Yesterday, I was thinking about shooting some car light trails. But I wasn’t sure about the best interval time between shots. So, I decided to do some experiments to figure it out.
Getting Started
First, I grabbed my camera, a tripod, and headed out to a nearby road with decent traffic. I wanted a spot where cars were moving at a good speed, but not too fast.
The Experiment
I started by setting my camera to continuous shooting mode. Then I played around with different intervals:
- 1 second: I took a burst of shots with a 1-second interval. This gave me tons of photos, but the light trails were kinda short and choppy.
- 3 seconds: Next, I tried a 3-second interval. The trails were longer, but there were some noticeable gaps between them.
- 5 seconds: I figured I would give 5 seconds a shot. Honestly, I didn’t see the different between 3 seconds and 5 seconds.
- 8 seconds: This was way too long. The traffic had cleared out by the time the next shot fired, and I just had a few lonely light streaks.
Reviewing the Results
Back home, I looked at the photos on my computer. Here’s what I found out:
- The 1-second interval, the photos created way too short light trails.
- The 3-second interval looked pretty good. The light trails were long enough to be impressive, but they were still smooth.
- The 5-second interval looked simliar to 3-second.
- The 8-second interval, the light trails were way too sparse.
My Conclusion
For me, the sweet spot for car light trail intervals is around 3 seconds. It gives you those long, flowing trails without big gaps, so the traffic flow would effect the results. But remember, it could be a little different depending on how fast the cars are going and what kind of look you are going for. It is better to get out there and try it for yourself!
