Landscape and night tips

[JamesDH]

Hello,
Just got back into taking pictures and am headed to the Davis Mountains in a few weeks.
I plan to take some landscape, sunset and night pictures.

Some of the things I remember are:
Keep the horizon level and keep it out of the center of the shot.
Eliminate all the distractions from your shot.
Bracket like crazy.
Stop down to get some DOF

Any tips?
Do I need a polarizer filter?
Any filter?

What about shooting at night?
I plan on some 10 to 20 second exposures to try and capture stars, milky way etc.
Not looking for star trails.
Filters?
ISO?
(most of my shots from the past have been grey and not very contrasty. Have yet to take any with the D200 or any digital camera)

I was going to start at say f4 and 10 seconds and bracket accordingly going to a max of 20 seconds. (I'm not completely back to speed on exposure but have the basics. 10 secs to 20 secs is 1 stop, so f4 at 10 would be the same as f8 at 20, I think)

My equipment will be:
D200 (shooting raw)
50 1.8
17-55
70-200
Tripod
Cable release
Extra batteries
and those really dark skies of the Davis mountain area :)

Thanks in advance for any and all suggestions

James

P.S Then there is the post processing but that's a whole nother post.

[dlbdata]

I believe you have most areas covered. Definitely use the polarizer for the landscapes. A split/graduated ND filter might not be a bad idea depending on the ratios.

[NikonShooter]

I think you have it covered. Goodluck.

[JamesDH]

I know this is more of an equipment question but..
Looking at graduated ND filters.
How does the Cokin P system rate?
Seems like a nice system that would allow you to move the border between the ND and the clear area.

Thanks

[dlbdata]

I used the cokin system years ago. I was not too fond of the mounting structure. The graduated filter was great for hand holding infront of the lens if using a tripod. Depending on the scenery/terrain, it worked better than having a screw on filter.

[Stephen H]

Keep the horizon level...out of the center of the shot. (Put it whereever you think it looks good. Just don't automatically center it every time, as you might do if you don't think about it.)

Bracket like crazy. (Past experience with the camera in question should tell you how much to bracket, if any.)

Stop down to get some DOF (As needed- just be aware of DOF and adjust as required. Also that many lenses don't have best performance wide open or closed down to smallest f/stop, so somewhere i n between is usually preferable)

Do I need a polarizer filter? (Experiment to see.)

[BCD]

Shoot in RAW.

Include a small flashlight or penlight.

Umbrella. (For you and your camera, not for lights)