401 @ 427 Photo | TrekEarth

Photographer’s Note

Highway 401 and Highway 427. This would be the busiest traffic intersection in Toronto, the lanes turning around in the photo are Collectors from the 401 going towards the 427N. The building with the red outline is a brewery of Molson Canadian Beer. I took this photo from Renforth Avenue going over the 401.

For a different POV, Please also see the Workshop and let me know which one is a better option.

It is not possible to show the full extent of this intersection as I take photos from small roads going over the highways and this intersection is too big for land photography. If you are interested in the extent you can look at the satellite image on google.
1. Open Google Local
2. Open up the hybrid image for Toronto (you might have to try to search something in Toronto, Ontario)
3. Find this intersection and zoom in
4. Change the image to satellite and make it big in case you have not done so already.

Collectors and Express Lanes: In case you are not familiar with the terminology, the big highways in Toronto are divided into four set of lanes. One set of collectors and one express lanes for each side. This is probably just to make the highways a bit more managable as 8-10 lanes going together would be quite intimidating as compared to 4-5 right now.

Molson Canadian had one of the most popular ad campaign in the Canadian History. Check out the following links (new window will open up)
I am Canadian video with Real Player
I am Canadian Video with Quicktime.
I am Canadian Speech on Wikipedia
Parody of the above
I am not Canadian (Quebecois). Video with Quicktime
I am not Canadian Speech on Wikipedia

timleahy, nicole80, Galmeida, PLD_images, jmaddocks, Emile, cessy, ajcsousa, Tue, UlfE, aznegrao, ChrisJ, vincent24, bibiweb, jwmunro, DLM, jurgen, ChristianS, capthaddock, Clairedelune, dt2chow, chappy77, elihesamian, riclopes has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

toni_al (15430) 2005-10-12 13:12

Hi Sarju
Les photos de nuit avec le trafic sont toujours très belles, pris dans le virage les lumières sont encore plus evocatrices.
@+ Toni

Quentin (5278) 2005-10-12 13:13

Hi Sarju
I really like your night shot serie and this one is cool. But
just tell me? One car was flying or what? Oh.. I guess it was
a truck right? Beautiful compo. Well done
Regards
Quentin

timleahy (2189) 2005-10-12 13:21

Excellent shot Sarju! I love those red lines, they reming me of the planet saturn!
Composition is excellent, and exposure levels spot on too. Well done - have a Molson on me!

...tim

Galmeida (12559) 2005-10-12 13:28

Hi Sarju,
A few weeks that I don't see your works but it's time to see now. This one is great and very well done. Really, really, really I like more of this one than the WS. Here we have circulation, comunication, motion and not a so static view. The enquadrement is excelente and the light capture. Graphism, half spirals of action and activity souls in their daily life at day but here night.

YOU handled very well exposure time and light conditions. A very difficult vey well captured and framed for composition.

Very good work and Congratulations.
Best Regards.
Fernando

nicole80 (2162) 2005-10-12 14:04

Hello Sarju,
Good example for long exposure. Well seen ! You use an tripod isn'it ? I think you didn't hold your camera during 30s ?
I watch the Quebecois parody : very funny!
I remember I have been to an hockey match several years when the Nordiques were still existing.
Congratulations for this view,
Nicole

pathy (178) 2005-10-12 14:49

travail bien réussi ! felicitations

PLD_images (7141) 2005-10-12 16:10

Hi Sarju,

Wow man, this is really another great shot. I love that you got all the red lights and that the building in the frame also has red ligths around it. Such well chosen point of view also.

The links you have posted are funny. Of course my favorite is the Quebecois one.

jmaddocks (563) 2005-10-12 16:20

Hi Sarju:
I've driven down those roads many times! Your shot is excellent! I like the look of this one more than the workshop. I find being able to see the whole loop a much more appealing view.
Your note is also excellent, and it was good to see the old "I Am Canadian" commercial again. It always fills me with Canadian pride!
It will be good to be back in Toronto soon, but I am not looking forward to the traffic.

Great work Sarju! Keep them coming.

rbcy1974 (20742) 2005-10-12 16:22

Hi Sarju,
You keep forcing me to remember those horrible hours that I spent going from home to University in Mississauga, from University to Airport for work and from airport home. OH, How much this intersection stressed me! You have captured it very well, nice exposition, nice light, very well. Regards
Daniel

cam (8880) 2005-10-12 16:51

Hello Sarju
I like your position on this one with the curving light with the extra of the truck light over the other ones.
Thanks to you,I am catching up on my commercial:I almost never watch TV.so thanks
It is fun to watch the play of light on a busy highway
Amitié
Charles

Photograph2u (587) 2005-10-12 17:51

Hi Sarju, great photo with the light making our eyes go from one end to the other :)

I love the motion. Good colour as well.

Great pov. Cheers to you! Yan

dsidwell (9745) 2005-10-12 18:28

You chose just the right point of view for this very exciting image, Sarju! The curve leads the eye in, and it's very interesting, too!

danielswalsh (13324) 2005-10-12 20:52

Nice shot Sarju;

Our photographic interests are fairly similar. I too am a big fan of long exposure traffic shots. This one turned out really well as you captured the low and high lights from a semi trailer, and also the red lights of the Molson building (extra points for having Molson in there!) ahahah....
The traffic sign with the tipping semi-trailer is an interesting and fitting element.

Nicely done mate!
- Dan

oochappan (22032) 2005-10-12 21:09

Even a better composition then the one before with the curving road, very well done Sarju

chaity (1539) 2005-10-13 0:00

Hai Sarju, I would say the night photo here is better than the one in the workshop. I like this one because the highway is continuous for the curve and my eye sight can follow it.

fayeulle (26543) 2005-10-13 1:15

Hi Sarju
You wille be the specialist of highways by night on TE ;-)
Cheers
JP

Emile (20001) 2005-10-13 1:52

Hola Sarju.
Another very good shot from your night shot serie , good lighting and very interesting composition. Excellent note. Well done.
TFS.

rabdelnoor (2973) 2005-10-13 2:35

Hi Sarju,
Very interesting effects of the car lights. I can see how busy this road is. You got really very good effect with so many lights. I liked that you got one higher stream, probably from a big truck, or as someone has already mentioned, a flying car ;-)
All the best,
Ricardo

cessy (13647) 2005-10-13 3:13

fantastic night shot Sarju
excellent capture of the lights on highways
nicely composed
very well done

ajcsousa (1804) 2005-10-13 5:52

Hi Sarju,
Amazing photo. Great composition and POV. The curve that the light trails of the cars make are great, specially having that one a little up. Very well done
Regards, António

P.S. The one in the WS it's also good but i like this one more then the one in the WS, because of the curve.

weswang (18223) 2005-10-13 10:52

Hi Sarju, A nice long exposure of the evening highway. This picture provides a wonderful of the lights cause by the traffic. Nice PoV and perspective view. A very well taken picture.

ndb1958 (9248) 2005-10-13 12:38

Hi Sarju,
great night shot series.
Great composition and hot red lights or lines.
I like it very much,
Nino

Tue (25608) 2005-10-13 13:55

Hej Sarju,
Wow, all the lights of all the cars that passed by while your lens was open look wonderful and creates a fantastic photo here! The photo is well composed too, good work!
Hilsner,
Lars

recepyuksel (17786) 2005-10-13 14:30

Hello Sarju,
This is great long exp. work. perfect.
This type of photos always impressed me. Very very well done.
BW

UlfE (9000) 2005-10-13 15:34

Hi Sarju,

Fantastic shot. I like this even better that previous one. I like the bending road and the traffic signs to the left. Excellent job!

Cheers,

Ulf

aznegrao (10246) 2005-10-13 19:52

Hi Sarju!!!
Lindo angulo, a perspectiva e bastante informativa e interessante. Gosto das cores e das texturas.
Rgds.
Friend.
aznegrao.

Cormac (26449) 2005-10-14 0:27

Great work! The long exposure of the lights travelling on the road looks not like motion, but like an enormous sculpture. The curve and the straight line of the road underneath has a great dynamic. Well done!

apache (1426) 2005-10-14 4:32

Hi Sarju,
Guess I am back to stay this time...and i too thgt one car was flying...:) The lights on this one is amazing and all the more beautiful because of the curve.
Nicely caught
Ranjith

feather (49864) 2005-10-14 5:57

Another wonderful night traffic shot Sarju. I like this in preference to the Ws for the reasons already mentioned, but also there is too much white light in the Ws. The truck lights add another dimension to the image and I like the way they come into shot just over the brewery building. Well done
Kath

t0mmm1 (5434) 2005-10-14 9:45

Hi Sarju,
Yeeeeeaaaaaaaaaahhh, this is awesome. What a feeling.
(thanks for welcomeback wishes... it's impossible to go over this TE addiction, but it's also impossible to me to follow this site like I did before but I'll try as much as I can.)

vincent24 (9038) 2005-10-14 11:09

Hi sarju,
Another good night shot,good frame with curve,i like the yellow road signs,well done,
regards,
vincent

ChrisJ (70299) 2005-10-15 3:40

Hi Sarju

I like the double curve of this time exposure. Excellent sharpness & composition. Well done!

Stepan (27175) 2005-10-15 9:30

You have interesting curves too, and in a well managed light ! Your pov is excellent.
Well composed.
Stéphane

john_c (24635) 2005-10-15 13:01

Hi Sarju,
Well, you are indeed becoming a master of these sizzling night shots. The exposure is superb and the colours dramatic. I prefer this one to the WS because here you have the curving highway which nicely takes the eye with it and the lights in the WS are slightly washed out in spots. Again your framing and cropping enhance very much. This is great work and a pleasure to view.
John

bibiweb (8) 2005-10-15 13:54

Hello Sarju,
Another great night shot of highways. I think that it is the curve and the two layers of highways that really make this picture special. A very sharp shot with a very funny detail: the sign on the left with the "tilting" truck!
Regards, Brigitte

jwmunro (6595) 2005-10-15 14:39

Sarju -

A very nice light trail image. Not much I say about the image other than well done. Also, if I could give points/stars on the photographers notes this is one of the best I have seen on TE. I am sure those not from N.A. would really be intimidated with some of our freeways and the interchanges.

Thanks for sharing

DLM (6447) 2005-10-16 5:27

Hi Sarju,Good skill involved here,Looks like a scene from Star Wars,nice POV too.
Well done and TFS.
Dave.

sergio1 (12150) 2005-10-17 3:24

Hi sarju

Bonita toma nocturna de la acitividad de la autopista. Siempre he querido realizar alguna toma como esta. Buen trabajo
Sergio

greg64g (11193) 2005-10-18 3:31

Hi Sarju

superb pov, i prefer the original view, the ray of light are amazing here with the red. the exposure is perfect to me.
cheers
greg

jurgen (1994) 2005-10-20 15:05

I almost missed this one.
First of all, this one I find beter than the WS.
Excellent picture where everything looks still but we know it has a lot of movement. You even got a 'high-flier' light trail. The predominant colours are red and white, but looking closely, I can find even orange.
Very good work.

ChristianS (2997) 2005-10-21 12:35

Wow, excellent night shot Sarju with nice perspective and great effect of long exposure with all these white and red lines. Nice work!

Regards

capthaddock (28640) 2005-10-24 10:16

Hi Sarju - splendid array of lines and curves and a very ionteresting note, with the curves I definitely prefer this version.

maciekda (19587) 2005-10-25 11:29

it is a fantastic night shot Sarju, great exposure - everything is nicely exposed, I like all those rays of light, fantastic curves, and we can see some signs between those rays, and the smoke in the background. beautiful work

Clairedelune (4885) 2005-10-25 21:21

Hi Sarju,
I hesitated a lot between this one and the one called "Taking off". But, I think I prefer this one for the red color dominance. It was definitively a good point of view since the red lines are curving. The road signs are a bit strange. It's like if they are in a middle of nowhere! Very well done!
Claire

elihesamian (26091) 2005-11-24 12:35

Hello Sarju,
A very nice night shot in your serie in this motif with a great dynamism and a warm touch,an appealing curved lines with a special3D effect you reached here and I like the way you composed the scene for it,nicely composed and I like it very much,well worked and great one,Sarju !
Best
M

xavshot (62567) 2005-11-26 4:30

Bonjour Sarju,
cette photo est grandiose. J'adore les courbes que donnent ces feux, cette vitesse. Elles sont accentuées par ces panneaux jaunes
Bien vu
Xavier

Jeppe (18623) 2005-12-03 17:27

Oh - great and funny to watch this photo - I took a similar shot the other day - partly by accident - a car came by while I made a long exposure time shot - and created this effekt.
I better post the photo soon (even I decided not)

Thanks Sarju for this great job.

riclopes (33007) 2006-03-21 4:41

Hi Sarju,
It's been a while since I have visited this kind of shots that attract me very much. I intend to try this kind of shots, but I had already forgotton...
The themes where this image is included are really intereresting. I like more this excellent POV than the one in ws, as this large curve in foreground works much better with the dynamic effect of the lights and the lines are stronger and well defined. Also like the detail of the yellow signs at the left foreground - the sense of speed in this shot will much proplably turn over any truck that will try it...
I love the title. Excellent work on this series.
See you mate,
Ricardo

bigboroboy (1009) 2007-01-13 19:33

I'm a big fan of long shutter speeds at night. I'm also quite partial to the occassional traffic trail. This one is excellent. Being taken on a bend adds that touch of originality and escapes the cliche of the staraight lines of lights on straight roads (BORING). Excellently exposed with just the right amount of detail captured. Excellent.

PHIL