California/Arizona Time Lapse on Vimeo

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11. 2D-3D conversion

by Dan Eckert

5 months ago

10. Camtrac

by Dan Eckert

8 months ago

9. Hyper-Lapse

by Dan Eckert

1 year ago

8. Space Ship Earth

by Dan Eckert

1 year ago

7. Railroad track dolly for time lapse

by Dan Eckert

1 year ago

6. California/Arizona Time Lapse

by Dan Eckert

1 year ago

5. 1037 E. Washington

by Dan Eckert

1 year ago

4. Time to Time pt 2

by Dan Eckert

1 year ago

3. Time to Time

by Dan Eckert

2 years ago

2. Powered paraglider

by Dan Eckert

2 years ago

1. windmills

by Dan Eckert

2 years ago

Most of these clips were made on or near Hwy395 in the California desert. Some in southern Arizona.Look for incline shots in the Alabama Hills near Mt. Whitney. I'll post some pics of rigs I used when I get a chance. Railroad time lapse gets lots of interest.
Intro music is by me and main track is by Dj Scott Stubbs. Some of these clips are long or hyper lapse which is catching on. Here's a clip of the railroad track dolly I used:
vimeo.com/14337541

Daneckertphotography.com

Credits

738 Likes

Paul Buehler
1 week ago
Knate Photo
1 week ago
Derek Rosien
1 week ago
Stephen Weichsel
1 week ago
Moskow
2 weeks ago
Lori Vaughan
2 weeks ago
pA/eL
3 weeks ago
Jasmin Lönnberg
3 weeks ago
63955921*
3 weeks ago
Corey Buller
4 weeks ago

Tags

Dustin Farrell 1 year ago

Dude, how in the hell did you do the shot moving forward through the desert for like 100 yards?? Are you walking with the camera and stabilizing in post? Once again, fuckin' awesome.
Dan Eckert 1 year ago

I kept pointing at the mountain in the middle and took one pace per shot. Had a fun time trying to stabilize in post.
Dustin Farrell 1 year ago

Oh, and how about the shots that elevate. You gotta jib?
33hirtz 1 year ago

Awe-inspiringing splendiferous!

:-)
Spencer Black 1 year ago

Amazing work Dan!! Yet again the railroads shots are mind blowing. I would love to see what your rig looked like with lights as you traveled through the long tunnel. Are these railroads still in service? That would be pretty hard core if they were. The steady cam (i'm assuming) time-lapse is stellar.
Dan Eckert 1 year ago

The tunnel is in very little use and I had a plan if a train did come. I was 110 outside and a cool 70 in the tunnel. There wer dead ravens in there too! Got a flat tire leaving the area and had a great time changing the tire in the middle of nowhere. Glad you enjoyed the vid.

No steadicam, just stills
Rivaldo Does 1 year ago

You've got a sweet deal with the flat tire. I once had a total vehicle loss right after shooting stills on those same train tracks. Don't ask.
David Collins 1 year ago

Words cannot describe how good that was. I am awaiting the rig shots with green eyes!!!
Tom Lowe 1 year ago

Some awesome movements here, Dan!

I've been thinking about building a self-propelled car for traintracks. I've seen tracks all over the place, in fantastic locations -- Mojave preserve, Ajo, etc. I imagine the dimensions of the rails are essentially the same all across the southwest?
Dan Eckert 1 year ago

Hey Tom, your right, the standard guage in USA is 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in inside. What I've found is that varies quite a bit, especially on a curve, Sometimes by 2"! The dolly i built adjust for this and that's key. It will also work on a narrow guade. I've found some great places on Google Earth I'de like to visit.

By self propelled do you mean motorized? I just pace down the track. I'll post a pic soon of the thing.
emmagination 1 year ago

Dude, absolutely no lie. If you plan on doing this again, i'd love to hang out and watch, and maybe shoot some BTS. Maybe I can carry some of your gear! Your work is awesome.
Dan Eckert 1 year ago

You got it, I apreciate the offer especially the gear carrying part. I'm not sure when my next road trip will be but your more than welcome to hang out. thanks for the great blog
emmagination 1 year ago

You mentioned LED lighting. Which ones did you end up using?
Dan Eckert 1 year ago

126 LED Video Lights. At 10% power they ran for many hrs. I modified them so they mount on a tripod
emmagination 1 year ago

I blogged you, hopefully you'll get many views for the hard work!
Dan Eckert 1 year ago

Thanks, that's so cool. I knew you would appriciate it. A lot of the stuff I build is on the cheap and lighting is critical to making more interesting clips, those 126 LED worked great. $100 for both.
rene coronado 1 year ago

very nice work. loved all of the camera motion.
Dan Eckert 1 year ago

Thanks
Oliver Agojo 1 year ago

ehm... excuse me sir:
this is outstanding.never seen like this before.
on wikipedia your name should be under timelapse.
philipp bloom your timelapse are excellent but dan eckerts are MINDBLOWING.
thy for showing us your art.
Norman Bosworth 1 year ago

Very creative footage. A lot of very hard work and it shows. Great Job!
Sean D.Brown 1 year ago

Amazing stuff. Got to you from CC website.. How do you do some of your pull outs from over a lake ect.. Not zooming on a 5d mark 2? Can you explain the motion? Is it all in Post?
Dan Eckert 1 year ago

The lake zoom was in post using AE
Sybren Arnoldus 1 year ago

.. and then I was like .. how did he do that???
Awesome shots.
Maik Thomas 1 year ago

awesom shots dan - what rig did you use for this shot ? 03:41
Dan Eckert 1 year ago

My legs,walking the camera
Maik Thomas 1 year ago

did you walk with an steady cam rig ?
Maik Thomas 1 year ago

so awesome !! i watched it again and again and agian 8-)
Spin Demon 1 year ago

Wow...just...wow! Amazing piece. I can not wait to find out more about your method. Just stunning!
Dave Dugdale 1 year ago

Wow, that was cool.
Travis Wears 1 year ago

so many amazing shots in this! wow.
JTP 1 year ago

incredible stuff dan! pardon my ignorance but what is long or hyper-lapse?
Franck Pierron 1 year ago

You have some incredible shots in it...will we get a making of of this ???
Dan Eckert 1 year ago

I might put something together when I get a chance
lsbrasil 1 year ago

I never saw anything like this! State of art timelapse!
Tim Sundal 1 year ago

Fantastic shots you got there! A "behind the scenes" video would be great!! Love your work!
Mark 1 year ago

These are some of the coolest timelapses i've seen. Great job!
Keaton Andrew 1 year ago

most amazing time-lapse I've ever seen
Jeremy J. Quinn 1 year ago

Just came back from a trip up to Mammoth Lakes area - great to see these fantastic videos from some of the places we drove by! Excellent work.
Rivaldo Does 1 year ago

I'm very familiar with these locations so I have a pretty good idea of how challenging this must have been. You must have majored in Persistence. Congrats!
John Jenkins 1 year ago

ummmm... ya. BRAVO ! ! !

Just amazing. One question. Can I come with you next trip???
Steamline Productions.com 1 year ago

I was wondering Do you manually glide the camera or do you have some automatic thing to do it. Thanks in advance
Jake Doherty 1 year ago

amazing work well done. love that shot at 3:00 if there was some sun and shadows going through could look awesome...
Jim McKenzie 1 year ago

Awesome!
Chris Giordano 1 year ago

......good god.
I don't even know what just happened!
I have to watch this again, and again.
So inspiring!
TwistedSifter 1 year ago

Absolutely incredible work! Never heard of 'hyper-lapse' before. What exactly does that entail?
Chad Richard 1 year ago

This is really great work Dan - - I love what you are doing - Keep it up it is inspirational!
Mark Grayson 1 year ago

Stunning work Dan... As others have said... inspirational...
Mike Collins 1 year ago

Amazing work Dan!
Jason Wingrove 1 year ago

Awesome work. Actually love the stream shot @ 3'59" too
But yes the walking shot at 3'42" is great fun. The zoom out shot at 3'38" is good enough to hang on the wall. Gonna ask a typical noob question re that one.. what lens?

And YES we NEEED to see more on the rigs :-)
ta
jas
Quentin A Brown 1 year ago

Some wonderful and very creative stuff here man. I'm assuming that a lot of the big lateral moves are drivelapses? Would love to see the rig for the crane shots, especially since you find creative budget solutions and I've got some cranelapses I want to try out and no budget...
Dan Eckert 1 year ago

The "crane" shots are acually a track I built. The dolly I made runs on the track. Quick setup. No motors just patience, a chair and some gloves.
Quentin A Brown 1 year ago

Thanks for the reply Dan, though now you have just made me even more curious - Must see some pics of these rigs soon!

Please!
matt freire 1 year ago

Someone sent this to me this morning on FB, awesome way to start the morning. Thanks for creating
Dan Eckert 1 year ago

Thanks, I have supplemental clips from that trip I'll post soon
Bill Ratcliffe 1 year ago

Very inspirational stuff!
Curtis Edwards 1 year ago

It's all been said, great work! What was used for the crane type shot on the Dinosaur?
Krs 1 year ago

Inspiring great work! I will watch it again and again and sharing.
Lloyd Barnes 1 year ago

Awesome work!
TyGuy 1 year ago

This video Dan, just blew my face off. I'd love to learn how you accomplished some of these shots. You are truly a master of your craft. Wonderful job.
Stephen Lewis 1 year ago

Wow, so cool! Going to mount pinos this weekend for timelapses, any tips?
Dan Eckert 1 year ago

Do some star stuff before the moon comes up, then use the moon light
Brad Kremer 1 year ago

Great work Dan. Really great!
Jorie Tappa 1 year ago

Wow, this is intense! Kudos to all the time that went into shooting and post it really paid off!
Jeff Morris 1 year ago

Great Work!

i also shot a time lapse of the dinosaurs in Borrego Springs.

flickr.com/photos/ineeddadrink/4707195980/
Dan Eckert 1 year ago

Saw your work, amzing stuff. Where's the time lapse of the dinosaur?
Jeff Morris 1 year ago

Still working on a Borrego Springs Video. Need to get out and shoot another night or two.
John Stavast 1 year ago

Eyes a-poppin' out my head on this one.
Marie C. Dietlin 1 year ago

so amazing i am speechless...
Scott Meadows 1 year ago

Brilliant, nice to see some innovation with the time laps techniques
Patrik Almqvist 1 year ago

This was among the most impressive time lapses I've seen, very innovative and extremely good!
I didn't want it to stop!!!
But all goods things has to come to an end, right? =)

Anyway, very very good film!
Dan Eckert 1 year ago

Thanks for all the encouragement from everyone! I'm very humbled. I'm looking foward to my next trip. Keep watching, I have some new ideas.

Dan
brian 1 year ago

the star stuff is great. the grading on the other images is a little too neon-ish for my taste, some of them even look like over exposed. must have been great fun shooting this.
best
Akira Kendo 1 year ago

mind blowing video

just one question, what is a long or hyper lapse?
could you explain that please. :)
Dan Eckert 1 year ago

It's a term I coined to describe camera movement more than an ordinary time lapse. It's subjective of course. I would say when the camera moves more than 30'. I haven't heard the term out in the wild so that's what I came up with.
Stephen Lewis 1 year ago

Hey Dan,
Going over this film again in anticipation of my own time lapsin' trip, how are you exposing for the shot at :23 with the trees in the foreground the milky way in the sky? When I try to expose at say f/4.5, ISO 1250 and shutter of 15 seconds, I can't see the milky way as crisp and clear as your shot. If I expose more, I get a washed out sky. Could the problem be light pollution from the surrounding town? Any thoughts? Thanks!
Dan Eckert 1 year ago

I was at an elevation of about 7000' so the air was clear. No large cities. I used: 5D MK2 24mm f1.4 iso1000 15sec. You need a serious lens to get this kind of shot.

The dinosaur was low elevation with 1/5 moon and El Centro, Brawley light pollution. That clip could have been better conditions. Hope that helps.
Robert Fisher 1 year ago

Hey Dan, where are the photos of that train track dolly? ;-)
Dan Eckert 1 year ago

Check out:
vimeo.com/14337541
Robert Fisher 1 year ago

Thanks, Dan

@Stephen - saw another description where the photog was using a 5D MkII, ISO 6400, f2.8, 20 sec. That'd be pretty close to equivalent to what Dan did in terms of overall exposure.
MikeA 1 year ago

Superb..............
Justin Turkowski 1 year ago

Awesome and progressive!
Andy Gaetz 1 year ago

one of the best i've seen. love it!
B C 1 year ago

These are incredible. For the shots of the rocks at night- do you use a light source on the rocks to light them up? Are these HDR time lapses? Finally, if I might offer a criticism I didn't like the soundtrack/editing. I felt it really took away from these amazing time lapses. I'm not sure what I would do differently- maybe get a little less flashy with some of the cuts, do away with the wipes. I don't even know if I'm making sense. I'm no expert and I still loved the video. Just not a big fan of the music. Not sure a driving techno beat is what it needed.
Dan Eckert 1 year ago

everyone is using new age sounding music so I thought why not give it some back bone and kick it up a notch. As for the wipes, I agree, they can be over done but the transitions between clips didn't flow together as well without them. Good movie making dosen't rely on wipes for sure. I put this together in a couple of hours. I know there is better music out there just haven't spent enough time looking. the lighting is LEDs I got of ebay via Cheesycam.com a great site by the way. Some clips were HDR. I also use Topaz filters in PS for that HDR look.
Thinkerer 1 year ago

This work just keeps evolving.... Stay with it - you're an inspiration to the rest of us.
Dan Eckert 1 year ago

Thanks, the hard work pays off. Thanks for watching
Ugo Dufour 1 year ago

Wow, just wow, i'm practicing to make time lapse myself, but this is out of this world. I only wish i could do something that amazing. Love your work men, you are inspiration for many learners like me.
Dan Eckert 1 year ago

It's cool because the learrning never stops.
allan johnston 1 year ago

I always look at myself as a student, you always see others doing cool stuff but the fun really start when you push what your knowledge and your out of your comfort zone. Sample out the status que!
timmatsui.com 1 year ago

Was just in Joshua Tree so it was great to see some of the desert "walking" shots.
Evan C. King 1 year ago

Man you blew my mind with this time lapse vid!
eric schneider 1 year ago

wow..most awesome! Thanks for sharing your video and the dolly track video!
Tom Robinson 1 year ago

Inspiringly creative - stunning work of art ;)
Kyle Harbour 1 year ago

Awesome time lapse, most dynamic I've ever seen!
Dan Eckert 1 year ago

Thanks
Georges Yazbek 1 year ago

dig it
Alex DePew 1 year ago

Awesome, I love the hyperlapse! Going to go looking for some under utilized rail track here in NZ and try that walking timelapse. Any tips for shooting that will making the post work easier? Also, thanks for the shot of the railroad dolly and all the explanations.
Dan Eckert 1 year ago

It takes a bit of R&D to get it to work right. You will still need to stabilize in post. I can't wait to see others try this. I'll post a more consice video of the dolly and how I set it up next time I'm out in the field. Let me know when you get some footage.
Jean Goudreault 1 year ago

Hi Dan.

It's the most amazing and dynamic time lapse that i saw. Thanks for sharing it. I also like a lot your Time to Time pt 2 creation.

I'm also a PPG pilot. I hope to see your PPG videos one day !

Go ahead with your good work and also have beautiful flights.

Jean
Dan Eckert 1 year ago

Hey Jean, I have some flying stuff on Youtube
youtube.com/user/DanEckert?feature=mhum#p/u

I'll be at the Salton Sea flyin, hope to see you.