Wordy Wednesday

I was playing around with my camera early this morning before the sun was up too far and captured this.

Much to my surprise, there is a beautiful perfect ring around one of the top lights.

I shared the picture with Dan via Instant Messenger (IM). He said it is due to the lightbulb shining directly into the lens. How cool is that?

He also said that if I shot it at an even slower shutter speed, something cool would happen. So, I set the camera up again to shoot at an even slower shutter speed.
The light turned into a starburst! How fascinating.

By this time, the sun was up too high for me to experiment even further. But, I'm pleased and thrilled. These aren't the greatest pictures. But, I wanted to show them to you anyways.

It pays to play with your camera sometimes. I learned a few things about taking pictures in the dark and how light works. The starburst is caused by using a small aperture - a result of light refracting through the small opening. The slower shutter speed is just a side effect of using a small aperture. I'm still trying to get my brain wrapped around all this stuff. Ha!

It also pays to have a "teacher" to explain things to you. My Dan is a wonderful teacher even from afar (via IM).