Back in my room looking at the previous set of pics and how not-good they were, I kept returning to the idea of keeping the camera still. Any movement at all seems to cause problems. I headed back outside around midnight to try a few more pics. The sign in the hotel lobby seen in the photo above is absolutely true !

I headed out onto the beach and tried to take a picture looking back at the Days Inn. Once again, not too good.

The tide was a lot lower at this point. The waves were reaching past the tree in the "Night shots part 1" series of pics from last night, but not now ! I decided to take a walk on the beach and head toward the sandbar.

The famous Jekyll Island sand bar sits in front of the Jekyll Island Club Hotel Beach Pavilion. I didn't realize this at the time. But this was actually about a mile away. So I got a good 2-mile walk tonight. The sign seen in the photo above marks what used to be the approximate location of the sand bar. However, due to the strong ocean currents which are continuously picking up sand from the northern part of the island and depositing it further south, the sign no longer lines up with the sand bar. This picture is clear because it was taken using the flash.

I returned to the Days Inn to try this night photography thing again. The tide was lower at that point which allowed me to use the tree to help keep the camera steady. The results were encouraging.

Not great, but encouraging nonetheless.

This series of pictures seemed to come out a little clearer, but not great by any means.

I put the camera on a level spot on the dead tree and tried to focus on the tree, itself. The result was, once again, encouraging.

Not so much in this direction, though.

I better stick to what's trying to work.

I set the camera back on the tree. Using the self-timer combined with giving the camera another object to focus on, (i.e. me), produced an unusually decent picture.

Even with a high ISO of 3200, the 1 second exposure allowed the camera to take in enough light to produce a decent picture.

I won't be winning any awards any time soon. But the results aren't as bad as they were.

I used one of the branches on the tree to help hold the camera still while I took a picture of another branch. That seemed to work quite well.

I was really pleased with the above picture which was taken with a 1 second exposure and a high ISO of 3200, which is the max for this camera.

Shooting the other direction toward the Westin Hotel has me really confused. I just can't seem to get the camera to focus where I want. The Westin and the water tower, (on the left above), seem pretty clear.

But if I tried to shoot the Westin directly, the result was blurry. I have no idea.

So I went back to something that seemed to be working.

I put the camera on the tree and took a few pictures of the base.

This seemed to work really well !

The pics above were all taken around midnight, ISO 3200, f/2.7, 1 second exposure, no flash, on a beach lit only by the moon.

My camera's maximum ISO is 3200. In an era of cameras that are now capable of ISO numbers 100 times higher, my low light expectations may be a bit optimistic, especially given this camera's small 1/2.3" sensor. I headed back to the pool area to take a few pics. The nearly full moon and building lighting gave me a good picture and with a shorter exposure.

The additional light available for the camera to take in made a big difference in picture quality.

The 1 second exposure and 3200 ISO produced a bright picture.

Not sure what happened here. My guess is that the camera tried to focus on the lights.

The photo above facing away from the hotel actually turned out much better than I expected.

It's still not all that clear. But it is quite bright.

I think the pics are decent given the limitations of the camera.

Not bad for a midnight picture.

Looking out over the pool area at the Days Inn.

Looking out over the pool area at the Days Inn.

I also took a few more pics of the Jag in the parking lot for no specific reason.

The weather is supposed to be mainly clear overnight and sunny tomorrow.

I have a feeling that I'm really going to enjoy myself . . .