I was always fascinated to see night photographs of traffic esp. those long white and red streaks of light, the sense of motion is captured greatly at night. I have shuffled through enough of those Nat Geo magazines to find some night photographs and whenever I found one I was never disappointed.
After said all that I wanted some good memoirs of night life for myself..through my lens
Here are some points to consider while shooting traffic at night esp if you want those everlasting white/yellow/red streaks of lights and those glittering street lamps..
What would you need:
- A sturdy and flexible tripod.
- A Shutter release OR IR remote control to release the shutter
- A good wide angle lens with MF (Manual focus) option
- Patience and Cool.
1. Setting your ISO
If you are a Digital SLR user then set your ISO to 100/200. If you are shooting with a film/slide then also make sure you have loaded the camera with a ISO 100/200 film. I prefer these ISO levels as there is minimal grain and good color saturation. I suggest Fuji crystal for film users and Fuji Velvia 100/100F for slide users.2. Aperture and Shutter Speed settings
a. Bring down the aperture to anything above 18 (personally I like 22) this is to maximize the depth-of-field and also to control the light etching on the film/sensor using custom shutter speeds. With these settings if exposed long enough all the street lights will be captured as glittering stars and the passing traffic like streaks of white, red and yellow light - this setting is also to avoid capturing light as bright blobs as smaller apertures capture more light - this is noticeable if you were shooting traffic heading towards the direction of your frame with head lights onb. Change to MF (Manual Focus). Now compose your picture. It is better if you include a still /stationary object in your frame like a lamp post, nearby building or a tree, parked vehicle etc., and focus on that. Still objects in your frame gives the feeling of motion better.
c. Set your shutter speeds to anything above 15“ (secs) (personally I like the BULB setting). Why 15sec? Actually, you can use any shutter speeds settings you like depending on how you want your final picture. If you observe the traffic closley you’ll have a fair idea about how much time does a vehicle takes to cross your picture frame, starting from the top and ending at the bottom or starting from left and ending to the right or vice-versa. Interesting frames can be composed at traffic junctions. Once you have the idea of time then set your shutter speeds accordingly. If you set it to “BULB” then you have much finer control over the exposure you can expose the traffic passing from one end and still wait for more incoming traffic. While using BULB settings I highly recommend a shutter release or remote control to release the shutter as even the slightest shake can spoil the whole picture. Once you have composed your frame and have your focus set take of your eye from the eyepiece and let the shutter release do the work for you.
Take a deep breath and release the shutter to avoid any camera shake. After you are satisfied that enough traffic has passed by then release the shutter back to normal. During the whole process you can completely ignore the camera readings.
DO NOT compensate for exposure by taking the camera readings into consideration. You can experiment with different combinations of aperture and shutter speed settings. Interesting shots can be taken by experimenting with different white balance settings. Also do try taking some shots in Black & White and am sure you will be pleased.
Here are some of the pictures I have taken during the last two years.
