Miramar Beach Time-lapse with Fisheye Lens

I made this video using a fisheye lens with my Canon Powershot S3 IS and GBTimelapse program from the balcony of our condo at Miramar Beach near Destin, Florida. I took a picture about every 20 seconds and it is played back at 30 frames per second. We were there 2-3 weeks ago, just as the oil spill was gaining press. The weather was not so nice due to rain and wind but that didn't ruin our time. The oil stayed away and so far it has not been a problem on the beaches in that area. The local authorities do seem to be making some preparations for if/when the oil moves in. Though my time-lapse video has nothing to do with the oil spill, I'm putting in a link to an animation tracking spread of the oil, since I have digressed to the subject.

Formation of Cumulus Clouds From Burning Wheat Fields, Time-lapse

Time-lapse Burning Wheatfields, 640x480, .mov, 8.6 mb 51 sec

For the last few weeks, farmers have been finishing their wheat harvest and burning the stubble to prepare the field for the next crop (the value and safety of this practice is debated), mostly soybeans around here. On this hot, humid day I saw some huge beautiful cumulonimbus clouds forming as a result of these burning fields. By the time I was able to get home and get out to our farm to set up for shooting, the clouds were not as impressive. I was impressed, though by the number of distant fields I was able to get, just in this frame, in this hour and a half period. At the top of some of these plumes of smoke, you can see the condensation, which is where they turn fluffy and white, before it cools and drops a bit then evaporates again. This time-lapse video was made last week using my Canon PowerShot S3 IS and Granite Bay Time-lapse software with my old Dell laptop. I took 1400 pics at a rate of 1 picture every 4 seconds. I made the music with Sony Acid Music Studio.

For the record, although I was involved with burning a few fields when I was younger, my family's farm hasn't grown wheat in the last couple of years so don't gripe at me if you are opposed to this practice. Here is a somewhat neutral story about the debate over this practice of burning wheat stubble from reflector.com. Also here is a recent letter and thread with some good old down home fussin' about whether to burn or not to burn from DailyAdvance.com in Elizabeth City, N.C.

You can see this time-lapse video of the burning wheat fields at my YouTube player page if you can't view quicktime videos.

UPDATE 7/10/08: Here is a good still shot of a cumulus cloud forming from the burning of wheat stubble by professional photographer Judd Patterson.

Cumulonimbus Clouds, Time-lapse

I just filmed this time-lapse video a couple of hours ago. It was late in the day and I was out pushing my 6 month-old boy through the neighborhood when I realized that there was an incredible number of cumulonimbus clouds booming all over. I went back home and got all my gear out, but I have such a limited range of viewing from my home due to trees, houses and hills that I was lucky to get this shot between the trees. I was filming the clouds in the first scene when it suddenly got much darker and my neighbors alerted me to the nasty looking clouds coming at us from behind. I turned the camera around and started filming. I should have left everything alone there so the film would have been smoother. Oh, well practice makes perfect. The pictures were taken with a Canon PowerShot S3 IS and Granite Bay Time-lapse software. I took one picture every 4 seconds. The movie was made with QuickTime Pro playing the pictures back at 30 fps.

You can see my other time-lapse videos at my time-lapse home page or you can view my time-lapse and other videos at my YouTube player page if you can't view quicktime videos.