Perseid Meteor Shower III HD Video

Perseid Meteor Shower III HD Video, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (www.MyPhotoGuides.com).

This is my third and longest timelapse sequence yet from the Perseid Meteor Shower in August. I'll try to have sequences four and five done soon.

Make sure you have the HD display switched on (click on the HD symbol).

One of my first videos of this event was featured on Discover Magazine's blog.

Bear in mind that this is a timelapse video, so in playback as video everything is dramatically sped up. Each frame is a 15 to 30 second shot, but the video is assembled at a relatively slow frame rate of only 12 shots per second, so in video formats that play at 24 to 30 frames per second, the meteors show up for roughly two frames. In other words, each second of video displays ten to twenty minutes of shooting time. Apparently our eyes and minds are quick enough for us to perceive the meteors with some persistence even though they show up for only 1/12th of a second.

Anything that travels across the screen or survives in the video for more than a brief flash is a jet or satellite (and you can't see many of the meteors in most online copies of the video, unless you follow the links to Flickr and enable the highest HD playback available there). I'll try to find video hosting sites that enable blogging of copies that offer higher resolution playback, preferably full 1920 x 1080 HD. I'll also try to find some nice background music avalable under the Creative Commons CC-BY license (which does not seem to be a trivial search).

Meanwhile, if you'd like to explore timelapse photography yourself, download the free VirtualDub software which can convert a sequence of JPEG files into video, and check out the forum on Timescapes.org for discussions on techniques. You'll need a tripod of course, and your sequence of still images will turn out best if you use a remote switch that has an intervalometer (timer) function.

Perseid Meteors Near Tioga Pass: HD Video Timelapse II

Perseid Meteors Near Tioga Pass: HD Video Timelapse II, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (www.MyPhotoGuides.com).

To avoid smoke from forest fires in California I traveled to this location at an elevation of 10,000 feet near Tioga Pass in the Sierra Nevada.

To increase the visibility of the meteors, click through to the video's Flickr page and make sure you have the HD display switched on (click on the HD symbol). Then look near the center of the right half of the video to see the most meteors.

This sequence was assembled from 517 21 megapixel photos. The rescaling down to 1280 x 720 for uploading to Flickr helps eliminate much of the noise. The photos on this night were exposed for 10 to 20 seconds at an ISO sensitivity of 3200.

This was taken on the peak night for the meteor showers, but the moon makes all but the brightest meteors difficult to see, especially at these lower resolutions.

Perseid Meteor Shower HD Video

Perseid Meteor Shower HD Video, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (www.MyPhotoGuides.com).

Dozens of Perseid meteors fall in the course of over one hour, compressed into 5 seconds of HD video.

Go to my Flickr account and set the "HD" symbol under the display to see a higher resolution online.

Copyright © Jeff Sullivan 2009. All rights reserved. Do not copy or publish without permission.

What Camera Do You Use? What Camera Should I Buy?

Mono Lake Dawn Silhouette, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (www.MyPhotoGuides.com).

I have these questions asked to me. A lot.

What paper does J.K. Rowling write on to create the Harry Potter series? What typewriter did Hunter S. Thompson use? What species of quill and what formulation of ink did John Muir and Henry David Thoreau use? If only I could have the same advantages that they had!

To make a long story short, in tests performed years ago neither professional photographers nor amateurs could distinguish between 5 megapixel and 8 megapixel shots when printed at 8" x 10" size. The industry's dirty little secret is that new cameras have are overkill for almost all photographers, and they have been for years. If you're not taking the pictures that you want, it's probably your expectations and your process that needs adjustment, not your equipment. In other words, the camera is not your most important consideration, nor is it your most important tool. You'll find that between your ears. At least I hope so. (And now that I've saved you $500-5000 in hardware upgrades, you send me my commission for that gain via Paypal.)

Now I'm going to contradict myself and give a few exceptions. First and most obviously, if you want to print a lot of photos in sizes of 40" or larger, a little more resolution than 5-8MP might help (although my 8MP files print well up to 20" x 30").

Next, I can vouch for the fact that high ISO shooting capability is one of the most important improvements that DSLRs have added in recent years, for handheld use in low light (portraits, weddings, concerts, fireworks, Chinese New Year Parade, etc.), night landscape shots (see my new night shot gallery and recent Milky Way shots on Flickr) and so on. Specifically, a friend asked me about the Canon Digital Rebel T1i/500D, and the reviews on sites such as Steve's Digicams verify that it delivers well on its promise for high ISO shooting.

If the Canon T1i had the 40D's 6.5 fps for sports (kids sports, skiing, etc.) and full 1080 resolution HD at a full 24 frames per second it would be perfect. Perhaps there will be a "60D" update to the 50D which adds these features. There's a show in September where new models are often introduced, and if we're lucky, the 50D replacement could be shipping by Fall.

In the meantime, the Canon T1i is a reasonable upgrade for indoor, sports and outdoor low light shooting.

Whatever you do, consider setting aside some budget for the Canon TC-80N3 Remote Timer Switch, which will allow you to do time lapse photography (including of the earth rotating under stars at night with high ISO shooting). There are a number of programs that will enable you to combine a series of downsized JPG still frames to make an HD movie. One nice benefit is that you can run the individial frames through a batch editing program like Adobe Lightroom so you can efficiently do a ton of edits and enhancements and have the video turn out with stunning quality.

Bug on the Earth's Windshield

Bug on the Earth's Windshield, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (www.MyPhotoGuides.com).

While hurling through space, the earth slams into a piece of debris from the Comet Swift-Tuttle (top right) during the annual Perseid Meteor Shower, as an orange moon rises through smoke from California's forest fires to shine on the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest at an elevation of 10,000 feet in the White Mountains.

One theory behind how life could spread among the stars is that amino acids could arrive on comets and survive the impact. It seems fitting to be among earth's oldest living things to witness comet debris falling to earth under the light of our neighboring stars.

Perseid Meteor Over the High Sierra

Perseid Meteor Over the High Sierra, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (www.MyPhotoGuides.com).

If you can find a patch of sky with minimal light pollution, the peak showers happening midnight to 5am tonight (Wed), and they'll continue at a declining rate for a few more days. The meteors appear to come from the constellation Perseus, which is near Casseopea (looks like a big W), and rises to the East/Northeast. This article has more info:

Strong Meteor Shower Expected Tonight

This shot of the Milky Way over the Sierras was taken earlier in the evening. Select the photo at the top of this article to go to its Flickr page and examine the EXIF shot details (using "More Details" link in the right column).

Smashmouth Live Concert in Reno

Steve Harwell, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (Truckee today).

Steve Harwell, lead singer of Smashmouth... spots a big camera... and poses for it!

The band, known for songs such as "All Star" and for the Shrek movie soundtracks,played at The Legends at Sparks Marina in the Reno area in Nevada last weekend.

Breaking Sunrise Storm in the Owens Valley

Vanishing Water, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (Truckee today).

The Summer "monsoon season" can be a very productive time to shoot in the Eastern Sierra, as small thunderstorms build and then break as warm, moist air crosses the mountains.

Return of the Flies

Return of the Flies, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (Mono Lake today).

Alkali flies are hatching by the millions on Mono Lake, and they're just starting to form a thin black line around the lake with their bodies. By fall they'll be as dense as 2 or 3 feet wide, but Mark Twain mentioned that they were 6 feet wide around the lake when he visited.

Silver Falls State Park, Oregon

South Falls in Silver Falls State Park, Oregon, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (www.MyPhotoGuides.com).

Whenever you're in the vicinity of Salem, Oregon, you're not far from this park, which features many dramatic waterfalls, a couple of which are within quick walking distance of a trailhead. I stop there when I'm driving up highway 5, or when I'm heading from the coast towards Bend.

Oregon's Painted Hills

Oregon's Painted Hills, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (www.MyPhotoGuides.com).

Layers of mineral-laden volcanic ash and clay create a wide palette of colors in the Painted Hills in central Oregon. I frequently set my sights on central Oregon when the coast is cloudy or rainy.

By The Rockets Red Glare, The Bombs Bursting In Air

By The Rockets Red Glare, The Bombs Bursting In Air, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (Oregon Coast today).

Given that our itinerary ended up getting reversed due to clouds on the Oregon Coast towards the beginning of the trip, that put us heading towards the coast around Independence Day.

We learned of Depoe Bay's July 3 disply as we sat in a coffee shop in Hood River, so we hopped in the car and made the trek.

That display over the rocky coast was great, but the following night at Seaside was a much bigger spectacle.




In addition to the official display at Seaside, people had brought a significant quantity of their own fireworks to shoot off on the spacious beach. We had purchased a pack of fountains in Montana knowing that Oregon didn't allow rockets and mortars, but we found that many people had purchased the disallowed varieties across the border in Washington.

One of our favorite things to do was to take long exposure shots while we "painted" with the 3' long sparklers we had brought. Fortuantely they lasted several minutes, so we could take several shots with each one!
We stayed on the beach until about 11:30pm, which was good since the traffic getting out of town was a challenge until well past midnight.

Oneonta Falls and the Columbia River Gorge

Oneonta Falls, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (Oregon Coast today).

This turned out better than my shots here last Summer. I like the leading lines in the left foreground water (bubbles on the surface of the stream?).

Shot with 82mm circular polarizer. Adobe Lightroom adjustments: White Balance: Shade, slight bump in contrast (Canon 0EV RAW results are too low in contrast), Recovery (recover highlight detail), Punch (further detail recovery and contrast bump). See "more properties" in right column of the photo's page on Flickr for exposure detail (click on the photo).


Regarding using "shade" for the white balance "correction" It looks more like what we'd perceive (the waterfall as white), but less like as it actually was and the camera recorded (with a blue tone to the light). Let the debate on what "reality" really is ensue...

BACK UP YOUR PHOTO DATA NOW!

BACK UP YOUR PHOTO DATA NOW!, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (Columbia River Gorge tonight).

It looks like my new 1.5 TB disk drive may be damaged beyond repair. It was the primary storage for images form my most recent trips, and on the road I rarely have access to three power plugs for several hours to perform the backups that I should have been performing, so I may have lost months of work, including the first 9 days of my current trip to national parks with my kids.

I was just about to back it up...

I'll try a data recover service when I determine which ones are most likely to be able to work on physically damaged drives, but the drive was dropped, so it's most likely damaged beyond repair.

I'll only know the extent of the loss when I swing back by Northern California and see what data I have on my next most recent backup drive (I have another 1TB with me, but it contains mostly older files up to 2007).

Don't assume that you can back up your files tomorrow or on your next stop in a trip. They could be lost if you don't duplicate them immediately.

Over 35,000 Views in One Day!

Natural Firefall, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (Mt Rainier N.P today).

I recently had one of my photos receive over 2000 views due to being recommended to others on the site StumbleUpon.com. Then I saw this photo get a few hundred hits per day from there over the past few days.

Well, the momentum for this photo has just gone through the roof and this photo has received nearly 36,000 views!

It's encouraging to see people enjoy my photos. Welcome, Stumblers, and don't forget to check out my other favorite photos on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffreysullivan/sets/72157603822583160/

Glacier National Park

Bighorn Sheep, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (off to OR, WA...).

When we arrived at Logan Pass in Glacier National Park, a couple of large Bighorn sheep were in the parking lot. I layed down on the ground with a 70-200mm lens to take the parking lot and spectators out of the composition.

Bannock Ghost Town, Montana

Bannock, Montana, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (off to OR, WA...).

Bannock is smaller than California's best ghost town Bodie, but a huge plus is that they allow you to go into the buildings. It's also open 8am-9pm, so as long as you don't visit in late June, you should be able to catch a sunset there.

Be forewarned though, the mosquitos are ferocious!

This is a teepee that you can rent for $25/night. This composition jumped out at me as I spotted the setting crescent moon from an adjacent campsite at Bannock State Park.






California is talking about closing 80% of its state parks and raising entry fees to $15, to address politicians' mismanagement and poor planning. In contrast, I'm traveling in Montana this week, and they have no budget deficit, no parks are closing, and state parks are FREE to Montana Residents. Montana also has no sales tax, while many California residents are now paying over 10%. Montana also obviously doesn't have as ridiculous a gas tax as California: gasoline is about $2.59, vs. $2.98 in the Sacramento area (without the Bay Area's add-on) or so when I left California two weeks ago. California's property tax is also among the highest burden per household in the nation, even comparing the percentage of home value tax rate to other states, but the burden is especially high when you consider the sky-high (and now unrealistically high) California property values that the taxes are based on.

Politicians wonder why tax revenues are down, but California's representatives in Congress support importing cheap foreign labor under L-1 and H1-B visas. Since this continues during recessions, half of California's high tech workers were unable to return to the industry during the last recession. The U.S. Department of Labor publishes 6 unemployment figures, all of which under-report the true problem, and the highest one was 16.4% in May 2009 (line U-6 at the following link)!
www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t12.htm
The stock market is already doing worse than any point around the Great Depression.
It's Already Worse Than the Depression
www.fool.com/retirement/general/2009/06/23/its-already-wo...
Unemployment rates increased and home values declined for years after the stock market crash of 1929, and current unemployment is already way ahead of that history. We could still be in for a stunning economic decline over the next few years. Unfortunately the world economy essentially follows the U.S. economy, so there's nowhere to hide. Be careful out there!

I don't waste much time or energy on politics; the entire system far too dirty due to the bribes commonly referred to as "campaign contributions". However, the current depths we've sunk to and the path we're on are simply too much. I refuse to re-elect any incumbent politician next time around, state or federal. FIRE THEM ALL! To preserve what is left of our once-great country, it is imperitive that we completely remove our politicians' ability to pocket "campaign contributions" from special interests. Bribery is bribery, and should be made crystal clear as treason against the nation and against the American public (if it quacks like a duck...). Please contact your elected representative today and make your views on current affairs, and on our prospects for the future, crystal clear to them.

Yellowstone Isn't All Geysers!

Yellowstone Isn't All Geysers!, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (off to OR, WA...).

Forest fires in Yellowstone break up the lodgepole pine monoculture and open up land for other plants and animals.


Bighorn sheep feeding above a cliff of columnar basalt in Yellowstone National Park.
We spent last night at ghost town of Bannock, MT, and didn't see single ghost!

This morning we dug for quartz crystals at Crystal Park, and now we're in Missoula, on our way towards Glacier National Park!

Yellowstone National Park: Beehive Geyser Rainbow

Beehive Geyser Rainbow, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (off to OR, WA...).

Evening is a great time to walk the geyser basins. If you catch an eruption and place the sun at your back, you can catch a rainbow in the spray!

This is Beehive Geyser, one of the more intermittent geysers in the Old Faithful Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming.



Sorry I've been offline so much this week... Yellowstone was established as a national park on March 1, 1872, but it seems no more likely to get Internet service now than was did then!

Hopefully a new vendor will replace Xanterra's vice-grip on 1900s-era concessions and services in the park will end some day, or perhaps the new head of the Department of Interior, Ken Salazar, will bring the parks into the 21st century? If so, better late than never!

Grand Teton National Park

Schwabacher Landing Rainbow, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (off to OR, WA...).

Sometimes you're good, and sometimes you're just plain lucky. Most of the time I'd rather be lucky than good! I found this rainbow shortly after sunrise at Schwabacher's Landing.

We spent several stormy days in Grand Teton National Park, discovering that the tent we used for years in California is not exactly waterproof! Who knew that it could rain during camping season?

Lava River Cave, Newberry National Volcanic Monument

Lava River Cave, Newberry National Volcanic Monument, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (off to OR, WA...).

Light Painting (and HDR) highlighting ice crystals near the mouth of Lava River Cave in Newberry National Volcanic Monument near Bend , Oregon.

Unfortunately I dropped one of the colored filters that came with my Maglight, so my options for more shots like this are greatly reduced on this trip!

Crater Lake National Park

Don't Eat Red Snow, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (off to OR, WA...).

After waking up at Harris Beach on the Oregon Coast, spending a gray morning at the Battery Point Lighthouse in Crescent City, California then exploring the Stout Grove in Redwood National Park, we made our way to Crater Lake. We arrived just in time to catch sunset over these interesting snow melt channels.

The light over Crater Lake wasn't great in the right directions by the time we reached it, but the next morning we had a blast exploring Lava River Cave in Newberry National Volcanic Monument near near the town of Bend.

Redwood National Park

Big Tree, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (off to OR, WA...).

It turns out that this is a great time to visit Redwood National Park. It's a little late for the rhododendrons, but the ferns are bright green with new growth. This tree is in the Stout Grove, which is jointly managed with the State of California as part of Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park.

Are we in Yellowstone Yet?

Harris Beach, Oregon, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (off to OR, WA...).

A funny stop on the way to Yellowstone from California, but the forecast of partly cloudy skies on the coast told me to go this way to catch the light.

We caught sunset at Harris Beach just North of Brookings, Oregon, but the woke to solid gray skies, so we headed back South to Redwood National Park, and turned towards Crater Lake National Park and the Bend area.