Fireworks

Photographing fireworks last night was so much fun.
I got a lot of not-so-great photos, but there were some okay ones too! 

I shot with a fairly long shutter speed, varying from 4 - 30 seconds. 

When a firework exploded, I would start the photo, and then cover the lens. I would uncover the lens whenever another firework exploded. 

It was very fun :) And there were some beautiful fireworks around us!

Michael's Birthday: the Cake

Lunar Eclipse

As some of you may (or may not) know, there was a total lunar eclipse 4 days ago, on December 10th. It was in the southern hemisphere, so it wouldn't have been visible to those of you in the US :)

I didn't stay up to watch it all :P
But I got a few neat photos!

8:18pm, 12/10/11, ISO 80, f/2.8, 30.0 sec

 The moon was super bright, as you can see. Well, I took that photo on a long shutter speed, so it wasn't quite that bright. But it was bright, believe me!

8:20pm, 12/10/11, ISO 80, f/3.2, 30.0 sec

 AMAZING stars!

8:28pm, 12/10/11, ISO 80, f/4.4, 1/800 sec

 See, the above photo was taken with a 1/800 sec shutter speed. That's FAST! If you tried to take a photo in normal daylight with that shutter speed, the photo would be super dark.

8:29pm, 12/10/11, ISO 80, f/4.4, 1/500 sec

LOVE IT! :D

 Around an hour later:

9:23pm, 12/10/11, ISO 80, f/4.4, 1/80 sec

Oooh....the eclipse has started....:)

9:24pm, 12/10/11, ISO 80, f/4.4, 1/125 sec

9:25pm, 12/10/11, ISO 80, f/4.0, 1/6 sec

The above photo is pretty awful, but if you look closely, (or click on the photo to make it bigger!) you can see the whole outline of the moon. Amazing, hm?! I took the photo on a slower shutter speed so you can see the whole outline, but the "lit" part of the moon is very bright. 

I had fun :)
Taking photos at night is a challenge, (I NEED A TRIPOD!) but it can be very rewarding.

Linking up at my3boybarians...Sweet Shot Tuesdays :)

Christmas Decorating

 Just a few photos from our Christmas decorating the past few days!

Merry Christmas...

...and may you find joy celebrating the birth of the Messiah this month!

Once in a Blue Moon

 {White Balance}

Ever seen that famous blue moon?

Now you have.

The above photo is unedited. I took it straight out of the camera.

I didn't edit it to make it blue. I didn't do anything to it, except re-size it and add the watermark! (Impressive, hm?)

Here's what happened:

Before I took the photo, I adjusted the white balance. 

White balance is the setting that changes the balance of lighting in the image. Yeah.
Well, it is hard to explain.

If you take a photo outside, in the middle of the day, the lighting is very different than if you were to go take a photo near a lamp with a yellowish bulb. White balance fixes that, and makes the photo look the right color. See, if you have the white balance set too high, a photo taken near a lamp will look very yellow. And if you have the white balance set too low, it will look bluish.

That is basically what happened in the first moon photo. I had the white balance on a low setting (or a low temperature) so the moon looked blue.

The white balance on this photo is correct ;) The moon looks like it should!

And this photo has a very high white balance, (high temperature) so it looks ORANGE!

Now (I hope!) you know a little about white balance. :)

Almost Full Moon