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Traffic #2

Streaked photo of car head and tail lights

The story behind this image

Not too far from where I live there's this great spot where you can watch the traffic going by from on top of a bridge, and it's so easy to set up a camera on a tripod and photograph traffic trails made by the passing cars.

I love make abstract images such as this one, but what appeared easy at first actually required quite a bit of planning.

First of all I needed twilight to coincide with rush hour which meant that the photo needed to be taken in winter, and then I needed an evening with broken cloud to give an interesting sky.

You'd be suprised how rarely this particular combination of effects occurs, but choosing a spot for the photo near to where I live meant I could dash out when the opportunity arose.

What I'd like to do next at this spot is create a timelapse video through the dusk - maybe I'll give it a try this coming winter.

Image data


Filename - traffic 02.jpg

Camera - Canon 5D

Lens - 24-105mm zoom @ 100mm

Exposure - 30secs @ f11, ISO100

Location - Mold, North Wales

This image - 640x800px JPEG

Conversion - ACR & PS-CS2

Comments - Car head and tail lights streaked by using a long exposure