Creating this video was an incredible journey. Throughout 2022, I explored Miami and captured the city’s stunning views. Miami is one of the most photogenic cities I have ever visited, and there are countless great spots to photograph its skyline, ensuring you’ll never run out of options.
South Florida is famous for its storms, hurricanes, and cloudy skies. This dynamic environment is a dream for time-lapse photographers, as each scene is filled with activity. When you incorporate elements like sunsets, sunrises, day-to-night transitions, or a starry sky, you create unique scenes that are nearly impossible to replicate. This is the essence of the Timeless Magic City time-lapse photography project.
While making time-lapse photo sequences in Miami, I learned that operating drones following the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Part 107 is simple. In this city, you can capture stunning aerial shots without the need to fly over people or moving vehicles. Instead, you can simply fly your drone over the water, whether from Biscayne Bay or Miami Beach. This approach minimizes risks, but it’s important to stay vigilant for helicopters and small airplanes in the area. While some scenes show the drone flying over city streets, the flights began over the ocean and ended either in a parking lot or along the beach shore, as no people were sunbathing at night.
I encountered several challenges along the way. The summer days in the Magic City can become extremely hot, causing my cameras to overheat at times. This poses two main problems: first, prolonged exposure to high temperatures can damage your equipment, and second, high temperatures can cause the sensor to produce more noise, especially during long exposures. Some days, I had to run for cover because I wanted to capture a storm supercell forming above the skyline, and within seconds, the storms were all around me and, of course, over the photography equipment.
This Miami time-lapse video features a variety of scenes shot from Key Biscayne, Miami Beach, and the Florida Keys. It includes stunning aerial hyperlapse sequences along with many vibrant sunsets and sunrises.
Ralph.