It took me a while to understand your point of view and perspective in the first photo, but then I realised you photographed these chimes and take us looking upwards toward the ceiling of your porch (?), with the camera steadied against the wall? Without a tripod and the chance to set your camera to self-timer, you can only go so far as to exposure times, of course, after which you will still produce some camera shake because you just can't keep it that steady for 2 seconds or more (other than JonMikal. He can! For example... I, howeven, canNOT...:roll: ). Therefore I see why Photo 1 is so dark. It could, however, have done with a longer exposure.
I wonder where you rested your camera for Photo 2?
That, too, could have done with a little longer exposure.
One thing that I have only recently learnt from no where else but this very forum (!) is: use the smallest aperture your camera offers for nighttime photography - and consequently quite long exposures, which is why you would need to mount your camera on a tripod, and if it only be a miniature tripod such as my "weapon"*, which measures 4 inches when pushed together, and 12 with the legs extended. That will make any light sources that get into your photos less "blob-by" and more "star-ry".
. On the second one, i rested it on the bed rail of my neighbor's truck.
