This month's field trip will be to the Rickenbacker Causeway Beach. After the toll plaza, turn right onto the beach which is across from the Mast Academy and before the Seaquarium. This location is great for sunset, long-exposure and time-lapse photography. It is a great opportunity to practice your skills and to get awesome images for the next Photo Challenges.

Sunset on this Saturday will be at 8:00 PM. We will practice Long Exposure Photography - using exposure settings of 5 seconds or longer. Blur the movement of the water and the people in the vicinity.

Alternatively, we will practice time lapse photography -  a technique  used to  capture movement. In essence your frame rate will be lower than what you'll use to view the sequence of your photographs. When played at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and thus lapsing. For example: You may take 12 seconds of compiled cloud footage to be shown at 30 frames per second. This will require [ 12 x 30 = 360 ] 360 frames to be captured. You will see the clouds moving moderately fast. For a nice smooth video, you may decide to capture each frame at 2 second intervals. Stitch the images together using post-processing software.

Suggested Equipment:

Tripod.  Necessary for all nighttime photography. 

A wide-angle lens.  The wide-angle capacity will generate a wider depth of field.

Remote control. The trigger cable or remote control is necessary to maintain your camera stable.  

Intervalometer - a device that counts intervals of time.  Many cameras have this built in. Check your camera's manual.

Replacement batteries. It is very important that in the ideal equipment for night photography you do not lack spare batteries. The expenditure of battery that requires the photographs of long exposures, is great.

Field Trip Coordinators: Marta Cubillas and Frank Jimenez