In 2010, I saw a timelapse video that I really liked, and I decided to make one myself of Pécs. That was the extent of the idea. I didn’t know anything about the technique, so I researched as much as I could and then started preparing the material. Nine years later, the video was completed. If anyone is interested in the background of the video production, they can learn more from the description and pictures below.
First, I’ll discuss the initial idea and the beginning. In 2010, I saw a timelapse video that I really liked and decided that I wanted to make one of Pécs myself. That was the extent of the idea. I didn’t know anything about the technique, so I researched as much as I could. The concept is quite simple: you set up the camera on a tripod and take a few hundred pictures at fixed intervals. Then, by stitching these together into a video, you create a time-lapse effect showing the passage of time and changes in the environment in an accelerated manner.
At the time I decided to make the video, I had a Panasonic FZ50 bridge camera. I wanted the final result to be of better quality than what could be achieved with that camera. I also felt I had outgrown the FZ50’s capabilities, so I looked at the available options, tried a few cameras, and started saving up. I looked at Canons and Nikons, but in that price category the Canons had less knowledge for the same money, and in the end I chose a Nikon D7000 frame. It also beat Canon frames of a similar level in terms of image quality. It surpassed similar Canon models in image quality and had an intervalometer, the feature needed for timelapse.
The question was settled, but gathering the money seemed almost impossible. I had been saving for over six months and was nowhere near the required amount. I borrowed money from my grandparents, for which I am very grateful. Although almost everyone said I shouldn’t borrow money for this, as it wasn’t necessary and I could manage with what I had, I went ahead and bought the camera and finally started the project in practice. At first, I only had a Nikon 16-85 lens, but later I bought a Nikon 50mm 1.8G. Previously, I had only gone on hikes occasionally, if a friend persuaded me. Fortunately, that changed drastically.
Since I started with zero concept, I initially had two possible ideas side by side and combined. One was to create series at the city’s more famous spots and various events. The other was to focus on natural phenomena. Ultimately, as I started shooting, the project increasingly shifted towards natural phenomena.
The very first series was shot on 2011.11.29 at the Tubes lookout, capturing a fog roll. This series didn’t make it into the video, as the fog gradually climbed up beautifully.
That day, Phinkee came along to photograph with me. In addition to the timelapse, these photos were also taken:
I shot the photos of the 2nd practice test again on 01.12.2011 from the Tubes lookout, but in the end it didn’t fit in the video. This is what the beginning and the end looked like:
Some photos were also taken besides these:
The following series was made on the spur of the moment on 01.01.2012. Tomi’s house was having a New Year’s Eve party and maybe it was Phinkee who figured out that we could actually go up to watch the sunrise. And I was like, sure. Why not? We set our alarms and after getting very little sleep, we headed up to the Liberation Monument. The sunrise was beautiful, but this sequence didn’t make it into the video. At the time I was trying to use a ND filters. This is a better way to compensate for the large difference in brightness on a flat horizon. However, for me it was of poor quality and resulted in such extra glare in the images after the sun came out that I didn’t want to use those images from then on.
Other than the timelapse I shot this:
The following series was made on the spur of the moment on 01.01.2012. Tomi’s house was having a New Year’s Eve party and maybe it was Phinkee who figured out that we could actually go up to watch the sunrise. And I was like, sure. Why not? We set our alarms and after getting very little sleep, we headed up to the Liberation Monument. The sunrise was beautiful, but this sequence didn’t make it into the video. At the time I was trying to use a ND filters. This is a better way to compensate for the large difference in brightness on a flat horizon. However, for me it was of poor quality and resulted in such extra glare in the images after the sun came out that I didn’t want to use those images from then on.
Other than the timelapse I shot this:
On 2012.05.02, I tried again from the Tubes lookout. There was supposed to be a storm, but it was moving very slowly, making the series of the twilight somewhat dull. Nearly two weeks later, on 2012.05.14, I tried capturing a cloud formation in Rezeda Dűlő. The view of the city was good, and at that time, the 25-story building was still standing. However, this part did not make it into the final video. On 2012.07.16, I went back to the Kis-Tubes lookout, hoping to capture a good storm. This made it into the video, though it wasn’t as strong as I had hoped. On 2012.10.23, with the city covered in fog again, I went to Kis-Tubes. Two series were shot that day. One was with a wider angle, but the fog movement wasn’t very dramatic. Additionally, I was not entirely satisfied with the correction of the graduated ND filter’s negative effect on white balance, and unfortunately, despite my efforts, it was not perfect.
Since I reviewed the photos on-site and the first series didn’t convince me, I tried using the telephoto lens. By then, I had managed to buy a Tamron 70-200 lens, so I could vary the focal lengths. The chimneys of the thermal power plant were just visible above the fog, so I focused on those.
Ultimately, none of these made it into the final video. Later on, I was able to take much better photos of the thermal power plant. Since I really enjoyed the fog and didn’t feel like going home, I walked over to the Tubes lookout and took another series from there.
2013 arrived, and once again, I went out on New Year’s Day, but this time I didn’t wake up early. We went up to Tubes for the sunset. I remember we had to fight for space with our tripods at the lookout, as so many people came up to admire the rolling fog. It was beautiful. I took four series, although, in hindsight, I would have done it differently. One of them consists of only 90 photos, making it very short and limited in its use for video editing. Still, two of them made it into the final video.
A few other pictures were also taken:
On January 15, 2013, I captured a segment from the Tubes lookout. I could have thought through the composition better, but it’s too late now. Neither this nor the following series made it into the final video.
Then, on February 8, 2013, I went to the Sós Hill lookout to take pictures from a different location. However, the lookout wasn’t high enough, and trees obstructed the view of the city in several places. Additionally, after stitching the images together, I found the series to be somewhat gray and dull.
On April 10, 2013, I went up to the Wall. Pécs had an iconic building, at least in my opinion, which was visible from almost everywhere. It was an empty house in Rezeda Dűlő, whose plot has since been purchased, the house demolished, and supposedly another one is being built in its place. The last time I was there, construction was still in progress. Anyway, I wanted to capture this house, but unfortunately, it didn’t turn out as spectacular as I had hoped.
After a few months’ break, my next destination was the Zsongorkő lookout on Jakabhegy on August 27, 2013. Two series were shot here, and they didn’t turn out bad. In fact, I particularly liked the fog rolling over the mountain, illuminated by the sun in places, but it didn’t make the final cut during editing. The second series was much more spectacular, shot years later at night, and it did make it into the video.
A few days later, before sunset, I was at Havihegy, where I set up the tripod and camera under one of the crosses. Back then, the Magasház was still standing, so it appears in this segment along with landmarks of the city center, and part of the Havihegy promenade is also visible. I vaguely remember that the weather was very nice, and it felt good to sit above the city while the camera did its job.
In 2013, I saw a few videos where the camera was rotated between each shot to create more dynamic timelapse footage. My regular tripod head couldn’t regulate the rotation smoothly enough, so I needed a different solution. Thanks to Gyuricza Pista for lending me his astrophotography mount for months. When he needed it back, he machined a small rotating head for me, which allowed me to manually rotate the camera on my tripod. I managed to create the first proper rotating timelapse segment at the Nike statue, which turned out like this:
In addition to the timelapse, a panorama was also taken:
This reminds me, it was here that I met Imre Csaba, who was also capturing material for a timelapse. Later, he helped a lot with turning the photos into videos. Thank you!
The momentum came with the December 16, 2013, photo session. At that time, a cold air inversion covered Pécs and its surroundings for days. Previously, I mainly went up to the Tubes and Kis-Tubes lookouts, but this time I thought that in such heavy fog, Zengő would also be above the fog, making it worth hiking up there. So, I did. Being in the fog for days was awful, with all the grayness. So, it was a real relief on the way up when I crossed the fog line and finally saw some sunshine. All that was left was to hike up to the lookout. It’s not an easy hike, especially with all the photo equipment, but it was totally worth it. The area was completely covered in fog, with only the top of Tubes and the TV tower visible. So, I started shooting series of photos. The weather was so nice that I even took off my shirt to sunbathe. That day was a turning point in the project. I developed quite a fog obsession because the view was so beautiful. And the photos, when I reviewed them at home, were amazing. I loved the series taken during the day, but one of the most beautiful experiences of the project was the sunset with the telephoto lens. This led to another resolution: I wanted a nighttime series of the TV tower just peeking out of the fog, so the fog would diffuse the city’s light pollution, allowing me to photograph the starry sky with the tower. Here are a few photos from that day:
For a while, I considered making not one but two videos: one focusing on natural phenomena and another on the city and its people. In the beginning, I did take quite a few series in the city, but they didn’t really capture my interest. Eventually, I abandoned the idea of focusing on the city and people, concluding that although others had made timelapse videos of Pécs, none focused on the spectacular natural phenomena. So, I decided that this aspect interested me more.
In 2014, I took a few more series, and there was one that stood out for me. I saw a storm approaching and hoped to capture some lightning, so I headed up to Tubes to be able to photograph in any direction. While I didn’t see any lightning, I did witness a massive downpour. It was incredible; I had never seen anything like it live before, and I managed to photograph it. However, I encountered a significant problem. I wanted to shoot a series for the timelapse and also take panoramas. I eventually solved it by taking a short series of the downpour, shooting a panorama, then another series of the storm, followed by another panorama and another series. It worked, but that day I realized I needed two cameras. This also came true, but much later. Here are the photos from that day:
However, another step came first. When I came up with the idea in 2013 to create a series of starry sky photos, there was a significant issue with the plan. The sensor in the Nikon D7000 wasn’t large enough to capture the night sky in the quality I wanted. By 2014, I was already thinking about this, and after purchasing the D7000, I chose everything – except for the 16-85mm lens – with the intention of eventually upgrading to a camera body with a larger sensor. The only limitation was financial. I also started considering wedding photography; if I was investing so much money, I might as well use the equipment for work. With this in mind, I began thinking about upgrading and acquiring new lenses. By 2015, I was already saving up, but since a better camera costs more, the same thing happened as before: I made the decision, and after repaying my previous loan, I asked my grandparents for another one. Thanks to them for that too! The same tune played around me: don’t spend so much money on it; it will never pay off, it’s not worth it. But I thought, photography is my passion. What else should I spend on if not this? So in 2015, I bought my first Nikon D750 body. The difference was like night and day, which isn’t surprising, as the two cameras are not in the same league.
December 7, 2015. I was working that day and saw on the TV tower’s camera that there was heavy fog. I was anxious all day, hoping it would stay so I could go up and capture the planned series. Work ended, and the fog was still there. So I hurried up to Tubes. It was incredibly beautiful, the way the TV tower rose above the fog, with the stars in the background. The photos were taken over the course of an hour and a half. Meanwhile, the fog crept up from the base of the tower to the lookout point. I was captivated by the sight and the entire atmosphere. I was thrilled that what I had envisioned came to fruition, even if it took nearly two years to achieve. It had already occurred to me before, but that moment motivated me even more to share these moments, not just for myself but through the photos and video, so that others could experience them too. Those who don’t have the time or opportunity to visit such places or witness such conditions. That day, before I left, I called someone, but they didn’t come because they preferred to study for an exam. Maybe I’m the fool, but for me, that view was worth a worse grade. When the most intense shots were taken, I usually didn’t encounter anyone, or maybe just one or two people. But there are exceptions too; that night, Sóki Tamás’s famous nighttime TV tower photo was also taken. The entire series wasn’t included here either. These were the phases:
The idea was to include a segment in the video that features the tower along with the North Star. The latter was important because when you look at the night sky, it appears as if the other stars revolve around the North Star. I wanted to capture a beautiful star trail series. My original idea was to find a location where I could position the North Star directly above the top of the TV tower. Unfortunately, this ideal spot was somewhere in the forest, so I had to improvise. While heading to the tower at night, I searched for a place along the road where I could position the tower in one third of the frame and the North Star in another third. After a lot of effort, I found the right place, but the trees were very tall. So, I had no other option: I climbed onto the roof of my parked car on the roadside with my tripod. I set it up, started the sequence, climbed down from the car, and after an hour, I had a shorter series ready. From it, I created both a single still image and a star trail composition:
That year, I also took pictures of the town hall tower, where the clock hands move rapidly. I wanted to create a segment where hours would pass, and the movement of the clock hands would reflect that passage of time. However, I didn’t feel like hanging around for such a long time anywhere. So, I asked my supervisor at work for permission to take the photos from the roof during work hours. I got the approval, set up the camera, and over the course of five hours, with one photo taken every minute, I got the shots I needed.
In December 2016, I shot a nighttime series from the top of the 17-story building, looking towards the city center. This idea came about because I had already captured many foggy scenes, but all of them were above the fog. I thought I’d try something different, what it would be like to be inside the fog. Of course, this required the fog not to be too thick.
On the 17th, it was a combined photography session. I wanted to capture some material for a timelapse but also wanted to shoot a few portraits above the fog. I managed to coordinate with Dóri. We went up to the Kis-Tubes lookout, and I started by photographing her.
I vaguely recall that Dóri went on with her day after we finished her photoshoot. However, I stayed to capture the sunset, and that’s when this series was taken:
I waited until it was completely dark and started the starry sky timelapse:
The two perhaps most memorable series were taken during Christmas of 2016. That day, I was working a day shift. According to the schedule, I should have stayed until 8 PM, but my shift replacement, Klári, was really kind and came in much earlier to cover for me. Thanks, Klári! So, I got off work earlier, went home to celebrate Christmas. We gave gifts to each other, had dinner, and then, just to be sure, I checked the TV tower’s camera to see what was happening. The fog was in a perfect spot again. There was no resisting the inner compulsion, so I packed up my gear and headed up to Zengő. Climbing up through the snow was quite tough, but it was worth it. When I reached the lookout, I was once again greeted with an amazing view. The trees were covered in frost and snow, and the entire surrounding area was blanketed by fog.
Originally, I wanted to capture a rotating series, but the rotation was too minimal, and I didn’t want to speed it up as that would have been noticeable in the final video. So, after taking the first 125 shots, I stopped, slightly rotated the camera, and started a new series, which ended up with 278 shots. Both parts made it into the final video. It was a truly beautiful white Christmas, the likes of which I hadn’t seen in so long.
I find timelapse photography fascinating because even though I’m physically present at a location and see everything happening, it looks completely different when viewed in video form due to the difference in speed. With these Zengő series, I could see the snow melting off the trees right there, yet it felt different from how it appeared later in the video. However, the before-and-after panoramic shot captures it quite well:
In 2017, Phinkee was already pressing me to finally finish the video. I was also leaning in that direction and took small steps toward it. From the very beginning, I shot all the photos in raw format to ensure the best possible final quality, and I always processed them after completing each segment. This year, I started correcting the series. The most problematic ones were where I had rotated the camera, or when there was strong wind and I couldn’t keep the camera sheltered enough, causing some blurring. Later on, I tackled the hyperlapses.
This year started with perhaps the most foolish hike I’ve ever undertaken. That day, I had been shooting indoors somewhere, and when I finished, I noticed that the fog looked pretty promising, though the camera image wasn’t conclusive. For a while, I had been toying with the idea of shooting a series at Zsongorkő on Jakab Hill, but there’s no camera feed from that spot. So, I called the TV tower and spoke with their helpful staff, discussing whether Zsongorkő was likely to be below or above the fogline based on the visibility on the Jakab Hill side. In the end, I decided to give it a try. I owe thanks to the TV tower staff member who helped me on January 28, 2017!
The problem was that I didn’t have my hiking boots with me. At the time, I wasn’t living in Pécs, and I didn’t want to risk the fog disappearing while I went to get them. I didn’t want to go in sneakers either since the temperature had been around minus 10 to 15 degrees Celsius at night for several days. However, I did have my chest waders with me. Naively, I thought that if I put on three pairs of winter hiking socks – which I had in the car’s trunk – and wore thermal layers, it wouldn’t be too bad. I was wrong… The photos took more than an hour and a half to shoot, plus I took some panoramic shots as well. While the series was running, I stood on one foot and alternated to the other to keep both feet from freezing on the cold rock. It was incredibly cold. The view was stunning, but I hated waiting for the series to finish. In fact, I didn’t even wait for all the shots to be taken. I don’t remember exactly how many I had set the camera to take, but I usually choose a round number, and in the end, there were 353 photos taken, plus a few additional ones.
During the series, I stopped at the lookout for a few pictures. I wanted to take one of them on purpose so I could put the stargazing together:
The next idea was that I wanted to do a night series on Orfù, my favourite lake shore spot, preferably one where the water surface reflected either the stars or the cloudy sky. The latter was achieved, and I managed to place the handrail of the stone ramp leading into the water in the 4 corners of the picture. I did not like making this series because the execution was bad to look at. I was able to get the camera in the right position by putting two feet of the tripod into the water, turning the center column of the tripod so that the camera hung upside down from the tripod about 2 inches from the water. It was a calm night, not too wavy, but it felt bad to use the camera like that, but it was worth it for the pictures.
A day later, I set off on another adventure. I wanted to take night pictures at the mine lake in factory town. A few days before I went there to survey the area, but it didn’t do much good. So on the night of the shoot, I stumbled around in the dark on the steep side of the mine to find the right spot. Eventually I did, but it was not one of the more pleasant hikes. I also took a panorama:
The next one was again a nice trip to Orfű. The cloudy pictures were done, but I wanted to take some starry sky pictures. First I thought about the dam, but because of Pécs there was a lot of light pollution there. So I ended up taking photos from the other side towards the open beach. This way I could keep the light pollution low enough, quite a lot of stars became visible and the reflection on the lake surface came out. What I hadn’t counted on was how cold it would be next to the lake. I took the pictures for almost 2 hours and even though I was wearing baselayer, thick winter hiking socks, boots, sweaters and winter coats, I didn’t handle the cold well. But this time I was lucky with the location, as the car was parked a few meters away, so I started it up and waited for all the pictures to be taken, listening to the music and using the car heater. After the timelapse I went up to the lookout and shot a panorama:
This is from the timelapse:
Since I was so into night sky photography, I figured I’d do one at Lake Hermann Otto. Not that many people know about it anyway and it will probably be a new sight to see, especially with the night sky. As usual I watched the weather and on the evening of 28 March 2017 it was clear enough to get started. It was worth it. It is a relatively less light-polluted place around Pécs. I took a panorama here too:
The next series that stood out for me was made in Malomvölgy. I had finished my night shift in the morning and a promising looking cloud was approaching. I aimed for the lesser known lookout of the lake, as I could see part of the town from there. By the time I got there, it was pouring rain. I quickly packed my gear and set off. I managed to catch a nice storm there too.
I wanted to shoot another nighttime series on Orfű, this time from above. The lookout tower seemed like a good spot, but the street lighting created such a contrast in brightness that it would have ruined my idea. So, I came up with the solution of shooting from one of the vacation homes between the lookout tower and the lake, which would help me overcome this issue. I found one of these homes online—the “Kilátó Guesthouse.” I called the owner, explained what I wanted to do, and he was so kind that he allowed me to come and take the photos at an agreed-upon time without any need for renting the place. Big thanks to him as well!
As time went on, timelapse techniques evolved as well. I started seeing more videos featuring a technique called hyperlapse. It works by choosing a fixed point at the location where you’re shooting. You start the series, and after each photo is taken, you move a fixed distance with your tripod, realign the camera to focus on the chosen point, take the next shot, and then move again, and so on. I first tried this out at Malomvölgy, by the more distant lake away from the city. It’s crucial to plan ahead for how many shots you want in the series, ensure there’s enough space, and that the chosen point remains visible along the entire path. Another critical aspect is timing—the interval between shots. If you set too short a time, say 3 seconds, it’s impossible to move the tripod and realign it properly before the next shot is due. On the other hand, if you allow too much time, the final video can look choppy. For daytime shots, intervals longer than 10 seconds can make the video feel disjointed, but this depends heavily on the subject you’re shooting. The first daytime trial at Malomvölgy went smoothly.
Encouraged by this success, I decided to try a nighttime hyperlapse, thinking that movement could really enhance the shots. So, I went to the bypass between Uránváros and Kertváros, onto a muddy plowed field where I had enough room to walk around with the tripod. I set the interval to 10 seconds between shots and started the series, but the outcome wasn’t good. By the time I moved the tripod and realigned the camera, the next exposure would already start. This resulted in a bunch of blurred photos, and I ended up deleting the entire series. To top it off, because it had rained that day, I got covered in mud up to my knees and ended up carrying a few extra kilograms of mud on my boots as I trudged around the field for about two hours at night. It was a valuable learning experience, though!
So, for nighttime hyperlapses, it’s better to allow 15 seconds to move the tripod and realign the camera properly.
Toward the end of 2017, I completed another interesting series. It was inspired by a photo taken by Jakab Róbert, this one:
https://fotoblog.hu/jakab-robert/
If I recall correctly, I asked him where the photo was taken. As a result, on a foggy evening, I went up to the Fenyves Hotel and managed to create a pretty good series with the wandering fog illuminated by the Havihegy Church. Before that, I think I was somewhere above Tettye, but I don’t remember exactly.
The last series of videos was produced in early 2017. I definitely wanted one with the fog moving around Mount Havihegy. This became one, although the crucifix and the promenade are more prominent here.
I photographed the Tetty before the timelapse:
After the dismal failure of my first nighttime hyperlapse attempt, I decided to try again in the city. But this time, I took it a step further, aiming not just for a regular hyperlapse but for a zooming one, which creates a special effect if you move backward while zooming from wide-angle to telephoto. I went to Széchenyi Square, did a bit of walking around, and calculated how many shots I would need to take and how far I would need to move between them. The first idea was to start from the base of the large staircase in front of the Dzsámi and move backward until I reached the line of the St. Sebastian Martyr Church.
I followed through with this plan, but two problems arose. The bigger issue was the four steps near the Hunyadi statue. Even though I gave myself more time between shots, I couldn’t manage a smooth descent down the stairs with the tripod. When Imre tried to stabilize the footage, he couldn’t fix it, and I’m even less skilled at it than he is. The second issue was that I didn’t calculate the zoom factor correctly. So, I ended up deleting the photos. On the second attempt, the zooming worked better, but the stairs still caused trouble when stabilizing the images. Plus, people came over and asked me what I was doing, both times. On one occasion, a couple even asked me to take a photo of them, so I stopped the sequence because I knew it wouldn’t turn out well anyway. At least the couple got their picture 🙂 Due to the difficulty posed by the stairs, I shelved this idea for a while. However, I still loved the regular hyperlapse and zooming hyperlapse concepts, so I started thinking about using them to add variety to my material.
That’s how the first project of 2018 came to be. In the Kertváros area, there’s a building on Olga Street from which the city is visible without any tall structures in the way. With the help of Évi and others, I managed to get access to the roof. Thanks! There are several apartment buildings side by side there, and my plan was to walk along the length of the roof with the tripod to capture the motion effect in the final video. However, because of the elevators, it wasn’t possible to just walk straight across the roof. Plus, there were a bunch of cables and vents, and I also have a slight fear of heights. This last part was the worst because the obstacles forced me to stay near the edge of the roof, walking in a straight line to avoid anything from the roof getting into the shot. I hated shooting that series because it was both nerve-wracking and uncomfortable—crouching while walking along the roof with the tripod folded up. It took almost an hour and a half, but I got it done, and I liked the movement effect in the final video.
Since I was up there, I also shot a nighttime zooming series and even stepped into the frame for one shot myself:
I had another idea involving zooming, which, while not perfectly executed, turned out to be acceptable. My original plan was to go up to the top of the 17-story building and zoom in on the Székesegyház from a wide-angle shot. Then, I would walk in a straight line to a point on the opposite side of the Cathedral, at the same distance from it as the original location, and shoot another zooming sequence. In the final video, I envisioned zooming in on the Cathedral from one side, and then in the next shot, zooming out from the other side back to a wide-angle view.
The only problem was that this ideal point ended up being somewhere in a wooded area. I considered shooting from a bit higher up, but that would have meant shooting from someone’s backyard in the Tettye or Havihegy area. I actually checked the map, found the spot, and went to the property, but no one was home. So, I had to come up with a new plan. The most reasonable solution seemed to be to go up to the small terrace near the Kálvária Church, which is often referred to as a lookout point. This spot was almost directly opposite the location on the 17-story building where I had started. From there, I shot the counterpart to the zooming series. However, I didn’t account for the fact that the distances from the Székesegyház between the two points were not the same.
As a result, I ended up with one sequence where I zoomed in on the building from a very long distance, and another where I zoomed in from a much shorter distance, so much that the Székesegyház filled the entire frame. In the final video, this resulted in zooming in from far away, then jumping to the other side and zooming in even more on the Székesegyház.
January 2018 arrived. There was always a significant gap in my equipment—I didn’t have a true wide-angle lens. I don’t usually like borrowing lenses, but in this case, I made an exception. Huge thanks to Zoli Krizmanics for helping me out! He came with me to Havihegy and lent me his Tokina 11-16mm lens, which, although technically designed for DX format, still covered the sensor of my D750 at 16mm. This was when I shot the first series for the video, successfully capturing many of Pécs’ landmarks in one spot during a beautiful sunset, with the alternating lighting of the TV tower as a bonus.
At the end of January, I embarked on another hyperlapse project. I returned to roughly the same location near the bypass where I had previously attempted a night shoot, but this time during the day. By the end, I was knee-deep in mud again, but this time the execution turned out exactly as I had hoped. By this point, I already had two D750 camera bodies, and alongside the 70-200mm lens, I had also acquired a 24-70mm lens. In addition, I had also added two fixed Sigma lenses to my collection. The zoomlapse was shot, starting at 200mm and zooming out to 24mm. Following Imre Csaba’s suggestion, I no longer tried to turn the zoom ring equally with every shot. Instead, I created a paper scale for both lenses, dividing the entire zoom range into equal segments. I attached the paper to the lens with a rubber band. During the shoot, I turned the zoom ring after every 25 shots according to the scale, and later I corrected the zoom smoothly in post-processing to ensure an even effect.
On February 3rd, heavy snow was falling, and Pécs was already covered in snow. This was what I had been waiting for years, hoping it would happen when I wasn’t working. The day arrived, and I immediately headed to the Balázs rest area above Tettye. I wanted to capture a snowy timelapse, but I needed to ensure that the front element of the lens remained protected from the snow so that snowflakes wouldn’t melt and leave water droplets on the lens, which would show up in the shots. I aimed to shoot from a location that offered at least some protection.
Later in February, I managed to capture another striking scene from Rezeda dűlő. I wanted to document the snow-covered city, and the TV tower was beautifully shrouded in fog. I thought it would look quite impressive.
Before the timelapse, I was in Havihegy at dusk, then I took another panorama from the Rezeda towards the city:
The next day and on the 27th, I visited Mount Havihegy again, but then I only took a few panoramas:
Since I wanted to show not only Pécs, but also part of its surroundings, I invented a night starry sky series with the Napszentély lookout near Magyarhertelend, which I realized in April 2018.
A few days later, I wanted to make it real of my idea I’d had for a long time. There’s a Hungarian flag at the lookout on Zengő, and I wanted to photograph it fluttering in the wind with a starry sky as the backdrop. I had tried this before, but the end of the flag had gotten stuck, so it wasn’t suitable for what I envisioned. Fortunately, this time there was no such issue, and thanks to Tamás Gyenis, who lent me his Tokina 11-16mm lens, I was able to get the shots I wanted. Even though the Moon was up and I originally wanted the Milky Way in the background, I accepted the conditions.
As spring arrived, I was looking for a suitable location for another idea. I had been developing the concept for the detour road hyperlapse, thinking that it would be interesting to include a counterpoint in the video by zooming in from the other side of the city. At first, I considered the road connecting the Üszög and Kozármisleny roundabouts, but it was too close and the overhead cables were distracting. So, I headed out along Route 57 and found a spot that looked promising. The shoot took about an hour and a half.
In July, I captured one of my favorite series. A storm was coming, and there was lightning! I quickly packed my gear, put on waterproof pants and a jacket, and to be safe, I headed to the Tubes lookout. It’s one thing to see a few lightning strikes in a short period, but capturing enough during a 1-2 hour timelapse to make it look impressive is a whole different challenge. I got incredibly lucky on all fronts. Everywhere I looked, there were storms, and it was raining in many areas except for the Tubes lookout and its surroundings. Moreover, it wasn’t just the occasional lightning bolt but many, almost continuous strikes, all perfectly placed for the timelapse. I wanted to ensure success, so since I had two cameras by then, I aimed one at Pécs and the other toward Orfű. The only issue was that I had just one tripod. I didn’t want to choose between the two shots, so one camera was mounted on the tripod, and the other was placed on the stone ledge of the lookout. It wasn’t exactly comforting, but it worked. I could hardly believe it – so many lightning strikes were perfectly captured in both timelapses, and I didn’t even get wet.
After the Orfű series I took some closer photos with the other camera:
The following section could easily be part of a “what not to do” guide. Not many photos have been taken from the TV tower, despite its great location. So when a decent August downpour rolled in, I grabbed my gear and headed up. I thought I was well-prepared – I put on a waterproof jacket and pants – but I didn’t really think through the footwear situation. Instead of wearing waterproof boots, I ended up in a well-ventilated pair of sneakers. The full series didn’t make it into the video, so it doesn’t show the moment when the rain reached the tower’s observation deck. What is visible, however, is that it wasn’t just a light drizzle. Within the first minute, my sneakers were squelching with water. It was pretty uncomfortable, but that’s how it goes sometimes. In the end, it was worth it for the photos!
I really lucked out with the next batch of photos. I believe it was during the winter of 2017 that I managed to get access to the roof of the Chamber of Commerce building, because I hadn’t seen any photos from there before. So, while I already had some winter shots from that location, I liked the spot so much that I wanted to photograph it in a different season too. This opportunity came in October 2018, when I was granted permission to go up again. My original intent wasn’t to shoot a timelapse, but to capture panoramas. When I got up there for the sunset, I realized how amazing it looked. I had planned to take a panorama every 10 minutes from the same position, but since I still only had one tripod, I had to get creative. I ended up placing the camera on the building’s narrow, roughly 30-centimeter-wide ledge and used whatever tools I had with me to get it in the right position. While one camera was busy shooting the timelapse, I was able to use the other to capture the planned panoramas and I even managed to get a stunning sunset shot with the Székesegyház in the background!
In 2018, I received my Christmas gift early from the weather. Since the fog season had begun, I had been setting my alarm for days to go off before sunrise. Each morning, when it went off, I would quickly check the live feed from the TV tower’s camera on Időkép, only to find no luck, waking up in vain about eight times. But on December 20th, a big smile spread across my face when I saw the camera’s view. It was as if I had been launched out of bed. I scrambled to get ready and once again headed towards Tubes. I managed to get up there just in time, as it was starting to get light. The fog blanketed the city once again, and then a stunning sunrise unfolded. Although the clouds obscured the sun, I think it made the scene even more beautiful. It was a lovely gift from nature.
On January 1st, 2019, I finally completed a long-conceived photo series, although it turned out quite different from what I had originally envisioned. The idea had come to me years before: to slowly move across the water at Orfű, capturing photos in a way that would incorporate the movement into the final result. Naively, I thought this could be achieved with a pedal boat. So, Sigma and I rented one, picked out a suitable stretch of shore, and while he pedaled, I tried to hold the camera steady enough by hand to later smooth everything out. It was a brave but foolish attempt! Ultimately, those photos were deleted, but at least we enjoyed a good day in the sun.
The core idea remained – capturing movement over water with reflections – and eventually, I decided on a walkway next to the aquapark. However, the reeds along the shore interfered with stabilizing the shots, so the second attempt was also a failure. Finally, in the new year, I decided to give it a third shot – this time at night. I had set out in the first place because I liked how the clouds looked, not entirely uniform, with patches of stars visible in between. After walking the usable part of the path for photography, I calculated the approximate number of shots I could take based on the paving stones, and then, over the course of a little more than an hour and a half, I captured the photos.
On the way home, I picked up my first hitchhiker ever. As I drove back to Pécs along Abaligeti Road, I had my high beams on because the street lighting was so weak that it felt safer. There was no traffic, but I noticed someone walking along the side of the road, barely visible in the dim lighting. Thanks to the high beams, I spotted him. He raised his arm to hitchhike, and since I figured that if I hadn’t had the high beams on, there could’ve been an accident, I decided to stop and pick him up. Turns out the poor guy was headed into the city for a New Year’s after-party but had missed his bus. Here’s a shot from the Orfű series:
A few days later, it started snowing again, and I wanted to shoot another hyperlapse series. This time, I went to Malomvölgy, specifically to the first lake. Although the snowfall wasn’t as dramatic as I had hoped, the result still turned out pretty well.
Since the snow stuck around in the city, I decided to give the Széchenyi Square hyperlapse one last shot. For the third attempt, I wanted to overcome the issue with the stairs, so I reworked my approach and started from the steps by the Hunyadi statue rather than those near the Dzsámi. In the end, this strategy worked. While it wasn’t the most spectacular shot, and the frozen cobblestones certainly didn’t help with execution – or just staying upright in general – it got done.
This was an active period for me as I wanted to capture snowy images. I went to Orfű because I had been monitoring the frozen lake for days, noticing that a bit of snow was falling on it, which would melt away during the day. This was why I went. Since the melting wasn’t very fast, I set a 11-second interval between the shots this time.
I wanted a part of the video to give the impression of someone walking through the snowfall. So, on January 22, I went to the Sétatér and spent an hour and a half moving the tripod forward with the camera to achieve this effect. As if this wasn’t tiring enough, I then realized another idea I had tried before but in a different way. I wanted snowy images of the Székesegyház. One afternoon, while it was snowing, I went up to Kálvária Church and took some photos, but the snowfall didn’t show up, so I deleted them.
After finishing with the hyperlapse at Sétatér, I headed up to the top of the tunnel. Despite the snowfall, it would have been pointless to start without proper lighting. I took a few test shots. However, an idea struck me while standing under the streetlights. The snow was visible in the light, so I began searching for the right spot where I could photograph the Székesegyház with the telephoto lens, ensuring that the cathedral filled the frame and that the light from the tunnel lamps illuminated the falling snow, making it look as if it was snowing above the cathedral. With this little “trick,” I managed to capture something, though it wasn’t perfect, it was the best I could achieve.
After a brief break, I worked on a new idea in March. I wanted to try something with extreme zoom, more intense than what my own lenses could achieve. Thanks to Dávid Nagy, who helped me twice with his lenses and actively assisted during the shoot! Using Dávid’s 14-24mm and 200-500mm lenses, I made two separate zoomed-in series from the TV tower on different days – zooming from 14mm to 500mm and vice versa. One approach was towards the city hall, and the other from the Tubes lookout, pulling away. Interestingly, although it may not be visible in the video except when paused or viewed very closely, the atmosphere was so clear that you can faintly see the Badacsony to the right of the Tubes.
This was the last series I worked on. Later, I went out a few more times and managed to capture an impressive lightning shot. On August 8, a storm came before sunset, and lightning was striking. I decided to go up to the Nike statue in the hopes of catching something. I went up and encountered some storm and rain at the edge of Pécs, but it wasn’t convincing enough. I waited a bit, but it didn’t improve. So, I started heading home, but the fuel indicator light came on. The car was thirsty. I decided to refuel, and after that, as I was heading home, I saw a few lightning flashes and noticed the sky darkening again. At the last intersection, I decided to head back to Nike. It was a good decision. I arrived and saw several lightning bolts from multiple directions. I still didn’t have a wide-angle lens that could cover such a large area. There was rain and movement, but it didn’t convince me enough to start a timelapse, so I focused on the lightning instead. It was the right choice.
The photo processing went well, and since a lot of time had passed since the project began, I wanted the video to be completed. A huge thank you to Csaba Imre for his help!! Without him, many corrections/stabilizations wouldn’t have been possible.
Omissions and Mistakes:
The entire project was a significant learning experience, full of mistakes. Not every moment was enjoyable, but I gained a lot of wonderful experiences and useful photographic knowledge. Moreover, I had the chance to witness and photograph some of the most beautiful natural phenomena of my life thanks to this project, making all the effort, suffering, and mistakes worthwhile. I don’t know how many photos were taken for the video; I selected over 45,000 for the final version. As for the total number of photos taken for the timelapse, I had to delete quite a few along the way.
In May 2012, I photographed cloud movement in Rezeda dűlő, but I wasn’t impressed with the result at the time.
In July 2012 I went to the Kis-Tubes for a little rain-clouds timelapse:
On 15 January 2013, Tommy and I were also at the Kis-Tubes and the Tubes, and this was taken for the timelapse:
Some photos were also taken outside the timelapse project:
The city had an iconic building, or at least it was for me, until someone bought the land and tore it down. The abandoned house on the Rezeda street, which was visible from about everywhere. The view of the city from its terrace was very pleasant. A series was made about it, but it didn’t turn out that well, so it didn’t make it into the video:
The first time I climbed Jakab hill was in August 2013, during the day. The hike was good, but the two series were not very strong either:
I don’t remember exactly when it happened, maybe sometime around 2013. But one of the most memorable and painful moments was when I set my alarm for around 2-3 AM. I went up to the Tubes. The fog was perfect for my idea. It didn’t cover everything but formed a thick enough layer hovering over the city. My plan was to capture a series of photos starting at night and continuing through to the sunrise as the fog gradually cleared. Nature did its part perfectly, but I messed up. I remember that I was still using the D7000 and had set the autofocus on one of the brighter points in the city. I even took a test shot, and it looked sharp on the screen, so I didn’t make any adjustments. I started the series and stood out there for hours in the strong wind, trying to shield the camera because the wind was so strong it would have caused motion blur with the long exposure times. The sun rose, and the whole scene was beautiful, despite how cold I was. I went home, watched the photos, and that’s when I realized that they weren’t sharp. Close, but not sharp. It was beyond my tolerance level, so with a heavy heart, I had to delete them. I had stood out there in the cold for about four hours, only to gain a very painful lesson for the project. And that lesson is this: when doing a night timelapse, manual focus!!!
On December 4, 2013, I went on another hike to Kis-Tubes, and these were made for the timelapse:
A few photos in addition to these:
On 7 January 2014, I visited the Kis-Tubes again, but I left out this one too:
I also went to the Kis-Tubes on 7 February 2014, and this series was pretty spectacular, but didn’t make the final cut:
In April 2014, Tomi and I went to Magyarhertelend, where the Napszentély lookout is, to make a series of night-time cloudwalking photos. It didn’t make it into the video: because I didn’t have the fullframe camera at the time and judged the image quality to be poor.
Another very unpleasant experience I had, although luckily I still managed to get some usable shots, was in March 2017. I was at the Tubes lookout, trying to capture a sequence where I would move the camera around the perimeter of the lookout’s railing. In my mind, this would have looked spectacular, especially with smaller and larger cloudbursts happening in several places around me. My plan was to attach the camera to a Gorillapod, secure it to the railing, and then manually hold it at the correct angle by looking through the viewfinder, moving it a similar distance after each shot. In theory, this sounded great. In practice, though, anyone who’s been to that lookout knows that the wind usually blows up there. It was also blowing steadily during this shoot. I was hunched over, constantly looking through the viewfinder to adjust the camera’s angle. But because of the constant wind, my eyes and nose soon began to water, so I spent about 90% of that hour-long shoot with tears and snot running down my face. And to top it all off, even Imre wasn’t able to stabilize the series later, so the images were jumping all over the place. Essentially, all that suffering was for nothing.
I also made smaller mistakes, likely the same as any other photographer. I went out to shoot without a memory card. Other times, I had a dead battery. I set out hungry for what I thought would be a quick series, only for it to turn into hours of shooting with no food.
A more serious mistake I made was when I hiked up Zengő with a flashlight, and the battery ran out halfway, of course with no spare batteries on me. I don’t remember the year, but I had an early-generation low-end smartphone at the time, which either didn’t have a flashlight function with its flash, or I didn’t know how to use it. The point is, I came down from Zengő in pitch darkness, using only the faint light from the phone’s screen to see. The result of that hike was that I bought a dynamo flashlight, which can be charged by turning a crank, even if the battery dies.
Early on, I made the mistake of relying on the camera’s light meter to handle the changing brightness during a sunset, using aperture priority mode. Not only did it result in no two consecutive shots having the same settings, but after a while, the exposure drifted so much that processing the images would have been a nightmare. The lesson here is that for sunrise, sunset, or really any timelapse, I only shoot in manual mode from now on—just as I do for everything else. Although there was one time when I was photographing a sunset with moving fog at the Nike statue, and I got so caught up in enjoying the view that I completely forgot to adjust the camera settings. As a result, the middle of the series turned out to be unusably dark, though I was able to salvage the end of it.
That’s all. Thank you very much to everyone who helped with this project in any way!