Star Trails

Tonight I tried something a bit different. Star trails.
I left my camera on for about 10 minutes (bulb setting) at aperture 3.5mm just outside in the backgarden. I knew I'd have a problem with light pollution but I was just testing to see what I would get....and here is the result (with a slight bit of fixing in Photoshop for the sky and ignoring the house detail - the house is only there for a reference point).



Now that I know how it should be done I will be venturing out to less light polluted areas for my next attempt.

Bokeh!

So I decided to try a little experiment with the bokeh effect on my photographs.
I've done this before and created some photographs that I quite liked but I was only messing around.
This time, whilst I worked hard to achieve certain results, it didn't turn out as I planned. I even tried to create special effects by using shape masks over my lens. I couldn't get the aperture/distance combination quite right and I think my shapes were actually a little bit too large for my purposes.

However, here is a log of my attempts. Hopefully I will have a much improved version soon.

Christmas Tree

Close up of Christmas Tree

Star and Heart Lens Masks