Long Exposure

[spenncerr]

First thread, first post and probably first time asking for critique.



10/365 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Camera - Canon EOS 400D Digital
Exposure - 2.5
Aperture - f/3.5
Focal Length - 22 mm
ISO Speed - 100
Flash - Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program - Manual
Metering Mode - Average
Exposure Mode - Manual
White Balance - Auto

Give me your worst

[rokclmb]

Just my opinion, but a shorter exposure would have looked better. All of the headlights blend together. A shorter exposure would have not made the headlight area look so washed out.

[spenncerr]

Originally Posted by rokclmb

Just my opinion, but a shorter exposure would have looked better. All of the headlights blend together. A shorter exposure would have not made the headlight area look so washed out.

Hi rokclmb,

I tried numerous exposures, upto 0"5 and it was just too fast to catch any decent light trails. I know what you mean when you say they look washed out though. I'm going to try and re-shoot this some time soon. Thanks!

[RLucas]

Try stopping down to about f/8 or so. It will make your shutter speed longer, but you will have better results with the headlights. At f/3.5, there is too much light getting in at once.

[andrewdt]

I am sure there is a whole lot to be said to get you going well, but the first and most obvious to me is that you only had a 2.5sec ss but there is a whole lot of blinding light that is totally blown out and ruins the shot immediately. What I would have done with this is changed your aperture from 3.5 right down to about f11 or smaller, then allowed for a longer exposure in the region of 10-15 seconds. This would give you straight away longer light lines, a more vibrant sky, less blown out on the white lights etc... This is not an exact answer, go and play with the settings around what I have suggested and see what you get, and ammend/fine tune from there.

I would also crop a little tighter, move the horizon away from the middle to one of the thirds lines, it could work with the road being along the vertical centre in this instance so that may be okay. Try it out and repost.

[spenncerr]

Thanks a lot for the comments guys, I'm fairly newish to photography so playing around with aperture and the like is what I'm now doing. I'm going to definitely re-shoot this using your suggestions.

Thanks!

[sjakes]

I don't think I can ever get enough of these types of photos... nice job!

[spenncerr]

Cheers for the compliment sjakes!

[windrider86]

I'm attaching a link to the guidelines that include what you should be including in your posts. By learning your camera settings and asking something specific it will help you learn more about your photography. Thank you for doing so and happy posting!!!

[alex_California]

Hello, Sorry if this been asked before and answered.

I have a Kodak M863 Digital Camera, Long time exposure is limited to a maximum of 4 seconds.

Is there any way to increase it? Hacking it or any software that will do the trick?