Failed attempt; shoot from moving car

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Dubb

Platinum Member
Mar 25, 2003
2,495
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Corky (and others): the point here is to capture motion from the road lights while having the car interior itself look solid. To do this you necessarily have to have a lengthy exposure time (half-second at least). But to get the car's interior looking good and sharp, there has to be no relative motion between the camera and the car while the exposure is taken. (If the car itself is a rattletrap, this kind of shot is basically impossible.) Of course I guess you could just paste two exposures together and get the same effect, but there are people who get good results with just one frame. This kind of frame is almost a sub-sub-genre of photography in its own right. Here are a couple of good examples:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmmpereda/3655439752/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lazyousuf/3112028635/sizes/l/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/psycho_crow/2948242366/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fredthomas/3540104839/

It looks like there's a flash or two in the car in most of these. that would certainly get the shutter speed down.
 

twistedlogic

Senior member
Feb 4, 2008
606
0
0
Any tips on how to make these less blurry?

Use your widest lens you have.

Wouldn't F11 or a smaller aperture be of more use? I mean with only F4 you might just get the dash in focus. Most of the pics linked by slashbinslashbash where shot at F11 with a 30 second exposure.

I'd also go with a longer exposure so some ambient light can bleed through and light some of the interior, plus you can get longer and complete streaks.

Most importantly, make sure the tripod is sturdy. Weigh that fooker down. I would think that if the tripod was completely rigid with the frame of the car, even on the bumpiest roads the interior should not be blurred. Also use a cable release or remote so as not to add camera shake upon stabbing the shutter.
 

finbarqs

Diamond Member
Feb 16, 2005
3,617
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81
okay, this is an old thread, but I just saw it today! Best thing to do if you want that "blurry" motion and have the internals "Sharp" You're just gonna have do something else in photoshop! First secure the camera on a tripod as best as you can.

Second, exposure for the lowest ISO the highest shutter (30 sec usually). Set your Aperture to whatever is the corresponding value! (You can use TV if you'd like)

okay, here's the important part!

*Put your camera on a timed exposure for 10 seconds!
*Put you car in neutral
*sit in your car!
*Have 2 buddies slowly push the car at a slow place, with minimalistic movement!
*sit as still as you can!
*your car should already be moving when the shutter fires -- keep the same pace during movement!

*enjoy!

you may need to post process your needles to go to the appropriate speed!