Busiest Highway in Canada, a photo from Ontario, Centre

Photographer's Note

This will be my first photo from the highway series. You can see Highway 401 in this photo, with ten lanes on each side for most of the stretch in Torotno, this is probably the busiest highway in Canada. It is notorious for having jams even at 2 AM, it is always very hard to predict traffic on this highway. This is the road that many people from smaller towns in Canada are nervous to treading on (I do not blame them either)

I took this photo on the same day that I had taken my previous photo for the autumnal equinox. The only thing I am trying to show through this photo is probably the shear size of this highway, I wish the traffic was more but for that I would not have been able to do a night shot.

See WS for a version with longer exposure (1 sec)

Thanks a lot to everyone who has been visiting my galleries and a big thanks to people who participated in my themes. I have been a bit busy lately but I promise to be mend my ways and get back to you sooon.

Steft, jurgen, danielswalsh, fredericgagnon, PJE, fayeulle, maphoto, weswang, ajcsousa, chaity, sergecross, PLD_images, rajhema, lucbus, Emile, jhm, simonekarl, devimeuxbe, digi-mom, jafadabret, riclopes trouve(nt) cette note utile

Critiques | Translate

Steft (6109) 2005-09-27 11:27

Hi Sarju,
Beautiful photo. Very neat and sharp. I didn't know that Canada has such buisy highways. I love all those light. Very good contrasts between the lights and white lines and the dark road. Lovely blue sky and nice reflection of the street lights in the middle of the picture.
In short: brilliant!
Regards,
Stef

jurgen (2074) 2005-09-27 11:30

THe picture is very good, but I wonder if you try a next one with longer shutter speeds, you could get a picture with more traffic lines. But this 1/5s you used give me the feeling as if all the lights were travellig to a point towards the top-centre of the image.
Good work.

t0mmm1 (5442) 2005-09-27 11:35

Hi Sarju,
You did it again ;o) Nice shot. I like this kind of Star Wars feeling....

danielswalsh (13597) 2005-09-27 11:38

Nice shot Sarju;

I'm a big fan of time exposure shots, and think you did a great job on this one. Good choice in exposure time, capturing the short trails. I'm adding this one to my Theme Coming & Going.

Well done Sarju!
- Dan

thebig_d81 (777) 2005-09-27 11:46

Hi Sarju
How can you have traffic jams with a 10 lane highway? Unbelieveable. Captured well with regards to the exposure time. Have you got a copy of this with a longer exposure?
Well done
Darren

Booz (14347) 2005-09-27 12:05 [Comment]

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ndb1958 (9289) 2005-09-27 12:59

Hi Sarju,
what a great shot. This is really cool.
Very good capture. I like it even more than the one of your ws.
Nino

Lithium (596) 2005-09-27 16:12

Looks like an almost perfect evening shot, plus I like the not too long exposure that you used. Great colours, too(I esp. like the red!).
regards,
Linas

jcandeli (40) 2005-09-27 16:19

hey Sarju! Great shot. Looks very wide angle. Good composition and exposure. Nice job. JP

PLD_images (7149) 2005-09-27 16:56

Hi man,

What a cool shot. I really, really like the feeling of speed that it offers. It looks like, as the cars come up closer they pick up speed and are ready for lift off... Colors are great and I appreciate this much more then the WS.
You positionned yourself real well for this shot.
Really good job.

agerrard (338) 2005-09-27 19:33

I really like this snap - it's a nice addition to the nature scenes. I prefer it to the worskop too. Look forward to the rest in the series!

fredericgagnon (2) 2005-09-27 19:47

Hello Sarju,

Very good photo, I especially like the light reflections from the wet pavement, it adds a lot of light to the scene.

I like this lenght of exposure a lot, you managed to capture just enough movement without having the street lights overblown. Well done.

PJE (20758) 2005-09-27 23:19

Well Sarju I have to say I love teh blue evening color in this photo. Also the 1/5th of a second caused nice streaks of light. From where you stood this POV looks fantastic. Good work!

fayeulle (27827) 2005-09-28 2:43

Hi Sarju
From my opinion I prefer the WS version with long exposure time. You will be busy; OK we are waiting for you
Cheers
JP

maphoto (8082) 2005-09-28 6:03

Hi Sarju, nice subject for a serie with a good one for start, I think I prefer more the one in the WS the longer exposition for the situation was appropriate, the light effect on the caris more noticeable. Yep, when I go to Hamilton where my brother lives I take the ETR 407, like you said, we never know what to expect on this Hyghway. Good work, anxious to see the following pictures, cheers.

rbcy1974 (20758) 2005-09-28 7:26

Hi Sarju,
Thanks fot the memories, (I think). I used to work at the AIrport so I drove there from oakville quite often and I hated getting into this think. I found the QEW and 427 more human in their size, the 401 just made me nervous, but I had no choice.
Great unran photo, the night sky colour and the lights are wonderfully captured.
Regards
Daniel

poulinp (4528) 2005-09-28 12:00

Hi Sarju.

In this classical shot (I have one too!), I like the way you separate the picture in two parts with the post. It looks like you took 2 different photographs. Personnally, I would prefer with a higher time exposition, to get longer light trace. Good shot in general.

Photograph2u (0) 2005-09-28 12:05

Hello Sarju, very well done, I prefer this one to the ws one, because of the darker colours of the night. The spread of lights are very nice in both of them, but the sky is too clear and also is the middle lane in the ws.

Very busy indeed, I had forgotten that it has so many lanes in each sides, thx for showing us :)

Good composition and pov.

Take care, Yan

DLM (6479) 2005-09-28 12:09

Hi Sarju,nice image with interesting notes,POV is wonderful ,i like how the central part cuts a path to the distance nice light also.Well seen and taken.
Dave.

john_c (24666) 2005-09-28 16:50

Hi Sarju,
What a great high impact shot you have rendered here. I believe you have taken your photography to a new level with your recent posts. I love the symmetry of lines and lights in this scene as well as the contrast between the red and white lights. Very effective, Sarju. This is fine work.
John

ajcsousa (1804) 2005-09-28 18:15

Hi Sarju,
Very nice picture. A very good movement sensation achieved. The POV was very well choosen. Very well done
Regards, António

P.S. I like the one in the WS too, but prefer this one

Dis_Account (0) 2005-09-28 19:27

Great shot Sarju. The sense of movement is remarkable. Exposure is very good also, which may have been tricky in the lighting conditions.

...tim

chaity (1539) 2005-09-28 20:20

Hai Sarju, thanks for showing this giant highway. I said gaint because I could find any of that size over here. Like the twilight and the endless row of yellow and red lights.

cam (9043) 2005-09-28 20:57

Hello sarju
At first look,I said that Sarju should have used a longer opening,and reading along,I found that you did just that in the WS.I prefer the WS one,personnal choice.
I find the 401 quite calm,I have known worse,much worse.I like your middle positionning here.
On what transversal road are you on?
Bon travail
Amitié
Charles

sergecross (3438) 2005-09-29 6:20

Sarju, i like the saturation and the contrast is very fine. The scene is very interesting and the movement too. The highway contains reflections on it, i like it.
Thanks
Sergio

hdl (7035) 2005-09-29 7:54

For me this is somewhat surreal. 10 lanes either way? We max have 4 lanes as far as I know. The way you present it to us really gives a feeling of how large and how busy it is. I like the moving effect.

feather (51130) 2005-09-29 8:20

The effect of slow shutter speed on moving traffic fascinates me. This one looks as if the vehicles are all light rods. On the longer speed of your WS the road looks more like railway lines. I like them both.
As for busy roads did you ever use the M25, the London Ringroad; the joke is, if you venture on to it, you will never get off, as it's gridlocked most of the time.
Kath

weswang (18247) 2005-09-29 10:41

Hi Sarju, a nice long exposure evening shot. You have done a great job to this at the center of the highway picture. I like the dynamics and symmetric shot. In comparing with the one in WS, I like this one better, which shows the lights and timing better. A very well taken shot.

rajhema (1873) 2005-09-29 16:28

yep, been there seen that. Fantastic capture Sarju. It expresses the busy-ness quite dramatically.

cloverstar (0) 2005-09-29 17:12

Excellent shot Sarju. It sure does show the vastness of this highway. Very impressive night shot indeed. Congratulations for such good photography.

dsidwell (9783) 2005-09-29 22:06

Entering warp speed Captain! I love the sense of movement and drama in this image, Sarju! The centered composition seems very appropriate here.

lucbus (11) 2005-09-30 23:03

I like the effect of the lights and I prefer this short one over the 1 sec workshop. The colors and details are excellent. TFS
Luc

apache (1426) 2005-10-01 1:32

Hi Sarju,
Wonderful shot..! absolutely stunning. The whites colours on the left and the red on the right produce a pattern of sorts. Where did you takes this shot from? Did you climb a lamppost?...:)) BTW, i love the workshop version. It is very superbly shot and the bright lines of light grabs attention immediately. Stunner.
And hey...sorry i couldnt post pictures for your themes. I have been very busy for the last one month. Hope to be more active in the future.
See you around
Ranjith

sergio1 (12152) 2005-10-01 10:35

Hola Sarju, Buena toma en movimiento de la autopista de toronto el dealle del movimiento está genial.

Saludos

Emile (20352) 2005-10-01 19:22

Hola Sarju.
This really looks a very busy highway , a lot of action.
Great colours and the composition is very good. Very well captured, good angle.
Well done.

jhm (211734) 2005-10-02 5:23

Hi Sarju,
Excellent depth and great perspective, very good contrasts between the lights and white lines and the dark road, in comparing with the one in WS, I like this one better.
Thanks a lot for visit.
John.

saigon (6443) 2005-10-06 11:17

superbe composition!
belle prise de vue !
bravo!
bye....saigon.

Leksand (908) 2005-10-06 12:47

Impressive shot! This is real great, nice effect with the long shutterspeed. Thanks for sharing.

recepyuksel (18640) 2005-10-13 14:34

This ones is perfect too. Congrats.
I had a trial similar this compo. I like your composition very much. Blue tones are splendid. BW

greg64g (11193) 2005-10-17 2:02

Hi Sarju again,

well all your picture of the night light are very nice, i prefer this one than workshop. superb shot.
cheers
greg

rabani (9645) 2005-10-24 3:32

Dear Sarju,The first thing that came to my mind is, how did you do this? I always appreciate more the kind of photo, which tells me, the planning and fore thought of its photographer, than the incidental. Here, a better and interesting way to show the business of the said Highway.You could even hear the Doppler effect of the passing cars here...

Fixfocus (9385) 2005-10-27 5:55

Hi Sarju,
I like the speeding effect on the cars here a lot.The central composition with it´s symmetry is great.A wonderful capture from the "Blue hour"
Greetings,
hermann

simonekarl (404) 2005-10-28 4:51

Ciao Sarju. Very nice composition, and like the effect the slow shutter speed. Looking around your little corner of TE, it seems that you quite the long exposure man.
Very nice, what is refreshing that your exspoure isn't too long. There is a brilliant perspective in this image, and nice vanishing point in the horizon after the curve.

devimeuxbe (58557) 2005-11-08 6:24

Hi Sarju
You have so many interesting shot in your galery !
This one is fantastic fror the POV and the composition. The light and the speed is also great captured
Congratulation
Bertrand

JDFreeSoul (72) 2005-12-16 11:12

Yes busiest, tell me about it, I don't doubt it, it seems like this highway never sleeps. ;)
I'm glad you also have photos of the Hwy 401, I don't know how you've taken this one, but this is very well photographed!
I like the exact separation of each side.
Well done Sarju!
~JD~

jafadabret (56501) 2006-03-13 11:58

Bonsoir, Sarju !
Belle photo avec les couleurs de la tombée de la nuit et beaucoup de dynamisme dû à un graphisme en perspective et des lumières en mouvement.
Belle ouvrage !
Jacques

riclopes (35577) 2006-03-21 4:57

Hi Sarju,
Well, this is not so impressive in the dynamic effect, but it has a perfect POV and a very well balanced composition. I think I even like more the not so intense traffic, as there is a perfect balance of lights spread over the image, that get more intense in the background. White ones at left, red ones at right and round ones on the 'blue' sky. The centered composition works perfectly in here to show the impressive wide of the 401. And also this has a better result than the one in ws, not only because of the better colours but also the better results of the lighting (in here it also seems that this is the 'blue' hour and in ws it seems almost daylight!).
Thanks a lot for sharing my friend. I really apreciate your time.
See you mate,
Ricardo