Day 224: Off The Back Porch

Last night I spent a lot of time late at night on the back porch talking on my phone. Things were not going so well at work, and I had to try and find a solution. While I was on the back porch I noticed how the bedroom light lit up part of the back porch. That combined with the beautiful starry sky should lead to a great HDR. I tried a shot without the tripod last night, but it just didn’t work out. Tonight I had the tripod ready at dusk, and I had my composition ready. All I needed was the sky to get just right. I like how the shot turned out for the most part, but it has a few things that bother me. For some reason Venus is kind of muddled. I have been studying some photo editing techniques today, and while I have seen the layer mask done quickly I really need to learn a little more before I try it. I think that my pictures are getting better, but they still have a lot of room for improvement. I may try this shot again on another clear night to see if I can get some star trails really going. They have started a bit as you can see above here in just a 30 second exposure.