Car light trails at night

[RobbieW]

Hi,

I need to take a photo of a motorway one evening, the aim is to show car light trails so a long shutter speed is required.

Can anyone offer any advice on the appeture settings?

I will be using a 350d with an 18 to 55mm kit lens.

Thanks for any advice

Rob

[Richard]

I've taken a few motorway shots by just setting the mode to TV and using a 15 second exposure. Here's (http://www.flickr.com/photo_exif.gne?id=104270645) the exif if it helps, but if you do it this way the camera should give you the right exposure. Good luck :)

[RobbieW]

Thanks for that, thats just what I wanted I will go and have a play with the traffic tonight :)

[Marcel]

I assume there will be motorway (ie static) lights in shot too. I would suggest using a nice small aperture (high number) to stop them from blowing out and to give a nice 'twinkly' effect.

Shoot in manual, with the mirror lockup set to "On" (Its a custom function, 2 I think). Preferably with a remote release.

Preferably shoot in Manual with an aperture of f16 or so, and a time of, say 15 seconds plus.
If you have a remote, I suggest using Manual and setting the shutter speed to 'Bulb', which means that you press the button to start the shot, and you press it to end, so it's pretty much up to you how long you expose for (and you can time it to stop the shot before another car comes along and ruins it or something) :)

[Dark Star]

Marcel - not tried this yet but what exactly does the mirror lockup achieve?

John

[Digital SPG]

Marcel - not tried this yet but what exactly does the mirror lockup achieve?

John


Eliminates the vibration of the mirror moving up when you release the shutter.

[RobertP]

And convinces you something is wrong with the camera next time you go to use it and forgot that you set mirror lock up to on :)

I was using mirror lockup last year with your telescope John... till you found your mirror was corroded and gave up on it. Still got the adaptor if you ever get it fixed ;)

[badgerbaiter]

i'm pretty sure the exif is in tact in this pic if it helps.
most important is a decent tripod and a remote.. if you dont have a remote you can use a timer like i did in this photo.
ISO 100, and about 15 secs exposure i would say. depends on how long you want the lights trails too. if there is a lot of traffic then you dont want too long light trails as they will fill the frame.
careful also that at a very very long exposure you might get some sensor overheating

http://www.xynamic.com/gallery/albums/uploads/LeMansSat/ar1873.jpg

[badgerbaiter]

btw that photo was taken with a crap tripod.. hence some wobbly trails (it was quite windy up there!)

[Joe T]

Looks like Le Mans to me?!

[dod]

I like that, different :)

[matty]

looks good to me, something a little different

[Jimmy_Lemon]

I have tried a few light trails shots before and just ended up playing with various settings - wish the 350d had a slightly bigger screen :p

I came up with this though, using a £10 tripod and no remote release (hence the nasty wobble :( )
http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/gallery/data/500/M1.jpg

Also had a bit of fun trying it with trains too - apart from they go a bit fast!
http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/gallery/data/500/spondontrain.jpg

But I would recommend just playing about at the scene as you never know what the sky is going to be like and just how many cars there will be. Also try playing with the white balance, as the orange glow in mine is really annoying me now :(

Good Luck :D

[stephenb]

http://static.flickr.com/80/245372099_53078bae34_o.jpg

I took this in the near pitch dark so dont forgrt to take a torch. This was exposed for 27secs at f9 using a remote and mirror lock up. the sign post is blurred and I thought it was my focussing but having tried again on another night found out the bridge i was on shakes ever so slightly when traffic goes over it (and past me giving me funny looks!). Case of trial and error really.

[badgerbaiter]

i love that train one.. looks like a ghost train.. very cool

[marshmellow377]

Here are some of the shots i have taken =]



http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2151/2380032469_aae6bc3df0.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3143/2380865480_3d441ae668.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3285/2380035623_d6732abefb.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2416/2380023169_10d828c91b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3007/2379997731_82ae955b09.jpg

what do you think??

[the undertaker]

be careful on motorway shots, find a stretch without street lighting. It offers to much light pollution. I learnt the hard way many years ago using 35mm

[badgerbaiter]

be careful on motorway shots, find a stretch without street lighting. It offers to much light pollution. I learnt the hard way many years ago using 35mm

i'm guessing he's probably done it by now :) :)

[the undertaker]

oh yes, sorry, only looked under new posts, no wonder they call me dippy, DOH

[Kev_mk3]

pictures like that are easy to do i think - just got to stop the wobble etc :)

[rich_eason]

Remember that Motorway overbridges also have inherent movement within them from the vehicle motions below and passing traffic on them, some movement you will be able to feel through your feet so its not always the fault of the tripod.

I'd post my effort up but imagehosting services are banned in work so will add later...

[Matt Sayle]

I want to have a go at this. I treid out of a bedroom window onto a roundabout and failed, miserably.

[mattyh]

pictures like that are easy to do i think - just got to stop the wobble etc :)

Easy to do... difficult to master :D

[rich_eason]

Remember that Motorway overbridges also have inherent movement within them from the vehicle motions below and passing traffic on them, some movement you will be able to feel through your feet so its not always the fault of the tripod.

I'd post my effort up but imagehosting services are banned in work so will add later...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3269/2388237894_61f0ff8043.jpg

[Matt Sayle]

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3269/2388237894_61f0ff8043.jpg

I like that, Good image!

[silverJON]

I'd love to see someone's results after they've caught an emergency vehicle. I think the blue pattern would be very cool.

A half-hearted attempt of mine, catching ambulances on Christmas Eve (lots out that night, of course) out of my bedroom window under street lighting with a rubbish tripod:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v12/jonajsil/blue4.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v12/jonajsil/blue1.jpg

[Bumph GB]

This shot was taken with my old Kodak DX6490 which had a limit of 16 seconds exposure f7.1, i really should go out and do another one with my d40 soon.
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n165/Bumph/Random/101_0917.jpg

[Matt Sayle]

Wow cool shot! Is the blue light on the right of the picture an emergency vehcile?