Nature

This is just a quick post of 2 photos I took last evening. I tried to capture the lightning from a raging thunderstorm using my new DSLR at long exposures. Quite soon I got a first photo, but as the camera was handheld the 4 second exposure turned out a little blurred. I reduced the file size again to compensate for the blurring.

Blurred lightning in handheld 4 second exposure

After that, I took almost a 100 long exposures (camera on a stand now) without any succes. Until…. I got this shot in a 20 second exposure. The lightning just kept going for well over a second, producing this frame filled with lightning bolts.

20 second exposure on a stand

A few days ago I finally got a Digital Single-Lens Reflex (DSLR) camera; a Canon 1100d with a 18-55mm zoom lens. It is the very first SLR camera that I ever took photos with, so the whole thing is quite new to me. On of the first pictures I took was this sunset image, which (accidentally) also shows 5 swallows hunting for small bugs.

One of the first photos I took using my new Canon 1100d DSLR

One of the best things about DSLRs is the ability to take long exposures. So I tried to take one. I found that focussing is difficult and that I should use as low ISO values as possible to reduce noise and skyglow. The image below is a 30 second wide field exposure at ISO800. I reduced the image size to 25% to hide star trailing (stars that seem to move due to the earth’s rotation) and the effects of my poor focussing. Next time I wil use live view on my laptop to get focus right and operate the camera without physically touching it. Later this week I expect to receive the rings required to attach the DSLR to my telescope. I’m looking forward to using that combination 🙂

Wide field 30 second exposure at ISO800 with 18-55mm zoom lens at 18mm.

Last Monday, I was traveling home towards Amsterdam by train when I saw this beautiful sunset. At that time I was still awaiting delivery of my DSLR, so I used my iPhone to take this shot.

Setting sun shot with an iPhone from a train moving at 140kph.

Another iPhone photo I took was of the Yucca that was on the verge of blooming last week. This time it is finally in bloom after the stem had been developing for months.