Thursday, September 18, 2008

[The Wisdom of a Distracted Mind] Welcome!

Vignette from hell!
Hi there.

This is my dark and spooky alley in the middle of the night. Over there on the left you can play basketball if you'd like. Also, if you're not a fan of left, you can play basketball on the right.

In fact, just pick a garage other than mine, and you should be set since everyone but me has a basketball hoop. I used to have one, but it broke as a result of being old and beaten up and falling off the garage from rot one of my monster dunks.

All-in-all, it's a nice alley.

Other than that, I was asked about how to nab that sexy star-pattern you see coming from the lights, and I figured I'd take a bit of time to babble on about it. For those of you with cameras, you might find this interesting and something you'd like to try. So, read on.

First, I did not use any sort of special effect filter or any post-processing effect.

All you have to do is set your apertures to somewhere around f/16 to f/20, or so. Then, point your camera at the light source, push the button, and voila! You should be seeing stars.

Now, every camera is different, and every lens is different. So, I can't promise this will work for you. I'm also not sure how it will work on a point and shoot camera, but if you have a manual setting in your camera that can allow you to adjust aperture and shutter speed, give it a try.

You also might need a tripod. After all, you're letting in less light, and as a result, you're going to need some longer shutter times.

Well, that's it for today. I'm off to drool.

-DP

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Posted By Dan to The Wisdom of a Distracted Mind at 9/18/2008 03:16:00 PM

5 comments:

  1. Ha...reminds me of Indiana, where it's pretty much state law that every household must have a basketball hoop. We even have one, and I'm not known for my skillz. (I'm not quite 5' tall, so I think I have a good excuse.)

    Not like that spitfire Sarah Palin, that stauch defender of women's rights! She was a point guard on the state championship team, thanks to Title IX! Woohooo! "I am woman, hear me roar...."

    I'm sorry. Was that a tad sarcastic?

    Beth

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  2. Nice shot Dan. There's something very appealing about night shots. I really ought to get out there and take a few myself sometime.

    B.

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  3. Very nice pick, Dan.  And Beth...you're comments just kill me! LOL

    Char

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  4. Love the effect, I will have to give it a try :o)

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  5. I love the way you still have power cables above ground and not under like over here. The first sign of a storm and the whole bloody lot come down. A bit like you're basket ball hoop huh?
    Gaz ;-)

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