I’ve just been looking back through some old pictures from earlier in the year and this one caught my eye. Greg and I went to Baildon Moor in the fading light of a cold February evening to get some images of light trails on the road.
The moor is a great place for light trails, as the road is well used but not too busy and the open space gives chance for some good long shots or shots with vast amounts of sky.
Getting the white balance right can be a challenge in post processing, but there is a large scope for creativity. The sky is full of the orange reflections of the sodium vapour lamps of Leeds and Bradford, as well as the natural fading daylight. The car headlights are different again, and this gives a broad range of light to play with. On the image above I went with a natural-looking sky, which has given an otherworldly look to the grass at the side of the road, and an orange cast to the oncoming headlights. I went with something different on this image of Orion, where I chose a white balance adjusted for the car headlight, leaving the sky an orange purple colour.
This is one of my favourite images of the year so far, of one of my favourite places, and one of my favourite photographic techniques.