Colour Blitz #2

Our Blackheath Photo Group, including blippers Beckett, isbi and myself, drove out to Hargreaves Lookout where there are no town lights of any kind to pollute the sky and disturb night photography. We aimed our cameras at the centre of our Milky Way galaxy and opened fire with a will. This one was shot at 3200 ISO over 17 seconds at f1.7 using the Leica Summilux 24-75mm (ffeq) zoom on my Lumix LX100, set to 24mm

For my first attempt at astrophotography I was reasonably well pleased although I did no good at all until Beckett told me how to focus.  I had the camera manually set to infinity which was actually giving me indistinct, out-of-focus results. As it turned out, I needed to focus on the tiny sliver of a new moon, half a sky away - a setting that was a surprising way back from nominal infinity. The next frame was perfectly clear, which goes to show that there is always something new to learn. Thanks Tom.

I am including  this as part of my October Colour Blitz  because if you look closely, you can see stars of nearly every imaginable colour. Oh yes and it seemed like a suitable basis for seven year Blip celebration, even though my first posting actually goes all the way back to March of 2011. Let's face it ... I really have been slack, now and then.

As a case in point, I am newly arrived back from a lengthy stint as Artistic Director of BTC - a nominally honorary role which just took me over for some months, I am afraid.  But that enforced absence has given me a much needed fresh enthusiasm for daily photography and for posting on Blipfoto. Truth is I couldn't really stay away any longer. You are all such great mates and I thank you for all the good will and genuine friendship you have so willingly offered me, these past eight and a half happy years.

Oh and the "get-your-sunglasses-on" style colour blitzing will resume tomorrow.