At Home with Tech

July 9, 2023

A Cloudy Morning Doesn’t have to Ruin your Sunrise Photography

If you’re looking to photograph the sunrise, but it’s a cloudy day, consider a time lapse instead. Here’s what you might discover…

It’s not really the sunrise. It’s everything else that surrounds the rising, warm circle. That’s what matters when you’re trying to capture this magical moment. It’s the state of the rest of the sky that makes our sun the star.

Placed properly (as if the photographer has the power), clouds can make a sunrise truly spectacular. All of those wonderful colors in the early morning sky are immediately enhanced by clouds.

Clouds are your friend. Clouds are your special ingredient. Until they take over and ruin your shot.

But even after they creep in and mask the glow, don’t call it a day. It’s not over.

Speed up the Clouds with a Time Lapse
If you choose to look at clouds differently and start to observe their motion and trajectory, you can begin to unlock their beautiful intensity with your camera. Often, you can accomplish this with a time lapse.

Even the grayest and foggiest morning may contain its own cloud dance that can be revealed through a time lapse. You just need to speed up time to really see what’s going on…

Stormy Predictions?
Last year, I captured some amazing sunrise time lapses overlooking the mud flats in Cape Porpoise, Maine. And yes, the best ones had lots of clouds circling the sun, and they all gave it enough space to visibly rise.

This summer, my family and I returned to this incredible part of Maine, but my photography encountered more challenging weather conditions. In fact, the forecast was for rain each day of the week. It was as if a storm cloud would be parked overhead for the entirety of our vacation.

But as my wife likes to say, coastal weather conditions can be unpredictable. And that’s where the opportunity lies.

So instead of sleeping in, I still woke up early every day to evaluate the cloud cover.

Vacation Report
The first morning totally fooled the weather forecast, and I was there to witness the sun making its glorious appearance.
This was my gift for the week. The remaining days, I would have to work harder to find my shots…

On the next morning, the clouds rolled in during my time lapse recording to obscure any hope of seeing the sun. As I stood there at 5am, I wondered what the point was to keep going. But I continued my 30-minute time lapse recording by my little DJI Osmo Pocket.
When I reviewed my Osmo Pocket’s video clip, the sped-up motion revealed a morning rush hour of Maine cloud traffic.

It was dark. It was moody. It had great flow. I loved it.

The Dark and the Light
Yes, I was drawn to the power of the dark side. And I had plenty opportunity to experience it on this vacation. It’s pretty cool. I get it now.

I’m pleased that I found both the dark and the light during this trip to Maine.

Like a great restaurant, nature just serves it up. And you enjoy it.

I learned that it’s not about finding the shot you want, it’s about experiencing the uniqueness of each new day.

And if your camera can capture just a little of that, you’ve accomplished your job as a photographer.

Here are my morning time lapses.

July 2, 2023

I Time Traveled to 1979 and into the Film Set of The Crowded Room at Rockefeller Center

I accidentally ended up walking through a scene from “The Crowded Room” on Apple TV+ right before filming began. Here’s what happened.

I walked quickly to work in New York City last summer. The day was July 5th, and I experienced something of a spatial anomaly. Before I knew it, I was suddenly transported in time back to 1979.

I knew the year was really 2022, but reality started to warp around me pretty quickly as I crossed through Rockefeller Center.

I Entered a Time Bubble
To the right, I noticed a film crew and a group of actors hanging out between takes next to the famous ice-skating rink landmark. The extras were all dressed in hideous outfits from the 1970s. I didn’t immediately think much about it. (I grew up in New York.)

I turned my gaze forward and approached a woman in black wearing a headset and clutching a clipboard. She seemed very 2022.

As I passed her and took an immediate left to walk west on 50th street towards Radio City Music Hall, I sensed a small commotion behind me and vaguely heard something about the street now being closed to pedestrians. I kept walking.

I looked ahead and was stunned by what I saw. The entire street had been reversed four decades. It was as if I had walked through a time bubble and popped out in the 1970s.

The cars…the signs…the people. All transformed.
Even Radio City Music Hall had signage promoting an upcoming Frank Sinatra performance.

Had my mind been somehow captured, and I was relocated into another season of “WandaVision?”

I Crashed a Scene from “The Crowded Room”
Not exactly. In fact, I was walking through a scene of “The Crowded Room,” starring Tom Holland on Apple TV+.
I had inadvertently slipped through right before a street scene was to be filmed. All of the extras were in place, and it was as if I were an extra too.

For the next two minutes, I walked through 1979, appreciating all of the design work that had been done to bring this famous street back to another era. And then there were the dozens of extras, all seemingly transported here from the ‘70s. That actually felt really weird and slightly destabilizing.

It’s interesting how easily it is to disrupt your sense of normal, even if you know what’s going on.

Return to Reality
As I approached Sixth Avenue, I saw another crew person in black holding back other versions of me wanting to take the same trip back in time. They were too late.

I popped out of the time bubble and reentered 2022. I heard people yelling behind me to ‘stand by’ and ‘take your places.’

I didn’t look back. I had my moment back in 1979, and I was satisfied.

And no, I didn’t brush past Tom Holland or any other movie stars. (That might have actually ruined my immersion into the past.)

It was just another New York moment:
July 5, 2022 at 8:40am.

You never know what you’ll see on the streets of New York City.

June 25, 2023

Why an Overcast Day can Offer the Best Conditions for Nature Shots

Cloudy conditions at the Prydden Brook Falls in Connecticut can still offer a photographer great imagery to capture. Here’s what I humbly learned…

Last summer, my family and I went on a beautiful hike along with friends up to the Prydden Brook Falls in Newtown, Connecticut. For me, the waterfall was the highlight of our eight-mile hike through the Paugussett State Forest on the Zoar trail.

I focused on capturing silky smooth photos of the rushing water with my small Panasonic Lumix LX10 camera. That, of course, took slowing down my camera’s shutter speed.
This effect is the opposite of freezing fast motion. Instead it blurs it, while the surroundings remain crystal clear.

Packing my Gear
This year, we returned to our Zoar trail hike. (It’s actually the fourth time… We started during our series of ‘pandemic hikes’ back in 2021.)

On this trek, I brought my beefier Panasonic Lumix GH5 II with me. I had it stashed comfortably in the bottom of my Peak Design V2 Everyday Backpack designed for camera gear. I also carried my compact Manfrotto Befree Live carbon-fiber video travel tripod vertically in the other side of my Peak Design backpack. (It has adjustable internal compartments that enable this kind of trick.)

My goal was to capture more 4K video along with some additional stills.

Discovering the Beauty in Darker Conditions
Unfortunately, the conditions weren’t optimal. it was overcast when we arrived at the falls that afternoon. (And the sun came out as soon as we left.)

Of course, the darker environment gave the space an entirely different feel. The water wasn’t sparkling in the sunlight. The rocks didn’t glisten.

I was disappointed, but I still proceeded to get my shots. But when we returned home and I reviewed my videos and photos, I was surprised by what I saw…
I liked the darker imagery after all.

It has a moody energy. But the water is still bright… coursing through the darker scene. There’s plenty of contrast. Dark doesn’t have to mean murky.

I often feel the creative urge to brighten up my shots. But mother nature forced me down a different path this time. And it was a great lesson that I humbly learned.

My Waterfall Video Montage Continues
Last year, I created a little video montage of my Prydden Brook Falls shots. So I happily decided to update it with my newer and moodier clips.

Weather Conditions are Irrelevant
As our Zoar trail hike has become an annual event, I’ll plan on capturing and adding more clips to my little video montage in the future.

Nature’s beauty displays itself in countless ways… through sunny or cloudy conditions. The next time, I’ll try to remember that and simply show up to appreciate the unique magic that’s on display that particular day.

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