Nighttime Landscapes (3)

In my previous message I mentioned the lovely view from Plattekloof of the city lights.  I went back yesterday evening to take some photos.  Although I was using the tripod I still see some camera shake looking at the lights.  It seems like there was the ever-so-slight movement, maybe when I pressed the shutter.  I think it might be better to use the remote next time to release the shutter to avoid this from happening.

Another thing I realized is that I didn't know how to set my camera's shutter to stay open for longer than 30 seconds as I have never used this function before.  So once I set the shutter speed past 30 seconds it shows "bulb" instead of the time the shutter will be open.  So I had a look online and found out that once the camera is set to the "bulb" setting, you can actually do exposures for longer than 30 seconds.  On the Nikon D50, you need to press the shutter once to open the shutter and press it for a second time to close it again.  Apparently the maximum period it can stay open is 30 minutes.  It is best to use the remote for this as you will have camera-shake even when using a tripod, as I have experienced with the pictures above.

I will have to try using the remote as I have seen mixed reviews on the different types of remotes that one can use.  Some people say that you need to keep the shutter release button pressed until you are ready for the shutter to close again, while others say that you press it once to open the shutter and press it again to close it.  The best way is to find out for myself I guess.

To set the camera to "bulb" you simply need to choose the 'M-setting' on your Nikon D50 and select the shutter speed at the highest end of the range.  It will follow directly after 30 ".