Did you disconnect lens stabilizer?


Enviado desde mi iPhone utilizando Tapatalk

Canon d700?
Hybrid?

Check your is should be off

The is should be off when shooting long exposure
So it was on when you shot your images

I have no idea what the kit lens was, or what the exposure time was, but I'd be looking at an unstable tripod, droopy ballhead, shaking ground (trucks going by, people playing ball games next to you, wind, you touching the camera or some other source of motion that moved things during the exposure time.

http://photographyblogger.net/how-to-increase-sharpness-in-long-exposure-photography/

How long was the exposure time?

If its short about 1 or 2 seconds, the camera shakes from you pressing the button, use time release or a remote.

Quote from: theendup on July 13, 2016, 16:10

it was off..

That rules that out 🙂

I didn t know.. Luckily i was doing the right thing 

-camera shake, most likely due to shaking of the bridge due to moving traffic ,etc would show motion all over the image.
-off focus due to drooping tripod could also account for that.
- pressing the shutter is unlikely as time exposure is over a second and pressing the shutter may not affect it. but to be sure, use the self timer to release the shutter
and place the camera on something solid. i never carry a tripod, so all time exposure shots, i place it
on a cement block with my jacket neatly placed under the camera,etc

shooting with auto could also account for out of focus, as you are likely to be shooting at wide open.
being a time exposure, you can set it to manual at use sweet spot , f8 f11 whatever, usually 2 to 3 stops from wide open. 
shooting at f22, f16 does not necessarily give you the sharpest image either.

without an example of the problem shot to look at, it's really all guess work from us ,
so, the best thing is to upload a shot for us to look at.
no need to upload all 16MP of it. a small one of the full frame will do, with maybe a section of the image at 100% cropped to show a small section of the building etc so we can look at it in detail.

one last thing i forgot to tell you which is no doubt the main culprit is bright lights,
just like the lights and hot spots at a concert will throw focus totally off.
this is due to the focus being fooled by the shining-est part of the screen.
so, your stage light, hot spot reflective off a metallic part, .. and in night shot of cityscape,
street lamps,..  will be where your focus is.
it's the same for focusing on the moon, you never seem to be able to do that..
if you use auto focus... it will swing back and forth ..in focus out of focus like a mad drunken sailor.

- Make sure you have a sturdy tripod, all screws tightened
- Make sure the tripod is standing rock solid (not on a slope, sand or uneven ground which may cause slight slipping of the tripod legs)
- try not to extend the tripod all the way. Keep the tripod low to make it even more stable.
- Wind can cause camera shake even on the best tripods
- Autofucs was never a problem for me even when there were bright lights. 30 second exposures and more are no problem at all.
- Do not release the shutter by pressing the shutter button. Either use the timer to release it or use a remote trigger (preferably Infrared)
- Turn off IS or VR on your lens
- No idea if your camera is mirrorless but even the movement of the mirror moving can cause blurriness (especially if the camera is not mounted tightly)
- Obivously do not touch the camera during exposure

Thanks everyone for the thoughts.. I will share one of the photos when i go back home 

Yup, highly doubtful that there were trucks around.... Overall not bad, but when zoomed in blurry. I would suggest next time using the manual focus (live view) and if you are not sure then zoom in for better focus. Depending on the lens and/or camera, I think with exposure this long you should be fine even at f11 but I am sure there are others that are much more experience from me.

looks more like a shaky picture more than an "out of focus".... i think that was the traffic around