Christmas Lights

[thisbejonas]

Originally Posted by Major_Small

Also, out of curiosity, I see you list a circular polarizer in your sig. were you using it for this shot?

No just a UV filter I think it is called (clear one to help protect lense)

[thisbejonas]

Originally Posted by Major_Small

A side note, it looks like you might have a hot pixel in there. It's not the easiest thing in the world to spot in the original, but if you take a look at the full-sized version of my edit (http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/636...arpeneduv4.jpg) you can see it just to the left of the house in the top of the tree. It's bright blue. I'm not actually sure if it's a hot pixel or not, but that's my guess.

Ok so is a hot pixel something that will be in every pic I take or is it just something that happens from time to time?

[Major_Small]

if it is a hot pixel, it should only show up on long exposures... when the sensor gets "hot"

[Nathan deGargoyle]

@ Major Small

Could that hotspot actually be a planet - Venus?

And I read somewhere that bending time and space to your will is a feature on the new D3

[the.alturasian]

If your worried about dynamic range you might try turning on "Highlight tone priority". I've had luck with this improving the detail of the lighter portions of clouds, but I'm not sure how it would work with Christmas lights.

[Major_Small]

Originally Posted by Nathan deGargoyle

@ Major Small

Could that hotspot actually be a planet - Venus?

Unless I'm reading my charts wrong (which could very well be the case) at about 19:06 on the 17th, Venus was below the horizon (yes, I know the time recorded was 18:06 - I'm in the next timezone over). Uranus and Neptune would have been below and to the right of the moon in the WSW sky, but they wouldn't really be very visible to the naked eye. Mars would have been in the ENE sky and would have been almost as close as it gets in it's normal cycle (it actually got closest the 18th I think). But that should have shown up orange-ish.

It's also possible that that there was a break in the clouds in just the right place and one star shone through.