but those last 2 sequences were particularly moving for me. Stunning, and this is just the "teaser"

[colinmlegg (Colin)]

Very nicely done, Phil. Agree with the others, the last couple of shots are rippers and the bramping is flawless.

Also enjoyed reading your blog entries...amazing adventure.

A quick question on the bramper. How did you cope with aperture flicker once you twisted the lens back on? Deflickered in post? I've noticed flicker on the 24/1.4 II when closed down beyond f/2.8.

[Phil Hart]

Originally Posted by colinmlegg

Very nicely done, Phil. Agree with the others, the last couple of shots are rippers and the bramping is flawless.

Also enjoyed reading your blog entries...amazing adventure.

A quick question on the bramper. How did you cope with aperture flicker once you twisted the lens back on? Deflickered in post? I've noticed flicker on the 24/1.4 II when closed down beyond f/2.8.

hi Colin

thanks. the sequences have been deflickered in LR Timelapse but they only required a very mild dose of that. light level is changing fast in these sequences when the lens is at f2.8 so not very noticeable at that point. i settled on moving from f22 to f2.8 after deciding that even f4/f3.5 had too much flicker.

the biggest problem is the change in vignetting from f22 to f2.8 and then each step down to f1.4. that's been dealt with as best i could in lightroom but it's still there if you look close.

cheers
Phil

[Paul Haese]

Lovely work to watch Phil. I particularly liked the shots over the ice and the reflections on the ice.

[Phil Hart]

thanks all. i'm glad you like it.

i'd been searching for reflections for quite awhile but very hard to find at that time of year in the yukon.. everything is covered in snow. found this spot very late and those last two sequences were shot on my last clear night so they were a bit of a bonus. pity the aurora didn't come to the party that night though.

Phil

[CapturingTheNight (Greg)]

Great work Phil Love it all. I have had this video bookmarked for a few days now and have been waiting impatiently for my internet to get back up to speed so I could watch it. Can't wait to see any other movies of the trip.
Cheers
Greg