Enlightening Journeys

[Colin Southern]

Born this evening @ 8:02pm. Photographer and camera doing well

2 minutes @ F22 @ ISO 50 | Canon 1DX - EF 70-200mm F2.8L IS USM II | Singh-Ray Vari-ND

PS: Click for even bigger version.

[Mike Buckley]

Gorgeous image! It's not everywhere that you can find a bridge overlooking a well traveled highway that provides mountains, water and lights from residences and offices in the background. Well spotted!

What's creating the blue lights in the center? Trains?

[Colin Southern]

Gorgeous image! It's not everywhere that you can find a bridge overlooking a well traveled highway that provides mountains, water and lights from residences and offices in the background. Well spotted!

What's creating the blue lights in the center? Trains?

Thanks Mike

Trains would be interesting -- don't think they'd give way too often though! Nah - it's just road markings along with a white balance that's apparently a little on the blue side!

[Donald]

Gorgeous image! It's not everywhere that you can find a bridge overlooking a well traveled highway

An interesting point for learning on this (and maybe Colin can confirm) is that it might be a case of 'less is more'. On the right-hand side, coming towards us, I think only 5 vehicles went through the frame. If it had been very busy then what we would have had would just have been a solid streak of light. As it is we have the light making the abstract pattern that we see.

If I'm right, then the lesson maybe is that an option for a light trails image is not to have a very busy highway, but one where you can guess there will only a relatively light traffic.

Anyway, it's still a superbly crafted image.

[Sponge]

Excellent work Colin, I really like the cloud movement you captured with the fiery sky and the different colors for the car lights is a very nice touch.

[Mike Buckley]

You're right, Donald. When I mentioned a well-traveled highway, the term is so relative that it can be misleading. In this case, I thought of it as well-traveled because not only were there a sufficient number of cars to obtain interesting light in a two-minute exposure, but there are multiple cars going in both directions.

[Sergio M.]

Born this evening @ 8:02pm. Photographer and camera doing well

You gave birth to a beautiful baby.

Seriously, the sky is gorgeous in this image. The way you're able to capture all the different lighting is amazing.

Serge

[Splatsworth]

I am in Lurve with this image, very nicely done

[MilT0s]

Very relaxing, ...although a highway.

[Rhoads238]

Another brilliant photo Colin. The color in the sky is fantastic. Like I said in your previous thread, Im going to have to have a go at this. I have tried in the past but didnt feel that it spoke to me.

-Jason

[Colin Southern]

An interesting point for learning on this (and maybe Colin can confirm) is that it might be a case of 'less is more'. On the right-hand side, coming towards us, I think only 5 vehicles went through the frame. If it had been very busy then what we would have had would just have been a solid streak of light. As it is we have the light making the abstract pattern that we see.

If I'm right, then the lesson maybe is that an option for a light trails image is not to have a very busy highway, but one where you can guess there will only a relatively light traffic.

Anyway, it's still a superbly crafted image.

Thanks Donald,

Ultimately, there's a "coridoor" that I have to work within, dictated by the intensity of the car lights -v- exposure requirements. Because the lights are moving, the LENGTH of the exposure has no bearing on the exposure OF THE CAR LIGHTS. The only factors that affect the exposure OF THE CAR LIGHTS are the ISO - the aperture - and any filtering - BUT - all of those things also affect the ambient exposure.

So - one has to first work out what the correct aperture / ISO / filter attenuation is for the lights - and then the sole remaining variable is the length of the exposure for the ambient light - BUT - the longer the exposure, the more cars go through the scene - and the more light trails you get. Plus of course the ambient light is dropping rapidly at that time of day.

So in practice its a compromise, but the coridoor widens a little considering that there is some exposure lattitude with the light trails and there's always the options of using either a GND filter upside down or just doing a composite (since there is no movement in the sky / hills portion of the scene).

In this case though, it's all shot in a single frame - just at the right time. In reality it takes a bit of thought - a bit of planning - quite a few bracketed shots - and a bit of luck as well!

[Colin Southern]

Excellent work Colin, I really like the cloud movement you captured with the fiery sky and the different colors for the car lights is a very nice touch.

Thanks Patrick

[Colin Southern]

You're right, Donald. When I mentioned a well-travelled highway, the term is so relative that it can be misleading. In this case, I thought of it as well-traveled because not only were there a sufficient number of cars to obtain interesting light in a two-minute exposure, but there are multiple cars going in both directions.

Hi Mike,

As mentioned to Donald above, the exposure time is pretty much "dictated" to me - so after that it's a fair bit of "luck of the draw"; there can be relatively quiet stretches or relatively busy stretches -- probably influenced by traffic lights much further up the road.

[Colin Southern]

You gave birth to a beautiful baby.

Seriously, the sky is gorgeous in this image. The way you're able to capture all the different lighting is amazing.

Serge

Thanks Serge

[Colin Southern]

I am in Lurve with this image, very nicely done

Thanks Trev

[Colin Southern]

Very relaxing, ...although a highway.

Thanks Miltos

[Colin Southern]

Another brilliant photo Colin. The color in the sky is fantastic. Like I said in your previous thread, Im going to have to have a go at this. I have tried in the past but didnt feel that it spoke to me.

-Jason

Thanks Jason,

Give it a go for sure - they are MUCH harder to do than people think though

[terrib]

Colin, This is a wonderful photograph! The colors in the sky are gorgeous and the light show is great. I have to admit that I was confused for a second or two with the position of the red and yellow lights. Then I remembered y'all drive on the "wrong" side of the road!

Thanks for the details. This would be fun to try sometime.

[Colin Southern]

Colin, This is a wonderful photograph! The colors in the sky are gorgeous and the light show is great. I have to admit that I was confused for a second or two with the position of the red and yellow lights. Then I remembered y'all drive on the "wrong" side of the road!

Thanks for the details. This would be fun to try sometime.

Thanks Terri - I'll be sure to drive on the "right" side of the road from now on then

[Mike Buckley]

They drive on the same side of the road as we do, Terri. The difference is that everything seems reversed because they're on the other side of the equator.