Confused

[Erick]

All i know, is how i would have shot that pic. #1. Use a tripod #2. Use a remote release #3. Lower my ISO and use a longer shutter speed because my tripod and remote allow me to do so! You should know, that i am just a newbie at photography, but that is my two cents! Am i wrong with this??

[Colin Southern]

Am i wrong with this??

No, not at all. Spot on in fact!

[jcuknz]

I agree that this post is now going in the wrong direction. We have had few fruitful and some useless discussions.
But in the end if it is worth anything I have made up my mind to stick to my d90 for a little bit longer, not bother for a new camera... I may start buying new lenses.... may be Fx so that when eventually i do upgrade i dont have to completely change.
And yes I am finding all the tips on WB usefull, though the iso is still not up to the mark.
Will continue to ask for help, to improve my photography... hope u guys will be happy to help.
Thanks for all the posts...
I appreciate.

While a tripod is the usual suggestion there are other alternatives which are the monopod if it is impracticable [ local authority restrictions on their use ] to use a tripod or just the weight of it. The monopod can make the difference with a relatively light camera -- Your body is only 700g -- between being able to print at A3 or not. [ and satisfying the critics here ]
The other thing is if you buy more lenses get the VR variety.
When I use a tripod I always use a cable release or the 10 second delay release ... leaving the camera untouched during the countdown and exposure .... having bought the VR lens you may need to turn VR off if using a good tripod.
And if you do not have the tripod or monopod with you look for a steady support ... wall on top or held firmly against .... table with something to raise the lens to avoid too much table in shot ... I normally have a biro in my pocket which does this for me.

A lot of cameras have a two second delay release and some people find this helpful in that the disturbance from pressing the trigger is over and they get a steady shot.... it doesn't work for me as I find the two second wait intermidable and start wavering

With that Tower Bridge shot it looks as if you had a wall to rest the camera on and use the 10 second delay so could have used any exposure you wished ...200 ISO for the IQ you desire ... and quite likely since you were shooting light sources the meter gave you a wrong exposure anyway, I don't understand why you under-exposed. [ that minus two stop EC setting? ] The normal problem is over-exposure spoiling such shots. If you have been on the wall you could have bracketted and after lining up in editing erase the upper layer to show what you want in the lower layer >>> I suppose you DO have an editor with layers? Which rules out LR unfortunately.

[Colin Southern]

A lot of cameras have a two second delay release and some people find this helpful in that the disturbance from pressing the trigger is over and they get a steady shot

Another technique is to use a multi-shot drive mode and fire off a short burst of shots -- usually one will be much sharper than the others.

[jcuknz]

One of the advantages of the light camera is that it is possible to successfully use a mini-tripod which either sits on something or can be held against something firm and steady .... though for one photo I sat it on a flimsy cardboard box and using the 10 second delay got my photo ... was actually two shots of a meeting and I didn't have room to move back and include everybody with just a 35mm AoV lens. The delay exposure also enabled me to be in one of the shots

There can be a problem with holding a mini-tripod against something in that there is not enough movement to hold the camera horizontally ... my solution was to make a L bracket.

I gather that some DSLRs have 'mirror lift' to help with steadiness at the time of exposure.

I like Colin's suggestion of burst for when one cannot wait ten seconds etc but have reservations about a possible need to be touching the camera during the burst? Can you burst with a cable?

[Dave Humphries]

I like Colin's suggestion of burst for when one cannot wait ten seconds etc but have reservations about a possible need to be touching the camera during the burst? Can you burst with a cable?

When I said I shot several shots (in post #57) while braced, that was in continuous mode, but not with the timer (also I believe Colin meant "instead of").

If the camera is stable and particularly if you have a cable, a burst shouldn't be needed.

If I am shooting with the camera resting on, or "gorilla-poded" to something, I do use the 2 or 10 second timer.

I find that controlled breathing helps a lot (when holding the camera).

Cheers,

[Colin Southern]

I like Colin's suggestion of burst for when one cannot wait ten seconds etc but have reservations about a possible need to be touching the camera during the burst? Can you burst with a cable?

You can burst with a remote release, but there's really no point -- the multi-shot technique is really for hand-holding. Primarily I think it counters the "snatch" of the release, but probably stands a better chance of capturing a shot at the top or bottom of a movement (eg heartbeat) where movement is less.

It still can be useful in other situation though - eg this shot where I just "let rip" and even though I was at ISO 3200 @ F1.2 @ 1/20th, I still got a good shot (it was on a tripod, but I had to manually track the place to try and freeze the motion) (this was the 3rd frame in the sequence and was noticeably sharper than most of the others).