Chimney pots .....

..... and the Pleiades.

Today I've had my first full day at home since returning from London on Friday, which has meant I've been able to get a few more chores and bits of paperwork sorted out.

TV licence paid..... tick.
Ilkley Harriers annual subs paid ..... tick.
257 unread emails in my inbox now read and mostly discarded ..... tick
Premium bonds win cheque paid in to bank ( not the jackpot ) ..... tick
2 loads of washing done ..... tick.
Picked up Tim Flach book that had been delivered to work ..... tick.
Have a quick pootle around the sale room looking at crap interesting objet d'art ..... tick.
Six mile run with the Harriers ..... tick.
Quick shower ..... tick
Cook and eat nice meal of garlicy chicken, cheesy stuffed potato skins and roasted veg ..... tick.
Post blip ...... Arrrg, I've not taken any photos today.

So at 21:30 I decided to have a go at some of the night time and long exposure settings on the new camera. Whilst out running I'd passed the fire station with it's tower all lit up and thought it would make a good blip so had a walk down with my camera on a tripod and a cable shutter release plugged in to the camera ( my first time trying it out ). The station photos could have been better so I will have a go at that shot another night, Insted I have blipped a shot of the Pleiades cluster of stars ( also known as the seven sisters as with the naked eye most people can normally make out the seven brightest stars in the cluster ) and some chimney pots.

Things I have learnt this evening....

1. The UV filter on my lense causes relections of lights at night so has to be removed for night shots.

2. The auto focus dosn't work very well at night as the camera has very little to focus on in the dark and I need to switch to manual focus.

3. I can't see as well wearing the contact lenses I wear for running and should put my glasses on when I am taking photos.

4. It is possible to focus the nifty fifty lense beyond infinity, so it's better to focus on a very bright star at night rather than turning the focus dial to it's full extent.

5. People I know fairly well don't necessarily recognise me at night when I'm wearing a wooly hat ( It's blooming freezing out tonight ) and without my glasses on and they may get spooked when a strange man carrying a camera says hello to them whilst they are walking their dogs at 10pm.

6. I need to check my emails more often.

So today's blip is .....


..... Chimney pots and the Pleiades.