The Waenderer shows how to use echo and an expression to create long exposure trails in After Effects.

You can create that long exposure look on footage by using After Effects and the Echo effect. That’s what this new tutorial from Ae wizard “The Waenderer” shows – how to get those neat looking light streaks.

The tutorial covers using the echo effect in Ae and using a small expression to control the duration. Changing the echo operator and the decay offers an easy way to get the result to have a tapered look to it.