Milky Way time-lapse – August 2011

Milky Way Time Lapse Photography – 22-25.08.2011 from Bosko Martinovic on Vimeo.
(Check it out in full screen mode)

 This was my debut attempt at time lapse photography, from August 2011. Also, this is my first Milky Way photo session ever. The video consists of 394 still photographs, shot with Canon Rebel XS (1000 D) and a 18-55mm kit lens, on a tripod. All frames were done with 30-second exposure, and I tried to use a different white balance on the second night. Which was a mistake,  the sky turned out brownish… Light pollution was significant, and the final part of the video is problematic since that night was windy (camera was not completely still due to the wind) and even clouds appeared to spoil the session.

The cropped cover shot shows non-stationary satellites reflecting sunlight or passing meteors. I’m not quite sure, but I’ve been spotting satellites since I was a kid, and this was not different. The beginnings of the lines are exact locations where two dots appeared, some 5 seconds apart. The shot had 30″ exposure, so what you see is a trail left by two “dots” appearing and later disapppearing.

Here it is again, zoomed.

Aaand, another zoom for more details.

Neat! What do you think?

So, why was this session significant? Once more, I expanded my activities related to photography, which resulted in a video originating from a camera that does not have a video mode. When I saw the results, it was clear that my ideas had definitely outgrown what Canon Rebel XS (1000D) had to offer. When I bought it, I considered its ISO settings to be advanced (which they were, for a regular user). Nevertheless, I still (2013) have the same camera and I will probably be using it for a year or two more…

This photo above is actually one of the two favourite photos from this session (the third night). Here is the other one:

Ps. Music was also composed by me. The track is “Cat’s Mood” and is a part of the Cat’s Mood demo recorded from 1999-2003. You can check all the tracks on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/boskomartinovic