Busted

A few days ago I realized that I wasn't taking pictures in the aspect ratio that I preferred.  My Canon T3i defaults to a 3:2 aspect ratio, but most HD video is in the 16:9 aspect ratio.  I looked through my settings and changed the default from 3:2 to 16:9.

A high pressure system has rolled through the Bay Area the past few days.  This means that the coastal clouds typically stay off the coast and don't make their way into the bay.  It also means that the Bay Area gets a bit warmer.

My goal is to get time lapse of all three Bay Area airports at night in some fashion or another.  SFO typically gets more fog than the other two, so I figured this would be a good time to see what shots are available of it.  I'd found one person who shot SFO from Sweeney Ridge and figured I would head up there without any fog issues.  Of course, I didn't decide to head there until a little before 9pm.

I looked on the map before heading out and wanted to see if there were any alternate spots to check out on my way up to the top of Sweeney Ridge.  When I made it to Sneath Lane in San Bruno, all my alternate shots had too much light, so I made my way to Sweeney Ridge Park.  When I arrived, I found an empty parking lot, but no warnings about a curfew or the park closing at any hours.  I also looked at the trail sign which indicated a 1.8 mile hike to the top.

Ouch!

It was already 9:30pm and getting to the top would take at least another half hour, if not longer, and I didn't want to be out all night.  Also, when I checked my flashlight, the batteries were dead, so I'd mainly be in the dark by myself late at night.  After remembering what Joe Reifer wrote in his blog entry about possible homeless people living in the deserted dwellings at the top, I figured I would nix this attempt by myself.  There was a pretty cool view from the parking lot, though, and since I didn't want to go home empty handed, I set up the shot of the hillside and a lone tree, with the back drop of the dimly lit Milky Way behind it.  The camera was arranged such that it was on the driver's side of my car and protected from some of the area light.  I was really surprised that this many stars came through with so much city light nearby.

I had to open up the camera as much as possible and leave the shutter open for 20 seconds in order to get a good picture.  From what I read elsewhere, if the shutter is open longer than 25 seconds, one starts dealing with star trails.  I set the intervalometer for 25 seconds, which gave the camera 5 seconds to store the data before being ready for the next exposure.  I thought I had the 16:9 ratio set, too, but it appears that the 16:9 is only available when you use the "live view" even if the default is 16:9.  It reverts to 3:2 when the "live view" isn't used.

View from the parking lot.

With 25 seconds between shots, that's just over 2 pictures a minute.  At 30 frames a second in a movie, I need 150 pictures just for about 5 seconds of playback.  That equates to about 75 minutes of exposures.  I had my laptop with me and hadn't fully caught up on my How I Met Your Mother episodes, so I had something to keep me occupied.   I started the camera running, and then crawled into the passenger seat to watch a few episodes.

Every once in a while, a car would go by about half a block away, and the car lights would shine on the hillside.  I figured it would probably show up on the exposures.  There were a few planes that flew over, too, and I wondered how they might look, as well.

As the time rolled by, I found I had enough shots, but I had only a few minutes left of the current episode and wanted to finish it.  All of a sudden, my whole area is basked in bright light.  I turn to see a car shining a spot light on my car.

It's a cop.

I close my laptop and place it in the back of my car, before slowly exiting my vehicle.  I suppose crawling out of the passenger side looks bad, but when the female cop approached, I pointed to my camera and said I was just doing a little time lapse photography.

The po-po's lights finished off my shoot.

She'd already called in my license plate and they were reading back my info to her.  She asked to see my driver's license, so I dug it out of my purse for her.  She said they had a lot of trouble makers in this particular parking lot and that they would often break into cars.  She said she wanted to check and make sure I wasn't some missing woman or anything.  I said I was fine and was just wrapping up my shoot...especially with all the extra light kinda killing the last few shots.  She was amazed that I had driven so far for this shoot, but I explained that it was only about a 30 minute drive.

As I was driving home, though, I realized I need to be extra careful out shooting night shots in these "remote" locations.  I also need to get some pepper spray and fresh batteries for the flashlight. After looking at Google a little more, it also looks like there is slightly easier access off Skyline to another trail nearby, which may provide just as good a view.  I'll probably try it the next time we're low on fog.