Submitter's name:	Olaf Greve
Title:	Light trails
Aperture used:	OM-4Ti + Zuiko 24mm F2 + video tripod
Diaphragm:	Around f8 or f11
Shutter speed:	Not recorded, but it was several seconds (auto exposure)
Film used:	Fuji Provia 100F
Technical information:	Quite a straightforward shot, really. I mounted the camera on the tripod, and tried various exposures. This was one of the auto exposures. From previous experience I knew the best results often are obtained when exposing the film only a few seconds, so I adjusted the aperture such that the exposure time came to be around a few seconds. This is the type of shot for which slow shutter speed flash synchronisation with the flash firing AFTER the long exposure would be great. What a pity that the OM fires BEFORE the long exposure...:(((
Subject information:	This shot was taken in the first week of the shooting interval, and was to be my first series of pictures for TOPE 16. Unfortunately, having virtually no time lately prevented me from going for some more elaborate shots. Still, I like the results of this session, so there's not a lot of damage done. :) For this series of shots I took several different exposures of some of the more interestingly moving rides. Several good contenders emerged, and out of those, I liked this one best.
Other candidate:	I had a tough time choosing between two shots. The one featured on the page was chosen because I deemed the light trails to be more interesting, however, there are some compositional flaws in the foreground which could not be overcome by choosing a different angle (there were obstacles). The other shot is compositionally spoken far more pleasing, but the light trails look less spectacular. A tough choice, but in the end I decided to go for the most spectacular light trail effect. The other candidate shot can be seen here.
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Comment left by: iwert (no e-mail specified)

Very nice shot! I was wondering, would a "test" flash fired off camera at the end of the exposure do the trick?

Comment left by: Mickey Trageser (no e-mail specified)

I like the light trails a lot! Although the secondary link was interesting, I have no clue what's beyond the light poles and hand rails.

Comment left by: Ian Nichols (i.a.nichols@bris.ac.uk)

Looks uncannily reminiscent of a "lumps of sodium in in a dish of water" shot - only much safer to do!

Comment left by: The Photographer (no e-mail specified)

Mickey, I'll give you a clue: it's one of the oldest rides on such fairs, at least, as far back as I can remember it has always been on the fairs I went to. It's quite a fun ride (later I'll disclose what ride it is that creates these nice complex trails). Iwert: a test flash could do the trick, but it might be difficult to get the timing right (the exposure can of course be judged using GN calculations). It's an interesting idea though, so I may try that some day.

Comment left by: Jim Caldwell (jamesfc@gte.net)

Very nice! I could tell immediately it was an amusement ride and you did a supurb job capturing the action!

Comment left by: Olaf Greve (no e-mail specified)

Mickey: I'll tell which ride it is: it's what's over here is called the 'Octopus', a machine with 4 big arms (which can turn around the centre axis of the machine and which can also move up and down), from which at the end of the arm (i.e. at the 'hand position'), four carts are located, which can turn around the 'wrist'. as this description may not be clear, I searched on the Internet for a picture, and came across one at a very TOPE like site: http://www.usefilm.com/image/251864.html.

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