Night Photography

By using the long exposure shutter speed setting, I was able to capture light trails from the movement of light coming from vehicles and street lights. In order to capture these photos, I used a Nikon D3100 DSLR with the settings of 100 ISO, the alternation between 2.5 – 4.0 second and an automatic F number setting. The tripod helped a lot in capturing these photos as it was able to stabilise the camera. But although there was a tripod at hand, I still encountered some shakiness in my photos as some photos did come out blurry which were due to the wind. These photos were captured during the evening when the lights were most visible for capturing. I took these photos at several locations during the same day, which were; Canary Wharf, Marble Arch, Trafalgar Square, London Bridge and Oxford Street. These were good places to capture long exposure light photography as it’s very busy and there are always constant movements of vehicles around. I found buses were the best vehicles to capture light trails due to its large size and multi-colours of red, green and white. I experimented further capturing the photos in long exposure setting whilst zooming in and out this generated a zoomed in effect within my photos and created more trails which made it look more interesting.

Overall I was able to capture some outstanding shots since it was my first time experimenting with light trails photography.

I expanded further with the long exposure settings by capturing photos without any movement with visible light surroundings. By capturing photos during the night with this setting, it created a crispy clear outcome, which showed an enhancement of lighting and detail. I took these photos at canary wharf as there were many buildings surrounding the area and had blue Christmas lights decorations around it which made it an interesting place to capture these photos. The river was a plus as it the lights from the buildings were reflected onto the water which the camera was able to capture its reflections. I took these photos with a Nikon D3100 DSLR with a 100 ISO and I alternated the exposure between 3-7 seconds along with an automatic F number. Also I used a tripod to stabilise the camera but some photos turned out blurry due to the heavy wind which was a downfall.

Regardless, I was still able to capture some amazing shots of the lighting from the buildings and light reflecting onto the river. Some photos came out very sharp, but I believe a longer light exposure produces a better outcome which I will experiment further in the future.