to achieve crisp clear shots at night like these, it's a MUST to use tripod right? all of these are taken by the same photographer.

For longer exposure or below 1/10 shutter speed, a tripod is a must. And shoot at low ISO.

And a new camera with a good noise performance sensor can make a lot of difference.

This post has been edited by bcteh: Jan 30 2015, 02:25 PM

night photography for still object you will use tripod, very easy..

but for moving object, like car, human, you will need a good skill of diffusing flash light + a fast lens (mostly prime).

Large aperture and high ISO.
No need for a tripod.

3rd photo

Who or what's that?

First shot taken with tripod, low ISO and long exposure Otherwise the Supertrees' lights will look very dim, like in reality huhu
The remaining shots were taken with wide apertures and high ISOs, thus noneed tripod. Depending on the lighting of the environment, usually it will be challenging to get shots like these using only a kitlens and no tripod

+1! Ghost

not necessary.

the photos you show, none of them require tripod.

you can do it handheld, all depends on your setting.

for still subjects, you can just handheld. tripod not necessary.

for moving subjects, again depends on what effect you want and how you set. can go without tripod, and does not require diffusing flash and does not require prime / fast lenses.

it all depends on how far you're willing to push the ISO, balance with the shutter, holding technique and whether image stabilization is available.

The advice a bit generic. To TS, dim your room or go out to your backyard with some light at night, set up your preferred focal length and take some shots by holding it as still as possible. Test different settings by slowing down the shutter speed and ramping up the ISO.

If it turns out blurry or too noisy, better invest in tripod and primes if you intend to do a lot of night shots. Lower f stops lens like f/2 compare to f/3.5 makes a lot of difference. On the other hand, if your test shots turns out ok because you got steady hand, you still have to deal with moving subjects.

it's generic because the question is not specific.

Totally agree.. master your holding technique and more than half the battle is yours.. know your lens focal length / shutter speed and you can determine the results.. These are all old school skills...

All those pics are not taken with tripod. If you see these pics, the places are rather well lit, and the point of interest are placed so that they are well exposed.

Like what the rest said, there are many ingredients to taking a good shot at night.
Handling technique, high ISO camera, fast lens, composition, image stabilization

However, for landscape night photography, tripod is a must because every ounce of light is important and low ISO is preferred.