Light Trails - 1st attempt - Critique needed please.

James07 · 25 Jul 2013 at 08:23

So, went up to the M62 last night just past Ripponden to this bridge, ideal place for a shoot except im extremely amateur.

I gave it a good shot anyway and below are my results, can anyone help me in where ive gone wrong?

Im not entirely happy with this, could have done with a busier motorway but due to the time of the year catching low light and a busy motorway up here at the same time was a big enough challenge.

They are in backwards order, the 1st 2 pictures are done with a 60 second exposure the 2 below were 30 second. The very bottom picture was done with the aperture set at f16 the rest were f11 which i found worked better.

Thanks for looking.

James.

Clown · 25 Jul 2013 at 08:42

You've got a massive dust spot in the middle of the frame.

James07 · 25 Jul 2013 at 09:06

I cant seem to find it?

ChrisD. · 25 Jul 2013 at 09:22

80% of the way up, in the middle.

#2 for me, shame there wasn't more traffic.

TangoUK · 25 Jul 2013 at 10:19

i live in Saddleworth and i love taking shots up there,took this with a Fuji S9600 5 years ago....
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14674685@N07/2296161825/
the lights are the star so you need less landscape or a tighter crop if you have a high MP camera and the darker it is the better.Mine was shot at f5 and 14 secs if i remember correctly,during the week in october,so pretty busy.
Tango

James07 · 25 Jul 2013 at 10:48

Thats gutting! The lens had a speckle of dust on it ive just cleaned it

i dont care too much the next set will be better, just got myself an infrared shutter release!

Quite happy!

dannyjo22 · 25 Jul 2013 at 11:27

James07 said:
Thats gutting! The lens had a speckle of dust on it ive just cleaned it

The dust will be on the sensor not on the lens.

Busa · 25 Jul 2013 at 11:42

James07 said:
Thats gutting! The lens had a speckle of dust on it ive just cleaned it i dont care too much the next set will be better, just got myself an infrared shutter release!

Quite happy!

Try locking the mirror up and using a blower on the sensor..if you are lucky that will shift the dust, if not then its a sensor clean.

Janesy B · 25 Jul 2013 at 11:45

Or just clone it out.

James07 · 25 Jul 2013 at 12:12

For now ill clone it out, we have compressed air at work so ill use it gently tomorrow see if that makes a difference, if not then ill try one of those manual blowers and just go at it until it moves!

Bloody farse!

Janesy B · 25 Jul 2013 at 12:13

Just make sure you point the camera downwards and blow up into the mirror/sensor to make sure the crap falls out rather than lodging itself somewhere else in the camera.

James07 · 25 Jul 2013 at 12:19

Janesy B said:
Just make sure you point the camera downwards and blow up into the mirror/sensor to make sure the crap falls out rather than lodging itself somewhere else in the camera.

Okay thank you

ShakenNstirred · 25 Jul 2013 at 19:49

also when you change lens always point the camera down so nothing drops in the cam

PhotoPixels · 25 Jul 2013 at 19:56

I think if you crop away half the sky it helps on these. Also think exposure is a tad too long. Try around 15-20 secs. Very good 1st attempt though, James.

TangoUK, lovely shot, but yours was F11 also.

James07 · 25 Jul 2013 at 20:00

Ill give that a shot, im hoping my lens copes with the idea i have for my next light trail outing, i may need a wider lens but no idea what id be looking for..

The exposure was set longer as the traffic was less frequent then required.

Ill give 20seconds a shot tonight, if i manage to get myself up to the motorway that is.

TangoUK · 25 Jul 2013 at 20:44

PhotoPixels said:
TangoUK, lovely shot, but yours was F11 also.

oops,apologies, it was 5 years ago,didnt realise that flickr still kept the EXIF info, you can stop down a lot more to compensate for it not being dark enough but then you will lose fine detail,especially the mast in the distance.
ive just uploaded one from September last year after having my memory jogged from this thread...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/14674685@N07/9368215534/
Tango

PhotoPixels · 25 Jul 2013 at 22:28

I like that Tango. The sky/clouds add a real `mood` to it.