Night Photography Tonight

Since becoming jobless again in the last couple of days I have had more time to study up on photography techniques again. I want a wide variety of techniques ingrained in my brain before we go to Vanuatu in July so I can get some awesome shots while I'm there. So far I know off by heart how to take auto exposure bracketed shots to create HDR images so mainly do those, otherwise I know AV (smaller the F# blurrier the background), TV (the smaller the number the slower the shutter speed or blurrier/finer the eg. waterfall OR the longer the exposure, or just use my wide angle or macro lens (which still needs work).

My next major task which I would like to become more experienced with is nighttime and low light techniques. Because everyone who has a camera knows that they are the most troublesome shots to get right.
I would like to be able to take good indoor shots without the flash making things look too bright or horrible and good non-flash shots. I'm probably going to get an external flash in the near future which is probably going to be the Canon 580EX. I may as well get it rather than the cheaper 480EX if it's going to give me more range and have more features. I've learnt when it comes to photography that it's probably not always the best to get the cheapest because you will regret it later if it doesn't have the features that you (find out later) you need.

So anyway, today I have been reading up on some articles about outdoor nighttime long exposure photography. Ok its a bit more advanced than what I was originally intending (just learning how to take indoor photos and use a flash more efficiently)but I thought that the photos were amazing and I had to have a go. Also it would be a good technique to add to my knowledge for Vanuatu.

Tonight I will have a go to create one of these types of photos (weather and lighting situation around the neighborhood depending)although it's better to take them around full moon. The next full moon is in about a week and a bit so I'll have a go then as well.
The tips I have learnt and will try are:
1-4 mins are a good amount of time for an exposure.
F5.6 with ISO 100 are good settings to use for this.
Paint an object with light (a torch or flash) to give it light or put a torch inside something. Also use coloured cellophane or filters to create colourful lighting effects.
The smaller the f# the the closer to the subject you need to be (but not too close).
Use Bulb for extended exposures.
Try to get some sky in as this will create nice lighting or star trails.

So I will check back in later with the results of my next experiment...