Hey guys, I shot this fairly new C44ACCTE heading eastbound through Sparks,Nv on the overland route train was symbolized as the "GSTUCB" Grain Shuttle (Turlock Ca - Council Bluffs IA) it had all Cargill hoppers a sweet looking train , Enjoy the photo.
Now this would be the location to discuss how you took the photo, and what you used to scan it, etc. This is one of those photos that probably should be B&W, but I haven't got into it yet. This is CSX 429 leading a general merchandise train (most likely Q300 series) west on Saturday, 9/8/01, at about 6:45 am. Location is Lock 10, north side of Mohawk River near Cranesville, NY. Shot at F5.6, 1/125 with Nikon N50, AF Nikor 75-240mm (at 75mm) on Fuji Astia Slide Film. Scanned at 2400 dpi on HP S20, reduced to 72dpi for web. If you notice, need to rescan it after I clean it. [ 15 October 2001: Message edited by: Harron ]</p>
Rich, Excellent picture, and it works very well in B&W. I would suggest only one small change. Crop a little more off the bottom. Probably cut it off where the second rail from the bottom meets the edge of the frame. This will give more emphasis to the length of the train and give the picture more life. Corey, Judging from the lights on the locomotive, it looks like it it coming toward us. If this is the case you have it way to far to the right in the frame. A moving object needs room within the frame to move. If you could make it look like it is pulling away, you would have an excellent picture--a modern version of the old west theme of riding off into the sunset. Whatever you do, don't lose the sky. It has great colors. [ 15 October 2001: Message edited by: Peirce ]</p>
Little more story behind that photo. As stated, it is an AM (read morning) shot, around 6:45 or so. Have to do a U-turn on the 55 mph road on the left to get back to this spot. Track speed is 50, and train is coming from the direction I was. In order to get the color, I needed to stand there, since I didn't have time to move, and I don't want to stand in the tracks! If I turn the camera more to the right to eliminate the road, you get more train. But the following may be a step beyond what you're thinking about. I'm trying to create a parallel between the road and tracks converging in one location. More of a "Formal" element of photography, not just railroad photography. It is a Depth of Field photo (vanishing point effects). Plus as you noted, the colors were too good to pass up. You don't need to have a train in over 50% of the frame to get a good picture, just need to look at it in a different way. So I guess my goal was not to capture the "motion" of the locomotive, because I would've shot it even if it was standing still because of the other elements. A more typical railroad shot of mine, same morning, same equipment, F5.6, 1/350. CSX 682 leads another AC6000 east to Selkirk on a hot intermodal. [ 16 October 2001: Message edited by: Harron ]</p>
That second shot is excellent and more typical of a "train shot." I follow what you are saying about the first picture. However, the picture, as posted, is very dark and neither the track nor the road are visable on my screen. This could be the scan, but I have also found that posted pictures tend to come out darker than expected. I have been making mine slightly lighter than I would normally in order to have them show properly. I usually do this just by adjusting the gamma setting.
Could be the brightness on your monitor, but who knows. I can see the road and rail fine. The train is on the near track, so you can't see much rail, and it is a low-light shot. About a third of the way up on either side is the rail or road. If you follow the road line and the line created by the train, you'll see the vanishing point. BTW, both slides were scanned and edited using the same technique, so the issue probably would not be with the scan, unless you think the second shot is too dark as well.
The second shot is also on the dark side, but not as much as the first. I cannot put the blame on the monitor, since the same thing is true both here at work and at home. Also, I have experimented with it a bit with my own pictures and others. Finally, this has been discussed on other photography fora and it is generally agreed that posted pictures do tend to be somewhat darker than expected. However, it is also agreed there can be a variety of causes. Don't let this issue be a show-stopper. The quality of your work is excellent and I want to see more of it, especially where it would fit the theme of the "More Than Trains" forum.
