Observations on Sky Selfies
Taking sky selfies at night when surrounded by tall buildings is an interesting challenge. In my case, I walked around until I was able to find just a sweet spot where I could:
(1) use the indirect illumination of a streetlight to increase the resolution on my face: too much light creates intolerable glare, and not enough makes the image horribly grainy
(2) prevent the numerous street trees from obscuring the sky
Unexpected Bonuses
This contest is slowly turning into a DIY cellphone photography course where I have learned how to:
(A) reliably position multiple objects without using my hands (clamps, paper clips, furniture notches, laptop keyboard)
(B) change my camera settings (choosing low resolution settings means I can skip the image reduction step; I found out that I can wave my hand instead of pressing the shutter button on my Samsung screen)
(C) use more than one online image hosting website (when one site goes down a few minutes from the deadline, I can quickly choose another
More important than these minor technical skills: I have been able to participate in a common task with fellow Steemians and make a few friends along the way (sincere compliments and technical pointers to overcome minor difficulties).
I think allowing friendships to sprout is the most valuable outcome of this contest, more important than making a few bucks by winning a prize.