Iceland Volcano Eruption Time-lapse

Photography Tips  •  Time-lapse Photography

In the spring of 2010, the Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajökull, erupted, shutting down airways all across Europe. Sean Stiegemeier organized a sponsored trip to the country to capture the natural disaster in a beautiful way. He used his Canon 5D MKII to film a time lapse of the eruption over the course of 1 1/2 days. Dynamic Perception loaned Stiegemeier a prototype of the MILapse dolly, which is now being marketed as the Dynamic Perception Stage Zero Dolly Kit, an affordable alternative to the popular Kessler dollies. Take a moment and enjoy:

Shot through a 16-35 2.8 L series lens and set to the music of Jonsi, the time lapse takes viewers on visual tour of the volcano, which includes multiple angles and views to fully encompass the size and impact the eruption made. One of the films more powerful scenes include the wreckage of a DC-3 airplane, filmed southeast of Skogafoss. While restrictions kept Stiegemeier from venturing in too close to the volcano he did note, “I actually had the best jeep driver one day that took us in the restricted area, but then the cops chased us and we had to hide.” When asked about the file format Stiegemeier used to record the footage he says, “Some [are] bracket, some [are] single, and some not HDR at all. All depends on the shot and how it renders out to.”

Volcano Time-lapse

For Further Training on Time-lapse Photography:

Check out this 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