First Light Trails

[RobbieG]

Hi all,
This is my first attempt at light trails and I took it as part of my 365 day project. As a beginner I am using this project to force me to try new things and learn. This was a restaurant we ate at.

What could I do to improve the shot?
Is the cropping OK?
How could I process it better?

My first attempt at RAW (not that I did much):
Accepted Lightroom defaults:
Blacks +5
Brightness +50
Contrast +25
Bumped Exposure up +2 and changed WB to Tungsten

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[danbaileyphoto]

Really cool shot here, the car light trails leave a very dramatic trail through the image.

I think that the only thing that detracts is that you don't have enough interesting subject matter at the left side of the shot. It's as if the right side is way more dynamic and interesting, and I think that a simple crop, or adding something to that left side would really help make the shot. Perhaps recomposing slightly so that the Chinese restaurant is not in the center, but in the left side of the frame would help fix that.

Cool effort though, good luck with your 365 project!

[nicotine]

What are the exposure details?

I agree with Mr. Bailey, the left side of the photo could use some light trails of their very own

[RobbieG]

Thanks for your comments.
Sorry I forgot to add details

Camera Canon EOS 500D
Exposure 4
Aperture f/16.0
Focal Length 39 mm
ISO Speed 100
Exposure Bias -2 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire

[tokyotom]

I kind of like how there isn't anything on the left. It makes the light trails more interesting for me and not like 99% of the other pictures I have seen.

[RobbieG]

Thanks, it was more good luck than good management as I had a 4 second exposure set and shot when a bus was approaching. That's where the bus was when the 4 seconds was up.

[nicotine]

Another interesting thing you could try is slowing the shutter speed down a bit so you can see more of the bus, that could give an interesting effect too