DSLR Geek

By Patrick Arseneau – One my favorite special effects in photography is light trails. More specifically traffic trails. The main key is to set your shutter speed to a long exposure (min 15 seconds). There are 2 good ways to get moving light stream in your picture; 1- capture moving cars while staying still, or 2- stay still in a moving car while capturing outside light. Either way, your camera has to stay really still during the exposure.

To do this, you need a decent DSLR camera (you don’t need a high end camera) and a good sturdy tripod.

When I first tried to take traffic trail pictures I noticed a challenge. Where there’s traffic, there’s also city lights. City lights illuminate the surrounding which is great,  but it also illuminates the road where the traffic light is. The problem is that it washes out the traffic stream light and it becomes barely visible. An experienced photographer can find the best exposure to avoid this problem, but it’s best to learn in a darker part of town.

Here’s my attempt at a “light speed” effect with the camera attached to the passenger seat:

I put the tripod behind the passenger seat and wrapped the seat belt behind the seat and around the tripod to keep it sturdy. I removed the head rest for a better vantage view for the camera. At 17mm the angle is wide enough to see the whole dash and windshield.

It all sounds pretty simple but it’s not as easy as it looks. While slow shutter speed allows the light streams, you still have to come up with the proper exposure for the rest of the frame. In the above attempt, the picture is a little too dark.

Here are a 20 GREAT results from photographers who seem to have mastered the technique:

Taken by Mike Hanlon

Taken by darren1978

Taken by weallsearch

Taken by Boccalupo

By Drew Wilson

By Drew Wilson

By teejaybee81

Taken by Julia Lee

Taken by Rudy M Photography

Taken by kantryla

Taken by kantryla

Taken by Amar Raavi

Taken by DarkestIvy

Taken by pbo31

Taken by pbo31

Taken by Samuel Monson

Taken by pbo31

Taken by John OBerry

Taken by hydrosound

Taken by Alex Duffner

All these pictures were found on the photo sharing site flickr.com. If your picture appears here and you wish to have it removed from the blog, don’t hesitate to contact me and I’ll have it removed immediately.