Island Highway
I recently did a series on the Goldstream River, and salmon spawning. This photo is taken looking past the location of several of those shots at the highway back into town. It is my first ever attempt at long exposures of traffic. The traffic part did not work out that well, but the fall scene came out OK.
The Island Highway, which connects Greater Victoria with the rest of Vancouver Island, passes through this bottleneck, squeezed down to two lanes by cliffs on one side and the river on the other. It is about an 8 hour drive from one end of the island to the other, which is not that much smaller than England, but with about 1/120th the population. It can be pretty tricky to enter the highway at this location, especially during rush hour. Fortunately the traffic was quite light when I had to leave since it was darkening and rainy.
I write this on a Friday evening when I am more ready to go to bed than to blog, so just this one image today, one that I worked up a week or so ago.
Canon 5Dii, Nikkor-N pre-ai 24mm/f2.8 lens, ISO100, ~f-11, 5 brackets, 1 EV increments from 0.8 seconds to 13 seconds.
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burnt embers 
This may be my most favorite of your photos. I love the lights tracking by and the richness of the street and color. Superb.
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Thanks so much Ryan. I am feeling a bit stunned by the reaction to this photograph. I liked it when I posted it, but did not anticipate such a positive response. It’s great!!!
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What an absolute great shot (in fact, I do believe I said “ooohhhhhhhh” when it opened)!! Love those light trails!
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Why thank you David. Glad you like it!
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Ephem, this is terrific! Fantastic colour and details, and the light trails are nice – speaking of the speed of the seasons changing…
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What a wonderful interpretation of the light trails! Thank you:)
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Love the colors and tones here, Ehpem! I think the light trails are a great touch, too, they give a sense of motion and life in the scene! I also really love your composition on this one, and the way the colors in the autumn trees come through. Most excellent, my friend!
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For all I know one of those light trails is you. This was the day we got together for coffee, and the timing would be mid to late rush hour. Probably is you in fact, which would explain why it worked out so well!
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Well, I do have a bit of a reputation for not sitting still for too long!!… LOL
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Some of the most beautiful scenes that I have witnessed are on Vancouver Island. I never make it up there often enough. Hope to correct that soon (before the crazy tourist season (and prices!) hit.
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I agree Ray, though the coastlines and mountains of WA are every bit as wonderful. I don’t get south as much as I would like – the Olympic Mountains are my daily view, but I rarely get up into them. I need to do so more often. And, avoiding the tourist season is a priority for me too.
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I love it! The colours are wonderful, and I like the way the traffic turned out. This is probably the most attractive image I’ve ever seen of our Island Highway.
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Beautiful colour, nice POV. And the wet road helps reflect the car lights adding that extra golden light.
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Thank you Andy. The colour of the leaves and curve of the road is what caught my attention at first. The smeared out car lights are an unplanned bonus.
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Oh, I really like the smears of gold light from the traffic, almost like a rim of sunlight at dawn. And the color saturation of the trees and the woods in the distance – a very rich and intricate image.
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Thank you Lynn. It was beautiful enough to catch my eye, but the sound…. It is unlikely to feature in one of your music pieces I don’t think.
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Hah! That made me laugh out loud.
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Very cool shot. I like the idea of finding shots in common locations that no one ever thinks to shoot. And the rain is a perfect time condition, especially this time of year.
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Thank you Ken. You excel at finding shots in common locations, so I particularly pleased that this one works for you. I find it a great time to shoot, in the rain that is. Except that I and my gear get wet, and neither I nor my gear like that very much.
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I like this a lot. Obviously it was a tough exposure…get good color in the fall foliage and not blow out the sky and still be able to pick up the headlights of the cars. You should be proud of yourself with this photo!!! Very well done indeed!!!
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Thank you very much David. This was definitely a job for HDR (or maybe a graduated ND filter), and long exposures were the only option really, or I would have had a series of slightly blurry dots from car headlights – I like the streaks better.
I could do with less halo around the conifers, but getting something (anything, actually) out of the sky was tricky and took several tries. I am most pleased with the depth in the cloud wreathed conifers (very low ceiling when I took this shot).
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One of your best shots ever
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Hi Gill – so nice to have you commenting. I find it a bit disconcerting when people say this because it is usually about a photo that I have not ranked all that highly myself, which makes me wonder a lot about my taste!
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Gorgeous shot
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Hi Carl – glad you like it.
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Very good shot !
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Thank you Doy!
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