I went out late last night to try a few nighttime long exposures of some cherry blossoms. This was my second attempt at long-exposure shots, the first having been a year ago with some long nighttime shots of the river that runs beside our place. This time I had my Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 (rather than the Nikkor 18-200VR), and also a remote-shutter release with a timer, so I could make exposures longer than the camera's 30-second limit.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 17mm — 32 sec, f/10, ISO 200, P.P. boost: +2.31EV — full exif & map — nearby photos
Kyoto Biwako Canal by Night

The image above is a 32-second exposure, boosted a further 2.31EV during post processing in Adobe Lightroom (meaning that it's equivalent to an un-boosted exposure of about 2 minutes 38 seconds). In reality, it was extremely dark and to my eyes everything on the left side of the image was mostly just a dim silhouette.

In comparison, here's a picture taken during the day with my point-n-shoot two years ago.

The image above is taken at spot where the canal turns 90 degrees (it runs off to the left in this image). So turning left myself and following the canal for a few yards, I took this 30-second exposure....

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 17mm — 30 sec, f/10, ISO 200, P.P. boost: +0.27EV — full exif & map
Resting for the Night

The sign on the fence says “don't park your bicycle or scooter here.”

Looking out over the water with a 70-second exposure....

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 17mm — 70 sec, f/10, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Blossoms Snoozing for the Night

Continuing parallel to the canal, I took this 29-second (69-second equivalent) picture looking back toward where I'd just come from. Where it looks like the water dead-ends in the background is where it turns 90 degrees, and is the spot where the first shot above was taken. (The “map” link under each photo details its location.)

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 17mm — 29 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200, P.P. boost: +1.16EV — map & image data — nearby photos