How to do long exposure..

Question

I want to do a long exposure shot of some night scenery up here in Alaska but I'm not quite sure how. I know you have to slow down the shutter speed but could someone elaborate on how to do this and how to make it look good. I have a canon rebel XTI

Answer 1

First of all, you're going to need to do some calculations.  

Okay, no, first of all you're going to need a tripod and setup on something very sturdy like a rock, not the back deck.

Secondly, you'll need to do some calculations (link below).  Under a half moon at f/8  and 200 ISO, you're going to need an eight minute exposure.  I'm assuming that the XTi doesn't have 8 minute exposure as a setting, so you'll probably need a cable release that locks.

You'll need to use bulb mode, aperture to f/8, manually set your focus to infinity (just guessing), get our your kitchen timer, set it for 8 minutes, then press and lock in the cable release.  When the timer goes off, close the shutter.  It'll take some time -- a long some time -- for the camera to process 8 minutes worth of data into a picture, so be patient.

Answer 2

Mount your camera on a tripod, mount the cable release, or set the self-timer. Compose the picture, focus on the main subject, determine the amount of depth of field you want, determine the exposure. If the exposure time would get to more than 30 seconds, go manual and set your exposure to "bulb". Use the cable release to lock the shutter; use a timer to time the exposure. Do some bracketing. Select your best shot.