Night Sky and Star Movement Timelapse Photography in Namibia, Africa

Photographer Marsel van Oosten has one the most extensive portfolios of Namibia out there. His night photography is especially stunning and is the main subject of his latest project, Namibian Nights. For two years, Marsel has captured over 16,000 images to put together an amazing timelapse of the Namibian landscape at night:

Though short, Oosten‘s video consists of some of the best images captured in a timelapse. The lighting of the trees and other foreground elements is perfect. Each frame consists mostly of sky, allowing you to appreciate the stars and movement of the earth. Perhaps the most engaging is the combination of the dolly movements and the grand atmospheric music. Together they create quite an impact.

night sky time lapse

The unique quivertrees of Namibia

On the technical side of things, Marsel used a Nikon D3, D3s, and D4 set on Gitzo tripods. For lenses, he used the Nikon 14-24/2.8 and 24-70/2.8. Besides coordinating the dolly movements and intervalometer settings, Marsel also spent much time planning and waiting for specific environmental conditions such as the fog(which only appears about five times a year in Namibia) and the change in moonlight on the arch.

For Further Training on Time-lapse Photography:

There is a new COMPLETE guide (146 pages) to shooting, processing and rendering time-lapses using a dslr camera. It can be found here: Time-lapse Photography Guide

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