Trying to motivate yourself to shoot a time-lapse at 4.30 in the morning is always going to be a struggle even with these spectacular views. However, this turned out to be a the perfect opportunity to capture the sunrise in Sri Lanka’s central province.

In this video I’ll show you how I climbed Pidurangala rock to capture these stunning early morning views of Sigiriya.

If you’re wondering why so early? Well it’s because we have to drive from the accommodation to Pidurangala, which is only around 10 minutes, then a fairly challenging hike to the top ready for sunrise at around 6am.

The gear I chose for this time lapse was the Canon RF15-35 lens with the Canon R5 as I wanted to make use of the versatility of the 45 mega pixel sensor allowing me more options in post production for things like panning and cropping.

If you’d like to know more about my time lapse workflow, how i configure my cameras as well as the post production techniques, then please view my 3 part tutorial that covers the capture, the processing of files using LR Timelpase and Lightroom and the final post production.

Part 1
   • Timelapse with Canon R5/R6 Programmed...  

Part 2
   • LRTimelapse 6 and Lightroom - Timelap...  

Part 3
   • Premiere and After Effects - Timelaps...  

I was a little worried the amount of cloud cover might have ruined the timelapse but It actually turned out better than I expected as you can clearly see visitors climbing up the steps to get to the top of Sigiriya.


The gear i currently use:
DJI Mini 3 Pro - https://www.amazon.com/DJI-Mini-Pro-L...
DJI Osmo Hero - https://www.amazon.com/DJI-Super-Wide...
Insta360 One RS - https://www.amazon.com/insta360-ONE-1...

Canon R5 - https://www.amazon.com/Canon-Full-Fra...
Canon R6 - https://www.amazon.com/Canon-Full-Fra...
Canon RF15-35 f2.8 - https://www.amazon.com/Canon-RF-15-35...
Canon RF28-70 f2 - https://www.amazon.com/Canon-RF-28-70...
Canon RF70-200 f2.8 - https://www.amazon.com/Canon-RF-70-20...
Canon RF100-500 f4.5-7.1 - https://www.amazon.com/Canon-100-500m...
Canon RF400 f2.8 - https://www.amazon.com/s?k=RF400mm&am...