(Watch in HD with headphones on and the volume cranked, if you can. Hands and arms inside the cart at all times!) To get the latest on Sunchaser Timelapses, LIKE our NEW Facebook Page! facebook.com/SunchaserPicturesPage Check out "STARCHASERS: BEHIND THE DREAMLAPSE", a 4 minute Behind the Scenes Doc here: vimeo.com/65031084 After the unbelievable response to our first DEATH VALLEY DREAMLAPSE (vimeo.com/57757618) our team returned for Part 2, this time going deeper, to the mysterious and unexplained sliding stones of Racetrack Playa. No UFOs this time (we THINK) but plenty of wonder and amazement, including some insane star trails, a beautiful milky way pass over the lakebed, and an incredible pink desert aurora! We also tried out some new timelapse techniques, like moonpainting the foreground landscapes (0:53 -- 1:20), and also some experiments merging regular timelapse footage with star trails -- a technique we've been calling STARSCRAPING (1:07:1:33). If it has an actual name, let us know! :) Star Trails shot at 25 sec exposures. No special effects used, just the natural rotation of the earth's axis. Photography Merging: STARSTAX. Used two Canon EOS 5Dmkii, with a 24mm/1.4 lens & 28mm/1.8. The pink aurora first makes an appearance during the star trails shot at 1:36 and later in more detail at 2:22. Since we didn't even know auroras were POSSIBLE this far south, we did some research and learned there was a CME (Coronal Mass Eruption) solar event that night (March 17th) which likely triggered what we see. Read more at UNIVERSE TODAY (bit.ly/11ygzCy). If anyone has any additional theories/insight, we'd love to hear more! To learn more about the mysterious sliding rocks, read here: bit.ly/YgjOf2 Download our DREAMLAPSE 2 PRESS KIT (22MB) of Behind the Scenes Photos, Stills and Full Captions: bit.ly/17s4u5d Shot and Edited by: Gavin Heffernan twitter.com/GavinHeffernan Producers: Michael Darrow, Rachel Payne, Ben Dally, John Brookins Associate Producers: Michael Leland, Briana Nadeau, Adam Jeremy Williams Music: "Stay Down (Ambient)" by MOBY (License Courtesy MobyGratis.Com) Behind the Scenes Doc: Shot, Edited, and Produced by John Brookins. For more on this this and other upcoming projects, visit SunchaserPictures.com or twitter.com/GavinHeffernan The Sunchaser team is CURRENTLY SEEKING SPONSORSHIP for future adventures. Email info@sunchaserpictures.com To see more of our other Sunchaser Pictures Timelapses, visit our album here: bit.ly/LFy9KJ

Gavin Heffernan and his group at Sunchaser Pictures returned to the California desert, specifically the mysterious racetrack playa of Death Valley, to create this gorgeous video using a technique Heffernan calls Starscaping: timelapse switching to long exposure star trails.

via My Modern Met

(Watch in HD with headphones on & volume cranked, if you can! Hands & arms inside cart at all times!) After the great response to our SUNCHASER STAR TRAILS video, my brave team and I trekked to the world-famous Eureka Dunes in Death Valley National Park to search for some of the darkest skies on Earth. Despite temps below freezing, we went on December 13th, 2012 – the night of the Geminid Meteor Shower Peak, and a time of great planetary alignment! Armed only with boxed wine, firewood, and our DSLRs, we had to conquer epic climbs, sand roads with the 4x4 Jeep, and the occasional UFO... But it was all worth it when the skies cleared and showed us an incredible galactic palette! Star Trails shot at 25 sec exposures. No special effects used, just the rotation of the earth's axis. Photography Merging: STARSTAX. Used Canon 5D & 7D, with a 24mm/1.4 lens and a 28mm/1.8. The Geminids get crazy as the sun comes up (2:20-2:35) but you can spot a bunch more throughout, if you look closely -- or here's a nice shot (http://bit.ly/SkZGdw). There's also some passing planets (1:15-1:30 and 2:15-2:25). I think these are Jupiter and Mars(?), but maybe some smart astronomer out there can verify? The "UFO" appears at (1:30-1:35) and makes three broad circular sweeps over the desert. Though in timelapse it appears to be moving fast, consider the 5 seconds = about 50 minutes, so it's creeping. There was no sound, so it definitely wasn't a helicopter. Closer picture here (http://bit.ly/T3yK3s). It can also be seen cutting through the circular star trails in the shot used above! Shot and Edited by: Gavin Heffernan twitter.com/GavinHeffernan Producers: Michael Darrow, Rachel Payne, Ben Dally Music: "Stay Down (Ambient)" by MOBY (License Courtesy www.MobyGratis.Com - very cool!) Thanks: Adam Jeremy Williams, Briana Nadeau For more on this this and other upcoming projects, visit www.SunchaserPictures.com or twitter.com/GavinHeffernan To see more of our other Sunchaser Pictures Timelapses, visit our album here: bit.ly/LFy9KJ

If you've never been to Death Valley, you probably have no idea what you are missing. Truly an outstanding experience.