"A traditional haiku is a three-line Japanese poem with a 5-7-5 syllable structure. The lines don't rhyme and the poem should be readable in a single breath. ... Content [is] traditionally about nature or the seasons." (Source credit: Google search results for "Haiku format.")
The word "nephelococcygia" means looking for shapes in the clouds that resemble animals, objects, etc.
Fishermen on Accotink Bay
The preceding photograph shows a view from the shoreline of Accotink Bay. I shot the photo on 16 August 2013 at Accotink Bay Wildlife Refuge, a 1,200 acre preserve located at Army Garrison Fort Belvoir, Fairfax County, Virginia USA.
Tech Tip: For best results, press the gear icon in the YouTube video player and set the "Playback speed" to 0.50x.
15 September 2025. Facing west-southwest. (~5 s)
Two classes of clouds are shown in both videos: puffy cumuliform clouds made mostly of small water droplets; and thin, wispy cirroform clouds made mostly of ice crystals.
Notice the lower altitude cumiliform clouds seem to be moving faster and in a different direction than the higher cirroform clouds. Meteorologists call that vertical wind shear.
15 September 2025. Facing north. (~10 s)
What are the take-aways?
My last blog post features time lapse videos created using the Apple "Camera" app. The time lapse videos in this post were created using my GoPro HERO4 Black. Both methods make it easy to create time lapse videos that look good straight out of camera. Question is, are the results equally good?
I think the GoPro's 16:9 aspect ratio looks more cinematic than the default 4:3 aspect ratio of the Apple "Camera" app. And I like the fact no frames are dropped in GoPro time lapse videos, in contrast with the somewhat mysterious process Apple uses to create time lapse videos.
On the other hand, "the best camera is the one you have with you" [Source Credit: Chase Jarvis] and there's no doubt people are more likely to be carrying an iPhone than a GoPro action camera, especially one that was released during Fall 2014. Having said that, I like the results I'm getting with my 11 year old GoPro!
More Tech Tips
There is no viewfinder screen on the back of the HERO4 Black, only a small "Camera Status Screen" on the front of the camera. Although it’s possible to operate the HERO4 Black manually using only the small screen on the front of the camera, it’s less than ideal for navigating menus and making settings.
In my opinion, it’s much easier to pair the camera with either a smart phone or tablet running the GoPro “Quik” app and use one of those devices to control the camera remotely. In this case I used the GoPro "Quik" app [Version 13.20.2 (18532)] running on an Apple iPad mini 6.
I recommend turning off Notifications and turning on Airplane Mode. Turn on Wi-Fi and connect to your GoPro camera. Launch the "Quik" app and connect the app to the GoPro camera. Be sure the camera is set for "Time Lapse Video" Mode with an Interval of 5 seconds and a Resolution of 4K at 30 fps.
Go to the shooting location and compose the scene. The red record button toggles recording on/off. Press the red record button and wait patiently.
Battery life and duration of video clip highlighted by red rectangle.
Press the red record button when you're ready to stop recording.
The following image was captured from Meteor M2-4 -- one of two Russian polar orbiting weather satellites -- on 15 September 2025 by Luis Acosta, my good friend and amateur radio guru. Luis's ground station is located in New Jersey (USA) but as you can see the view shown in the satellite image includes my location in Northern Virginia (USA). Although the time of the satellite pass (3:00 p.m. EDT) isn't perfectly synchronous with the times of my time lapse videos it's close enough, or as we say in Washington, D.C. it's good enough for government work.
Zoom in on the mid-Atlantic region. Notice Luis's weather satellite image (below) shows the same mix of cumuliform and cirroform clouds as is shown in my time lapse videos (above).
Meteor M2-4.
Tech Tips
The Apple "Camera" app can be used to record time lapse videos on iOS devices such as my iPad mini 6. The process is simple and straightforward, and works well. How to shoot TIMELAPSES on iPhone (7:15), by Matthew Vandeputte, time lapse guru, is a helpful how to video that provides step-by-step instructions for shooting time lapse videos using the "Camera" app on an iPhone. The same process works for Apple tablets too.
Luis's weather satellite receiving ground station includes the following hardware and software: Raspberry Pi 4 running the RaspiNOAA V2 image; RTL-SDR V3; Generic wideband LNA; and DIY QFH antenna.
Post Update: I received a message from Luis Acosta that said "You inspired me." Hyperlapse on a Saturday afternoon (2:50) was created by Luis using the Camera app on his Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra smart phone to create the time lapse video. Luis recommends a recording speed of 15x to 30x. Well done, Luis!
