Sun Shining Through the Roof of the Science Center

I went to see a movie and take some photos at the Kuwait Science Center today.

I saw the Imax Movie about the oil well fires being put out after invasion in 1991. The movie was OK, but was only about 35 minutes long. I wished it showed more detail and information about different scenes. But it is what it is, and amazing on the big screen.

I took the photos below in the cafe area where the sun was shining through the roof.

The above photo is more or less, straight out of the camera. The rays of light are due to using a small aperture, F22. At the smaller apertures the individual aperture blades diffract the light and give a characteristic pattern. Different lenses with different numbers of aperture blades will give different numbers of points of light.

This is the same photo gone wild with curves in Nikon Capture NX2. The cure looks like nearly a sine wave with about 8 crests. Fun stuff.

Note, it is dangerous to look through the lens at the sun! But here’s a tip! The Nikon D300 and most newer DSLRs have a live preview feature which shows the image on the screen on the back so you don’t have to look in the viewfinder to aim the camera. Just be sure to hold the camera steady or use a tripod as the camera is not as stable when you hold it out to look at the screen on the back.