How to take these photos?

[Battou]

Such as?

I have a building that took two and a half minuets......but it sucked cuz I could not see it to compose it and cut off the peak of the roof

And the 800 film just did a hell of a number on it grainwise....

I forget what they're called, but it's the type of photo taken here: http://thephotoforum.com/gallery/files/96-200411-Shutterbug.jpg

Anyhow, I was wondering how you take those with a SLR (the D40 specifically). I know how you do it with film cameras, but I don't knowhow to do it with an SLR.

The biggest aspect has alredy been answered so I'll skip that but for shots like that, the heavier the traffic the better the results, and steer clear of stopsigns and trafficlights.

 

[Alpha]

I have a building that took two and a half minuets......but it sucked cuz I could not see it to compose it and cut off the peak of the roof

And the 800 film just did a hell of a number on it grainwise...

2 minutes at ISO 800? Jesus I'd hardly photograph red shift with that.

Talk about reciprocity failure. I can shoot a cityscape in the middle of the night with a new moon at ISO 100 for 2 minutes.

 

[Battou]

2 minutes at ISO 800? Jesus I'd hardly photograph red shift with that.

Talk about reciprocity failure. I can shoot a cityscape in the middle of the night with a new moon at ISO 100 for 2 minutes.

 

[Alpha]

It looks like you were trying to hit daylight light levels at night...

 

[Battou]

It looks like you were trying to hit daylight light levels at night...

Originally the expariment was to see if I could photograph something I could not see infront of me. I did this like forever ago so....I don't think about it too much. It was a fun expariment and I can use what I learned from it so....I guess it worked.

 

[andrew99]

To the original poster: It has already been said, but I'll confirm from my own experience with the D40. The camera must be in M-manual mode to get the bulb mode, which will allow shutter speeds of 30 seconds. Make sure your auto ISO is turned off so you can set the ISO to 200 (the minimum). Also you might want to turn off noise detection, since that will speed up the processing time after the exposure is completed.

 

[Mary-Beth]

Yes it's called BULB. Turning your shutter speed to this keeps it open until you press the shutter again.

Sorry, FA, what you describe is the 'T' setting. For 'Time'.
The 'B' setting, for 'Bulb' opens the shutter when you press the exposure button down, and closes it again when you let the exposure button come up.
Haven't seen a 'T' setting on any SLRs in the last 30 years, though...