Friday, February 22, 2008

Starry, Starry Night

Metropolitan Police Department Dispatch Tower

During the lunar eclipse on Wednesday night, I tried my hand at photographing the moon, but my camera just wasn't up to the challenge. It's a fabulous little point-and-shoot from Canon and I love it, but it's not good for things like clear, full moon pictures (like these or these or these.)

The Tower is Blue: Starring William Holden, David Niven, and Maggie McNamara...
Oh, wait. I'm mixing up my movie titles.


However, all was not lost. As I stood on the corner of 9th and Peabody freezing my gluteus maximus off, I turned my attention briefly from the vanishing moon to the Metropolitan Police Department dispatch tower on Georgia Avenue and captured a lovely, but rather dull shot. (That would be the first picture at the top in this little collection, just so's ya know.)

Homer! Don't you think it's time to take down the Christmas lights already? It's nearly March!

I played with it a little in my photo editing software and came up with three other versions that are a little more interesting. (Amazingly, my camera didn't do a very good job of photographing the moon, but it did a great job of picking up the stars! Go figure! To see the stars, click on the pictures and they'll open as larger images.)

Doesn't this look like an old photo out of an issue of National Geographic from the 1930s or earlier?
(Or am I just flattering myself?)


I can't decide which of the three edited pictures I like best, so I decided just to post them all and let you decide!


Photo copyrights: D.C. Confidential

7 comments:

Debi said...

I like the green one best. It has a retro-alien-50s feels to it. I also like how it has some extra light stuff going on in the bottom.

You are on fire, girl!

Bobbie said...

I like the green one too, but better than that I can see all the stars in your night sky and I can see the seven sisters cluster (extreme left-middle of any photo)...Amazing!

Lucky Dip Lisa said...

I am glad all was not lost! My camera is not up for the job either when it comes to the moon :( I like number 2 and number 4 the best...possible 4 over 2 but I can't quite decide! Amazing how the same shot can look different 4 times!

Janet Kincaid said...

Debi: I'm torn between the green and blue one. And the sepia one. See! I can't decide.


Bobbie: That's what that cluster is! I wondered. Thank you for pointing it out. I kept looking at it and wondering "What constellation is that?" Now I know.


Lisa: Me too! Especially because it was so damn cold out that night. I'd have been really bummed if none of my shots had turned out. I managed to get a good picture of the constellation Orion, too! I'll post it next week. (Speaking of Orion, I guess he's a northern hemisphere constellation. I'm going to have to brush up on my southern hemisphere stars...)

Bobbie said...

I think there is a setting on my digital camera that will allow you to get moon shots (low light) maybe you could look for it on yours.

The Artful Eye said...

First one does remind me somewhat vintage, yes, early '30s... I have to keep looking back I like these.

The green one reminds me of "Mars Attacks" ever see that film?!

My favorite is the image at top of the post and second blue tower.

Very cool.

Janet Kincaid said...

Bobbie: I just realized, I may have a similar setting on mine. I was using my Tv (shutter priority settings) in my attempts to shoot the moon. Still so much to learn...


AE: I still haven't seen "Mars Attacks!" I should do that. I like the blue one, too.