Tutorial Photography Guide: Light Trails

Got out just after sunset

First two are facing west towards M25 J6 Clacket Lane Services M25 and the 3rd photo facing east


IMG_0238 by Fla5h.Photos, on Flickr

Exposure 10
Aperture f/8.0
Focal Length 24 mm
ISO Speed 100


IMG_0232 by Fla5h.Photos, on Flickr

Exposure 15
Aperture f/8.0
Focal Length 24 mm
ISO Speed 100


IMG_0239 by Fla5h.Photos, on Flickr

Exposure 10
Aperture f/8.0
Focal Length 24 mm
ISO Speed 100
 
They look so much better for the nice colours in the sky :thumbs: I'd think that you would have been better off with a little smaller aperture say f/13 :thumbs: but the M25 is great for light trails by virtue of the amount of traffic :thumbs:

Matt
 
That's come out really well Joe, I'll have to add that location onto the light trail map :thumbs:

Leigh, it has to be the first for me the second is just to blotchy for me :( but I'm really not like the composition with the railing of the bridge in frame :(

Matt
 
MWHCVT said:
Leigh, it has to be the first for me the second is just to blotchy for me :( but I'm really not like the composition with the railing of the bridge in frame :(
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Fair enough - I think it's probably one of those that split opinion, as i've also had people telling me they like it.

But then - if everyone agreed life would be dull ;)
 
MWHCVT said:
That's come out really well Joe, I'll have to add that location onto the light trail map :thumbs:

Leigh, it has to be the first for me the second is just to blotchy for me :( but I'm really not like the composition with the railing of the bridge in frame :(

Matt
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Thanks mate - it's the same location as last time. Struggling to think of near locations that aren't so boring!!
 
Did I correctly read a few posts back that if Noise Reduction is enabled on our cameras, this will add to the overall time the picture takes to be taken?
The reason I ask is because I did a few night landscape night shots a while back, just using the timer release and the camera always seemed to take roughly twice as long as I had set it.
 
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Bletch said:
Did I correctly read a few posts back that if Noise Reduction is enabled on our cameras, this will add to the overall time the picture takes to be taken?
The reason I ask is because I did a few night landscape night shots a while back, just using the timer release and the camera always seemed to take roughly twice as long as I had set it.
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In camera noise reduction will double the time for each shot, so a 30 second exposure time will take 1 minute to complete, 30s with the shutter open & 30s with the shutter closed. The shutter closed exposure is then subtracted from the shutter open exposure.
 
Thanks for clearing that up Vaughan.
So it's okay to leave off whilst doing light trails because I'm using a low ISO. Leave NR on whilst shooting night time photogaphy involving people and places (ie night markets), no flash, high ISO.
 
Bletch said:
Thanks for clearing that up Vaughan.
So it's okay to leave off whilst doing light trails because I'm using a low ISO. Leave NR on whilst shooting night time photogaphy involving people and places (ie night markets), no flash, high ISO.
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Yeah keep it off for light trails :thumbs: and in all honesty I've always kept it off no matter what as any NR the camera can do, you can do it as well if not better in PP and although I'm not sure I'd take an educated bet that any in camera noise reduction is pointless if you shoot RAW ;)
 
Well I took the plunge last night and gave this a go but my results were shocking and I have learnt a lesson, a couple of adjustments and back out over the weekend I think !!

I love the enjoyment of learning in photography , try and try again !
 
vince31 said:
Well I took the plunge last night and gave this a go but my results were shocking and I have learnt a lesson, a couple of adjustments and back out over the weekend I think !!

I love the enjoyment of learning in photography , try and try again !
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Or come out and shoot some light trails with me and I'll give you a lesson in how to do it :D but not this weekend, this weekend is all about the firework :woot:
 
I read the tutorial for this and the other night i final got to do my first light trails :) The thing that botheres me about the shots i took were the noisey sky.
1.
lighttrail4.jpg

2.
lighttrail2.jpg

3.
lighttrail1.jpg
 
Firstly there is no exif data available for these photos :( what I will say is that the file sizes are very small, what quality setting did you save these as, because there looks to be quite a bit of JPEG compression in them, to really improve these though you would be much better off getting to location a lot earlier so that there is still some ambient light, this would make a much more visually appealing light trail, the location looks great :thumbs:

Matt
 
MWHCVT said:
Firstly there is no exif data available for these photos :( what I will say is that the file sizes are very small, what quality setting did you save these as, because there looks to be quite a bit of JPEG compression in them, to really improve these though you would be much better off getting to location a lot earlier so that there is still some ambient light, this would make a much more visually appealing light trail, the location looks great :thumbs:

Matt
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Thanks for the feedback matt, i dont know why the exif isnt showing, it was shot at normal quality but saved as high quality. Shot at ISO 100, f22. I do agree with going a bit earlier to catch some light.
The location was in Banbury, theres a bridge by the crematorium.
 
I think I know the bridge, never shot from it but I'm sure I know it :D I'm not sure about the noise care to post a like to a full/original size version so I could take a look?
 
MWHCVT said:
<snip>

there looks to be quite a bit of JPEG compression in them

<snip>

Matt
Click to expand...


Matthew,

Excuse my ignorance; but could you kindly point out what you see that tells you this is a JPEG with compression issues :shrug:

I'm not being pedantic, but for the life of me I'm not sure I can tell such details.

Thanks if advance :thumbs:
 
Wail said:
Matthrew,

Excuse my ignorance; but could you kindly point out what you see that tells you this is a JPEG with compression issues :shrug:

I'm not being pedantic, but for the life of me I'm not sure I can tell such details.

Thanks if advance :thumbs:
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No worries to me the sky especially in the first two looks a little on the blotchy side :shrug:
 
Been reading up on this and Matt's excellent advice and fancied a go - after all we have the lovely A14 :cool:

First one was -


DSC_0170 by zoomboxer, on Flickr


It looked great on the camera's viewer but was surprised to see that it was blurred when I put it on the PC - how do you manually focus in the dark? No cable/remote trigger so perhaps the actual fact of keeping the shutter button pressed for 30 seconds did not help either.

2nd one was:-


DSC_0171 by zoomboxer, on Flickr

Moved this a bit to the right but realised that it was too far and cut the left lane off

so tried again:-


DSC_0172 by zoomboxer, on Flickr

bit better I thought - now all 4 light trails are in - they were all taken at the max of 55mm

then thought "why not change to 18mm?"


DSC_0173 by zoomboxer, on Flickr

and seemed to do the trick.

By then I was attracting too much attention and baled out! They were taken on the Milton foot-bridge - thought this would be better and would not be bothered by passing traffic but a couple of guys on push-bikes did pass by a bit too slow for comfort so legged it before they came back :D.
 
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Hi Steve, glad that I've inspired you to get out and have a go :thumbs: you would do better to get out there earlier to get nice colour in the sky :thumbs: what I would say is the trails are a little on the wobbly side, now the fact that you were on a foot bridge makes me wonder if this is not the cause as there tends to be a little movement in foot bridges, more so that you would get form a car/traffic bridge, the focus also looks a little out, thought this will have been extenuated by the camera movement mentioned above :shrug: I take it that you were using a trigger, if not then this will likely be the main cause of the movement

Matt
 
Matt thanks for the advice. No trigger used, I did look in Jessops but they want 18 quid :eek: I know I can get it off Amazon for half the price or less. Plan was to get there a bit earlier to get some sky but got held up-next time perhaps. The bridge is half foot and half cycle path and is lit perhaps that and the fact that no trigger was used could point to out of focus but how does one get the focus right when subject is dark?
 
Zoomboxer said:
Matt thanks for the advice. No trigger used, I did look in Jessops but they want 18 quid :eek: I know I can get it off Amazon for half the price or less. Plan was to get there a bit earlier to get some sky but got held up-next time perhaps. The bridge is half foot and half cycle path and is lit perhaps that and the fact that no trigger was used could point to out of focus but how does one get the focus right when subject is dark?
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This location you should have been able to auto focus on the street lights in the distance :thumbs: though often I'll use AF to lock onto some car headlights :) then go to MF :thumbs:
 
CollisionKisses said:
How do I take photos of stationary lights to make them look almost starry? Like this ...
http://digital-photography-school.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/light-trails-1-1.jpg
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Using a smaller aperture and a long exposure will get you some nice stars like that anything from about f/11-13 and up an example would be this that I should around Christmas time last year


Land Rover / Ranger Rover Evoque / Broadway / 2011 by mwhcvt, on Flickr

This was shot at f/22 the get quite extreme stars in the trees from the Christmas lights that were in there, and was shot over a 99 second exposure

I hope this helps and welcome to TP :wave:

Matt
 
Fantastic explanation excited to practice this, maybe have a go with Xmas lights then venture to the A14, should be good
 
Cg_Girl said:
Fantastic explanation excited to practice this, maybe have a go with Xmas lights then venture to the A14, should be good
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I think matt is king of the night trails photography, his pictures are soo good!
He's given me a few pointers!
If you find a good spot on the A14 be sure to share as I'm not too far!
I've been using the New Bedford bypass as there's no street furnishings which helps :thumbs:
 
brad28 said:
I think matt is king of the night trails photography, his pictures are soo good!
He's given me a few pointers!
If you find a good spot on the A14 be sure to share as I'm not too far!
I've been using the New Bedford bypass as there's no street furnishings which helps :thumbs:
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I have a feeling you are right his shots look ace and he makes it sound so easy ( you wait give it 2 seconds on me trying and i will have a hissy fit) lol

No street furnishings sound much better i will have to see how far it is from me as i'm junction 1 on A14 and ideally first off want to stick to familiar surroundings as i will have to go on my own
 
Cg_Girl said:
I have a feeling you are right his shots look ace and he makes it sound so easy ( you wait give it 2 seconds on me trying and i will have a hissy fit) lol

No street furnishings sound much better i will have to see how far it is from me as i'm junction 1 on A14 and ideally first off want to stick to familiar surroundings as i will have to go on my own
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I agree, when your on your own its not nice in the dark :(

J1 is about an hour from bedford bypass. The location is my favourite as its nice and easy to get a good pic. There are lots of good bridges along there!

If there's any round near you post them and matt can add them to the map :)
 
brad28 said:
I agree, when your on your own its not nice in the dark :(

J1 is about an hour from bedford bypass. The location is my favourite as its nice and easy to get a good pic. There are lots of good bridges along there!

If there's any round near you post them and matt can add them to the map :)
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I'm hoping there is!! i shall be driving around aimlessly during the days to find bridges that won't kill me and have good road bends etc...

Failing that then Bedford bypass it is, i lived in St.Neots most of my life so familiar with the area, but not the bypass all that much
 
Cg_Girl said:
I'm hoping there is!! i shall be driving around aimlessly during the days to find bridges that won't kill me and have good road bends etc...

Failing that then Bedford bypass it is, i lived in St.Neots most of my life so familiar with the area, but not the bypass all that much
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If your ever in the area give me a shout :thumbs: it'll make a change as I'm usually paranoid someone's under the bridge LOL
 
brad28 said:
If your ever in the area give me a shout :thumbs: it'll make a change as I'm usually paranoid someone's under the bridge LOL
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Oh thanks for that lol.... now i'll be paranoid!!..

I will shout you tho of course, 2 paranoids better than one haha
 
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