SHOOTING STEPS
1
SECURE THE CAMERA Start by ensuring that the camera is steady and level. Make sure that your setup doesn’t creep at all during the long exposure, which can cause an easily-overlooked reduction in sharpness. Use the digital level as a reference and try keeping image stabilisation active for micro-movements.
2
CAPTURE A SEQUENCE In order to reduce the risk of vibrationinduced blur, set the camera to high-speed continuous shooting mode. This will record the maximum number of frames possible in any given time period. It will also allow you to capture the maximum variety of traffic positions later on.
3
EXPOSE FOR THE LIGHTS Reduce the exposure to darken the background relative to the light trails, increasing contrast. This will make them easier to select later in software. Use the street lights as a reference. Ensure that they retain colour but without attempting to resolve detail in the bulbs.
4
CAPTURE THE TRAILS Set up at the side of the road and shoot multiple frames of passing vehicles, such as cars, lorries and buses, to record a variety of light positions and colours. To minimise perspective shifts, try to keep the camera at exactly the same height as you plan to shoot the main cityscape image.
5TO
LENGTHEN EXPOSURE DURATION
ensure that vehicles are rendered less visible in the frame, try extending the exposure time. This means any solid surfaces of the vehicles will be in the frame for a lower percentage of the exposure. Light trails will also be fainter, so capture more frames than you need.
6
SHOOT THE SCENE Capture an exposure for the fixed scene elements, such as the buildings and road. Ensuring it is safe to do so, capture this image from a traffic island or the road when there is no traffic. Use burst mode to work quickly, with reduced blur risk.