Christmas spirit

My wife and I love "tacky light tours" at Christmastime. Charlottesville is a hilly little city, and now that the leaves are all gone it's easy to spot those "special" houses where people go completely overboard with their lights. This one is near our place:



I used a tripod, ISO 100 at f/8, 28mm. The long exposure revealed a pleasing characteristic of my new 28/1.8 lens: 14-point sunstars, thanks to a 7-blade aperture. Check out the tight crop below:



That house was a good start. But just around the corner, someone else was full of holiday cheer.



Up close, I could hear a whirring sound as various mechanical things swung left and right. Or was that the little arrows spinning that keep track of kilowatt hours?



I'll be tracking down more over-the-top homes all month long! Wait until you see the one near my work — I'm heading over there this weekend.