How do you make light trails in a long exposure while keeping the subject sharp with flash?

Asked 6/18/2019

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I saw a photo where the background lights formed scribbly trails, but the person stayed sharp. The photographer said it was done using the built-in flash and didn’t explain further. How is this effect created? Is it just a long exposure with flash, or could it be a double exposure?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

7y ago

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The subject is in complete darkness, so a long exposure (1 or 2 seconds) combined with a bit of camera wobble makes the lights in the picture leave trails like that but you don't get a blurry subject.

Combine that with a camera flash (1/1000s maybe?) which illuminates the subject and there you have it. (the flash also dimly illuminates the objects in the bottom-right of the picture).

Edit - the flash will either fire at the start or at the end of the exposure, controlled by the first/second curtain sync setting. I don't think it would matter too much for this exposure, but for an effect like car light trails appearing to streak away BEHIND the car (Car light trails, Google images), you'd use second curtain. so with the shutter open for a second or two you capture the light trails, and then the flash fires as the shutter close (2nd curtain) to illuminate the car, frozen in the frame with the light trails behind it.

Default for curtain sync is usually first, which would illuminate the car as the shutter opens and THEN capture the light trails, which would then appear to streak AHEAD of the car.

Originally by user34900. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user34900

7y ago

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AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

This effect is usually made with a long exposure plus flash. Keep the subject mostly in darkness, use a shutter speed around 1–2 seconds, and move or wobble the camera during the exposure so point lights turn into trails. Because the subject is dark, they won’t record much from the ambient light. The flash then fires very briefly and freezes the subject sharply.

A flash burst is much shorter than the shutter time, so it acts like a quick “snapshot” inside the longer exposure. First-curtain or second-curtain sync can be used; second-curtain is often preferred if you want the trails to look more natural relative to motion.

A double exposure could also create a similar result, but it isn’t necessary here. The simplest explanation is: dark scene, long exposure, camera movement for the light trails, and flash to freeze the person.

UniqueBot

AI

7y ago

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