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Pagoda @ Stowe Lake, Shot at ISO 640 at f/8 at 1/500th of a second. HDR shot (5 exposures)

Recently during a day off I decided to take a drive up to San Francisco, specifically the Stowe lake area of Golden Gate Park. Stowe lake is the largest manmade lake in the park and features paddle and row boat rentals, as well as an electronically pumped waterfall located on Strawberry hill.

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Waterfall at Strawberry Hill - Came across another photographer doing an engagement shoot, Shot at ISO 640 at f/8 at 1/40th of a second.
 

It was a nice sunny day in San Francisco, so there were a ton of people out enjoying the sunshine. At first it was a bit challenging to find parking near the lake, but I lucked out and found a spot not too far from the waterfall. As I arrived, I noticed a higher number of people walking around, as well as renting boats. I thought to myself that this is a perfect opportunity to do some time lapse videos!

Here's what I normally do:

• I bring a sturdy tripod and  a wired remote that has an intervalometer.

• I set the focus manually at a point far in the distance and then switch to manual.

• I then set intervalometer to take a photo every 1 to 3 seconds depending on how fast the action is.

• I start the timer then sit back and either listen to a podcast, audiobook, or to some good music.

I set my camera to about half the maximum resolution (10mp instead of 22mp) and in jpg instead of RAW. I shoot at a lower resolution both to save space on the memory card, and the fact that you don't need that much resolution for video. I shoot jpg instead of RAW to save space on the card, and to reduce post production time. I usually shoot at a given location for 5 to 10 minutes, then move on to find another interesting angle or location. I also will keep shooting in a given location if something interesting comes along and will wait until that person, or object leaves my frame. 

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Feeding the Ducks. Shot at ISO 100 at f/8 at  1/80th of a second.
 

Once I get my images back to my computer, I import them into Apple Aperture, and separate each timelapse into albums. I do adjustments and corrections on one photo, then lift and stamp those correction onto the rest of the images in the set. I then export the images to a folder at the original resolution. I'll then use Quicktime 7 to open the first image in the sequence, then export the result as a high quality quicktime video ready for editing in Final Cut Pro X in which I'll edit them together, add music, and titles.

Here's the resulting video with added sound effects and some music. (Hana by Jake Shimabakuro)

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