(no subject)

[brooksmoses]

Why I need to carry my camera tripod to campus soon:



This is with about a 10-second exposure, handheld braced against a railing. The colors came out about right, but I'd really like it to be in focus!

Comments

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

What _is_ that?

And thanks for reminding me -- I really must get around to webifying some of the video I have of big fireballs outside the Crown Complex in Melbourne.

[brooksmoses]

It's the Hoover Tower, on the Stanford campus. Here's another picture of it in daylight, so you can see what you're looking at. It's not really on fire; it just has lights in some of the various vaguely lantern-looking bits on top (which, rather unfortunately, won't look nearly as much like flames when it's in focus).

[oldsma.livejournal.com]

I recognized it, but forgot to get my entry timestamped. Please don't tell me there was a great prize.

MAO

[oldsma.livejournal.com]

Cool anyway.

Have you tried something like a beanbag?

MAO

[brooksmoses]

I haven't, although I might try it. (I did try a stack of loose change, since I had that on hand, but it wasn't nearly stable enough.) It's a bit of a lightweight camera, though, and also hard to look through the viewfinder of when it's on something close to the ground, so I suspect it will take a bit of practice -- but I can certainly see it as being more stable than a tripod on a windy day!

[oldsma.livejournal.com]

I think I read of this idea in New Complete Walker by Colin Fletcher.

He also recommended trying a short monopod, IIRC. I saw someone doing wildflower photography at dusk (with a lens the size of a coffee can) with one of those.

MAO

Seconded

[cheshyre]

What is that?
It looks like a steeple or the top of a building on fire, but I can't tell.

It looks neat, though.

Re: Seconded

[brooksmoses]

Thanks! It's the top of Hoover Tower; the "fire" is just some somewhat orange lights which probably won't look nearly as neat when they're focused down to the tiny windows they're in. I've posted a daylight pic of it in one of the other comments, if you want to see what it looks like properly.