I love photography! Pretty cliché I know. There is just so much to learn and explore. So many things to try. But the main reason I love photography is this "Photography is about savoring life at 1/100th of a second." - Marc Riboud
I am a portrait and wedding photographer based in Cedar City Utah. I also love landscape photography, but every great landscape I encounter, I can't help but think how much better the shot would be if I stuck a person in it.
I went out there again on the actual summer solstice and did another time lapse. It was fun to meet other people that were there to watch. I met some locals, people from California, Washington, and who knows where else they came from. One couple drove down from Washington just for this event.
Okay, I promise not to post any more Parowan Gap stuff for a while. Although just remember that it is an ongoing project of mine, so I will eventually post more:)
So, technically, summer solstice is tomorrow, June 21 at around 7am. Tomorrow’s sunset is really recognized as the main event at Parowan Gap. I went out there tonight, June 20th to scope things out. Crowds have already gathered. Here is a quick shot I got standing near the summer solstice cairn at Parowan Gap.
I will be out there again tomorrow. I did a time lapse series tonight, but I realized I needed to be in a different spot to get the right angle.
Parowan Gap Summer Solstice
Update: I added a short time lapse of the sun setting through the gap. This time lapse was taken on June 20, 2010. I didn’t make this one HD, so it doesn’t look real great. I plan on posting another one from tonight that is going to be in full HD.
That was awesome! Way to catch the Parowan Gap at its best. The cars coming and going with the jets flying over was fun to watch.
Wow! That is so neat! Post this on facebook so I can copy it to my page. I want the still shot too. That needs a frame! Soooo cool.
So after the Relay for Life time lapse I did, I decided I needed to learn more about this time lapse stuff. Turns out it is really really awesome. Okay, I knew that already. But turns out there is a lot that I didn’t know about time lapse photography. Most of my assumptions about how far apart shots should be and what frame rate to show them at was completely wrong.
So bear with me as I explain what I’ve learned. Keep in mind I’ve never done video and I’m a total n00b when it comes to this stuff.
My first assumption was that if the pictures in a time lapse sequence are closer together, it makes the video appear to be more smooth. Wrong! What makes a time lapse look smooth is all about frames per second. To make sense of that, you just have to realize that TV and movies are typically somewhere around 24 – 30 frames per second. If you live in the UK, TV is broadcast at 24 frames per second. In the US, it is 30 frames per second. That means you are basically seeing 30 still images per second. When put together, they appear to be in motion. Anything less than 24 frames per second looks visibly choppy. So a smooth looking time lapse has little to do with how far the images are spaced apart. If the images are closer together, say 1 second, and displayed at 24+ frames per second, the time lapse will move more slowly. If the images are say 20 seconds apart, and displayed at 24+ frames per second, the time lapse will move very quickly.
Second assumption I made was that a faster shutter speed will make the time lapse look better. Wrong! This goes back to the frame rate again. Turns out that 30 blurry frames displayed in 1 second actually doesn’t look blurry at all. Try this out on your DVR. Just pause the TV and look at the paused image. It will look blurry, but when it is flashing past your eyes at 30 frames per second, it is not blurry. So shutter speeds of 1 second or even more are perfectly acceptable in time lapse photography.
iMovie is not the right tool to use for time lapse photography. It just wasn’t designed to do it. I assume because Apple already has a couple of tools that were designed to do time lapse correctly. The fastest frames per second iMovie will let you string together a series of stills is 10 frames per second. 24 – 30 is the goal, but even 15 frames per second is much more smooth than 10.
The right tool for the job is either Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premier Pro, or Quicktime Pro. The latter of which is only $30 compared to $999 and $799 respectively. Quicktime Pro will suit my needs just fine thank you very much. Actually Quicktime Pro is pretty nice. You choose from the file menu to open an image sequence. Then it asks you what frame rate you want, i.e. 15, 24, 30, etc. That’s it. Very simple. It has other editing capabilities too, but I found it easiest to take the .mov file created by Quicktime, import it into iMovie and add text, transitions, music, etc.
With my newfound knowledge, I took advantage of the awesome clouds we’ve been getting and did a time lapse sequence out at Parowan Gap at sunset. The thing about time lapse photography is that it is a slow learning process. It takes a lot of time and effort to get a few seconds worth of video. I didn’t entirely think things through with this one. I just kind of shot-in-the-dark and set up the interval timer to take a shot every 20 seconds. I let it shoot until the sun went down. In retrospect, I wish I had gone with a shot every 7 or 5 seconds so that the video wasn’t so short. I ended up shooting for one and a half hours. That resulted in a 10 second video at 24 frames per second. I went with 15 frames per second and got 16 seconds out of it and it still looks pretty smooth, but not as smooth as I would like it.
If you’ve been thinking this through, you have probably realized that in addition to time, time lapse photography will take a lot of space on your memory cards. Ideally, you would want to shoot in RAW. Let’s assume you want a 30 second video at 30 frames per second. That means you need to shoot 30 x 30 = 900 frames. On my 12 MP camera, I can fit about 270 RAW images on a 4GB card. So you would need over 13 GB of storage space to get 30 seconds worth of footage!
The thing you need to keep in mind is resolution. A RAW or even full size JPG on my camera is 4288 x 2848 pixels big. Now realize that the largest an image needs to be for HD video is 1920 x 1080 pixels for 1080p. At 720p, the images need to be 1280 x 720 pixels. Online video sharing sites do HD at 1280 x 720, at least Vimeo does. So 4288 pixels is way overkill even for HD video. If you have the GB to spare or are shooting for a big movie screen, then by all means shoot in RAW. Just something to consider. Note, my camera makes larger images in the very lowest JPG mode than are even needed for 1080p HD video. So you may want to compromise. Somewhere between RAW and the lowest JPG setting will likely be sufficient for your needs. Chances are most people will never see your video in HD if you are just sharing it on the web.
So here is my basic list for doing time lapse photography:
I can’t wait to try more.
So cool Parker. I loved the credit to Gavin. Post more as you do them!
Hi Parker,
I stumbled across your website. I’m also a wedding and portrait photographer, but in British Columbia Canada. I like your work very much. I’ve always liked time lapse photography (that I’ve seen on TV!) I found this post about the time lapse very interesting. I think I might try it! Thank you for the hints!
Linda
Can hardly stand to stay indoors anymore. Saturday I loaded the boys into the truck and headed out. I specifically headed to Parowan Gap to try some different techniques for photographing rock art. I’m convinced there is a better way to photograph rock art than I have been doing for the past 8 years. I just haven’t found it yet.
The sky was mostly cloudy with patches of sunlight peaking through the clouds. As we were driving away, I looked in the rear-view mirror and saw this. I pulled over immediately and grabbed the shot. I love it. My favorite shot from the outing.
So every time I go here, I am secretly location scouting for portraits. Although it isn’t very far from Cedar City, a photoshoot out there involving other people will be longer than my typical 1.5 – 2 hour photo session. I will need to find the right subject(s) to take out there. To be perfectly honest, this is the type of stuff I long to shoot. People in settings like this.
So back to the purpose I originally went out there for, rock art. I tried various things. I took a bunch of bracketed shots to see what rock art would look like in HDR. My results failed miserably. Turns out the purpose of HDR is to blend a wide range of exposures. I knew that, but it wasn’t until I tried turning a fairly tight shot of rock art to HDR that I realized it was just the wrong application for HDR. There just isn’t a wide enough range of tones to make it work. Now, if I were shooting much wider and including more sky with the rocks, then HDR might be the trick. Anyway, I scrapped the HDR idea.
Instead I shot some wide angle like this.
Zoomed in on just the rock art itself.
And zoomed in really tight on specific details.
Not sure which I like best. I guess they each have their place. I’m not sure what I’m after really. Ultimately, I want to have a really nice collection of rock art images and hang them on my wall. Which would you rather see hanging on a wall?
Personally I like the first one because you not only see the rock art itself but the context that it is in. If you’re more interested in art then the others might be fine but I feel like context is a huge part of any type of art. It is what gives it meaning. Have you thought of doing a triptych?
p.s. Have you ever been to Lions Mouth? There is some interesting rock art there.
I really like number three. Especially in black and white. I think what I like best though is the juxtaposition of the dark, moody mountains to the bright & clear sunlight.
I can totally relate to what you said about scouting locations and always thinking of a person in the landscape, not just a landscape alone. Though you’re landscape shots are ahhhmazing! 
I like the first one (with the shrubs), because I like shrubs and I like the rocks themselves. They make a beautiful canvas for the art!
I’ve seen a lot of photos of The Gap but never any with such good color. It’s like being there. Thanks for sharing.
Shooting black and white out there is a good idea. As you well know I feel the same way about this magical location. I can spend hours out there just watching and waiting for time to pass by. Thanks for sharing your shots and let me know if you ever just want to go out there and shoot with a friend.
One of the things I love about living in Cedar City is the close proximity to several national parks. I realized that I really don’t take advantage of that. It is too bad. I know of a few groups that host expensive photography workshops and they travel to Bryce Canyon or Zion from far away because of the incredible landscape. It is in my back yard for heck sakes and I don’t even go at least once a year. Shameful really. I’m going to change that. Thinking of buying one of those annual national park passes that lets you go to any of the parks as many times as you want.
I happened to be at Bryce Canyon the other day with our Scouts. I’m in the young men’s presidency in our ward, so I get to go on the Scouting trips. We took them up by Bryce Canyon to go cross country skiing. Very fun, btw. Yet another activity to do around here and it is free (besides the $6 ski rental if you don’t have your own).
As the Scouts slept in until 8am on Saturday morning, I headed into the park to get take some photos. Let’s say that I appreciate mornings, but traditionally I have not been a “morning person.” I had a nephew that learned as a toddler what I said in the morning as a teenager along with other animal sounds. When asked what I would say in the morning, he would reply “ROAR!” I’ve gotten over that, but I’m still more likely to sleep in than wake up early, unless there is something to motivate me. Photography definitely motivates me to get up early. So, I headed out at 6am to catch the 7am sunrise.
Unfortunately, it was overcast. Didn’t see the sun light up those beautiful red formations at Bryce Canyon. It was still worth getting up early for though. I don’t think Bryce has seen this much snow in a long time. Check out all the snow.
Still, no matter what light nature decides to throw at you, there is always a photo that can be made. I may not have taken the photos that I wanted to take, but I still took a few that I like (not love).
f/16 @ 44 mm, 1/25, ISO 200
So when the light sucks, like it did this day, the best option is to try and shoot in close, eliminate the sky. Nothing worse in a landscape shot that has interesting land and a crappy grey sky. Most people immediately choose a wide angle lens for landscape shots. They want to capture the entire scene they see before their eyes. Well, not always the best choice.
For most of these shots I was using a 70-200mm lens. I wanted to zoom in on details, textures, colors, and patterns. I was really drawn to the contrast of the white snow and the red rock and dirt. Some dirt had amazingly rich red hues like the shot below. I really liked the pattern that the snow made. Makes your eyes wander all over the place in the photo.
f/16 @ 200 mm, 1/50,ISO 200
I thought it would be interesting to mess with all those shades of red in a black and white photo. Ended up with this shot.
f/10 @ 90 mm, 1/80, ISO 200
Yeah, it was freezing cold. I stood out in the cold taking pictures for about an hour. By that time my fingers were really starting to hurt, despite wearing gloves. I probably would have stayed a little longer too, but I knew the Scouts were waking up and probably eating breakfast without me. As I drove back to meet them, I couldn’t resist the following scene. My eyes interpreted the scene through a 200mm lens and that is what I shot.
f/10 @ 200 mm, 1/200,ISO 200
Really minimalistic. The strong horizontal tree line against a solid white foreground was very visually appealing to me. I think it would look great as a big print hanging on a wall.
Parowan Gap has become one of my favorite places to go. I like to go there for a number of reasons. First, I am always fascinated with rock art. I’ve spent a lot of time exploring places just in search of it. I grew up in Emery County Utah where you can find a plethora of cool writings.
Second, Parowan Gap intrigues me. Specifically, the theory about the Gap being used as an ancient calendar. Ironically, another place considered to be an ancient calendar system is the Rochester Panel in Emery County, a very unique collection of rock art. I have yet to visit the Gap on any of the solar events, but I plan to. Definitely need photos of the sun right smack in the middle of that gap. I’ve seen some on the interwebs elsewhere and they suck. I can do better:) I have lived in this area for almost 10 years now and I only recently went to Parowan Gap.
Also intriguing to me is that Chief Wakara is said to have referred to Parowan Gap as “God’s own house.” There is definitely something special about this place. It keeps drawing me back to it.
It is also a really great place to take photos. It even makes an awesome setting for portraits. Interestingly enough, there is an art exhibit opening at Southern Utah University soon with works inspired by Parowan Gap. So, I am not the only one drawn to it.
This is a view looking South toward Enoch from the West side of Parowan Gap. The Gap is just out of frame to the left in this photo.
The beautiful fall colors up on the mountain come and go very fast. Had an engagement session in brilliant fall leaves up on Cedar mountain one weekend and the next weekend, the leaves were almost entirely gone. Those people that acted fast got some awesome fall portraits. Here is a sample landscape shot I grabbed during an engagement shoot.
The leaves have yet to turn completely down in the valley, so there is still a chance to get some fall color shots, but you just can’t beat the colors of those aspen trees. The oranges, yellows, and reds are just amazing. The photo was taken at Duck Creek reservoir on September 26, 2009. A week later, all those leaves were on the ground.
The Mill Flat wildfire spread over to New Harmony yesterday. The wind was fairly calm and this is the scene the sun set to.
This shot above is a composite of 6 images looking from the South to the West from Cedar City. The setting sun put on a spectacular show. The billowing smoke, in the bottom left of the frame, turned some amazing colors as the sun lit it up. By the next morning that smoke had engulfed Cedar City. It was so thick you could barely see the nearby mountains.
I consider myself more of a portrait photographer, but I will never pass up some good landscapes. Last weekend I went on a four day ATV trip on the Paiute ATV trail system. We camped at Big John’s Flat and rode hard for four days. It is absolutely beautiful up there. I am particularly fond of the landscape once you get above the tree line, about 11,000 feet. This is mountain goat country.
The wildflowers were amazing. They were in bloom everywhere. We spent a whole morning photographing wildflowers. Okay, it was more than just a whole morning. It was a blast. I found 31 distinct types of wildflowers. The wildflower shoot was actually a competition between my dad and I. The objective was to see who get get photographs of the most wildflowers of different types. He won, with 35.
The entire trip was a lot of fun. Lots of beautiful landscape. The last day we visited a 60 foot waterfall. We weren’t sure what the shooting conditions would be like when we got there, but lucky for us, the entire waterfall was in the shade… perfect.
And last of all, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to do some portraits while we were in such a beautiful location. I had my boys with me the first day and they always make good subjects:)
He’s eating a rock in case you are wondering.
Last weekend I went on a quick day hike through some of the slot canyons south of Escalante Utah in the Coyote Gulch drainage area. The weather couldn’t have been more perfect. We left Cedar City late Friday night and ran into a major snow storm from Parowan to Panguich. In Escalante however, the weather was great. Perfect temperature and lots of clouds, great for landscape photography.
We reached Devil’s Garden at the perfect time Saturday morning, just as the sun was coming up to light the garden for us.
The rest of the day was spent hiking Dry Fork, Spooky, and Peek-A-Boo canyons. All slot canyons with lots of great photo opportunities. I of course packed my strobe, umbrella, and light stand. You never know when you might need to light something up. I got a few great portraits and found an awesome location for an adventurous bride. A little hiking required, but a bridal shot would be fantastic out there. Here is the setup shot courtesy of Ben Grimes.
And the result:
I had a great time and will definitely be going back. You can view my entire slide show of the trip.
John Lisonbee - June 24, 2010 - 10:51 am
The shot you got of the group out in front of us is a great shot. Nicely done.
Emilie - June 26, 2010 - 10:22 am
So neat! I always wanted to see it but forgot about it every year. Thanks for sharing.