Beginner Torrevieja Habaneros Centre, night shots

[philoldsmobile]

The main road outside the Habaneros centre by night. Even with the lens closed right down and ISO 100 to get an exposure of over 20 seconds I struggled to get enough vehicles to pass to create the light trails I wanted. The third shot was looking down onto the N332 heading away from Torrevieja towards Cartagena, from the bridge in the background of the first two shots.

 

[Cartus]

They're not great tbh.

I think when attempting to capture light trails like this you need to consider the overall 'landscape' and try to keep all the elements in focus other than the light trails themselves.

The first location looks dull and uninspiring, the second is much better but the sign at least should have been in focus.

The more 'successful' shots like this will focus on a scene (eg, Westminster bridge and Big Ben etc) and then allow the light trails to impose themselves into the scene and thus add another dimension to an otherwise solid and 'interesting' composition.

Light trails on their own, aren't that interesting in my view.

 

[philoldsmobile]

Ok, fair points. I actually prefer the first location, but there really wasn't enough traffic, and the best view is from the other side, but you can't get there as there is no central divider. Will try when I'm over here again at location 2, but perhaps with a longer lens to get past the slightly featureless foreground. There is a better bridge just down the road with shops and billboards either side.

 

[philoldsmobile]

Was having a look at the raw file for the third shot yesterday. The raw file has the signboard in focus so there may have been some loss of fidelity when it was uploaded to photobucket as a JPEG?