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So tomorrow (or by the time I finish this post later today) I leave for DC but before hand I needed to get a server setup so that I could work on my research from afar during the summer. The Sun X2100 seem to have problems with the newest version of Ubuntu Server 8.04. They are generating NCQ errors in the SATA controllers. NCQ is part of the SATA II standard and is supposed to increase efficiency however none of our machines hardware liked using it. Thought I would show off the geek fest with a photo of our three servers hooked up to my 50 inch TV with my desktop and mac in the background.

It’s my last night in Austin for a while so I decided to go take some photos of, well, AUSTIN! I tried to get some of those night cityscape photos we are so use to seeing. In order to accomplish this I needed to find a place that was interesting that I could see the city. I used my wide angle lens 10-22mm for the shoot and all the shots here were 8 to 30 second exposures. I also waited until just after sunset to get started to try and find that sweetspot right before the sky gets really dark.

This was the first exposure that I took. It was an 8 second exposure but there was still a little too much light in the sky and I still wasn’t able to really get the lights to reflect off the water.

Still an 8 second exposure but 10 minutes later.

5 minutes later. Still an 8 second exposure. Was happy with the sky but the light reflections off the river were a little week for me I wanted more. I decided to increase the shutter time to a magical 20 seconds in order to allow more light to be gathered off the river. This lightened up the scene a little but the available light was diminishing quickly so what did I have to lose!

ROCKEN! I got what I was going for! Now to pop off as many as I can before the sun goes away for the day.

Now that I was happy with those photos I decided to take one of the power station just to the left (the direction of the setting sun, hence the photo is lighter).

I finished up the night at my favorite location in all of Austin. The cliff overlooking the 360 bridge. This location has gotten quick popular as there was quite a few people up there. I used to be able to go whenever and be the only one there. I wish I had another day here to do these like the ones above (with a little ambient but that will have to wait for another day). I hope you enjoy!

Tips for night photograph:

• Take a flashlight: makes it easier to find you gear put it together and set your settings.
• Shoot at a low ISO: lower the ISO the lower the noise in your photo.
• Don’t shoot wide open if you don’t have to: Most lenses aren’t their sharpest wide open and it is hard enough to focus in low light. Do yourself a favor and shoot with a smaller aperture. If you are having problems finding something to focus on (lights sometimes work well) then try setting your focus to infinite and backing off that just a bit.

Last Saturday I went to Lisa and Patrick’s wedding. Of course I brought my camera but I tried not to take too many pictures as there were a ton of people there I haven’t seen in such a long time. Anyways I managed to get a few shots that I like. Lisa and Patrick had such an amazing wedding and I had such a great time. I wish you guys the best!