Absolutely! In order to capture the Bellagio Fountains, I had to use a tripod. In fact, for all architectural photography, I highly recommend using a stable tripod.

Once you put your camera on a tripod, set it to Aperture Priority and use a higher aperture such as f/8-f/16, depending on the amount of light and the depth of field you want to capture. For example, if you have a nearby object and you want it to be sharp as well as everything in the background, you will need to use a very high aperture number. If you only have distant objects, then an aperture of f/8 should be sufficient to capture all details.

When you set your camera to aperture priority, you are basically letting it calculate the right shutter speed for you. Most of the new cameras have very good metering systems, so just take a single shot and see how it comes out. If you get an underexposed image, just use your exposure compensation dial and add more light. If you get an overexposed image, dial it down :)

Always shoot at the lowest ISO setting on your camera. For latest Nikons, use ISO 200, while for all other cameras it will most likely be ISO 100.

Now as far as settings that I use in my pictures, I highly recommend reading this article on EXIF that I posted earlier this week. I always leave the EXIF information on my pictures, so you should be able to read the settings I used while taking a picture.

The last two shots from the above set of pictures were captured hand-held, which is why you’ll see that I used a high ISO with a reasonably fast shutter speed.

Hope this helps, please let me know if you have any questions!