Tripods

I have people ask all the time about my long exposure and multiple exposure shots and a good tripod is critical for exposures like this. Cheap plastic tripods available at local retailers are very limited and will definitely lower the quality of your results.  I personally use Manfrotto tripods, which allow individual use and positioning of each of the legs along with a center pole that can be vertical or horizontal.  They are a bit heavy to haul around, but extremely stable.