Advice

[squarepants]

Im going out with my dad quite soon to get some shots of trailing car lights over the motorway and was just looking for some advice about shutter speeds, iso etc. for doing that sort of shot.

Thanks,

SP.

[4Lmike]

use a tripod, use remote release or timer, set iso to as low as possible, set your focus then put it into manual mode, fairly small aperture, experiment with shutter speeds.

[squarepants]

4Lmike said:

use a tripod, use remote release or timer, set iso to as low as possible, set your focus then put it into manual mode, fairly small aperture, experiment with shutter speeds.

I only got my camera on wednesdat BTW, so excuse my dumb-ness!

When ive set my focus, what should i do once in manual mode?

[4Lmike]

use autofocus to focus on a focal point (did I actually just say that??) and then flick the switch on your lens to manual focus. that was it wont keep trying to focus on something each time you want to take a pic. if its dark the camera will find it difficult to focus properly.

[squarepants]

4Lmike said:

use autofocus to focus on a focal point (did I actually just say that??) and then flick the switch on your lens to manual focus. that was it wont keep trying to focus on something each time you want to take a pic. if its dark the camera will find it difficult to focus properly.

after reading what you said before again, i was beginning to get the picture - excuse the pun .

thanks anyway for the advice

[squarepants]

also, flash on or off?

[Gemm]

squarepants said:

also, flash on or off?

Off.

[dxbtiger]

squarepants said:

also, flash on or off?

Off

[squarepants]

Thanks

[Gemm]

Just to add.... generally, the longer the exposure, the more effective it becomes. this is where low ISO and small aperture come in in order to prevent over-exposure. You may want to use 'bulb' setting (which enables you to open the shutter as long as you want - but you will need a cable release for this) as shutter speed will only go up to 30 seconds in manual mode (but 30 secs may be more than enough for motorways..... it was ages ago when I tried this!)

[XG332]

Appature around F4 if possible to keep the lights sharpish. try a few shutter speeds ranging from 1/50 to 2'

I took this friday. Totally manual, 30 minute exposure, f/5.6 iso 100. Its just a matter of trial and error until you are happy.


28/365 - Madness - January 28th 2011 by Oliver Meads, on Flickr

[squarepants]

XG332 said:

Appature around F4 if possible to keep the lights sharpish. try a few shutter speeds ranging from 1/50 to 2'

I took this friday. Totally manual, 30 minute exposure, f/5.6 iso 100. Its just a matter of trial and error until you are happy.


28/365 - Madness - January 28th 2011 by Oliver Meads, on Flickr

30 MINUTES!!

[RobDickinson]

squarepants said:

30 MINUTES!!

Yes , did you expect stars to move quicker!?

How long it takes depends on the focal length used, wider = longer, longer focal length = shorter time required for trails.

[XG332]

RobDickinson said:

Yes , did you expect stars to move quicker!?

How long it takes depends on the focal length used, wider = longer, longer focal length = shorter time required for trails.

Usually around 15 seconds. But if you do less than 10 minutes it tends to just look blurred.

[jr502]

XG332 said:

Appature around F4 if possible to keep the lights sharpish. try a few shutter speeds ranging from 1/50 to 2'

I took this friday. Totally manual, 30 minute exposure, f/5.6 iso 100. Its just a matter of trial and error until you are happy.


28/365 - Madness - January 28th 2011 by Oliver Meads, on Flickr

Was that one 30 min exposure?

I'm guessing it wasn't. If so, are the added in PS using the lighten blending?

[RobDickinson]

jr502 said:

Was that one 30 min exposure?

I'm guessing it wasn't. If so, are the added in PS using the lighten blending?

It was, theres a thread on here about it. Most people use multiple shorter shots and blend in photoshop or whatever.

[XG332]

Yep 1 exposure.

[Deluded]

Quite easy to get what you want really.

Tripod is a must. Don't necessarily need a remote shutter release. The self timer will do fine.

Focus first. As said above, auto focus then switch the manual so it isn't always hunting when your trying to take a picture. Might find it easier to manual focus in the first place depending how good your camera is at auto focusing in the dark.

I would personally set the aperture high, of course, you may want a low depth of field for a specific shot, but for a general motorway at night type shot, I would shoot with a high aperture to get as much depth as possible. It will also help to keep the exposures long.

ISO as low as poss. No point shooting in high ISO as you want long exposures anyway, so the lower the ISO, the better.

Shutter speed is basically the only thing you will be adjusting to correct the exposure. Use the on camera meter as a guide and experiment.

Have fun!

[RobDickinson]

Deluded said:

Tripod is a must. Don't necessarily need a remote shutter release. The self timer will do fine

On Canons at least the only realistic way of getting exposures of greater than 30seconds is a remote release.

[Diabolik]

RobDickinson said:

On Canons at least the only realistic way of getting exposures of greater than 30seconds is a remote release.

Why? Would a 2 second timer not do the same job?

edit. D'oh....just checked, was being stupid.

Edited by Diabolik on Sunday 30th January 22:56