Light Trails in Atrani
While visiting Italy in July 2019, I decided to make Atrani my base for three nights. Why Atrani? It’s a beautiful town, and just a few hundred meters away from the much more popular Amalfi. While Amalfi is overrun with people, Atrani is much calmer. I wanted to find some nice vistas in Atrani where I could photograph the church and town at sunset or during the blue hour.
On my last day, I climbed up about 500 steps above the town, eventually reaching another small town named Castiglione. It was about 90 degrees with 75% humidity, I was soaked in sweat. However, the view from the small plaza in front of the church in Castiglione was perfect for a light trail photo. As cars came down the coastal road, they would brake, and the lights would flow around the church. I decided to come back around sunset.
Later that evening, I climbed back up the steps, and set up my tripod. As the sun went down, I timed the cars as they entered my camera’s viewfinder. It took about 30 seconds for them to move through the composition. I set the camera for a 30 second exposure, and waited until it got darker. These photos don’t always turn out — cars drive too fast, too slow, stop, turn, or otherwise do unexpected things that mess up the light trails. So it’s important to keep trying. I watched for headlights coming into the frame from the bottom right, and then released the camera shutter hoping the car would travel through the entire frame within 30 seconds. I took a couple dozen photos, and I think this one is the best:
Atrani Light Trails
There were a couple of cars and mopeds that formed these light trails. They were all moving away from me — no oncoming cars with white headlights. Another segment of the coastal road is at the top, and that segment has both headlights and tail lights.
There’s a bit more of a “back story” to this photo. When I arrived at the plaza to take the photo, a church service was just letting out. I was hot, tired, and really just wanted a peaceful hour or so to take the photo. That was not to be! It turned out that a small festival was to be held that night, in the same plaza. A sound system was set up. Many more people arrived. Food was delivered. Shortly, a party was going on just a few feet behind me! Not the quiet night I had expected. I’m sure they thought I was strange, focused so much on my camera!
Behind me while I shot my photo..
What a stunningly beautiful photo! And thank you for your description of how you managed to compose the light –fascinating for someone like me who knows very little about the intricacies of photography.
Also, always interesting to see the people who live in these settings, so I liked the party photo as well.