Fear and Shaking In Las Vegas: A Bumpy Journey Into The Heart Of Image Stabilization:<br/>Part One

I spent most of last week in Las Vegas, America's seedy underbelly of sex, drugs and rock and roll. Although all that sounds tempting, my real reason for being there was to take an epic journey deep into the desert in search of amazing sights and sounds to point my camera at.

In the last ten years I've hiked thousands of feet up fjords in Flam, Norway, braved heards of massive bovine, gotten desperately lost in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada range, and perched on boulders in the middle of the St. Loius rapids, all to capture unique imagery and experience what nature has to offer first-hand.

Missing From My Portfolio Has Been The Gorgeous Textures & Colors Of America's Southwestern Deserts

But missing from my portfolio has been the gorgeous textures and colors of America's southwestern deserts. So when my wife wanted to visit her sister in Las Vegas, I immediatley threw all mt camera batteries in their chargers, cleaned my lenses, and mentally prepared myself for the TSA's constitutional violations which are a requirement for air travel nowadays.

Durring my five-day trip I wanted to capture the usual fare: selfies, landscapes, family photos, timelapses and wildlife photos, but I also wanted to try my hand at something else, this crazy new thing called a "hyperlapse". A hyperlapse is basically a timelapse video where the camera isn't stationary. The concept is basic, but the execution is not. To put it bluntly, this is extremly difficult to do well.

Hyperlapse has become very popular lately thanks to the wonderful iOS app from Instagram which makes doing simple hyperlapse videos childplay. However, executing this type of video with professional DSLR equipment or creating anything longer than a minute takes expert planning and very expensive equipment. Professionally done hyperlapse videos usualluy utilize large, expensive computer controlled dolly systems which use motors to move the camera while syncronizing the camera settings and controls.

I possess no such equipment, have no crew, no budget, and limited time at the shoot locations. Despite this, I wanted to try my hand at hyperlapse, so here is what I brought along:

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