Photographer Takes 35,000 Photos of Japan and Turns Them into Stunning Timelapse

A photographer employed a technique usually reserved for star trails to make a spellbinding timelapse of Japan.

Gavin Heffernan tells PetaPixel he spent three weeks this fall trekking across Fukuoka, Nara, Osaka, Fushimi, Itoshima, Kyoto, and Kobe taking over 35,000 photos for his timelapse video.

A vibrant cityscape at night with long-exposure light trails from moving vehicles on a busy intersection. The multicolored streaks create dynamic patterns, surrounded by lit buildings and traffic signals.

Heffernan employed an unusual street light painting or “street stacking” effect in the video which was done with long exposure images stacked using StarStax, a program designed for star trail images.

“The street stacking idea was inspired by me shooting a lot of dark sky long exposure photography in isolated locations and using stacking programs to animate star trails,” Heffernan, who has an ongoing video series dedicated to raising awareness of the dangers and damage of light pollution, explains.

“I loved the surreal painterly effect of using the star trajectories as lines of color and light, so I wanted to explore a similar technique to try and capture the indescribable feeling of the overwhelming sensory overload that comes from walking the streets of Japan at night.”

A vibrant city street at night with bright, colorful light trails from moving vehicles. In the foreground, several parked bicycles. Tall buildings and neon signs create a lively urban atmosphere.

Heffernan says that the most technically challenging part of the project was navigating the “extreme exposure range” of Japanese cityscapes.

“Trying to find the balance between blinding neon lights overhead and traditional exposure for people on the ground can be very difficult but I just try to aim for the middle and accept that if it’s over a bit, it still captures the sensation of what it actually feels like to be there,” he says.

“Another challenge is trying to avoid fatigue when you’re trekking 20,000 feet a day for three weeks to find the best shots but I have a great ultralight SIRUI Carbon Fiber Travel Tripod that helps keep the weight down.”

A vibrant, colorful street scene in a bustling urban area at night, filled with neon lights and illuminated signs. The buildings are adorned with various advertisements and whimsical, oversized decor. Wet pavement reflects the bright lights.

Speaking of gear, Heffernan used a Canon 6D with a Canon 24mm f/1.4, a Rikonon 12mm f/2.8, and a Canon EF 24-105mm.

The edit, he says, took “about two weeks” to finish and saw Heffernan use Lightroom Classic, Quicktime Pro, Final Cut Pro X, and StarstaX.

Night scene of a city intersection with light trails from passing vehicles and a train on an elevated track. The ground is wet, reflecting the colorful lights from buildings and traffic signals, creating a vibrant, dynamic atmosphere.

The video is called Dreamlapse Japan 3 and that’s because there are previous iterations of the project which saw him travel to better-known Japanese cities like Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto. PetaPixel covered Dreamlapse Japan 2 earlier this year.


Image credits: Photographs by Gavin Heffernan

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