Light trails in Taipei

Light trails created by vehicles on a busy road are always impressive to look at and are often one of the first things photographers shoot when they begin trying out some night photography. The trails created by the lights in the traffic can be eye-catching and if you position yourself in a decent location, you can really create some works of art. Light trails offer a great opportunity to dip your toes in the world of manual long exposure photography and other than a tripod, don’t require any special equipment.

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All DSLR’s and many point and shoot cameras offer the ability to set your exposure manually or at least to control the shutter speed. This is a must and if your camera doesn’t allow you to at least set the shutter speed, you may need to borrow or rent a camera that does. Some kind of remote shutter release is also useful but there are workarounds if you don’t have one. Remote releases come in wired and wireless options and are available for a wide range of budgets. If you don’t have one, use your camera’s self-timer instead.

A tripod is a must but if you don’t have one, you can probably get away with using something else that will keep the camera sturdy. Resting it on a wall or small beanbag will work in a pinch but tripods are such useful tools that you really should have one. I’ve previously written about tripods so I’ll just mention here that buying a good quality tripod at first makes good sense, and if you make a careful selection, can last you a lifetime.

Once you’re ready to venture out, head to a place that allows you to safely set up your gear. If there’s some particular vantage point that offers a good view, try that out but anywhere that allows you to see the lights of the traffic is sufficient. Securely mount your camera on its tripod, set your dial to M mode and start shooting.

Okay, there’s a little more to it than that, but not much. You’ll get the cleanest pictures with the highest image quality at low ISO so go ahead and set your camera to ISO100 or whatever the lowest is on your camera. Working in M mode, set your aperture to something that will give you a good depth of field (f8, f11, f16). Then simply experiment with different shutter speeds. Start at something like 5 seconds and work your way up to 30 seconds. The sweet spot will differ from place and place – in a busy city, closer to 5 seconds may suffice but in a quieter location you may find 30 seconds works best. If you want to get really precise results based more on the movement of cars rather than predetermined times, try using the B or bulb setting. This leaves the shutter open for as long as you want, allowing a greater range of times. I should note that because of the relative lack of light, your camera may have a tough time locking the focus so if you can, switch your lens into manual focus.

Experimentation is the key as there is no right or wrong. Some people want the traffic to flow through in a nice unbroken stream of light, in which case tripping the shutter before vehicles enter the frame and releasing it when they leave will work best. Others prefer shorter light trails that are choppy and broken up, in which case shorter exposure times are called for.

When choosing your location, try and find somewhere that is visually interesting. Light trails alone are good but when there’s something else in the frame, it can become great. Reflections on rainy evenings, distant mountains or buildings and more all work as possible points of interest. Try shooting around sunset and into early evening. You will often get a rich, dark blue sky in your image that looks great as lights come on. There’s also likely to be more traffic at that time. However you choose to do it, make sure you stay safe and keep your equipment secure.

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Bustling Ximending, Taipei at night.