How can I photograph vehicle trails in daylight without overexposing?
Asked 5/16/2013
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I want to capture the effect of moving vehicles on a road during the day, similar to long-exposure traffic shots at night. I tried using bulb mode at ISO 100 and f/22, but the image was still far too bright. What equipment or technique should I use to get this effect in daylight, and is the result likely to look the same as night-time light trails?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
13y ago
2 Answers
7
What you are probably looking for is a 10-stop ND filter. Lee and Hitech make large square filters - Lee calls theirs the "big stopper". B+W make a screw-in version that is less expensive.
These will roughly allow for 1000 times the exposure. So instead of 1/250th of a second, you can expose for 1000 * 1/250 = 4 seconds.
If you want even longer exposures, best to shoot in early morning or early evening when it's not as bright - where 1/60 exposure would become 15-20 seconds.
Originally by user4191. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user4191
13y ago
0
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To get long exposures in daylight, you need to cut much more light than ISO 100 and f/22 alone can handle. The usual solution is a strong neutral density (ND) filter, often around 10 stops, or multiple ND filters stacked together. That can turn a fast daylight exposure into several seconds, and shooting in early morning or late evening can extend exposure times even more.
A polarizer can reduce light a little, but usually not enough by itself, and it also changes reflections and contrast.
That said, daytime traffic won’t usually produce the same clean light trails as night shots. At night, headlights and taillights stand out against a darker scene. In daylight, moving cars tend to become soft, muddy streaks rather than bright trails.
If your goal is to show motion during the day, a better approach may be shorter exposures—up to about 1 second—to blur individual cars, or combining multiple short exposures in post-processing for a busier traffic effect.
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