Stitching images

The following image is a series of images stitched together in Photoshop.  

When taking a series to be stitched, you want to have a reference point that you can keep consistent.  There are two ways to do this.  For a distance shot, it can be the position of the horizon.  This series of photos were to take a close up panorama as a wide angle so the horizon was maintained at the top third.  The better you are at keeping that focus consistent, the better that the stitching software can do to find the overlap points.

What I did 'wrong' with this image is that I didn't force a manual exposure.  The blend line in the middle is due to the camera adjusting the exposure automatically as I moved the camera for the next shot.

Star light

This last summer, I spent some time at Rolley Lake and went to the picnic area at 10:00 at night.  One of the families we went with had not had opportunity to lay on their backs and just enjoy the view.  

Setting the camera to a ASA of night mode (more than 3200 ASA) and a shot of about 1/2 second allowed capture of the stars without lens shake.  In full view is the Big Dipper.

Another solution is to use a tripod and manual shutter release of several seconds; however, a minimal shake creates a blur.

Fun with light

When you have a camera that you can turn the automatic off, you can explore different opportunities working with light.  This image was made setting a Bulb exposure which means the shutter stays open as long as the shutter release is pressed.  The drawing was done with a fluorescent glow stick.  

The word attempted to be spelled is Greg.  Pretty impressive since you have to write backwards with no frame of reference to your previous letters.