Top 19 'Light-Painting' Overpasses to try with your Smartphone for Epic Traffic Trails at Night
Ever stared at those mesmerizing photos of vibrant, futuristic light streaks slicing through a city at night and thought, "I could never take a shot like that"? You see the silky red and white lines of traffic flowing like rivers of light and assume it requires thousands of dollars in camera gear and years of experience. Well, I'm here to tell you that the powerful creative tool you need is already in your pocket.
Your smartphone is more than capable of capturing these incredible images, a technique known as "light painting" with traffic trails. The trick isn't the camera, but the combination of a simple technique—long exposure—and finding the perfect vantage point. This is where the unsung hero of urban photography comes in: the humble overpass. It gives you height, safety, and a clear, unobstructed view of the magic below.
Forget feeling intimidated. This guide is your new best friend for urban night photography. We're going to explore 19 different types of overpasses and elevated spots that are perfect for creating epic traffic trail photos with just your smartphone. Grab your phone, a small tripod (or find a steady ledge), and let's turn your city's rushing traffic into a work of art.
1. The Classic Highway Overpass
This is the quintessential spot for traffic trail photography. Think of a wide, multi-lane expressway buzzing with a constant, high-volume flow of cars. The elevation of the overpass allows you to capture long, clean, and uninterrupted lines of light from both directions, creating that iconic red-and-white streak effect.
Look for overpasses that are protected by high fences or pedestrian walkways for safety. The key here is volume and speed. The faster the cars, the smoother the light trails will be. Use your phone's Pro or Manual mode to set a shutter speed of 8-15 seconds to capture the full journey of multiple cars passing underneath.
2. The Downtown Pedestrian Bridge
Often sleeker and more modern than a highway overpass, pedestrian bridges in the city center offer a unique advantage: context. These bridges, frequently adorned with glass panels and interesting architectural elements, place you right in the heart of the urban jungle. You're not just capturing traffic; you're capturing the city's glittering skyline as a backdrop.
For the best shot, try to frame the traffic trails so they lead the viewer's eye towards a prominent skyscraper or a well-lit part of the city. These bridges are usually very stable, but foot traffic can cause vibrations. Try shooting late at night when fewer people are around, or brace your phone firmly against a solid part of the structure.
3. The Multi-Level Interchange (Spaghetti Junction)
For the ambitious photographer, tackling a multi-level interchange is the ultimate challenge and reward. These complex knots of overlapping roads create a spectacular, layered effect of light trails weaving in, out, over, and under each other. It’s organized chaos at its most beautiful.
The trick is to find a vantage point where you can see multiple layers of the interchange clearly. This might be from a nearby hill, a tall building's parking garage, or another adjacent overpass. Composition is everything here; try to find a balance in the frame so the crisscrossing lines feel dynamic rather than messy.
4. The S-Curve Overpass
Straight lines are great, but curved lines add a graceful, dynamic flow to your images. An S-curve, where the road bends one way and then the other, is a goldmine for light painters. The resulting trails will have a beautiful, serpentine quality that guides the viewer's eye through the entire frame.
Position yourself on an overpass directly above the middle of the S-curve to capture its full, elegant shape. This is one of those shots where a slightly longer exposure, maybe 15-20 seconds, can really emphasize the fluidity of the light as it follows the bend in the road.
5. The Urban Canyon Overlook
This isn't a traditional overpass over a highway, but rather a bridge or walkway connecting two tall buildings, looking down onto the street below. This "urban canyon" perspective creates a powerful sense of scale and depth, with the light trails framed by towering walls of glass and steel.
The symmetrical lines of the buildings act as perfect framing elements. Try to shoot from the center of the bridge to create a balanced composition. This vantage point also beautifully captures the ambient light from street lamps, storefronts, and office windows, adding rich detail to your scene.
6. The Quiet Residential Crossover
Don't underestimate the potential of a simple overpass in a quieter, residential area. While you won't get the dense, chaotic streams of a highway, you gain something else: control and clarity. With fewer cars, you can focus on capturing the perfect, isolated streak of a single car or a small group.
This is a great place to experiment. Because traffic is intermittent, you can time your shots precisely. Wait for a single, interesting vehicle like a bus or a brightly colored sports car to pass by. A 4-6 second exposure is often enough to capture a clean, solitary trail of light.
7. The Industrial Zone Bridge
For a grittier, more atmospheric shot, head to an industrial part of town. The overpasses here are often raw, functional structures made of weathered concrete and steel. The traffic might include large trucks and commercial vehicles, which have unique lighting patterns that add a different character to your trails.
The surrounding environment—factories, warehouses, and unique street lighting—can add a moody, cinematic quality to your photos. Play with the contrast between the rough, industrial textures of the bridge and the smooth, ethereal light trails below.
8. The Bridge Over a Roundabout
A roundabout offers a completely different kind of light painting. Instead of straight or curving lines, you get hypnotic, circular patterns of light. From an elevated position on a nearby bridge, the continuous loop of traffic creates mesmerizing swirls and arcs of red and white.
To capture the full circle, you'll need a wide-angle lens, which most modern smartphones have. A longer exposure (20-30 seconds) is ideal here to allow cars to complete a significant portion of the roundabout, creating more complete and overlapping circular trails. This is a shot that is guaranteed to stand out.
9. The Low-Slung Viaduct
While high overpasses give you a grand overview, a lower bridge or viaduct puts you much closer to the action. This perspective creates a more immersive and intense feeling, as the light trails appear larger and more dominant in the frame. You can almost feel the speed of the cars rushing past.
With this type of shot, you can use the structure of the viaduct itself—its pillars and underbelly—as a framing device. Be extra cautious with safety here, as you're closer to the road. Always stay on the designated walkway and be aware of your surroundings.
10. The Bridge with a Metro/Train Line
Introduce a new element to your traffic trails by finding a bridge that overlooks both a road and a train or metro line. The light from a passing train is often a single, powerful streak of bright white or yellow, creating a stunning contrast with the red and white trails of the cars.
Timing is critical for this shot. You'll need to anticipate when a train is coming and start your long exposure just before it enters the frame. Use a transit app to track train schedules. This combination of light sources adds a complex and compelling narrative to your photo.
11. The Historic Stone Arch Bridge
Juxtapose the ancient and the modern by shooting from a historic stone arch bridge. The classic, textured architecture provides a beautiful, timeless frame for the hyper-modern streaks of light from the cars below. This contrast creates a powerful visual story.
Focus on capturing the details of the bridge itself. Arrive during the "blue hour"—the period just after sunset when the sky has a deep blue hue—to get soft, even light on the stonework. This ensures the bridge isn't just a dark silhouette but a key character in your photograph.
12. The "Top-Down" Parking Garage Exit
Let's bend the definition of an overpass. The top level of a parking garage often provides a perfect, unobstructed "top-down" view of the street below. This is a fantastic and safe way to get a unique, almost abstract, perspective on traffic flow.
Look for a parking garage next to a busy intersection or a curved road. The straight-down angle transforms the cars into pure streaks of light, removing the context of the vehicle itself. This is where a tip I often give during my Goh Ling Yong photography workshops comes in handy: focus on the patterns and shapes the light creates.
13. The Elevated Walkway
Common in the central business districts of many modern cities, these covered or open-air elevated walkways (or "skyways") are a goldmine for photographers. They often snake between buildings, offering multiple angles and compositions over the busy streets below.
Many of these walkways have glass walls, which can be both a blessing and a curse. They offer safety and a clear view but can cause reflections. To avoid them, press your phone's lens directly against the glass. This simple trick stabilizes your shot and eliminates most unwanted glare.
14. The Bridge Facing a Major Landmark
Use traffic trails as a powerful compositional tool. Find an overpass that has a direct line of sight to a famous landmark, like a cathedral, a stadium, or an iconic skyscraper. The streaks of light will act as "leading lines," drawing the viewer's eye directly to the main subject.
This technique adds a strong sense of place and purpose to your photo. It's no longer just an abstract image of light trails; it's a dynamic cityscape portrait. Frame your shot so the lines of traffic start at the bottom corners of your image and converge towards the landmark.
15. The Overpass with Neon Signage
Some of the most vibrant urban photos are drenched in the electric glow of neon. Find a bridge in an area known for its bright, colorful signs—think entertainment districts or a city's "Koreatown" or "Chinatown." The ambient light from these signs will bathe the entire scene in a rich, cyberpunk-esque palette.
The neon colors will reflect off the road and the cars, adding an extra layer of visual interest to your light trails. Don't be afraid to let the colors slightly overexpose; it adds to the high-energy, futuristic atmosphere of the shot.
16. The Bridge in the Rain
Don't pack up your gear when it starts to drizzle! Rain is a photographer's secret weapon for night shots. The wet asphalt acts like a mirror, reflecting every headlight, taillight, and street lamp. This effect essentially doubles the amount of light and color in your photo.
From your overpass vantage point, the light trails will appear twice—once from the cars themselves, and once in their shimmering reflections on the road. The result is an incredibly rich, saturated, and atmospheric image that feels straight out of a movie. Just be sure to keep your smartphone dry!
17. The "Under-the-Bridge" Shot
Flip the perspective. Instead of shooting from on top of the overpass, find a safe spot to shoot from underneath it. This allows you to use the massive, often sculptural, concrete structure of the overpass as a powerful frame for the traffic passing by on a nearby road.
This shot works best when the underside of the bridge is well-lit or has interesting textures and shapes. The sense of scale can be immense, making the cars and their light trails seem small by comparison. It’s a unique composition that many people overlook.
18. The Minimalist Concrete Overpass
In an era of sleek glass and steel, there's a certain beauty in the stark, clean lines of a brutalist or minimalist concrete overpass. These structures provide a simple, powerful, and uncluttered frame for your light trails. The focus is purely on the contrast between the solid, static structure and the fluid, moving light.
Look for bridges with strong geometric shapes—hard angles, thick pillars, and clean horizontal lines. Convert your final image to black and white to further emphasize the interplay of form, texture, and light.
19. The Bridge at Blue Hour
Timing is everything. While it's tempting to wait until the sky is pitch black, the most magical time for any cityscape photography is the "blue hour." This is the brief window of time just after sunset (or before sunrise) when the sun is below the horizon, but its light still fills the sky with a deep, ambient blue.
Shooting from an overpass during blue hour allows you to capture not only the traffic trails but also the silhouette of the city against a richly colored sky. This touch of natural light provides context, detail in the shadows, and a beautiful coolness that contrasts perfectly with the warm reds and whites of the traffic. It's the pro's choice for a reason.
Your City is Your Canvas
There you have it—19 distinct vantage points to elevate your smartphone night photography from simple snapshots to breathtaking works of art. The key takeaway is that your city is filled with creative opportunities, and the humble overpass is one of the best stages to capture its nocturnal energy. All it takes is your phone, a bit of stability, and a willingness to explore.
Now it's your turn. Pick a spot from this list, head out after sunset, and start experimenting. Don't be afraid to try different settings and compositions. The beauty of digital photography is that you can take as many shots as you want. As a photographer, Goh Ling Yong has always believed that the best camera is the one you have with you, and the best classroom is the city itself.
We'd love to see what you create! Share your epic traffic trail photos on Instagram and tag us. Let's see the rivers of light you can capture in your city.
About the Author
Goh Ling Yong is a content creator and digital strategist sharing insights across various topics. Connect and follow for more content:
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