New On The Scene.

Hey everyone. I've been on this site for a while now and can't get enough. I'm a total novice. I just finished reading understanding exposure, but I'm not fully understanding it.
I took several shots on my way home and this is the better of them. I'm looking for any suggestions, thoughts, comments..just be nice..this is the first time I take out the tripod and really try to take a good quality shot.
The shot was taken in raw format. WB was set to auto then saved to .jpg.

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Hi cire and welcome to POTN! I hope youy got your bank manager's approval first...

Generally speaking you might get more feedback on your photos if you post them in Critique Corner or in one of the Photo sharing forums. However, since it's here...

I think this is a nicely exposed shot. I wish I'd been able to take pictures as good as this when I was a "total novice"!

I assume you took several shots to gauge the exposure? If not, I'd recomend it as a useful technique, because it can be very difficult to judge night-time exposures correctly. It costs nothing to try several variants and throw away the ones you like least.

The composition is quite interesting, though I think I would have pointed the camera a little more to the right, getting a bit more of the bridge (and hopefully the other tower) rather than that dull patch of ground you currently have on the left of the picture.

There's also a huge circular artefact in the sky to the left. I imagine that's probably some sort of lens flare. Was there a bright source of light somewhere nearby? When I'm taking long exposures I always try to minimise the chances of stray light getting into the optics by using a lens hood and by shielding or covering the viewfinder.

Finally, if you have the opportunity, I'd recomend taking night-time shots whilst there's still a little bit of light in the sky - maybe half an hour after sunset. They can look much prettier.

Good luck, and enjoy POTN!

nice... hey I read that book too and was having some trouble with the section on setting a focus point...lol pre focus..i guess its not for me. I love the bridge, very nice!

Good start. Keep at it!

Thanks for the reply StewartR

Yes sir...my light meter was kinda bugging out. at f11 the meter was telling me in order to get a good exposure my shutter had to be 30 secs. Which turned out being overexposed, I think. (it was waayy too bright) So I had to play around till I was able to get the right light.

Thanks, now I have the wife saying I told u so...hahaha. It was a thought, but it was starting to get really chilly..but I will return

There's a light pole over to my left of the shot. It was alot worse in a different shot where I didn't have the lens hood on.

Thanks alot for the suggestions and comments guys. They are greatly appreciated. Helps keep the motivation levels high.