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Can you suggest me what kind of settings would I need to make these kind of pictures.
The scenario will be just like the pictures: Outdoors, lights on the streets, and maybe very small rivers with houses and lights on each side. Just like Venice or Brugge in Belgium.
http://www.hdwallpapersarena.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/The-City-Night-Lights.jpg
http://cyclingtipscontent.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/brugge.jpg
Long exposure and probably HDR.
Put you camera on a good tripod, set you camera to manual focus and to shoot raw.
Set your aperture for the DOF - that would be a small aperture (high F number) because you want everything in focus
Set your ISO low to minimize noise
Now start with a pretty slow shutter speed (for example 10 seconds) and take a test picture, if your picture is over exposed use a faster shutter, if you don't get a picture as bright as the examples use a slower shutter.
If you get a single picture you like you will have to post-process it, the white balance will most likely be completely wrong (but that's ok because we shot raw) and for such exaggerated colors you will need to play with the saturation and vivid settings.
If you can't get a single well exposed image (if there are lighted and dark area in the image it's likely you will either over expose the light area or under expose the dark one) - than take multiple images from everything under exposed to everything over exposed at 1 or 2 stop differences (changing just shutter speed) and use HDR software to create a single image from the set.
In the case of the first photo, it is two different exposures, you can actually see the gradient between the two along the edge of the tree (look at how the exposure of the sky changes). By overlaying two different exposures, a simple HDR effect can be achieved. HDR is really just a fancy term for using a dark photo to get detail in the bright parts and a bright photo to get detail in the dark parts. This lets you capture a photo that is outside the typical dynamic range (the difference between the darkest and brightest spots that the sensor can measure at any one time) of the camera.
Shooting RAW files also helps because they generally have a larger dynamic range than their JPEG alternatives and provide far better color and exposure control in post production.
Take multiple exposures from a tripod. Save the image as a RAW file. Use the self-timer or a wired or wireless remote to avoid any camera movement between shots. Ideally you want the focus, ISO, and aperture to be the same and the shutter speed to be the value that changes from one shot to the next. The best way to do this is to use manual focus and exposure settings. You can also use AF to focus the lens and then switch the lens to MF so it doesn't change with each shot. Experiment until you've found a good medium exposure level. Take one shot at that exposure, then take one at 2 stops darker and another at 2 stops brighter.
Use one of several methods to combine the three images. HDR software such as Photomatix can do this. The initial result will probably be somewhat flat looking. Use the sliders for things such as contrast and saturation to adjust the image in a process known as tone mapping. There are also other methods to combine parts of multiple images. Exposure Fusion is one method. Manually combining parts of each image using layers in Photoshop is another.
