Need help with long exposures shots.

[e30 gangsta]

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3485/4084849777_9c698445b3_b.jpg

This is the best I could do. :( I was fighting strong winds that kept moving my tripod, and salt water getting all over my lens and making it dirty because of the stupid wind. I had to clean the lens with my shirt like 32423423 times. :( I tried new things but I'm still not getting the clarity I want. Im also getting alot of haloing / starbrights is there a filter that helps with this? I cant stand it.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3314/3637266231_23af095f60_b.jpg
And this is another shot. This one is too warm with alot of flaring/ halos. How do you eliminate that? Without photoshop. Or what can i do to minimize it.

And last buy not least what white balance do you guys recommend shooting with for these kind of pictures?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

C&C welcomed.

[Robert_Lay]

The halo effect will be reduced by doing your shooting with more natural light and less artificial light. In other words, shoot earlier in the evening. It won't eliminate the problem completely but will reduce it.
Your first shot is actually very good.

Regarding color balance - when you have several different light sources to contend with, there is little you can do, because there is no agreed upon "standard". My advice is to shoot in RAW mode and adjust the color balance with the Adobe Camera RAW controls.

[e30 gangsta]

The golden hour once the sun goes down. Got it. Perfect thanks for your tips!

Anyone else?

[Gel]

I'll reiterate Roberts point on shooting in Raw, take this example:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2543/4085773214_8b788ea84e_b.jpg

By shooting in Raw it allowed me to be selective about the colour balance after the shot. I had the Xenons from the car but the Tungsten from the structure. The camera got it right on this occassion, but it's better to have that flexibility just in case.

Both shots are good, download and play with Lightroom a bit. I would of said the recovery feature might of helped the second one.

[mgardner]

Open up the lens to help reduce the starburst effect. The second pic looks overexposed to me, however I admit my monitor isn't calibrated. Shoot in RAW and adjust white balance in post. Nice composition in the first pic.

[emilysium]

Open up the lens to help reduce the starburst effect.

How does a larger aperture reduce the starburst effect? Out of curiosity.

[mgardner]

How does a larger aperture reduce the starburst effect? Out of curiosity.

This explains it better than I could.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=617785&highlight=starburst+aperture