Light trails can be made by having photos with long exposures that are taken around moving light. The most common way light trails can be made is with head and rear lights of cars, however, you can still make light trails with just a simple iPhone light and a camera set with a long exposure. When trying to take a light trail photo, a lot of time it is trail and error, you cannot tell what the picture is going to look like.
In terms of the technique towards creating a light trail, the first thing you should do is set your camera to a low light sensitivity setting. Your camera should be in auto meaning you can focus on the main subject in the picture (this can be a person or a sign.) Then, once you have focused this; switch your camera settings from auto to manual. You should also set the camera to have a deep depth of field, you have options such as F16 and F22.
A basic set up for creating light trails in a studio would be to have a shot being taken for 15 seconds. This is so the light can travel around the subject to create an outline. So you can see the model, you can flash them after the light has traveled around and is out of shot. This type of light trails can give your photography a better depth of complexity that makes your photo unique. Moreover, as a long expose means the camera needs to stay still for a period of time, a tripod is recommended for the perfect image to be captured. This means that the picture taken is not blurry, something which is most likely to happen if you took the camera with just your hands.
Before taking an shot using light trails and night shots, you should always think about your location beforehand. If you wanted one of cars and the headlights, then it would be beneficial to do this at night and somewhere with a good amount of traffic. A good tip is to shoot half an hour before sunset, during the sunset or afterwards.
A photographer who excels in light trails and light photography is Michael Bosanko. The photo I have chosen shows just what he can do. he uses the long exposure to present an image with a picture that can interpreted in whatever way the viewer thinks. The way in which his photos become interesting it because they become out of the ordinary. They aren't typical light trailed photos that I have taken for instance. He relies on the way the light moves to create his picture in the end. Not only does this picture show just how much light can effect a picture but also how much trust and effort has to go into creating a good, pleasing light trailed photograph.
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