Night-time Decoration Picture Taking

I am expecting to go around the town, taking pictures of some of the beautifully lit home Christmas decorations. I am planning to use a tripod and time exposures. I am also guessing that there is no way of knowing how well I am doing...until we are back home and they are in the computer!

If there might **BE** a way to tell, 'on the fly', could someone please tell me the method ??

P.S. I do know to use my little Remote tool, rather than even touch the camera...

I prefer to use the camera timer as the remote is small and can be a bit tricky in the dark, helps to take a small torch. You should get a very good idea of how things are going by checking the preview.

I suggest setting camera on M using 5.6 use lowest iso and adjust speed accordingly, focussing in dark can be tricky on auto, might need to do manually. Shoot in RAW if possible.

I would take a series of shots from same point adjusting the speed as some of the lights might be bright and some less, it means you can blend them later if so wished in post processing.