The Sun Rises over a Black Sky
A continuation of the mini-series on sunrises. Here, I used the lowest iso and highest f-stop to capture as dark a scene as possible, but it did little to dim the Sun, which still appears as a white-hot sphere of light. We also see some lens effects (or aberrations): lens flare, lens distortion, and—this one is entirely my fault—some dust on the lens.
In the shot itself, we just see the Sun's slow movement up the morning sky. Meanwhile, over the course of the video, the Sun is accompanied by birds and flying insects, their silhouettes caught in front of the yellow light encircling the Sun. At 02:18 is when my favourite silhouette comes into frame: an airliner crossing the bottom quarter of the Sun. I never saw it while recording, so it's quite amazing to see it now, traversing across the plane of the star and briefly drowned by its light.
Speed variations
In this version you get to see it at several accelerated speeds, from fastest to slowest (3000% over the original down to 500%). The lens effects and distortions of the original are much more readily apparent here, especially the flare, but the funniest result is that the birds, insects, and airplane zoom around the frame so rapidly that they create the illusion of film grain. And combined with the sepia tones, we get a look that is oddly reminiscent of old film stock. Another illusion is one of movement, where the camera appears to also follow the sun as it rises. I believe this is caused by the clouds appearing to drift downward as the sun goes up.
Usage of this item elsewhere
- All of the files associated with this item can be downloaded from the Internet Archive.
- An edited version of this item is uploaded to Wikimedia Commons.
- A .webm version of the video sped up 1000% is available from Wikimedia Commons.
- A .webm version of the video sped up 2000% is available from Wikimedia Commons.
- A .webm version of the video sped up 3000% is available from Wikimedia Commons.
- Watch the main video on YouTube.
License & Attribution
By Joaquim Baeta. The files associated with this video are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. You are free to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon them in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, provided you give appropriate credit to Joaquim Baeta.
Example attribution: "The Sun Rises over a Black Sky" by Joaquim Baeta, https://scenoptica.com/footage/the-sun-rises-over-a-black-sky.html, CC BY.