Project 52: Week 42, Car light trails

[billtils]

I had the opportunity to go with a few other photographers to take some evening shots from a motorway pedestrian overpass in Glasgow city centre. We were all new to the "car light trails" genre so set up was a bit hit or miss. A brief visit to the wonders of the web, suggested slow as possible and maybe even some type of ND filter.

These were shot with a 6-stop ND and at ISO and shutter speeds listed.

It was quite light to begin with but I think that the dusk to dark variation lent a bit of interest to the shots.

1: f/16, ISO 64, 13s




2: f/18, ISO 50, 25s




3: f/18, ISO 160, 30s




4: f/18, ISO 160, 30s

[skitterbug]

I was trying to pick a favorite but can't because I like them all.

One thing I did pick up on are the stoplights/traffic signals showing in the bottom two photos. I could do without them...... No reason really other than they block some of the light display of the moving vehicles.

This looks like a fun way to explore a new technique!

[Manfred M]

Good start Bill. I find that I usually shoot these types of shots for around 10 seconds, but that is just personal preference. I find that the longer the exposure, the more chances of something going wrong.

A few observations you want to think about:

1. Dust marks in the first image - that type of sky is very unforgiving when it comes to sensor dust.

2. My first light trails were very similar to yours; I concentrated on the light trails. Later I started to look at things more from a composition standpoint. The composition has to be strong and the light trails just add that something "special" to an composition that is already.

3. f/18 with ISO 160? I would drop the ISO and open up the aperture instead. I find base ISO shots tend to give the cleanest results on long exposure images.

4. I don't know if it is possible at this location, but I do find that steadily flowing traffic tends to give better results than stop & go situations.

[billtils]

Thanks Manfred.

1: Ooops on the dust - I missed that!

2: Yes, I agree but to some extent we were the captives of the location, and it's why I like the 3rd best. The high light towers fit in, the three tower blocks have some up quite nicely, and the diamond shape of the light trails works for me - pity about the traffic lights (as Sandy pointed out!).

3: The ISO was partly experimental. What little I read all said go for an exposure of 10 to 30s and having gone as low as ISO 50 in the early part I shot a few at higher levels, including this one.

4: Oh, I didn't realise you were there! It was not an ideal spot as the cross traffic was very stop and go (light controlled) and the top-to-bottom varied from hardly moving to bursts where there were groups of vehicles with spaces between the groups; so no, not a great success in regard to steadily flowing.

Anyways, it was fun and I do appreciate your input - thanks again.

[billtils]

One thing I did pick up on are the stoplights/traffic signals showing in the bottom two photos. I could do without them...... No reason really other than they block some of the light display of the moving vehicles.

This looks like a fun way to explore a new technique!

Thanks Sandy - see my reply to Manfred below on the traffic flow. And yes, it was fun. One pedestrian using the overpass stopped and had quite a long chat with us - he thought we must be covering an even that he had not heard of, and was very interested in what we were actually doing.

[FootLoose]

Good effort, Bill, it's always worth trying something new. I find the darker images more pleasing.