Light Trails...

Hi all,

This is my first go at photographing light trails (im a total noob to all photography btw), I know its a rubbish shot, but just looking for advise as I went out totally blind to see what I could do...

First thing, how do I get rid of the green light?! I worked out that it has to be glare from the on coming headlights. Is this glare from the filter I have fitted (uv filter)? Would a hood filter work better?

It was rush hour traffic so perhaps should have gone a little earlier which would have included perhaps some colour in the sky.

What other tips? Im shooting with a 400D with a 28-80 lens. Also shot this without a tripod (rested the camera on the flat railings).

Thanks

Edit: Forgot to add the photo haha!!

Im no professional but not a noobie either.
Yourcamera and lens are fine. no Tripod wasnt your issue this time, but use it next time.
Film is cheap...LOL
take 10's of shots from the same location.
try 4 second exposures with the aperture wide open
try 30 second exposures with e lens closed
and all setting between
Also a lens hood would help keep some of the head light noise off the lens
try shooting at an angle to the oncoming lights,
longer exposures will bring the light in the back ground up to a point where it will almost look like sunset.
EXPERIMENT

Thanks for your reply, went out last night to have another go, it was alot darker so just pitch black. Really need to get a tripod... but until then the bridge rail will have to do. Also got questioned by the police thinking I was trying to commit suicide haha.

Here is the second attempt, I closed the aperture right down as I believe that with the aperture open wide caused the green blurring:

Lots of creative ways to get different view points
I did this 5 sec exposure @ f/5.6
Now there are flood lights in the tree shining down lighting the bike
But I was just looking to capture the head and tail lights on just one car.
Notice I didnt have the lens hood on and got the spot in the center of the lens
Even tripods on a bridge will vibrate with the bridge

Stuuk1 wrote in post #13485019
Hi all,

This is my first go at photographing light trails (im a total noob to all photography btw), I know its a rubbish shot, but just looking for advise as I went out totally blind to see what I could do...

First thing, how do I get rid of the green light?! I worked out that it has to be glare from the on coming headlights. Is this glare from the filter I have fitted (uv filter)? Would a hood filter work better?

It was rush hour traffic so perhaps should have gone a little earlier which would have included perhaps some colour in the sky.

What other tips? Im shooting with a 400D with a 28-80 lens. Also shot this without a tripod (rested the camera on the flat railings).

Thanks

Edit: Forgot to add the photo haha!!

Yes, get rid of the lens filters! They can wreak havoc with this type of shot (unless you really like those green streaks)!

Aside from that, it's all about trying different things, ideas of the way you would like a shot to come out. Vary your shutter speeds and apertures to get different "looks". There is no one "best" approach.

Of course, a sturdy tripod and ballhead will be necessary when you don't have a railing or something else to support the camera...