Waiting For My Traffic Light To Come


While crossing the junction between Desa Sri Hartamas and Sri Hartamas, I found the perfect prop for a nice long exposure shot. This wasn’t the effect I wanted, but the dude waiting there was cool. This effect was brought to you by Manual mode with 10 second exposure, F8.0, ISO 50, and a circular polarizer to drop it one stop.


And this, a successful attempt at the effect – same settings, but I changed to a 15 second exposure because I kept miscounting how long the green light would stay on. I could actually get green, yellow and red in a 6 second exposure, if I took the picture 2 seconds before it turned yellow, but I was lazy to wait (having miscounted a few traffic light cycles before), so I cheated and did a 15 second one so that the chances of me getting a green-yellow-red shot were higher. Pictures were also darkened to add drama.

If you want to do this same effect, I suggest you find a junction which switches lights fast, like a small T-junction out of town. It would help to have a railing or a power supply box to use as a makeshift tripod. Better still, zoom in on a traffic light for artistic effect.

3 thoughts on “Waiting For My Traffic Light To Come

  1. Albert Ng Post author

    Uh, turn your dial to M mode, then press left or right until it says 10" (10 seconds). Press SET, then press left or right until it reaches F8.0. Experiment with both ends to see what you can get!

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