Well your pic IS amateur...and so is mine. We are amateurs, lol.
My bridges were just BIGGER, that's all. Plus yours looks like Mercury Vapor Lights.
I LIKE the orange glow, but I WANTED blue more than orange. But I liked the fact
that I didn't get jumped over there and lose all my 5hi+.
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NOW, do I want to get paid to take pictures instead of making bug commercials??
YES....yes I do. But I am the very definition of an amateur.
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Here's the pic of the wife on the dolphin excursion. Scanned it with the Epson V600 and removed some scratches cause by my stupid cats with PS CS6.

Image
img003 by emopunker2004, on Flickr
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If you don't mind my asking, what were the settings that you used for that bridge photo?
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Compositing it in photshop really hides the exif. Let me copy and past that. I am gonna have to give you general
data, I took dozens of the same basic shot. I also have to upload a straight from the camera HUGE shot to Flickr
to get the data in a good copy and paste format. I am gonna PM you that to save the page from a huge readout.
HERE is the edited version:

Camera Nikon D90
Exposure 1.6
Aperture f/7.1
Focal Length 18 mm
ISO Speed 200
Exposure Bias -2/3 EV
Flash No Flash
Exposure Program Shutter speed priority AE
Max Aperture Value 3.5
Metering Mode Multi-segment
Light Source Unknown
User Comment (c) W.Matherne2013 All Rights Resvd.

Exposure Mode Auto
White Balance Auto
Digital Zoom Ratio 1
Focal Length (35mm format) 27 mm

I messed with all kinds of shutter speeds, from 1 to 12 seconds, to keep
the ISO nice and quiet. I found the best rate of shutter speed was between
1 and 3 seconds and i also tried all the white balance setttings, but Auto was
fine. I SWEAR I thought I was in some kind of Sepia setting, but it was just
those damn lights. I couldn't find a sepia tone setting, and I guess that is
about right, all the point and shoots offer it, and I just thought it looked off.
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It was also on a tripod, which I rarely use. I certainly could have used it in the quarter
later on that night, and might consider carrying one with me in the future if I intend to shoot in the dark
like that. I had my heaviest tripod with me, which was great for the bridge shot where i had all the time
in the world and I was utterly alone on that levee. But later on in the quarter I am not sure I would have
wanted to keep lugging it around. But again, in the darkness of 4 am, I will definitely look hard at it if I do it
again.
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Would love to see some pics of the French Quarter... One of my favorite places...
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Then you should do two things. Read the second blog in my signature, and hit up this thread

I have been in the french quarter 3 out of the last 4 weekends, shooting my butt off,
but making a lot of mistakes that sort of forced me to spend so much time there.
Not like you had to hold a gun to my head, I grew up there and miss it all the time.
But my poor a55, riding all those road miles, all for some pictures? Hopefully one day
I will amass a large protfolio of only the most wallet-opening, a55-kicking photos and
just stop working for the man. You can help, lol.
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I have a favorite everytime I go down to shoot, but this might be my new favorite photo ever.

Image
4am at Barracks at Chartres by MemphisBrad, on Flickr
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I've always considered a heavy, solid tripod to be the most important accessory one can have because on a tripod, you are maximizing the performance of your lens. I have gone as far as to tape an eight or nine inch piece of thin wire to the back of a camera, like an antenna, and squeeze the cable release only when the wire stops twitching.

Oh BTW, that is a beautiful piece, Brad. Damn it, I'm running out of wall space.
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You mean "press the shutter when you get back from the emergency room with an eye-patch?"
I would poke my eye out for sure.

I agree that a tripod is essential for what I am doing, especially in the situation that the photo represents.
A 2 second shot of that scene on a tripod would have been excellent. You can see the ISO working
overtime in that shot even as small as I have it presented there. However there is also an element of
danger to working with a pod at 4am in the FQ. You have NO IDEA who you will run into and I kind of
prefer to slink about and shoot without attracting too much attention. I WILL carry a monopod with me
next time though, if not a tripod.

Case in point, and a story I will end up telling on that blog, but I am coming down Royal Street and
looking for likely winner photos, and I see the number one danger sign in physical violence right there
in the middle of the street coming toward me. Now I have the advantage, because I have not been drinking.
But there in the street is a thin, wiry white male with no shirt on. It is not COLD on this particular morning,
but it ain't New Orleans Hot yet either. So I duck down St. Phillip street to let this hazard pass. And since
he HAS been drinking, he does not notice me in the least. But he DOES stop to admire himself in a large
store window. I am hoping he doesn't smash the window, but he seems content to stand there and flex.
So I decide to re-route entirely and just go opposite him with all speed. I have no idea if he is a threat
to me or my gear, but I have seen enough episodes of C.O.P.S. to know what the potential is when a cat is
dressed like that at 4am in the a place like the French Quarter. A tripod in this case would have made me obvious.
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I like it too, the green bench with the red walls really pops and the lighting looks just right. "Feels" like 4am, well done Brad.
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Here is a shot I had to get to satisfy Mr. Picky-Choosy. I gave him a book with 70 thumbnails in it
and he said, "Where are all the Memphis Shots??? I want Memphis stuff". Which of course is a bit humbling
to me, I LOVE New ORLEANS, but that is force-feeding a proposed clientele with what YOU like and not
what they demand. Now I have every intention of shooting Memphis when I am done with NO, but I had
not messed with it much to this point.

Image

So I strapped on my big boy pants and headed out to shoot the 3 Memphis bridges at sunset.
I knew by the time I was done with that, I could shoot the Hernando Desoto bridge when it's lights came on.
Then I could shoot Beale Street, since it's Neon would look best in darkness. I got it ALL DONE, and then
got home to process them and jump in bed, late, but creatively satisfied. Now let's see how much money
I can extract from Picky boy.
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Keep doing what you're doing! I was speaking in generalities and for myself. I suppose My point is that I'm a very slow worker; I'm better suited to large format, but who can afford that?
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Oh I definitely understood you, I just had to tell that story one way or another. You know I cain't be havin
no 2 line posts. What would people think? If I go down there by myself this weekend, I will take a light one
with me, and I always have my tabletop one with me. I will be there Friday, but might have my gracious host
with me one one of a few trips I have planned. I gave him one of my old point and shoot "DSLR lite" cameras
with full manual controls, etc, and I think he is kind of needing to go with me one time so he can ask the right
questions at the right time. Other than that I do not think he would want to hang out with me doing that kind
of thing.

But a tripod is your friend. I have 25 years producing TV commercials, I am definitely an advocate, lol. We will
see if it makes a difference. On a related note, I bought an old manual Focus 24mm 2.8 yesterday, won't have it
in time to go to NO, but I bought it so I could have two camera bodies with low light lenses if I ever got to NO at
2am again, lol. I have a 1.8 50mm and a 1.8 35mm, but they are STILL too tight once you put them on a crop
sensor body. I need wider than that, and almost got the 20mm, but it was too pricey and the 24mm specced
out too well. "THEY" say it is a great old lens. 9 elements and just fantastic optical quality. On a DX camera,
ehhh, we'll have to wait and see.

On another related note, I am having too much fun messing with this shooting for money deal. I can't be a pro,
because as long as I have been 'taking pictures', I have always had one mantra, NO WEDDINGS. And if I was an
actual pro, it would cease to be fun. And I am having fun. Once all the low-hanging fruit is picked at work and
in the family, we will have to see if I can sell anything. But it is FUN taking the stuff knowing the goal, and its
driving me to get out and walk and shoot and go places. I am a homebody hermit. This gets me out.
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In a stinking cave with the need for an updated body....but still a fun sequence... Wish I would have mashed the shutter .5 seconds earlier....that shifted the frame in PP to flatten the boards in the background(I find the slant distracting).

Image

Image
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You guys and this thread are making me go back to shooting.

My website www.Photo-Galleria.com
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Just picked up all my negatives from fototechnika, wish me luck lol
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How do you think I FEEL, E.J., my viewfinder tells me I am straight and I am not.
But hell, its used, if I cared I would turn the camera one degree clockwise and
stop doing the same thing over and over on every shot. :-)
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Good luck, this all goes in to your new neg scanner?
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