Tried some night time motorway shots

[Phate]

Hi Folks,

Now i'm far from an expert but tonight i was bored and went down to the bridge over the motorway and as i had never tried before, i thought sod it why not.

Now it may be that i've only got a Powershot A80 or my pap skills (probably the later)

But they didn't really come out very well.

They all turned out pretty much like this.

Now i had rested the camera on one of the posts for the barrier on the edge of the bridge, now it did rock very slight so i'm sure it didn't help things, but i'm guessing there is to much light from the overhead lights and is ruining the pictures.

Haven't had a chance to play about with in photoshop yet, but going to do so now.

What do you guys think went wrong?

 

[Phate]

Does this camera have any manual settings whats so ever? The exposure time is just far to long!
The colour balance is too warm.

And I would really aim for a better position that isnt giving you several bright lamp posts right infront of you. Try an Angled perspective.

Let me know on what settings are avialable to you.

I can adjust the exposure time and aperture - i had the exposure time on its longest - 15 seconds, mainly due to the lack of cars

And there are a fair few different settings we have - Day Light, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent

EDIT: not sure thats what you wanted, but i also have - Vivid, Neutral, Low Sharpenin, Sepia, B/W - I'm pretty sure thats not what your after either

Can't see anyothers right now (going through the camera)

 

[Phate]

Just stick to the basics. First of all get yourself a better perspective. The light from those lamps are just going to flare your shots.

Set your aperture to something like 8 or 11 if you can.

Exposure time. If its busy, 6 seconds. Have a spy at your results and work out from there how to adjust your shutter speeds accordingly.

ISO100 or your lowest if thats possible to adjust.

Ok the Aperture i can set to 8 thats the highest, so i've set that, ISO goes down to 50 can be adjust to 50 - 100 - 200 - 400

Ok i might go back out tonight, or try again tomorrow when its busier. Thanks for all the help really apprieciate it