Streak in car automobile lighting. How to achieve?

Question

How do I get the streak lighting effect at night in the road as with car lights. I see these pictures of car lights at night that go forever. How can I create this effect with my Digital Sony Cybershot DSC-F707 10x zoom? Can someone brighten me up in this subject?

Answer 1

This calls for a long exposure. If your camera has shutter priority or manual control of the shutter speed, try using at least 10 seconds. Longer is better. You may be able to go up to 30 seconds. Put the camera on a tripod or other very steady object. Use the self-timer to release the shutter so you won't have a jiggle at the beginning of the exposure. Go for it. In digital, you can experiment as much as you want, because it's free. Just pay attention to what you have done and observe the results so you can make intelligent choices about your next attempt. If you want longer streaks, just leave the shutter open for a longer time, etc.

I think ISO will hardly matter, but try using 400, if possible.

Answer 2

I don't know about the F707's capabilities, but if you can, you should use a tripod, low ISO, high f-number (small aperture), and a rear curtain sync flash. The rear curtain sync makes the flash go off at the end of the exposure, so you will get the streak of tail lights and an image of the car out in front of it. Use manual settings and experiment with the exposure length until you get a shot you like.

Answer 3

Your camera does have the modes that this sort of shot requires. Try the night scene mode first but, I doubt that will get you what you want. Manual is the best way to go and experiment with shutter time. I would leave the ISO setting at 100 as any faster and you will sort of be defeating your purpose to blur the lights. Also, slower ISO will give truer blacks and dark colors without turning to a grayish tint.

Answer 4

In additional of what Dr. Sam said. You may want to consider to set to manual mode so you can adjust the aperture as well. With higher F-number, the depth of field will be wider meaning more of the scene will be in focus. I will leave the ISO at a lower level like 100 or 200 max to prevent noise. Especially in these compact point and shot cameras.

Answer 5

I don't know the entire method to doing that as I would like to create photos like that too. I do believe though that it takes a tripod and a long exposure setting on your camera. Hope someone can break down the process for you because pictures like that are fantastic.

Answer 6

Yes, it is legal. I see a car (a MAROON car) in my city all the time doing this. He's actually an undercover, but can still practice pulling over cars and not just investigations.