Camera Labs

Not really sure where this belongs so I put it here.

What do you guys think?

the effect has worked well but the pictures are a bit boring, and altho the effect intended might have been a quirky angled shot it looks like the pictures should be level but aren't.
I'm not saying their bad photos, just not very interesting.

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Amateur, always learning!

My website:- www.neildavison.co.uk

Yeah there are reasons for that.

1. I wasnt on a very busy street that night so not alot of cars were passing by.

2. I also had no tripod so I had to lay my camera down on my friends car.

Thanks for the reply!

In photography there are no excuses. When somebody looks at your work and they see that something is not right they will just say it is not good and they will not listen or care about any excuses you give them. This is very important to know because than you can better critique your pictures before you show them to somebody else.

Sometimes excuses can be turned into advice. Maybe someone will say, "Hey try to place your camera on the hood of the car instead," or "Go try out the shot on a busy street." etc.

BTW Thanks for your "critique"

Nele has a point, although slightly harsh. Photography is all about working around problems, be creative!

I've taken nightscapes from a park bench, tripods, the ground, everything stable will suffice.

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I take pictures so quickly, my highschool was "Continuous High".

I have been in your shoes Jaemok, and this is not bad advice. I can tell you that my photography drastically improved after getting such comments. You should not take this to personally and then decide that photography is not for you, but you should think about these things before you press the shutter button.

This is very friendly forum (sometimes to friendly I think) because if there is something wrong with your or somebodies photos most of the members will try to give you positive comment which is not always good. The best way to learn is from your mistakes but you should know these mistakes, and if nobody tells you about them how will you know that you didn't do something right.

I saw your photos even before you got the first comment and I didn't say anything because there was not much to say. The reason i replied is after you wrote your excuse for not being prepared. And I am telling you this because it will help you down the road. Thing is when you write something on the forum to somebody might sound to harsh and for somebody else not to harsh, it is because you can't hear their intonation or read the body language.

But trust me, getting negative comments is a positive thing, especially when you're still learning, and you will be learning all your life, because there is always something that you don't know.

I have seen people getting same positive comments for their bad pictures day after day and they pictures are still bad because nobody told them what they need to improve. If you have flickr account and you have many contacts you will see what I mean. It feels great when you upload a photo on flickr in the evening and then when you wake up tomorrow and you see you got 100+ comments overnight. But how many of them are going to tell you that you need to improve something? None, maybe 1 if you have a close friend who is also photographer and he is your contact. And then you will get upset and delete this comment because it will ruin your average 100% positive feedback.

This is the first shot I ever did.



But I was preparing for this shot for a long time. Waiting for the right weather conditions and time of the day, reading magazines, tutorials, watching videos about how to do this. Then I went to closest store and then looked at some postcards of the place I wanted to shoot which gave me the position where I need to go to take the shot. I found the place, came there early, mounted the camera on a tripod, did couple test shots to check my composition because the view finder on my camera is not 100% so sometimes you get something in your shot that you didn't see in the viewfinder. Then I started shooting, it was still light but I did it anyway. Made about 150 clicks that evening. My goal was to get the proper exposure of 30 sec @ F11 and to have all streets and roads filled with car lights without any empty spaces. That is why I started shooting early, to figure out timing with cars on the road before it gets too dark. And by the time I get 30 sec @ F11 exposure I just need to do one shot to make it perfect.

Of course i know now that this could be done even better, but this was really my first time doing it.

I hope this helps you in the future and improve your photography. If I didn't want to help you in any way I would not be writing anything whatsoever.

Well as beginner myself i would have to agree with Nelepl i would rather have 50 comments telling me what i've done wrong and the best way to correct it rather than 20 comments saying that pic was ok,

BTW ive been wanting to try this sort of shot myself just never get time but for a first attempt at least you can see what you where trying to achieve.

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Canon 400D. BG-E3. canon 18-55mm. canon 28-80mm. sigma 70-300mm APO macro.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I really do appreciate it. And I won't let a few negative comments stop me from taking pictures.

Nice one it can only make you better

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Canon 400D. BG-E3. canon 18-55mm. canon 28-80mm. sigma 70-300mm APO macro.

Here's some advice.

1. Get a tripod so you can control the leveling.
2. Shoot a location where the lights bend. You don't want to shoot light streaks just for the heck of it. You have to make sure it tells a story.
3. Pick a location with a bit more traffic.
4. If you want to do purely light streaks, then find a location like Nelepl's. (Something a bit elevated.

If you want to stick with streets, you can always find an more interesting location than a sidestreet. Try the city perhaps.





5. Dress warmly