Lights blur in Allentown
Description
Description
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Apr, 2018Views
3497
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Awards
Honorable Mention in Concrete Jungles Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Creators Exhibition Project
Contest Finalist in City Life Photo Contest Jampress
Contest Finalist in Colors In The City Photo Contest 2019
Contest Finalist in Portraits With Depth Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Experimental Photography Project
Contest Finalist in My Escape Photo Contest
Curator's Choice
Peer Award
Outstanding Creativity
Superb Composition
Top Choice
Absolute Masterpiece
All Star
Superior Skill
Emotions
Impressed
Top Ranks
Top 20 rankTop 20 rank week 1
Top 20 rankTop 20 rank week 1
Top 20 rank
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this in downtown Allentown, PA in the middle of a traffic circle in the business district. I knew this was the best spot to take this shot because of the way traffic moves around the circle. Cars split off to go either to the right or left of the circle and then converge again at the other side which helped create leading lines.Time
I started shooting this during sunset and into blue hour since I had to wait for cars to have their lights on.Lighting
This was all shot using the lights of downtown Allentown and the cars driving by. I had to have my camera set to shoot a long exposure so it could capture the light trails and to brighten up the scene.Equipment
To get the shot I was using a Canon Rebel T6, and 18-55mm lens, tripod, string lights, and my phone to remotely trigger the shutter. At this point in my photography, I did not have any Neutral Density filters which would have made making this shot a lot easier and would have been able to shoot at an earlier time. Since I had no ND filters my settings for this photo were all over the place to compensate for the light.Inspiration
I had seen on Instagram some interesting long exposure portraits and I thought I might as well give it a go. I knew that I had the perfect location for me to try out this shot and it gave me a chance to try out some self-portraits so I grabbed my equipment and spent the night trying to get the best shot I couldEditing
At the beginning of the photoshoot, I thought I was going to need to do a lot of post-processing to get the results I wanted. Originally I was going to take individual shots of myself in position and then mask myself in over the long exposure shots. My first worry was if I would be able to stand still long enough to take the long exposure without motion blur. As the shoot continued I got better at staying still and managed to come away with a version that had minimal blur. When it came time to start editing I realized that not many cars were driving through the left side to create interesting light trails except for one image. In that image, a bus came through and created the large light trail on the left so I ended up overlaying the light trail in to create the image we have now.In my camera bag
My camera bag does not change very often. I usually can be found with my 6D mark ii, 50mm 1.8, 24-105mm, tripod, nd filters, and miscellaneous props such as sparklers, fairy lights, prisms, and anything I find interesting from the dollar store.Feedback
Patience is key for this kind of shot. Since I was alone during this shoot I was constantly running back and forth between my position and camera to readjust and model. I spent almost 2 hours on location trying to get one shot that I liked the best. There would be times where no cars would drive by, the wind would move my camera, or I was the one moving just a little bit too much. There was a lot of trial and error but eventually, I managed to get the shot that I wanted. One of the most important pieces of getting a shot similar to this or any night photography is having the right equipment. Sure having an expensive DSLR with killer low light capabilities would make this easier to shoot, but this could also be shot on a phone too! As long as you have a tripod to secure your camera for long periods of time you're good to go!
