Building night shot for class

Thanks to everybody that commented!

acchildress wrote in post #6925711
It's not a dumb question. I did use a tripod. The exposure was 3 long seconds. That's why it was so hard to get a people/car free shot. I used the tripod because I used a small aperture for more depth of field and low ISO to cut the noise in the underexposed areas. It might have been blurred even if I had used 1/50 sec.

I would have used a tripod on this shot even if not needed for the exposure because I repeated the shot at several different apertures and wanted exactly the same framing to compare the differences.

Thanks for the complement, for looking and asking!

I was pretty sure a tripod or other support was used. The reason I asked is I had a long argument with someone on another board who claims he can take shots like that at night freehand. He posted a shot with a five second exposure that I just could not see being done without the camera supported.

Anyhow, it is a nice shot and once it warms up around here I want to do some night shots now that I've learned some of the tricks.

HaHa. "Step up and see the human tripod". I guess there are always people who can do superhuman things such as holding perfectly still for 5 seconds but I can't do it.

But, one night while watching fireworks I was shooting several seconds hand held and almost all of the shots were very sharp. I was braced in a lawn chair and very relaxed. But I think it was more the nature of the fireworks being instantanious light and providing their own "strobe effect". Something with a continuous light source will show the tiniest movement as blur.

K6AZ wrote in post #6930750
I was pretty sure a tripod or other support was used. The reason I asked is I had a long argument with someone on another board who claims he can take shots like that at night freehand. He posted a shot with a five second exposure that I just could not see being done without the camera supported.

Anyhow, it is a nice shot and once it warms up around here I want to do some night shots now that I've learned some of the tricks.

Maybe if he was trained a s a Marine sniper

momalley wrote in post #6934433
Maybe if he was trained a s a Marine sniper

Even they are trained to use a gun rest.

I think it is quite a lovely shot, and the holiday lights make it more interesting.

Please let us know what your professor thinks about this shot, I'm sure we're all curious!

Nicely controlled exposure.

heck...a five second exposure..i can hand hold that balancing an icecream cone in my other hand and being on 1 foot during 60knot crosswinds!

Cha right!!!! lol

once again...great shot. You should share that image with Borders, they may buy it from you

PS...please let us know your grade...i give it an "A"

Wow! Thanks to all who complemented the shot!