Light Trails
Light trails take the slow-shutter idea into the dark. With a multi-second exposure at night, moving lights — like car headlights and taillights — paint continuous glowing ribbons across your frame as they travel.
Darkness is your friend here: it lets you keep the shutter open for several seconds without the rest of the scene blowing out. The camera needs rock-steady support — a tripod, or braced hard on something solid — and a remote or 2-second timer keeps you from shaking it when you press the button.
Find a spot with steady traffic — an overpass, a curving road, a bridge — and start your exposure as cars approach so their lights sweep through the frame.
Manual mode at 5s–15s, ISO 100, aperture f/8–f/16, after dark, with a 2-second timer or remote. No tripod? Brace the camera on a wall, ledge, or railing — an overpass parapet is perfect. Begin the exposure as cars approach; review and adjust the time or aperture.
Vehicle lights form continuous bright ribbons — red taillights, white headlights — while the stationary scene stays sharp and properly exposed, not blown out or shaky.
The assignment
Turn moving lights into glowing streaks with a long night exposure — car headlights and taillights on a road.
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