Light Trails (Long Exposure)

[gpics07]

Light Trails on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

About this Shot

Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: 18-105mm VR kit lens
Camera Mode: Manual
Shutter Speed: 30 Seconds
Aperture: f/10
Tripod: Yes

How I took it:
- First i put the camera on a tripod which is essential to minimise any movement when the shot was being taken.
- I then set the focus and exposure mode to manual so I had full control over the shot.
- Set the exposure to 30 seconds and the aperture to f10.
- Set the ISO to 100.
- I also used a remote release control to avoid any vibrations caused by using my finger each time.
- When taking a shot, I made sure I stepped well back from the tripod to avoid any movement or accidentally bumping it.
- The lack of traffic on a Sunday evening made it difficult to get an even amount of traffic on either side of the road, so I just had to be patient and snap away. It's a good job memory space is free!
- I was also lucky with the great sunset which left an amazing blue sky. Though I have slightly boosted the blue, it was pretty much like this out of the camera.

Processing
- 1 x RAW exposure
- Shot imported into Lightroom 2
- Keywords added
- Spot removal tool used to remove a few light sources which were distracting
- Vibrance increased
- Clarity increased
- Blacks increased
- Exported into Photoshop
- Image resized to a smaller size (more suitable for the web)
- Noise reduction applied
- Smart Sharpen applied
- Exported as a JPG for use on the web

[evader]

That is an incredible shot. Very nice!

[bigrobo89]

Great shot, the sky really adds to it aswell.

[MrBeta]

Love the composition. Just enought sky to set it off as the blue does really pop. I'm a sucker for long exposures.

[JeffSmith]

Superb shot all round, I really like this one. Thanks for sharing, you've inspired me

[FuriousE]

Very cool shot!! The sky is just great. Thanks for posting the how to.

[mslee533]

Nice! I cannot wait to try this

[Neil UK]

Amzing shot, the sky works so well with this image.

Reminds me to get back to some Long Exposure shots.

[charliesux]

great shot hope to get one as good one day.

[luckymeghan]

Very beautiful! Thanks for the instructions