A recent departure for me has been the making of short timelapse videos of the landscape.
I wrote a Python script to interpolate from a set of still photographs, applying a handful of effects (blur, gamma, masking), to a set of output images to combine as frames into a movie (e.g. using ffmpeg). The project homepage is at timelapse.py and sources available directly from github.
Currently my favourite example using this script is Morning at Glen Affric.
A timelapse video of clouds across Loch Lochy in the Great Glen
I was driving along the A82 in the evening as the sun was setting behind the mountains of Sean Mheall and Meall nan Dearcag on the opposite side of Loch Lochy, when the patterns of white wispy cirrus caught my eye, so I stopped by the roadside and made a short timelapse video of the cloud patterns evolving over the course of 5 minutes. Technical details: Canon EOS550D, remote release cable, an image every 3 seconds for a total of 105 frames.
A timelapse video of clouds at Glen Affric.
Early Morning Timelapse Video, Glen Affric There can be few locations more tranquil and peaceful than Glen Affric, deep in the Highlands of Scotland, especially early in the morning before the tourists arrive. It's a special place for me, of stillness and calm, where the chaffinches eat shortbread out of your hand; the old Scots Pine trees in the Caledonian Forest reserve speak of a history dating back 8000 years (some trees are 350-500 years old individually). And so I spent a very happy coupl
A timelapse video of waves rippling across Loch Tarff in the Highlands of Scotland
Loch Tarff is a pretty jewel of a loch on the drive along the B862 south of Loch Ness, used to provide water for the nearby area, especially Fort Augustus. I've seen it in all seasons, but on this particular Spring evening's drive it was pleasant just to pull over at one end and admire the sunlight on the water and relax with the gentle rippling noises and birdsong. The video here is a timelapse from several frames a second apart, which gives an interesting "beats" effect with the frequency of s
Timelapse video of a partial solar halo in cirrus cloud toward sunset.
One of the more commonly encountered atmospheric optical phenomena, a 22-degree solar halo is caused by ice-crystals (typically associated with light wispy cirrus cloud) refracting the sun's light, giving the effect of a circular ring spectrum like a rainbow, centred on the sun. I saw this one as I was driving along the side of Loch Lochy as the sun had set below the level of the mountains on the other side of the loch. After shooting a few stills, I thought it would be interesting to watch the