Then you have no need of a flash. Your biggest problem will be holding the camera steady enough through a longish exposure and the monopod will be the needed accessory to carry.

True story: I was out taking photos of the moon with my 35mm film camera and a 6" reflecting telescope many, many years ago. Came back in and my mother asked me how I could take photos of the moon at night without a flash.

A flash will provide no more illumination on a distant skyline than it would for the moon.

Eric in Atlanta

I bought one of the Genus 77mm 2-8 stop variable ND filters a couple years ago and have found it very useful. No, it's not a Singh-Ray quality piece of gear but at half the price, it works very well. Other than a slight warming, there is no objectionable color shift as you go from 2 stops to 8 stops of filtration and I see no loss of image quality on the D300.

I tried stacking with the Cokin P-series filters, but there was a huge color shift that made the stack unusable.

While the filter is great for slowing exposure time, I really like it for allowing shallow depth of field in bright light. I can shoot f/2.8 at high noon.

Not sure I understand what you will be shooting that might need a flash. The building itself? The city from the observation deck at sunset and early evening? What do you wish to illuminate?

We were in Maine this past fall. Alas, didn't get to see many lights since we were heading to Canada. Here's the Portland Head Light.

http://ericpix.net/Online/Hog/portland_head_1.jpg

Oh, one more. Fogbank at the mouth of the Saquenay Fjord near Tadussac in Quebec.

http://ericpix.net/Online/Hog/fogbank.jpg

Golden morning on Georgia's Lake Lanier.

http://ericpix.net/Online/Hog/lake.jpg

I like the shot, but the tilted horizon needs to be fixed. Otherwise, there's nothing else I'd suggest or criticize.

Eric in Atlanta

I love light houses! Great shots.

Eric in Atlanta

The question you didn't answer was what kind of photo were you looking for? Frankly, I think the image that you got was excellent and the moon - overexposed and all - added a lot to it. For an image showing the 3 brightest objects visible in the nighttime sky it's pretty impressive!

If you want to get detail in the moon, there ain't no substitute for focal length. These were taken with a 2000mm f/10 cat system.

Let me give it a shot. I like the last one the best. It's a pretty impressive image for a hand-held and you blurred out the water very nicely. The trees and rocks provide a very attractive framing for the water. Nicely done.

The first has no point of interest. The hilltop town cries out for getting in close, but it's so far away that it doesn't catch the eye. My favorite photographer's quote is from war photographer, Robert Capa, who said, "If your photos aren't good enough, you aren't close enough!" Decide what the subject of the image is, get in close and shoot it.

The second image is a mixed bag. I like the patterns in the crop, but they lead the eye to a blurred and tilted horizon view. I would have also liked a bit more of the crops in focus. My eye starts with the crisp images in the foreground and then just sorta wanders around the out of focus crops before running into the blurred stuff at the top. I'd try cropping out the upper third or quarter of the image (crop below the black blob on the left edge) and see how it works. I'd also straighten the image on the horizon line before cropping. I think the slight change in perspective from straightening would help the photo.

Keep shooting!

Eric in Atlanta

Know the beast fairly well. I cut my teeth on the old 4A crowbar and then spent most of my time working on the #4ESS in West Palm Beach and Atlanta. Worked on a couple 5E machines as well as DMS 100s, 100/200s and 200s and a few old 1As.

It was a lot of fun!

Eric in Atlanta

Thanks for the kind comments, everyone.

Eric in Atlanta

Larry,

Thanks for the comments. We have a condo in Stuart and get down there a few times a year and each trip will feature at least one drive to Wakodahatchee and Green Cay as well as a trip or two to the Sand Sprit Park in Port Salerno and DuBois Park in Jupiter. Now, if I could just get the wife to retire, we could spend the whole winter there shooting birds!

Eric in Atlanta

I've been enjoying all the bird shots and hope you don't mind a few more.

Cattle egret at the Wakodahatchee Wetlands:
http://ericpix.net/Online/Birds/wakod_2.jpg

Check out the feet on the American Coot! - Green Cay Wetlands
http://ericpix.net/Online/Birds/coot_1.jpg

The bird attached to the feet
http://ericpix.net/Online/Birds/coot.jpg

Osprey with dinner - Jupiter Inlet
http://ericpix.net/Online/Birds/osprey_1.jpg

Sanderlings in the surf - Hutchinson Island
http://ericpix.net/Online/Birds/sanderlings_1.jpg

And a Snowy Egret - Hutchinson Island
http://ericpix.net/Online/Birds/snowy_egret_1.jpg

My wife is the birder in the family.. I just take pictures of them. She's been expressing an interest in Costa Rica and showing her your photos will not do anything to dissuade her!

Thanks for sharing.

Eric in Atlanta