The following panoramic time lapse video shows the sky above Fairfax County, Virginia USA on 29 September 2026 beginning at 12:50 PM EDT. Two video segments were recorded using my GoPro HERO4 Black action camera mounted on an inexpensive mechanical one-hour kitchen timer. The camera pans counterclockwise beginning from the south-southeast, around past north, and ending to the southwest.
Experience has shown it can be challenging to align the camera so that everything looks level as the camera pans around the horizon.
Panoramic Image
The following panoramic composite image was taken using the "Camera" app on my Apple iPad mini 6, set for "Pano" mode. The iPad was mounted on a tripod located at my usual vantage point on top of a seven-story parking garage.
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| 29 SEP 2026 | 1:22 PM | Panoramic view. (15831 × 3659 pixels.) |
Some of the clouds in the preceding panoramic view looked dark and threatening and did in fact produce very light rain briefly during the shot.
Wind (mph), Weather and Sky Condition
"Wind (mph)," "Weather" and "Sky Cond." are highlighted by red rectangles in the following excerpt from a table of three-day weather observations for KDCA on 29 September 2026 nearest the times when I recorded the time lapse videos and panoramic composite photo.
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| Source Credit: KDCA | National Weather Service |
The "weather" was reported as overcast (OVC) during the entire photoshoot; the clouds reported under "sky condition" were all lower than 6,500 feet. Low level stratocumulus (Sc) clouds were moving across the sky from the northwest to southeast.
Tech Tips
The GoPro camera was set for "Video" mode / "Time Lapse Video" submode at a resolution of 4K and an interval of one (1) second.
The mechanical one-hour kitchen timer works as well as sliders that cost hundreds of dollars. That's why I refer to it fondly as "the little kitchen timer that could." I don't set the kitchen timer for a specific amount of time -- I just turn the dial clockwise until it's set for one hour. Then I compose the shot (by rotating the ball head to check the end points of the panoramic view) and start recording for as long as I need/want.
"CommerciaLapse," one of my earlier blog posts, features photos and a detailed description of the magnet-free rig I use for mounting the one-hour mechanical kitchen timer on a tripod plus a description of how the GoPro is mounted on the timer.
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 13.39 (21291) running on an Apple iPad mini 6] to compose the scene.
Related Resources: Posts on Walter Sanford's blog with the labels "GoPro" and/or "one-hour kitchen timer."
Copyright © 2026 by Walter Sanford. All rights reserved.
