One from last night

Mint_Sauce · 30 May 2006 at 23:32

I went off at about 11:30pm last night to get some shots of the motorwey near me. Unfortunately, there wern't many cars going past.

I ended up increasing my ISO to 1600 so the lights that did go past would be nice and bright but this obviously caused blotchyness. I now think maybe I should have taken a few shots from the same place then overlayed them in photoshop.

Oh well, it was cold and I wasn't thinking straight.

Anyway, this pic I tried doing that "getting big stuff to look minature" effect and I quite like it even if the pic is a little boring.

Gungnir · 30 May 2006 at 23:54

It does have a Scalextric feel to it, thought that even before reading the pic title. I like it

MarcLister · 31 May 2006 at 02:38

Nice pic. If I ever get a decent cam I'd like to do this kind of photography. But then considering where I live that wouldn't be such a good idea.

The only blotches I can see are in the sky? Is that right?

Pickers · 31 May 2006 at 08:05

Mint_Sauce said:
Oh well, it was cold and I wasn't thinking straight. Anyway, this pic I tried doing that "getting big stuff to look minature" effect and I quite like it even if the pic is a little boring.

Tilt-shift?
It does look very good.. Makes the background scenery and sky look detatched (almost like a painted backdrop to a model road

) - so it works for me!

Mint_Sauce · 31 May 2006 at 09:10

Yeah, it's tilt shift - very easy to do in Photoshop. The sky was the blotchy bit but it's ok with tilt shift.

AdWright · 31 May 2006 at 09:47

Next time, you could try taking a piece of black card with you and holding this in front of the lens during the gaps between cars. This will prevent the sky light pollution from becoming too exposed for the shot.

These kind of shots are also easier to do in the winter months when it is dark during rush hour!

Mint_Sauce · 31 May 2006 at 10:00

Ahh yes, I didn't think of that! Think i'll try again with the black card and bulb mode. Then try again when it's winter rush hour.

With bulb mode is there anyway to do it so you press once to open the shutter then another press to close it? That way there wouldn't be as much camera shake from holding down the button. I was doing 30 second exposures.

AdWright · 31 May 2006 at 10:08

Mint_Sauce said:
Ahh yes, I didn't think of that! Think i'll try again with the black card and bulb mode. Then try again when it's winter rush hour.

With bulb mode is there anyway to do it so you press once to open the shutter then another press to close it? That way there wouldn't be as much camera shake from holding down the button. I was doing 30 second exposures.

You ideally will need a cable shutter release

woodsy2k · 31 May 2006 at 21:39

Its not really for me tbh. Dont get me wrong i love shots like that as i did loads for a project once. However i like things to be in focus. My advise is to use a hyperfocal distance setting. Basically this is where, at a certain focal distance, and a certain Aperture size, everything beyond a certain distance will be in focus.

http://www.vividlight.com/articles/2314.htm

Click the link and it will tell you all about it. Can be really usefull when taking shots such as yours when its hard to get an exact focus.

Woodsy

Mint_Sauce · 31 May 2006 at 22:49

Thanks for the link, I guess I like the Tilt shift because these techniques are new to me (being new to photography).

The actual shot was done using the infinity thingy so it's all in focus, I just wanted to make the shot a bit more interesting so used the tilt shift effect.

Original Here

Reading your link now.

Also, the picture location here for anyone who's interested (Google Earth).