"Night Photography" or "three photographs that prove I need a tripod"

Part of the problem with being addicted to shooting photos, and working a full time job AND living in Minnesota is that it's starting to get dark by the time I leave the gallery, which means I'm being forced to learn about night photography before I've really come anywhere close to mastering photography where there IS ample light.

Earlier this week I ambled over to the 35w overpass and tried my hand at some long exposure shots. I'm not going to say the experience was an epic fail, but as you'll see, I have plenty of work ahead of me.

This first shot was taken facing in the direction of 35w north. I tried a couple of shots before this one, but a 1/30 exposure without a tripod just doesn't work that well, even if you're propping the camera up with the fence links. I also wasn't overly impressed with the composition. I think I need to keep trying.


After my not-so-awesome bridge photo shoot I wandered down the street to try my luck at more long exposure with regular street traffic. Not using a tripod=the photo below.


Pretty, but completely beside the point.

Finally I busted out my tiny tripod that is clearly intended for a much smaller camera (anyone want to buy a 12'' tripod for their point and shoot?) I tried to balance my camera on it, but the weight was completely off kilter, so I ended up having to hold onto it so that it didn't go crashing into the sidewalk. Wrecking a new camera wasn't really on my list of things to do that night, after all. The best of the couple I tried is shown below.

*shutter: 1/30
*f/29
*ISO 100
*34mm focal length


Even editing couldn't save it.


My conclusions are as follows: tripods are a good thing and probably would help with this whole camera shake issue. Short of that, I plan to keep playing around with the manual settings until I figure out the best way to make the city lights shine.