LONG EXPOSURES: As I have been asked many times to refresh the concept of shooting with a tripod at Sunset....

Here is my system:

1. Mount camera on tripod and make sure that is does not move all.
2. Remove VR or IS on lens.
3. Lower the ISO to 100.
4. Check your exposure dial, and put it on MANUAL mode.
5. Frame your shot and make sure that your light meter is on "0".
6. Define in advance your aperture. In the example below I used apertures between f8 and f11 as I was looking for the sharpest results considering that there were no elements in the foreground, everything was far and for the camera basically on the same focal plane.
7. Should you have an important element in the foreground, like a pier or pilings, use f16 to f22 and focus at 1/3 of the distance in order to make the most of the larger DOF.
8. Take your first test shot using the TIMER feature or even better a REMOTE RELEASE.
9. OVER and UNDER expose using the light-meter as a benchmark till you reach your desired exposure.
10. Take several shots OVER and UNDER exposing to get different results.
11. Depending on your camera, AUTOFOCUS might not help you, so switch the lens to MANUAL focus and adjust the focus rotating the lens ring.
12. If you will POST PROCESS, shoot RAW, if you are using JPG play with the WHITE BALANCE to get more enfasis on the REDS with the SHADE setting. 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gbuten/sets/72157628087008507/