Very few people get to see the world from a pilot's perspective, let alone capture a timelapse of the Milky Way tens of thousands of feet in the air, but that's exactly what airline pilot/photographer Sales Wick did on a recent flight from Zurich, Switzerland to Sao Paulo, Brazil. Check out his gorgeous nighttime timelapse video, which captures not only the twinkling lights of Geneva and Algiers, but also the twinkling stars of the Milky Way.

With about 340 passengers on board a Boeing 777, Wick decided to capture a nighttime timelapse of his long haul flight from his unique vantage point. He used a Sony a7S with a 35mm f1.4 lens—a great combination for the low-light condition he most certainly faced.

But it wasn't his first rodeo. According to his post on his website, Beyond Clouds, he explains that he has attempted many times to shoot a nighttime timelapse during a long haul flight, and the success of this one is largely due to good mounting, some luck, and magic.

Basically the challenge is to keep shutter speed as fast as possible in order to get razor sharp images. While you can use the 500 or 600 rule on ground, this doesn't work out the same way while being up in the sky. Well, of course basically it does if you don't fly perpendicular to the movement of the night sky, but even if its really smooth there are usually some light movements of the aircraft.

So depending on the focal length of your lens you can get exposure times between 15" to 1". That's why you will need a camera that can handle high ISO. That's where the A7s comes into play, and of course a very fast lens. The rest is a good mounting and some luck. Last but not least you need to keep the flight deck as dark as possible to get the least reflections...and the rest is magic ;)

Head on over to Wick's post to learn more about his experience capturing this amazing timelapse.

Source: Beyond Clouds

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