Tag: Moving

Get Creative By Blending or Stacking Images

California, Equipment, Instruction, Pacific Ocean

When I was on the California Coast recently, I decided to take numerous exposures of the exact same scene and then blend them in a software program. I also used these jpegs to produce a  time lapse video which can be viewed here

Pacific Ocean Time Lapse Video

But I wanted to see what you could produce if you blend 100 images of a moving scene, like moving waves and clouds. It’s similar to a longer exposure but I took an exposure every 20 seconds for about 35 minutes. Below you’ll also see the result and what the scene looked like with a single  normal exposure. I actually shot 2 different scenes and present them but I also show one image where I blend both scenes, which is the bottom image.

The sun sets over the Pacific Ocean at Cambria, California
First scene with 100 images blended

 

First scene with only one normal exposure. Not quite so dramatic.

 

The sun sets over the Pacific Ocean at Cambria, California
The second scene with about 50 images blended. Not quite as dramatic as the first because I used less exposures and the clouds were moving towards the camera.  In image one, the clouds were moving from left to right in the frame.

 

Cal Coast Sunset Original_0495
The second scene shot with one normal exposure

 

The sun sets over the Pacific Ocean at Cambria, California
Both scenes blended with about 150 exposures.

 

So, if you want to get creative, try taking multiple exposures and blending them in Lightroom, Photoshop or stack them with a stacking program like  StarStax

Remember to use a tripod, a shutter release or better, an intervalometer, which programs the length between exposures for your camera. You can just sit there and watch the waves crashing upon the beach.

 

 

 

Photo of the Week- A rock with legs!

California, Desert Southwest, Out In The Field

This is in Death Valley, which may be the most interesting national park in the USA . It’s more like a Little Shop Of Horrors with its unique sand dunes that make noise, golf courses, artist’s palettes, racetracks, craters, the lowest spot in North America(minus 282 feet) and fame as the hottest place on the planet. Highest recorded temp was 134 degrees F in 1913. It got up to 129 during last summer’s western heat wave.  The pic below is at Racetrack Playa in Death Valley, a dry lake bed that provides a mystery scientists aren’t sure about.  The rocks tumble down from the hills above and when the lake bed receives moisture and high winds, the rocks will move. That is the current theory. No one has ever seen the rocks move but the trails they leave behind are the evidence. The one below decided to make a right turn in the course of its journey. Maybe it was lost.

SLIDING ROCK RIGHT TURN