I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence
And so the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're goin' through

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

A Sweet Song of Spring


Out the window at about 1am as the storms rolled through. As always, click to embiggen.



Just some photo neppery notes. This is about the sixth storm I've tried this with and the first time I've gotten any good results. For each image I had something decent to work with, I had about 20 that didn't (man, I love digital). I really wish I had a full manual camera, it's so much easier then. These all were taken with 1 sec exposures, f3.5 (the most open aperture my camera has). I also hate the delay you get with auto cameras (click. Now, um, how should I expose this, okay, and where to focus, okay, open shutter. No, I want click=open shutter). In Orwell I don't often see lightning strikes, but we instead get lots of "Wow, that lit up the clouds" types. So that's what you're looking at. The night sky lit by lightning. I still want to do more of these. I'm looking for a particular effect. All of these are from those long forking lightning branches that last a second or to and tend to rebound. I would depress the shutter button halfway, the camera would decide on the exposure and focus in the dark, and then I waited.

2 comments:

Dr. Phil (Physics) said...

As much as I like my small Sony digital cameras, I missed my Nikon F3 cameras. But no way could I afford a full-frame FX sensor digital Nikon SLR. Until I remembered that Kodak used to make some, and I found the Kodak DCS Pro SLR/n bodies on eBay for about $800.

13.87 megapixel, 24x36mm FX sensor, takes Nikon F-mount lenses, though you need the modern AF Nikkors with the CPU chips for auto exposure. And a full manual mode. And no shutter lag began getting the mirror out of the way. (grin)

http://dr-phil-physics.livejournal.com/307924.html

http://dr-phil-physics.livejournal.com/320919.html

Dr. Phil

Steve Buchheit said...

Dr. Phil, I miss my old Minolta T-100. Alas, it was beaten to within an inch of its life over the decade and a half I had it.

I know I can get what I really want. The major obstacle is my own "frugalness".