Sunset & Holy Grail Timelapse

Panchgani, Maharashtra

All of us, especially those who do landscapes, try to avoid shooting a scene with a clear blue sky. As much as we like seeing puffy or stormy clouds to spice up our photographs, we have no control over what nature provides each day. Sometimes we get lucky and capture beautiful sunrises and sunsets with blood red skies, and other times we are stuck with a clear, boring sky. A couple of weeks back I was in the stunning hill station of Panchgani and Mother Nature obliged with some spectacular skies. I decided to make the most of Mother Nature’s magnificent display and spend some time doing sunset timelapses and day to night transition timelapses, otherwise called the Holy Grail Timelapse.

Spectacular locations often make for some spectacular photographic opportunities and the stunning hill station of Panchgani is no slacker when it comes to spectacular landscapes and views. Day to night or night to day timelapses are called the Holy Grail timelapses. It gets the “Holy Grail” epithet because of just how insanely difficult it was to make given how the light changes SO DRAMATICALLY from the beginning up until the end of the shoot. Luckily for us today, camera technology has caught up and it’s made shooting and editing a holy grail timelapse almost as simple as any ordinary timelapse.

I used my trusty Canon 1Dx Mark ii paired with the EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS III USM Lens, EF 24-70mm f/4L IS USM & the EF 16-35mm f/4L IS USM at various times and the GoPro Hero 7 Black. The camera was usually perched on my ever reliable ProMediaGear sticks and the GoPro on the SwitchPod. These two have proved invaluable in keeping the cameras steady making it easier to edit later. Anyway enough about gear now onto the location. 

Panchgani

Panchgani is a quaint little hill station southeast of Mumbai - at around 250 kilometers and around 108 kilometres from Pune - in the state of Maharashtra. It’s known for the Table Land, a huge volcanic plateau. Lookouts like Sydney Point and Parsi Point offer views of Dhom Dam lake and Kamalgad Fort, used as a prison by the British in the early 19th century. To the southeast, the Rajpuri Caves are surrounded by sacred ponds and contain a temple dedicated to the Hindu god Lord Kartikeya.

As seems to be the norm with hill stations in India, Panchgani too was “developed” by the British as a summer resort under the supervision of Lord John Chesson in the 1860s. Panchgani was developed as a retirement hub given its climate remained pleasant throughout the year. He surveyed the hills of this region with Rustomji Dubash, and finally decided on this nameless area around the five villages: Dandeghar, Godavali, Ambral, Khingar, and Taighat. The place was aptly named Panchgani, meaning "land between five villages", and Chesson was made superintendent.

To develop the infrastructure, Chesson encouraged various professionals - tailors, dhobis (washermen), butchers, vegetable vendors, building contractors - to also settle in Panchgani. The area below the bazaar was allotted to them, and is now known as the gaothan. He is credited with planting plant species from the western world in Panchgani, including Silver Oak & Poinsettia, which have flourished since then in Panchgani. Chesson is buried in the graveyard of St. Peter's Church. In 1971 or '72, his death centenary was observed in a big way when for the first time, the town folk and the schools participated together in a ceremony to remember the founder of Panchgani.

Nestled in the middle of five hills in the Sahyādri mountain range, there are five villages around Panchgani named Dandeghar, Khingar, Godavali, Ambral & Taighat. The Krishnā River flows in the valley on which the Dhom Dam has been built approximately 9 km from the historic Peshwa town of Wai. To the east of Panchgani lie Wai, the Bavdhan & the Nagewadi dam, to the west is Gureghar, to the south is Khingar & Rajpuri and to the north is Dhom Dam.

The five hills surrounding Panchgani are topped by volcanic plateaus. These plateaus, alternatively known as "table land", are a part of the Deccan Plateau, they were raised by pressure between the earth plates. The area is known for its high seismic activity. In recent times, Paachgani has been facing ecological problems because of poorly controlled commercial activities, excessive traffic, and temperature inversion (because of humidity) from the new dams which have been built in the vicinity to improve water storage.

Panchgani and the nearby Mahabaleshwar are known for their strawberries cultivated year round. The strawberry grown here has been granted a Geographical Indication Status. A Geographical Indication (GI) is a name or sign used on products which corresponds to a specific geographical location or origin (e.g., a town or region). The use of a geographical indication, as an indication of the product's source, is intended as a certification that the product possesses certain qualities, is made according to traditional methods, or enjoys a good reputation due to its geographical origin.

The timelapses you see in the video were taken at two different locations - Kate’s Point and a location near Sydney Point at the Mount View Heritage Hotel. Kate’s Point is a rather famous viewpoint located around 15 km outside Panchgani, enroute to Mahabaleshwar, overlooking the Krishna River Valley and the Balkawdi - Dhom Dam. There are spectacular views of the valley and the waters of the dam. The point is named after the British Governor Sir Malcolm's daughter and it is probably the most picturesque point of Mahabaleshwar and Panchgani. 

Mount View Heritage Hotel in Panchgani sits on 2 acres of lush gardens with stunning views of the Sahyādri mountains and valleys. Surrounded by five hills, it is in close proximity of the second highest volcanic plateau in Asia, the Tableland. Established in 1923, the hotel's Colonial-style architecture overlooks the Krishna River, providing a serene retreat close to tourist spots in Panchgani.

The Holy Grail Timelapse

Sunrise and sunset are the golden hours of timelapse photography, and the most beautiful way to capture them is using the “Holy grail technique”. But why is this technique called the Holy Grail? The “Holy Grail” epithet simply signifies just how insanely difficult it was to make such a timelapse given how QUICKLY and more crucially how DRAMATICALLY the light changed from the start of the timelapse to its end. Luckily for us today, camera technology has caught up and it has made shooting and editing a holy grail timelapse almost as simple as any ordinary timelapse especially if you have the tools to facilitate.

The key to getting a holy grail timelapse is remembering why you are even shooting it in the first place. You want to see the scene change, and in this case the light as well. So when you are on the location, ask yourself what the most interesting thing on the scene is. Your composition rules like the rule of thirds and symmetry are going to be great rules of thumb to follow. But you may also want to have your viewer follow the path of the sun. TV shows will often use a sunset time lapse to transition into nighttime. This is a great visual cue.

What makes a good holy grail timelapse is often going to be the nice beautiful colours of the sky, the dramatic change of light in such a short time, the passage of clouds over a wide landscape where their shadows travel across the land. Or the silhouettes of mountains or buildings. Or maybe a setting where a city turns to life after sunset, or wakes up after a sunrise. The best ones are going to combine the above with great composition. This is going to come with practice because planning and shooting a sunset time lapse are a bit tricky.

So how does one go about shooting the Holy Grail of timelapses? 

1. ALWAYS shoot RAW, as they contain way more data than JPEG files

2. Turn off image stabilisation (IS) in your camera and lens.

3. Focus manually preferably at the Hyperfocal distance so you have everything from Minimum focus distance to infinity in focus.

4. Ensure the camera is in Manual Mode or Aperture Mode. Aperture Priority mode is a semi-automatic mode giving us the most flexible shooting options and is very reliable. Aperture priority mode will change all the camera settings in the shoot EXCEPT the aperture. This can help reduce the flicker if one is uncomfortable doing it manually. 

5. ISO - I usually tend to start my sunset timelapses from ISO 100. Sunrises will depend on the ambient light available and the combination of aperture, shutter and ISO to get the best exposure.

6. White Balance - I’ve tried both AWB and setting a manual WB and the choice usually depends on how much time I have before I start shooting. Since I shoot in RAW I can always modify and match the WB while I am editing.

7. Take time and GET the correct exposure for the first image - choose the aperture you want, choose the ISO you want to start at and work out the best shutter speed to get the perfect exposure - whites are not blown out and the shadows are not crushed. This makes everything that follows easy to manage.

8. Use an intervalometer and choose the Interval between the frames. This depends on how fast the sun is setting or will disappear from view. Preferably at least 6 - 5 secs and make sure the intervalometer runs an infinite amount of times. 

9. Last but not the least, make sure the battery is fully charged, and the memory card is empty to avoid any problem while storing.

Hyperfocal Distance

Hyperfocal distance can be a confusing topic, both for beginning and expert photographers. However, if you want to take the sharpest possible images, particularly landscape photographs, it is simply invaluable. Here are a couple of websites that explain in elaborate detail what the Hyperfocal distance is and how it can be leveraged to make the most of the depth of field — thereby producing a more detailed final print. However, knowing the hyperfocal distance for a given focal length and aperture can be tricky.

PhotographyLife Cambridge in Colour

And my favourite resource for all things timelapse - Gunther Wegner’s LRTimelapse. He also has a number of tutorials here.

But first things first, what exactly is a time-lapse? It is a technique that allows us to take a series of photos and put them together sequentially to create a video. The frames are taken with the same settings over an extended period of time and when put together show movement from the same perspective in a sped-up fashion. Basically speeding up the passage of time - Time Travel!

Timelapses can be created using almost any camera and off late most recent DSLR/mirrorless cameras have a "time-lapse mode" which allows one to create a time-lapse very easily without any editing. Once activated, one just has to point the camera to the subject, focus, and launch! Me - I prefer the old fashioned way because it gives me more control - especially over the flicker. 

Along with the list I mentioned above there are some additional pieces of gear required

1. A wide angle or telephoto lens which will give a nice wide field of view or help to zoom into details as I have done with this sequence.

2. An intervalometer which will help to control the intervals and exposure times. Some modern cameras have built-in intervalometers but I think an external one still provides more flexibility.

3. A sturdy tripod which is self explanatory as you need a stable base and avoid any shake caused by wind or uneven ground.

4. A Ball Head or any other head to get to the angle required - I actually used my Sachtler fluid head for a couple of sequences here. 

Finally the interval - A time-lapse interval determines how often the camera takes pictures. The more photos you take, the smoother the movements in your time-lapse will look. If you are going to be shooting for hours, the interval doesn’t have to be that short. The longer the interval is, the less overwhelmed the camera will be over a long period. Also keep your camera battery and memory in mind when you set an interval. For sunrise or sunset timelapses it is crucial to determine the right interval because the sun can be deceptively quick while rising and setting. It is basically dictated by the Lens and Camera combination and how much time they allow for maximum signal acquisition. Also it is best to shoot in RAW and Manual Mode although it isn’t necessary. It’s just that RAW and Manual modes give the maximum control over all variables. The shutter speed depends on one’s creative preferences. Slow shutter speed is ideal for star-trail timelapses. You’ll get a silky effect that will make the stars look like the ones in this video below I’d taken some time back from my rooftop - a Bortle 8-9 sky.

For a Milky Way timelapse from very light polluted areas read my blog - Lights of the Night Sky.

There is a ton of material and innumerable tutorials on how to shoot timelapses, best ways, easy ways to shoot the holy grail timelapses. I will not go into those details as they have already been done in a terrific amount of detail. All I will say is that if this hits a chord with you then please feel free to reach out and we can discuss more or just keep practising till you get to where you want to be. 

Here are some timelapses I have included in my gallery. There are quite a few more which I haven’t yet uploaded here but will do so soon.

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