Technical Details
Camera: Canon EOS 500D
Lens: Canon EF-S 10-22mm @ 22mm
ISO: 100
Exposures: 3 (-2, 0, +2)
Aperture: 22
Exposure time (middle): 3s
Tripod: Manfrotto 190CXPRO4
Size: 15 MPx
Date: Taken in November 2013
Software: Lightroom 5.2, Photoshop CS6, Photomatix Pro
Workflow: Small aperture is the key. At first I thought it’s already too bright for light trails but it was just dark enough. Aperture set on 22 and exposure time on just 3 seconds. That had the nice effect that you don’t only see the cars backlights but also the blinking indicator.
With those settings I stood there for a few minutes until I had some shots to go with. In Photomatix I first merged 3 different exposures and then I blended the original photo with the light trails back in.
