Best settings on D5100 to shoot a picture of a freeway at night

Cali_Mexi_Can

I live near Miami and hope to achieve a picture where you can see skyline with traffics lights streaming through the shot. Please advise as I am as beginner as they come.

ohyeahar

I can only give you the general guideline as to how to achieve such a shot. You will need to fine-tune depending on the ambient lighting and how you want the exposure to look.

Here’s what you’ll need:
A tripod
Eyepiece cover
Remote shutter trigger (optional)

In general, you need to set:
Slow shutter speed to blur the traffic movement and to let in enough light for the exposure.
Small aperture to maximize depth of field and sharpness. A nice side-effect of using a small aperture is that it tends to make light bursts.
Low ISO to maximize image quality and dynamic range.

The camera’s semi-auto modes makes this a breeze.
Just do this:
Set camera to A-mode (Aperture Priority).
Set aperture to something small like f/16.
Set ISO to 100 (make sure Auto-ISO is off).
Assuming you’re using Matrix metering, you may want to set your Exposure Compensation between -0.7 to -1.3. If not, the camera tends to overexpose the night sky, making it give off a slight glow.
Compose your shot and stabilize the camera on the tripod and focus. Usually, these types of shots tend to focus into the distance. Use manual focus if it’s too dark for the AF to lock. Once you achieve focus, switch to manual focus to lock it. You can do this by toggling the switch on the lens, or you can do so via the menu on your camera.
Set the release mode to remote. If you don’t have a remote trigger, then use timer release.
Cover up the optical viewfinder eyepiece with the eyepiece cover.
Take your shot. The exposure will likely be many seconds long, so don’t move the camera. Beware of wind or anything that may bump or move the camera in any way.
Review your shot and make any adjustments if necessary.

A wide focal length is often preferred for these types of shots. If you don’t have a dedicated wide-angle lens, the short end of the kit 18-55mm works just fine.

(If you’ve read this far and have no idea what I just said, you may be getting ahead of yourself. Learn how to operate the camera’s controls first by reading the manual and experimenting.)

bruto

Note that there is a "noise reduction" menu option. At low shutter speeds it may double the time taken for each exposure. In other words, if you expose for 30 seconds, it can take another 30 seconds before you can make another picture. Not usually needed at low ISO, you probably want to turn that option off.

Cali_Mexi_Can

Thank you, ohyear, and bruto. I appreciate the tips and can't wait to get out this weekend to try it out.