Sandy Hook Twin Lights Sunset Timelapse

Yesterday evening I drove to Sandy Hook, NJ to take a sunset timelapse of the Twin Peaks Lighthouses.  The lighthouses overlook the Sandy Hook area and the sun was setting behind the lighthouse so I thought it was a good chance to get a pretty cool timelapse.

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DSC_8477The sun was covered by high clouds so I was optimistic of some good sunset colors.  I got there about 345 pm (for a 4:41 PM sunset).  I set my interval at 10 seconds and used my 55-300 mm lens.  I was debating how close to get to the lighthouse, I decided for some perspective for the light since I was hoping the lighthouse would be more apparent as it darkened outside.  My final focal length was 72 mm.  My first shots were at f/22 and ISO 100 with a shutter speed of 1/100 seconds.

The sun set behind the light house which was pretty cool and then the light was going off and on.  I was hoping it would be more of a rotating light but it was still pretty cool to see it turn on and become lighter.

The sunset didn’t really turn out that great but I still stayed through for the day to night timelapse. My last shot was at 4 second shutter speed, with ISO 500 and f/11.  I usually ramp up the ISO to 400 and aperture to f/11 to keep everything sharp at the end of the shot.  If apertures get below f/10 it may become apparent that depth of field sharpness is becoming shallower.  I ended up staying until 530 pm, about 40-45 minutes after sunset so that it gets dark.

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Overall the video turned out really nice, I would like to go back another day for a closer shot too since this is a pretty nice and quiet area for timelapses!

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