GeoffreyGriggsPhotography

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Playing with Long Exposures スローシャッターで遊ぶ

I've been in a photographic lull lately. I don't have any models lined up, nor any real estate or family shoots planned. I'm too busy with school to leave town, and it is not a particularly photogenic time to be in Nagoya. The leaves have long since fallen from the trees and the magnolia, plum and cherry blossoms are still a few weeks off. So, with a free day on Friday (after proctoring and grading 4000 entrance tests on Thursday) I decided to head a couple subway stops down the line and do some long exposure traffic shots. There is an area near Hongo Station in Nagoya, where several roads converge, and various pedestrian walkways provide vantage points for setting up a tripod. I wanted to keep it simple, so I just brought my compact F/1.8 28mm prime, and a tripod. I took multiple long exposure shots from each of several locations. The time for the exposures ranged from 8 to 20 seconds. Later, I edited them in Lightroom, and then exported them as layers into Photoshop so that I could merge multiple car light trails into a single exposure. I don't use Photoshop or layers often because it is so time consuming, but as I don't have any other assignments at the moment, I decided to give it a go. I like how combining multiple car light trails reveals traffic flow patterns that would not be otherwise apparent. I'm not sure whether I like these more in color or black and white, so I tried both.