What do you have in mind when taking pictures on a highway? Maybe the road signs. Yes, it’s a good idea but here I’m not talking about that.
Road construction requires the creation of a continuous right-of-way, overcoming geographic obstacles and having grades low enough to permit vehicle or foot travel. This means you will find interesting sinuous shapes of roads.
Notice that in most of the cases the road should be free of cars and walkers. Two exceptions are noticeable: the pictures depicting intense city traffic and the night roads when a car leaves behind a rail of light.
As for the composition, it’s always a good idea to start the road from a corner of the picture up to the middle or the other corner. In most of the cases it will appear larger in the starting corner and thinner at the end. However, sometimes, when symmetry allows, you can start and end your road line in the middle of the picture.
As I said many times before, following the weather helps a lot: fog or rain give special effects, and, in the case of train rails, sunrise is also creating a mystical atmosphere.
Tip 1 – Forest Road
Tip 2 – City Road
Tip 3 – Mountain Road
Tip 4 – Desert Road
Tip 5 – Night Road
Tip 6 – Train Rails
Tags: photo tips, photography tips, shooting tips, night photography, nature photography, street photography, road, roads, city, urban photography, traffic, rail of light, car, highway, road sign, road signs
March 6th, 2007 at 6:42 am
[...] How to shoot them when you hit them. [...]
March 6th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
Hi ,
Thx for the information given in your blog.
I am a starter in photography and will be a regular @ ur blog for more tips and tricks.
Keep up the good work!!!!
Deepu
March 6th, 2007 at 3:33 pm
Hi, i’m roberto aiello and i’m multimedia designer.
I like your photos and your blog. I suggest him in one of my blogs: http://urladay.blogspot.com/2007/03/how-to-shoot-roads-in-photography.html
hope you don’t mind.
March 6th, 2007 at 4:24 pm
getting down low to the ground is also a good idea.
March 6th, 2007 at 5:01 pm
I was on a road trip to the west last summer (7500 miles) so I took tons of pictures from the car. There are couple of technical moments. Use high shutter speed, especially when shooting to the side to avoid motion blur (unless you want it) and handshake. A lot of interesting shots can be taken directly through the winshield. Just make sure there are no big reflections (remove light objects like maps from the dashboard). A polariser will also help. Having a clear wildshield can be a key(something for you to do while pumping gas). Also, having a camera with rotating viewfinder (like Coolpix 5000) makes it possible to stick the camera from the window and take pictures into different directions. Just make sure you are not the one driving. It will not work with SRL though.
And, generally, shoot a lot. Shoot through the window, shoot in any angle. Setting a tripod and taking a really nice shot would be nice, but there are just too many opportunities while driving. Look for elevations. Look for morning and evening light. And don’t forget to enjoy the trip.
Here are some pictures from my trip:
http://www.disarea.com/pictures/bigtripusa_jun2006/pages/01_start.html
March 6th, 2007 at 5:18 pm
Nice tips and great photos. Thanks.
March 6th, 2007 at 5:46 pm
good stuff thanks (added Rss)
March 6th, 2007 at 6:12 pm
Great tips. Can’t wait to hit the road this week with my brand new camera. Thanks.
March 6th, 2007 at 7:27 pm
I love to shoot roads
March 6th, 2007 at 7:47 pm
Roads are a good subject for any type of photography. They help to creat a certain mood and form.
March 6th, 2007 at 7:51 pm
[...] Sure, shooting a road is pretty simple, but to get the most out of your photo, you may want to bring into consideration of some of these tips. Your style may not go along with these, but thats OK, that’s why its your style. [...]
March 6th, 2007 at 9:08 pm
You have nice imagination - I have never had an idea about properly shooting roads.
March 12th, 2007 at 12:21 am
[...] Using Diagonals For an unknown reason, this is my favourite “rule”. No matter of what or who your subject is, imagine a diagonal (I’ve been once told that down left -> up right is better than up left -> down right because it appears like going up instead of going down but I wouldn’t care too much about that). This is very easy if you have a road or a river or some other natural “line”, and harder if don’t have anything alike. [...]
March 12th, 2007 at 5:01 pm
[...] For anyone interested in photographing roads this article has some useful tips and great examples. [...]
April 6th, 2007 at 11:21 pm
Excellent blog and great article - please feel free to post at http://www.photographyvoter.com
April 13th, 2007 at 5:38 pm
[...] PS. If you are new to my blog check my best tips: Focal Length and Aperture Explained for the Photography Novice 3 Simple Solutions for Shooting Against the Light in Photography that Work How to Make a Killer Photo using 8 Simple Composition Rules How to Shoot Roads in Photography …and more other here More: Share and Enjoy:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]
May 4th, 2007 at 3:32 pm
[...] read more | digg story [...]
October 11th, 2007 at 5:07 pm
my favorite way to photograph roads is from the air in my paraglider I have photos on Picassweb and Flickr and SmugMug search for tandem paragliding or paraglide tandem or Free Spirit Paragliding. Thanks for sharing your info on roads
October 11th, 2007 at 5:17 pm
Wow, that’s cool. I’ve noticed that aerial photography becomes more and more interesting for a larger number of shooters who want to be, or make, something special, something different than the traditional photographic art.
October 31st, 2007 at 7:08 pm
[...] read more | digg story [...]