my first attempt at long exposure...

is going to be tonight.

give me some pointers guy.

basically, i will be shooting in p mode and tweaking the settings as i go or in m mode.

i have a tripod setup, no cable yet, i ordered that yesterday.

i will have a buddy of mine drive my car down the street so if i mess up i can just have him keep going.

but i would like some pointers. i probably should have made this thread this morning to give people more time to read it, but i forgot.

i am a total rookie, other than what i have been reading up online and in the manual everything will be a first time experience for me.

i will post pics tonight if i have time, but for sure tomorrow morning.

i will be checking the thread from time to time so hopefully some stuff is posted.

thanks!!!

almost forgot.

canon XTi with the kit lens 18-55mm

i am thinking about starting with this and going from there...

my main focus tonight is going to be to get some good shots of the head lights and tail lamps streaking...

exposure time will vary from 5-10 seconds
aperture f/10
iso 100

1) Find Objects that are still to accentuate the ones that are moving...
2) Let the motion of the lights guide how you frame things. Frame so the lights will cross at the angles you want.
3) Select you a road with lots of varying traffic, so you can play with different amounts of cars.
4) Dont limit yoursekf to 5 -10 secs. Go longer if you can
5) Dont be affraid to play.
60 Most importamt ....Havr Fun.

ok so i didn't have time to post last night. i don't know if i am happy with how these turned out. i needed to try it last night with my friend because the road i was on doesn't get much traffic.

before i move on to more traffic on a busier road, i need to get my settings down.

here are some examples of what i thought were my better shots.

also, not all my shots were long exposure shots.

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they are taking a few minutes each to upload so i will just post them one at a time.

one thing i am noticing is that they look grainy.

Biggest problem is it isn't in focus. Also turn down the iso, you don't need it or want it. Experiment with allot of different settings and take note of which worked best.

for long shutters, stopping down as far as possible is good (generally f11), and making sure you plug in the hyperfocal distance as your focus distance will generally help a lot as well. go for M mode generally, since p doesn't do a great job in dark places. also, overexpose by 2/3rd to 1-1/3rd stop and then tune it down in a raw converter. that will let you expose for longer AND give you less noise.

i have more pics but it takes too long for imageshack.us to upload them..

i will have to throw them on my site and hot link them here.

btw, why do some of my shots come out grainy?

i was using f10 iso100 and 5-10 second exposure.

your shots are probably grainy because you underexposed the shot. try to nail the exposure next time and you shouldn't have a problem with noise.

Dan-o wrote in post #3984638
Biggest problem is it isn't in focus. Also turn down the iso, you don't need it or want it. Experiment with allot of different settings and take note of which worked best.

i had the iso at 100

isnt that the lowest?

it was hard to get it to focus, i was in m mode, and i had the lens on manual. but it was too dark to see if the images were clear.

i will post a few more.

i guess its a little bit over exposed...

The key is a tripod,shutter release cable (or timer) low ISO, prefocus on a area, and most importantly... HAVE FUN!!!

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The exif data from the picture shows iso 1600.