Light Trails - 1st attempt - Critique needed please.

Jdevaney89

Jdevaney89

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So, went up to the M62 last night just past Ripponden to this bridge, ideal place for a shoot except im extremely amateur.

I gave it a good shot anyway and below are my results, can anyone help me in where ive gone wrong?

Im not entirely happy with this, could have done with a busier motorway but due to the time of the year catching low light and a busy motorway up here at the same time was a big enough challenge.

They are in backwards order, the 1st 2 pictures are done with a 60 second exposure the 2 below were 30 second. The very bottom picture was done with the aperture set at f16 the rest were f11 which i found worked better.









Thanks for looking.

James.
 
I think you are being a bit hard on yourself TBH, the last two shots when viewed in Flickr rather than these little snapshots above look really good.

I think maybe they could be better if you zoomed in a little to lose some of the sky and fill the frame a little more with the trails.
 
Noted, ill look into that next time, i was a little limited on time last night so it all just felt rushed, someone on another forum said something about a dust spot in the middle of the frame? I cant see this i think hes having me on..

Thank you.
 
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I'm afraid I can see a spot too. Sorry! It's in the clouds, just right of centre, towards the top of the shots.

I like them though. Go in a bit closer next time, but I love that it's one long trail that you can see going right off into the distance, so don't lose that :)
 
Ill be going back at some point to try out different things, i need the sun to start going in earlier so i can catch a busier motorway, i also have a shutter trigger now too which will help and ive cleaned the lens, bloody amateur!

Thanks for the advice though!
 
An admiral first effort for sure, you've actually got more than just that one dust spot there are a couple of really faint ones that I can see too, this is nothing to really worry about it's usually very easy to clean (y)

I'd say that you've got the settings about right (y) and that you've took in the information from my guide really well (y) what I would say is that I would consider is a portrait composition over a traditional landscape composition as I believe that will work a lot better at this location (y)

With this location be prepared to be visited by the local constabulary when shooting there more often than not as it's quite a popular suicide location sadly so reports of people on the bridge will get the police out, if ever your doing a light trail just explain what your doing and they'll not have a issue I'm sure (y)

Edit: the dust will be on your sensor not on your lens ;)

Matt
 
On the sensor? Thats expensive to sort am i right? Ive cleaned the lens as it was dirty, unfortunately i only noticed that today, going to take a shot against some white paper shortly so check anyway.

Thank you for the compliments and advice, all taken on board and ill be going out again at some point (hopefully soon) to give this another shot, i really enjoyed it, i cant wait!

This forum is fantastic with some truly talented people so compliments to you and others for making this possible for people with little to no experience like myself.

Thanks again.
 
Jdevaney89 said:
On the sensor? Thats expensive to sort am i right? Ive cleaned the lens as it was dirty, unfortunately i only noticed that today, going to take a shot against some white paper shortly so check anyway.

Thank you for the compliments and advice, all taken on board and ill be going out again at some point (hopefully soon) to give this another shot, i really enjoyed it, i cant wait!

This forum is fantastic with some truly talented people so compliments to you and others for making this possible for people with little to no experience like myself.

Thanks again.
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Cleaning the sensor is part of the life of a DSLR owner and no it's not expensive at all, the camera should in it's menus have a cleaning option to lift the mirror, then a rocket blower that you should be able to get for less than a tenner, use this and gravity to blow the dust of the sensor and bob's your uncle...just make sure you follow the directions and you'll be perfectly safe...occasionally you make have to pay for a pro clean for really stubborn dirt but that is rare :D

And thanks this is the best forum on the net in my humble opinion
 
Ive have a little look in the settings now, anychance you can locate the exact part of the menu for me? Or point me in the right direction, ive had a play and its on the sensor, wounded!

EDIT: Mirror lock-up?
 
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Ive almost done it with a cotton bud, ive just bought a blower though, should be here early next week.
 
Jdevaney89 said:
Ive almost done it with a cotton bud, ive just bought a blower though, should be here early next week.
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Please don't put a cotton bud anywhere near your sensor :eek: it's not that urgent to clean it ;) as it is you can clone the dust in editing ;)
 
Oh, okay i wont do that again lol..

Found another location close to home, this will be fantastic at the right time..
 
Been looking at trying a light trail shot myself, have no idea how to :) I think you picked a great location, remember that place well after driving by one evening with the sun setting! #3 is my fav.
 
Norms said:
Been looking at trying a light trail shot myself, have no idea how to :) I think you picked a great location, remember that place well after driving by one evening with the sun setting! #3 is my fav.
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Follow the OP, its incredibly easy once you figure out the settings, and you spend that long messing about that you end up drilling it into your mind. My next location will be far superior to this, more opportunity for vehicles to be spotted, just hope i dont get hunted & ty.

keeweeman said:
really like the way the trail just carries on into the distance, much better than my first attempt at this ever was!
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Theres been some really good attempts up at that spot but i think the location im going to have a go at tonight is far better, we shall see tonight!
 
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