# How to make car light trails?



## stabo (May 19, 2008)

Hello all. Any tips would be great. I have a canon 450D with kit lens and 50mm f1.8. Whats the best settings on my camera for this.Also what lens would you recommend ?


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## noob873 (May 19, 2008)

You need a tripod, and using manual would be best so you can set up the shutterspeed (its gonna be a few seconds long) and whatnot to what you need, use a low ISO and I usually use a deep depth of field (f15 or so).  A remote is also recommended because any movement (even touching the camera) will show up in the picture.


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## Rogan (May 19, 2008)

use the 50mm

set it your aperture wide,
shutter speed of 1 second or slower

if ur close enuf use 2nd curtain flash aswel


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## LaFoto (May 19, 2008)

Of these two recommendations, you will get light trails if you follow noob873's advice. For you need darkness, a tripod (of course), a small (!!) aperture, a low iso, and very, very long exposure times. 1 second will not give you any really good trails. Even 4 rarely give you the length of lighttrails you will really like. Must be longer.

For those who want to do this and don't have a remote (like myself) can set their timer, so after 10 seconds, the camera will start taking the photo without you touching it in the process.


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## Rogan (May 19, 2008)

LaFoto said:


> Of these two recommendations, you will get light trails if you follow noob873's advice. For you need darkness, a tripod (of course), a small (!!) aperture, a low iso, and very, very long exposure times. 1 second will not give you any really good trails. Even 4 rarely give you the length of lighttrails you will really like. Must be longer.
> 
> For those who want to do this and don't have a remote (like myself) can set their timer, so after 10 seconds, the camera will start taking the photo without you touching it in the process.



this is how i did the one in another thread of me shooting a star,

set it to take after 10 seconds, got in position and had an expsoure time of 8 seconds


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## stabo (May 19, 2008)

Thanks for replys. Do ye mean TV mode our AV? Sorry im a newbie


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## LaFoto (May 19, 2008)

Well, I personally was more thinking in the terms of fully manual ... but if you want to use AV mode then make sure you have a SMALL aperture (which means your f gets a LARGE number). The camera will then estimate the length of exposure, though it will have a hard time estimating in darkness in which you hope there will be a car coming that'll give you a light trail...


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## TamiyaGuy (May 19, 2008)

It depends what kind of photo you want to take. If you're looking for the above a motorway, tons of trails from tons of cars, then use a tripod, put the self-timer on to 2 seconds, put the camera on TV mode, and use a shutter speed of between 8 and 20 seconds, depending on how busy the road is. you can also get some interesting shots playing with short-ish exposure times.

If, however, you want to do the single car with it frozen at one end style, then choose a shutter speed of about 1 second and choose "Rear-curtain sync" flash. You might need to press the shutter yourself in order to get the timing right, so expect a bit of blur. This kind of thing will give you the car frozen at the end of the frame with light trails from the rear of the car (or front, if that's what you want)

Now get out there and enjoy it!!!


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## stabo (May 19, 2008)

Thank Tamiya. Will do,just waiting for that sun to go down.


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## Michael.McBee (May 19, 2008)

stabo said:


> Hello all. Any tips would be great. I have a canon 450D with kit lens and 50mm f1.8. Whats the best settings on my camera for this.Also what lens would you recommend ?



Checkout this link:
http://www.slrphotographyguide.com/light-trails.shtml


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## Rhys (May 19, 2008)

I have done exposures of several hours length - used f32/f22 and 100ISO. Works quite well.


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## djrichie28 (May 19, 2008)

Plenty of really good settings advice.  Here is a tip on composure.  This is, of course, if you are doing a general road with many cars.  Try and avoid starting your exposure while a vehicle is in your shot, especially on a multi-lane road.  The shots look much better when the trails streak right through the frame, instead of some starting (or ending) somewhere in the frame.


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## Alfred D. (May 20, 2008)

You also may want to shoot at dusk, when there's still some texture in the sky, and setting sunlight is reflecting off buildings, or trees, or off whatever is in the frame.
In addition to using the selftimer (if you have a sturdy tripod you can use the 2 sec delay, instead of the 10 sec delay) and manual I would also try Av (Aperture priority) at F/8.0, with an exposure compensation of minus 1,5 or 2 stops. And shoot RAW of course.

Shutter time not long enough? Set a smaller aperture (higher number) and/or a lower ISO.
Shutter time still not long enough? Consider one or two ND filters.


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## Josh66 (May 20, 2008)

Rhys said:


> I have done exposures of several hours length - used f32/f22 and 100ISO. Works quite well.


I assume that was with film?  I didn't think you could expose for that long without the sensor overheating.

(Off topic...But how long can you expose for without causing damage?)


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## Alfred D. (May 20, 2008)

> Originally Posted by *Rhys*
> I have done exposures of several hours length - used f32/f22 and 100ISO. Works quite well.





O|||||||O said:


> I assume that was with film?  I didn't think you could expose for that long without the sensor overheating.



Sensors &#8211; CCD or CMOS chips &#8211; don't 'overheat' from exposure. Temperature plays no part in it.



> (Off topic...But how long can you expose for without causing damage?)



I think we will never know, because the circuitry of all digital camera's (that I know of, anyway) have a max. exposure time programmed in firmware. Usually 30 seconds, or less.
I never heard of a sensor that was damaged by a 30 second exposure (or less).

Film cameras also had "B" and "T" shutter speed settings. With "B" (for "Ball" or "Bulb") the shutter opens upon pressing the button, and closes when released. With "T" (for "Time") the shutter opens upon pressing and releasing the button, and closes again after another press and release of the button.


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## JimmyO (May 20, 2008)

Well i assume those long exposures are done in "Bulb" and that they used nuetral density filters to really limit the light.


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## Helen B (May 21, 2008)

Alfred D. said:


> Sensors &#8211; CCD or CMOS chips &#8211; don't 'overheat' from exposure. Temperature plays no part in it.



Yes, they can overheat with long exposures, and that creates noise. Sensor cooling is an issue, because the temperature of the sensor does play a part in image quality.



> Film cameras also had "B" and "T" shutter speed settings.



'Had' is a little premature. They still have them.

Best,
Helen


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