Getting it right
The process of taking a shot, analysing it and understanding how you could improve it is a very important process for me. I’m always trying to improve and never more so when I’m working in a genre I’m not comfortable with. Last night, my night shots of San Francisco left a lot to be desired, so tonight I was determined to try and get it right, or certainly improve!
My biggest mistake last night was camera shake. Initially I blamed this on my gorilla pod, but after some tests this evening I discovered it was actually down to the balcony of the hotel. So realising this, I set the camera on timer (I don’t have a shutter relase cable… it’s now on my list), composed the shot, set the aperture and shutter values, set the focus, clicked and then walked away. No more camera shake 
By the time the camera was taking a shot, I was in the hotel room, enjoying the view and drinking a beer. Landscape photography is hard work 
The clouds tonight also helped. Last night the sky was crystal clear where as tonight the light was far more mixed. But with shutter speeds of 30 seconds turning moving clouds and water to milky masses, they helped enormously. They also helped diffuse the moons immense brightness.
One other thing I did differently was to turn off the noise reduction in the D3. Last night it would take an image (let’s say a 30 second exposure) and for the same length as the exposure, it would take a “blank” image. The purpose is to generate an image which is created solely due to noise, primarily from the sensor heating up. It would then subtract the two images from each other, effectively reducing noise. For me, I was far more concerned with the time involved. Every image was actually taking 2x the exposure time, so this evening I went with straight exposures without noise reduction. Obviously I haven’t printed them yet, but on screen I’m not upset about the decision 
Lovely image. Makes me want to plan another trip west.
Have you tried playing with Aperture (more open) to increase shutter speed on these shots, lets you choose cloud and sea texture, speeds up the whole process too if you’re impatient:-)
Thanks Niall. Actually I really wanted the milky clouds and water so was waiting for it to get dark enough for shutter speeds in and around 30 seconds. It makes you wish sometimes that camera manufacturers would work on sensors offering lower ISO. Imagine what you could do with a ISO 25 sensor or lower
No need for ND filters or for waiting around until dusk. You could achieve reasonably long shutter speeds even at mid day!
You’re beginning to sound like a landscape photographer!
I don’t think there’s any fear of that happening Niall
I wish i was there right now !!!!
Well all you have to do is pay for flights and budget $1000 a night for the hotel
Nice work Ciaran.
You shouldn’t have to worry about using noise reduction on the D3.
It should print very clean.
- Shawn