First Attempt @ Light Trails

[Michael_2010]

Another one of my almost, but not quiet shots. lol

What is the trick to this type of photography? Mine is not as sharp as I would like (a lot of wind coming off the water last night) and it lacks something. Should I have exposed for the water and the sky. Then try to merge them into something worth taking a second look at?



Camera Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi
Exposure 30
Aperture f/11.0
Focal Length 70 mm
ISO Speed 100
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire
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Made the crop to pull the horizon closer to the bottom third. Not sure I see much of a difference, but yooz guyz know best.

[avishek24]

Just my opinion but maybe if you cropped out some part of the bottom dark area, it would look more complete. I know that would pretty much screw up the aspect ratio of the picture, but I think it might just work. Also, again, just my opinion but you might want to reduce the exposure just a tad in case you are trying to shoot this again.

[RecurrentNerve]

I think the problem here is that the light trails are barely noticeable. If you're taking a shot of light trails, make them the subject. This is kind of a mix of a nighttime cityscape with a few lighttrails tacked on at the end!

I think the exposure is pretty good but the composition is off - don't forget the rule of thirds when it comes to horizon placement. I'd have gone for more sky in this case I think, you'd have got the glow from the lights fading into the darkness above.

[Michael_2010]

After I posted my questions, I realized that if the foreground water was not going to brighten up in a 30 second exposure ain't much of nuttin' going to make that happen. lol

Yeah, the light trails were supposed to kind of augment the cityscape, but they do look pretty minimal in the overall. Back to the drawing board (so to speak).......

[ColoradoBrit]

Agree with Avish, perhaps a little tighter crop at the bottom to remove some of the black that takes the eye away from the main picture?

[Michael_2010]

Serious Question: What would be considered the horizon line in the above photo?

In the larger version the foreground is not just blackness. Although subdued, the deep blue water leads to the shore line and then some vegetation mingled with the exterior lights of the buildings, etc. The bottom third grid line is almost exactly along that shoreline. Would it have been better to place along the tops of the trees in this situation, or just eyeball a shift that might work better within the frame?

I've never really given this a lot of thought. When I use live view on my camera, I almost always use the shoreline as a base point whether I'm going for sky, or water as a dominant feature.

[RecurrentNerve]

The horizon in this shot is where the solid black area starts. It's just under halfway up the shot - to me it looks like you've cropped the sky out.