# Traffic at night long exposure advice.



## britonk (Nov 9, 2007)

I live near to a large road, far enough away so it doesn't keep me awake  There is a pedestrian bridge that goes over the road and provides an interesting view. 

I think it might look good at night with a long exposure to capture moving traffic. I have never really done this before and whilst I am prepared to do a bit of trial and error is thee any basic advice I should take into consideration before I head down?

Shooting mode? Metering mode? WB?

Any help much appreciated.


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## Buszaj (Nov 9, 2007)

Well, you'll need a tripod firstly. Once you're set up, I'd try closing the aperture down a bit, and have an exposure time of anywhere between 4 and 30 seconds. Experiment with the exposure time and aperture. For focusing, probably just focus on the road/cars.


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## Coldow91 (Nov 9, 2007)

I would shot in either manual or shutter priority. I am not sure about white balance (maybe shoot tin RAW) so you can try out different things. I would try a various range of exposures from 5 secs to 30+. A tripod is also a must as said before.


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## soylentgreen (Nov 9, 2007)

Try Aperature mode, ISO 100, I use evalutive metering, AWB, shoot RAW, close the aperature a bit, say f/11-22, mount on tripod, focus, shoot. Should give you a nice 30 decond exposure for nice trailing light shots. Fiddle around and see what  works for you.


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## Sideburns (Nov 9, 2007)

Manual.
20-30 seconds..depending on how much traffic..
Close your aperture to f22- f32 somewhere...try them all.
I've done a bunch, and they always turn out neat.


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## britonk (Nov 10, 2007)

Quality - a range of good answers there - thanks folks! I'll try a few out and let you know how I get on


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## Atreus (Nov 14, 2007)

this is my first try.....lol

oh, and my settings.  um. fstop at 8.0 with a 20s shutter speed. no tripod! i'm poor. lol. i just placed it on a stable surface and prayed....


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## Fliphishermon (Nov 14, 2007)

nice... some coming at you. what happened to outbound?

I'm going to have to try this.  looks like fun...


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## Atreus (Nov 14, 2007)

lol. no traffic going the other way AT ALL. i was miffed about that, lol.


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## Viperjet (Nov 14, 2007)

Make it a little darker.


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## Atreus (Nov 14, 2007)

Like this? (3rd shot)


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## Robp412 (Nov 14, 2007)

That looks cool but you should try to get maybe a few cars underneath so they get the blur of them also... Just a suggestion might look cool.


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## Atreus (Nov 14, 2007)

what do you mean? I'll prolly be going out again tonight....


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## Sideburns (Nov 14, 2007)

yes, the second shot is loads better in terms of exposure.


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## Skyhawk (Nov 14, 2007)

Not sure about how you do the long exposure shots digitally, but with film, I set up on a tripod, close the lens down to f16/f22, use a cable release and lock the shutter open and then use a lens cover to keep misc light out until a wave of cars comes along (I take away the lens cap).

Then, after the cars have come/gone, I can either put the lens cap back on and wait for another wave of cars or pedestrian traffic/whatever. It also helps me control the overall exposure.

This technique also works well when you're trying to capture lightning storms.

Jeff


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## s_peps (Nov 15, 2007)

Pretty much what everybody else has said..

I've taken quite a few of these shots, and if you want to achieve similar shots to the ones that I've taken, then your best bet is to do the following.

- Shoot in manual for this, always (if possible). 
- If you want a lot of traffic lights and movement over a longer period of time, close your aperture down to it's max, or near max and that way you can up your shutter time. It's a game of experimentation, so the more you try it, the more you'll learn how to adjust both to fit each other perfectly. 

Personally, I've always preferred it when the lights make it through the entire shot, as opposed to let's say... a 2 second shot of a slow moving car through a wide shot, so you just capture a bit of lights. But that's just my opinion on that.. 

Good luck!


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## Atreus (Nov 15, 2007)

didn't find much good tonight. i think i should get another camera already, this dsc-h3 is nice. it is my first camera ever, but i think i need something more, i might get the h7 or h9, or i may refund it entirely and save for a slr (canon).

for a p&s, it's ok i guess?


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## Iron Flatline (Nov 16, 2007)

Atreus, your shot is a good example of why you need a lens hood, even (especially) at night. You've got a lot of glare on the lens.

Also, if you don't have a cable release, you can use the self-timer function. Both ensure that there's no additional camera shake when you release the shutter.


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## Atreus (Nov 16, 2007)

even on my second shot? the first one is....blech. what can i say, lol. i set up the 2sec timer on it when i do it. I know too much about camera shake, i think i'm just twitchy.  I'll do more with the timer on it, and, i just remembered i have a lens hood and adapter ring. dur.  lets see what happens tomorrow...


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## DJDarknez (Nov 18, 2007)

I took this one at night, of course, with these settings. I'm still learning what all this stuff means, so I'll just copy the stuff I think MIGHT matter :mrgreen:

What I'll do is take the camera and the book out and just shoot a bunch in a bunch of different settings.

Exposure time: 6s
Exposure program: shutter priority
Focal length: 48mm
white balance: auto
ISO: 400
F number: f/36

That got me this:


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## Coldow91 (Nov 18, 2007)

Looks pretty good!! The only thing I would consider is a longer exposure to eliminate the stopped trails.


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## DJDarknez (Nov 18, 2007)

Longer than 6 seconds?  Thats pretty long.  I actually kind of like the start and stop of some of the trails.


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## Coldow91 (Nov 18, 2007)

Well if that is what you were looking for then great!

I was thinking more along the lines of something like this: http://flickr.com/photos/7202742@N03/517587421/


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## DJDarknez (Nov 18, 2007)

Coldow91 said:


> Well if that is what you were looking for then great!
> 
> I was thinking more along the lines of something like this: http://flickr.com/photos/7202742@N03/517587421/


 
I do like that too.  Was it a busy highway at 2 am?  We were out there at 1130pm and there wern't too many vehicles on the road.


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## Atreus (Nov 19, 2007)

yeah i'd set it at at least 15 seconds.....


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## DJDarknez (Nov 19, 2007)

Hmmm...I think my buddy who was out there with me that night set his Canon for higher than 6...possible up there in the 30's range.  I'll have to link him over here, see if he wants to get involved.


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## redpoint (Nov 19, 2007)

Buszaj said:


> Well, you'll need a tripod firstly.


Not necessary to have a tripod.  Here's a little trick I use, if I don't have my tripod with me:  Use the camera self timer.  Long enough to take out the vibration of hitting the shutter which may depend on how the camera is sitting.  Just make sure your camera is secure, i.e. not going to fall when you hit the shutter and let go.  I usually hang onto the strap if it's sitting on railings or at odd orientations achieved by putting my wallet, cellphone or whatever else I can find to get the angle I need.

I've had great luck doing this.  Even taking photos of fireworks.  Timing was really hard because I had account for both the self timer and the exposure time while anticipating when the fireworks would fully blossom.


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## Lead_Cenobite (Dec 8, 2007)

I just tried this style of photo for the first time, here's how it came out


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## JerryPH (Dec 8, 2007)

Night shooting is very interesting and one can come up with all kinds of special looking pics.  

On the above pic, I would have panned the camera a little to the left so that I would not have cut the trail of the white lights.  It also would have placed that little bit of activity thats off the highway more to the right and in a more interesting place.

Nice examples!


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## ToddB (Dec 8, 2007)

Lead,

I like you photo because of the train that you captured.  The crossing arms swinging really add the the photo.

Good job!


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## Bevel Heaven (Dec 8, 2007)

bean bags make excellent camera holders when you don;t have your tripod with you - I would also use a lens cap or small stone or my wallet of whatever to prop up the lens as req'd.  You can also take a shirt or sweater etc to hold the camera - but obviously you would prefer something more rigid.......  And yes, always hold onto your camera strap!!


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## Lorielle99 (Dec 8, 2007)

how do you change the shutter speed?


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## chrisb2794 (Dec 8, 2007)

Atreus, if you want to get together some time and shoot at night, send me an IM.


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## Alex_B (Dec 25, 2007)

Lorielle99 said:


> how do you change the shutter speed?



as this varies from camera to camera, i suggest to consult the manual.


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## average (Jun 7, 2011)

f/22
iso - 200
exposure - 2.5 secs
manual focus
no flash

07.06.11

editing - contrast and vignetting. slight brightening to compensate for the large amount of black


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## GreatPhotoRace (Jun 7, 2011)

If you can, shoot in RAW.   You'll have a little bit more play with exposure in post-proc.

-GPR


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