It finally stopped raining and the skies were actually clear, so I ran outside for some quick shots. Unfortunately, I only had about 15 or 20 minutes before I realized I left my dinner in the oven, and by then I decided it was entirely too cold to continue.
That said, considering that this is my
first attempt at both night and long exposure photography, I'm happy with what I got. Plus I did not have a tripod or a remote with me, and used a chair and two boxes as a makeshift tripod to get my camera at an angle.
This was taken right before midnight
Exposure: 30 seconds
Aperture: f/4
ISO: 200
Focal Length: 15mm
This is what one of the unedited jpeg files looked like. Composition on all the shots completely suck because I forgot to think about it, but I actually like this composition better and should have picked this one to edit. But, it also looks surprisingly okay SOOC. I just was not a fan of the warm/magenta hues, although looking back I don't actually mind it much. The only changes I made were to clone out my house number and crop a little.
Same camera settings:
Another SOOC jpeg shot, again, same settings:
I am going to need a LOT more practice finding the right conditions and settings for a high ISO/fast shutter speed shot. High ISO and night sky photography? It's tough! I'll try again tomorrow and play around with the aperture settings, but if that doesn't work, I'll give up on stars and will probably go on campus. I can find a few buildings that are well lit on the outside so I'll at least be able to get a picture that shows some definition.
To compensate for now, here's another slow shutter speed shot. The Tokina wide angle DOES have the most awful issues with flare in long exposure, but I kept this picture anyway. And yeah, that's the moon.
Same settings (
Exposure: 30 seconds
Aperture: f/4
ISO: 200
Focal Length: 15mm)
Did I mention how much I loved the Tokina?