Monday 8 January 2018

There's A Firey Star Hidden Out There Somewhere*


  Guess what?!  I found the "starry night" setting on Camera!
Prepare yourselves to be inundated with night sky photos in 2018!
Don't panic though, there'll still be beach walk photos.
  The following three photos are the best of my first, rather wobbly, attempts.  They're not exactly as taken, though.  Once I'd trapped then in Computron, I moved the brightness slider thingy up to max to make the constellations really pop!  Those are the actual stars' colours, though - I didn't mess around with them.


This is the constellation Cassiopeia, just right of centre (the W on its side). Left of centre is part of Andromeda, and I believe that's the Pleiades cluster on the far centre left.
It was taken with a 15 second exposure.

A drunken Orion leaning in the east.  The glow is coming from the scary old house on the cliff, and that appears to be the silhouette of a slumbering Triffid in front of it...

Cassiopeia and Andromeda again, this time taken with a 30 second exposure
(as was Orion, above)



* Post title from "Star", Erasure's 1990 single from their 1989 album Wild!



::

  Here're some rough seas from Sunday, just to get over the upset of a new photography topic:

Overstrand and Sidestrand beaches taking a light pounding

Ow! My groyne!


Cromer (on the horizon) getting ready for dusk

Cromer Pier

Overstrand cliff top.
On the left is the Cliff Café where I used to work when I looked like this.

::



  Next time, I'm going to map out the constellations and try to get Camera to take longer exposure photographs (30 seconds is the maximum on the "starry night" setting, but there's a couple of custom settings that I can probably do something with.  However, my track record with anything technical may mean it'll all turn into a bit of a "Drama!" really.




  Perhaps The Very Mistress will lend me her Personal I.T. Consultant...?



15 comments:

  1. I have often wanted to take pictures of some of the beautiful moons I have seen, but when it comes time to take the picture, which looks great in the lens, it often comes out a bright spot or blurry. With my cell phone is even worst. I gave up.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A steady hand is key to Moon shots - perhaps don't attempt them after sampling your beautifully stocked drinks cabinet/bar?
      Camera is a bit hit and miss with the Moon shots that I take - you should see the ones I delete!

      Delete
  2. Excellent night shots! If there is a "B" or "BULB" setting on the camera, you can use a cable release to take extended-time shots.

    Maybe even night groyne shots!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As you can see, he's "Johnny on the spot."

      Delete
    2. I've just pored over Camera and cannot see a "B" or "BULB". I also looked at the other settings, including a couple of custom options, but it's not immediately obvious how to customise them. I think I'm going to have to get the instruction manual out for a bit of bedtime reading...

      On the plus side, I found a sunset setting (to capture more vivid colours)! My sunset/rise shots could have been so much better!
      I'm sure the Night Groyne setting won't elude me for much longer.

      Thank you, Very Mistress for lending me LẌ!

      Delete
  3. I hope your groyne is fine after all the rough treatment. Hopefully, you didn't have any problems dealing with all that slippery, wet, white foam spraying all over the place.

    The beach fotos are awesome as usual. Luv the action shots of the turbulent seashore. The sunset shots are so serene, a nice contrast to the rough waves in the light of day.

    The star shots are intriguing! Luv the star captures. Constellations are cool! Although, when I think of Cassiopeia, I always chuckle when I recall reading that as punishment for her vanity and for offending the Greek gods, she was placed in the skies upside down, so it's her dress falling down and her bent legs that make the W. So basically, she's either mooning us or flashing us with her dark hole.

    Luv the Orion shot and the haunted house shot. I'm assuming that it's ectoplasm glow you captured in the foto. Can't wait to see more star shots.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Thank you for your concern about my groyne, Eros. Despite the sheer volume of moistness from the heavy pounding, it's still in one piece.

      I never knew that about Cassiopeia - or if I did, I'd forgotten. Strumpet.

      I'm just waiting for a break in the cloud cover then there'll be star shots aplenty. Possibly with more ectoplasm!

      Delete
  4. When did the header change?? Very swanky.
    I would like to take pictures of the stars too!! Is Mr Lax going to do an online workshop? I promise to behave and not to be disruptive at the back of the class.
    Sx

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    1. Ta! I changed the header with this post as it's the first with exclusive content from 2018 now all the leftovers from 2017 have been posted.

      If LẌ does start being strict with us and making us pay attention, I hope he can instruct you on how to get the best photos of stars through the massive murmuration that can only be getting more and more enormous in the Devon skies?

      Delete
  5. I'm afraid I still get my settings all muddled...and then I forget how to get back to where I was.And by then, the sun's gone down and the tide's gone out.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Camera is usually set to "intelligent auto" so I can just point and click, but it just couldn't cope with starry skies, so I had to do some experimenting. I stood for what seemed like an age in the bitter windy darkness trying to work it all out.
      Perhaps we both stood on opposite sides of the world pondering over our settings as the sun set on one of us and rose on the other?

      Delete
  6. Right that's it. In the unlikely circumstances of me having a daughter I'm calling her Kasiohppaya P Hound. The name will serve as protection at James Brindley school.
    Love the header.
    And btw I remember Erasure's Star playing as I lost my virginity!

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Great. I won't be listening to that in a while...

      Delete
  7. I should really clean my screen more often ...

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    Replies
    1. Was insterstellar dust obscuring your view, Mago?

      Delete

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