My First Sunset

[topslakr]

Well, after much question asking and a great deal of reading I'm ready to post an image for all to see. I took the shot last night around 8:30pm looking across the lake near where I live in New Hampshire. I used my Nikon D40, the included kit lens @18mm and the aperture stopped all the way down at f/22. Using ISO 200 this is a 1/2 second exposure.

This is my first foray into sunset shots and am looking for some tips. I used my tripod and the Nikon remote to help me keep things sharp. Something I noticed though is that my lens is very dirty. I have edited out a few of the more obvious spots in the sky but left the ones on the left side in the water. I know the spots are on my lens and the camera as when I shoot with my other lens I don't see them. Funny (read: scary) thing is I don't see any spots on the lens and I have cleaned both the front and back with a microfiber cloth. Should I have it looked at?

So! Tell me what you think of the shot!

Here is a link to the full image. It's on my gallery site that is still be repopulated after some server troubles...
Full Size (1.6MB)

Thank You!

Robert

[clockdoc]

Hi topslakr,
You sunset image is a tad bit too dark to be able to provide any meaningful comments. The sun has set and there are only a few clouds being illuminated. Wish I could be more helpful in this case, but I can't see much more detail in your gallery image either.