Wow, that was really difficult! Today I was really stuck for what to photograph. Normally, through the day I get a few ideas, that just appear in my head.
However, head space was at a premium today, so nothing had the chance to materialise.
In the end, after pottering about in the house taking pictures of everything, I took myself off outside to find some inspiration.
I’ve tried to photograph the moon in the past with varying degrees of success.
Tonight, I gave it another shot!
To start with I got mostly blank screens, but after fumbling around in the cold dark night with the settings, I started to get some blurry images.
Then, I started to get something that vaguely resembled the moon, but the focus was terrible and the colours a mile off.
I was beginning to home in on the right settings, but it was getting more and more difficult to hold the camera steady the colder I got.
I hadn’t banked on how still I would have to hold the shot; a pretty obvious oversight really given the distance I was trying to shoot over, and the cold making me shiver.
I kept trying though, and the images did get better, to a degree.
It was quite cloudy tonight too, and at times I had to wait until the clouds cleared a little to grab a shot.
I’m pretty sure I never got a fully clear line of sight, but still, as troublesome as the clouds were they do add a certain feel and it was forcing a new style of learning.
Finally, I did capture something that looked like the moon, and I was able to bring the definition out a little more in editing.
Learnings – I made some pretty obvious oversights today, looking back. So I guess it’s important to think on all levels, not just the more technical but also the grass roots basics, like;
Am I going to be able to hold a still enough shot by hand, am I going to be able to get a clear shot through the clouds, what kind of settings would work best for a long range, very dark very high contrast style shot?
Some research there I think, and a nice couple of lessons learnt thanks to the confines of a 365 project. Conditions won’t always be perfect, so I think it’s good to be backed into a corner, it breeds learning.
Necessity is, after all, the mother of all invention.
Onegav 