Catching Motion

[One_Look]

I will be leaving to go home for a visit in Chicago this weekend, and I grew up in this little prestigious town that has its own train station and obviously tracks>>train. I have a canon rebel XTi and I wan to know what the setting should be on THAT camera to get the train lights to streak AT NIGHT when it rolls by...I know how to do it on my point & shoot but I am still unsure of the settings. Maybe i should practice with cars tonight...?

 

[Big Mike]

I wan to know what the setting should be on THAT camera to get the train lights to streak AT NIGHT when it rolls by...I know how to do it on my point & shoot but I am still unsure of the settings

It shouldn't matter what camera you are using. The rules of photography & exposure are the same.

Maybe i should practice with cars tonight

Good idea.

 

[TCimages]

You just need slow shutter speeds and a good tripod. Shooting at night, simply puting the camera in P mode, ISO 100 will provide long enough exposure to do what you want to do.

 

[stuckupsigns]

I too am a newbie, but maybe I can help you with this one.

Take the picture late at night when it is as dark as possible. Make sure it is dark enough so that your light meter still shows a little under at say 20 to 30 seconds. Use a tripod, and take the photo using that 20 to 30 second exposure time. Try to avoid any direct light in the camera... that has screwed up a few of my attempts.

I took this picture using a 25 second exposure at about midnight. It still came out a little bright.... the only modification I did with this picture is a little bit of curves adjustment in photoshop.