On photographing the light trails of vehicular traffic at night

19 September, 2012

One can make the light trails created by cars on a busy road as a subject of photography with the eye catching results at night.

SUCH PHOTOGRAPHY also affords an opportunity to get your camera out of auto mode and to experiment with shooting in low light at longer exposures.

It is important to have a camera that allows you to have some control over exposure settings – particularly those that allow you to choose longer shutter speeds. This means you need a camera that has the ability to shoot in either in full manual mode and/or with shutter priority mode

You’ll also need a tripod or a firm rest for making your camera completely still as you’ll be shooting with long shutter speeds. You also use a lens hood to help block lens flare from ambient lights. Scout around to find a spot where you’ll see the light trails created by cars.

The advantages of digital cameras is that you can scout around and experiment with no extra cost with instant results to add a little more thought into choosing your location, thinking about timing and framing your image.

Shoot at shutter speeds between from a few seconds to 20 seconds making cars to move through the frame and with apertures in the mid range starting with something around f/8.