When I don’t know what to shoot, I usually don’t travel far. This Saturday, I went as far as my back yard. It was a clear night and not too hot. I wanted to get a nice long exposure with the house lit up and the stars bright in the sky. This was my result. There are much better examples of this type of photograph but I think I needed 2 more things. A darker sky with less light pollution as well as more distance form the house the get it closer to the same focus as the stars.
My focus was purely estimated based on how far out I figured the camera was and using that figure to dial in the manual focus. I think I was pretty close but not right on the mark. My room was lit up by the flickering of a CRT television.
I attempted to draw some light with my Zippo and a glow stick since I was taking about 20 seconds worth of light in. I was not pleased with my results but may try again.