Canon G3, tri-pod (really? g'wan) I have no idea of the setting as I always use the LCD screen because of my horrible eyesight. I guestimate a workable exposure time and bracket it with multiple shots. I'm not a technical-oriented shooter...more of a seat-of-the pants... so how they turn out just...... Depends (pardon the pun). I used unsharpen mask but no other post-work. I'm finding a disparity of brightness and saturation between the program I use as a viewer for cropping etc (Arcsoft PhotoStudio) and Corel PhotoPaint that I use for the post-work. What I know about using Corel or Adobe would barely cover a mosquito's left eyeball so the end result that turns up here is usually a crap-shoot.... ( Depends again).

Added a thumbnail for you too..

Taking the saturation down a bit helps lose some of the orange of lights.Real nice on the fountain spray..caught that good.

hi Peter & welcome to the forum... great entry! :]

Thanks both of you. I don't know how you do it....involved in so many aspects of this website. I hadn't ventured past the galleries until following the link you included in your Cocoa image Cynthia..so thankyou again for introducing me to this aspect of Renderosity. The wealth of knowledge and prolific creative inclination of the people here is mind-boggling and I appreciate it very much when you all take the time to look and critique my offerings. I don't have a lot of technical savvy and the first person to be surprised if an image turns out is ME! It is a wonderful feeling to be able to show an image I captured, to someone other than my immediate family, especially to a group as accomplished as the artist/photographers who call this group home. Cheers to all of you! Peter

Nice shot...also like the way the fountain spray has been captured. Steve

don't worry about "technical savvy" peter, this forum is for... well, can't say it better then the mission statement at the top of the page... you'll find a wide variety of personalities & a wealth of info to be had (like the blind leading the blind... jk!! :) we've got some real experts that we'll help answer any technical questions & we can actually "critique!!!" your work & offer some helpful suggestions you won't find as much "OMG!!! I've reached nirvana viewing your pic!!"... so come back often & most of all have fun! :]

hi Peter & welcome aboard!!! Wow! the lighting on this is fantastic!!!!! Love the water!!!! This is one helluva a shot!!!! This is a great place to learn!!!!! It's nice for beginners like me to have a place to go to get help and advice from others. looks like you're having fun with your nightshots!!! hope to see more!

I think it's a fantastic shot Peter! I actually like the lighting the way it is here, orange! It adds such a beautiful mood, kinda dreamy, to the image!! A great entry IMHO! :D

Thanks. Originally I was going to post a double image of this scene, taken at different settings and ask for opinions, but at the alst minute went for the single, brighter image. Doug has pointed out that reducing the saturation would have helped combat the white-out effect from the lamps and I agree that this effect is not desirable. I almost took the darker picture, cut and pasted the lamps and staircase onto the brighter one and then posted it...but just let it arrive as is. For interest's sake here are the two pictures side-by-side, un-touched. I should mention here that I did rotate the original picture I posted here because, as you can see in these photos, the fountain appears to be tilted...this is a problem I have that stems from using the LCD screen...You might have noticed other photos of mine that look a little tilted to the right. It's proof-positive that I am a bit skewed in the head. Wait a minute!...I just went to PhotoPaint to check the spelling of "skew" and found a "Deskew" function...see how little I know about these programs!....never even looked past "adjust" and "resample". IR not the smartest 4-eyed nin-com-poop hmmm? (now how do I apply that function to the photographer.....)