Lucky Photographer Captures Rainbow During Timelapse Photography Sequence

Photography News  •  Time-lapse Photography

On November 27, 2012, photographer and programmer Roderick Lee Mann captured a timelapse video that some may compare to winning the lottery in photography—something rather impossible to plan or predict: a perfectly-framed formation of an end-to-end rainbow.

Here’s what happened:

While on a vacation to Hawaii, Rick Lee Mann was in a hurry to experience the beautiful sunset on the top of Waimea Canyon. Getting there earlier than expected allowed him to properly set up his camera—a GoPro Hero 3 camera in this case, which has great timelapse photography settings. (For the record, the camera was set up in timelapse mode, 12MP images, bottom portion cropped for 16:9 (1080p), one second-per-frame, 30 fps playback.)

At 3,400 feet above the sea level, Roderick Mann took the chance to wander about and shoot some other pictures with his phone. But it wasn’t until he went back the rental house that he discovered the beautiful and dramatic rainbow he had accidentally captured.

“This really was pure coincidence. I had to place the camera by reaching through a safety fence, which was awkward.”

Luck is something you don’t learn nor achieve. You either get lucky at the moment or you don’t. But mostly you don’t, as it all sums up to shoot as much as you can and hope for the best; the more you shoot, the more chances you have of getting lucky!