The use of long exposure photography is quite a popular technique for capturing various cityscapes, traffic motion, and other stylistic shots involving light in motion. This quick tutorial is a great video filled with quite a few tips for anyone looking to play with this type of photography.

The art of capturing light trails is surprisingly a little more than simply setting up a camera on a tripod and pressing the shutter. It involves taking the time to plan your locations in order to arrive at the appropriate time, which will then allow you to make the most of the ambient light in addition to the long exposure. Sometimes, you might want to shoot when it is incredibly dark in the middle of the night; other times, you will find more benefit in shooting with more sunset or dusk light.

Even if you dial in your settings and your composition, you still have no control over traffic patterns or even traffic volume. Sometimes, additional steps need to be taken in order to create the image that you originally had in mind. Sometimes, this involves setting shutter speeds for even lengthier periods of time; other times, it means you have to utilize a faster shutter. Still other times, you might need to rely on post-production blending techniques. This video goes through several different scenarios to help you see what all your options are, so as to make the most of your shoot experience as a whole.