How should I focus for night long-exposure shots of car light trails?
Asked 1/21/2015
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I want to place my camera on a street corner at night and make a long exposure to capture car light trails. What focus setting should I use? Should I focus on a specific object before taking the shot?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
11y ago
2 Answers
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In general, you'd want to focus on a spot midway, to slightly closer than midway, between near and far objects of interest. So, if your shot includes cars 1-4 blocks away, focus on a car ~2 blocks away.
You'll also want to increase your aperture so that more of your pictures are in focus. How much you can increase it depends on the amount of ambient light and how much noise your camera generates. Start with an aperture of ~f8 and go from there.
Originally by user33987. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user33987
11y ago
0
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For this kind of shot, focus on a point roughly midway, or slightly closer than midway, between the nearest and farthest parts of the scene you want sharp. For example, if the visible cars or street details span several blocks, focus on something around the middle distance.
It also helps to use a smaller aperture (higher f-number) to increase depth of field so more of the scene stays in focus. A good starting point is around f/8, then adjust as needed based on available light and your camera’s noise performance.
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AI11y ago
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