It’s the longest day of the year… the summer solstice. Unless you’re Kit Courter, who probably favors the winter solstice, there’s no excuse for not getting out and snapping at least one picture of a train in daylight today. I’ll be out for a bit after work.
The best way to improve your photography is to take more photos and study them. Go take more photos!
Several months ago I was one of the founding members of RailroadPhotoEssays.com and I had high hopes for the site. The URL only tells part of the story. Sure, there’s photo essays, and that’s where ideally the “meat” of the site lies, but there’s also a lot of darn good single-shot photography that is posted for critique, and lately I am happy to report that the site has become much more active, with lots of interesting discussion about photo technique and the philosophy of photography.
If you haven’t yet checked out the site, head on over there and take a look around. Even if you don’t want to submit an essay, we’d love to have even more folks jump in on the photography conversations and critique.
I know I’m not getting rich taking pictures. It’s good to know I’m not alone…
Photography Jam has a good article about the three basics: Shutter Speed, Aperture, and ISO. If you buy into my theory that you need to understand the basics before you go wild with Photoshop, this article is a good starting point.
From Photodoto: metering and obtaining a correct exposure.
This falls in the “stuff you should understand” category as well as the “What the heck is a histogram” category.
Recently someone expressed disappointment on RailroadForums because his RAW converter couldn’t fix poor photos. I ended up going on a brief rant that I thought I would expand upon here.
Digital photography is photography first, and digital second.
Think about that a bit. It means that digital photography is more about photo techniques and skill than it is about digital manipulation and computers. It means one needs to spend more time thinking about composition and exposure than how to use the clone tool in Photoshop.
While it’s true that instead of recording an image on film in a traditional camera, a digital camera records an image on a sensor and then to a memory card, the “digital”portion of digital photography essentially replaces the darkroom and development processes of traditional slide or film photography. The most important thing remains the capturing of the image at the time the shutter is opened.
In the computer field, there’s a term called GIGO, meaning “Garbage in, garbage out”. Applying this to photography, the meaning is that if one starts with a poor photo, digital processing won’t be able to turn it into a great shot. It is far better to begin with a properly exposed and technically correct photo than it is to start out needing to “fix” things just to make the photo usable.
Where do you start? By learning about photography. The traditional elements of taking a photo haven’t changed just because the image is recorded onto a memory card instead of film. Here’s my advice to someone who wants to improve their photography:
Learn about exposure and shutter speeds. Learn about depth of field. Learn about white balance. Learn about what the ISO number means. Then learn about how your particular camera allows these items to be adjusted. Learn about the different shooting “modes” that exist on your camera. Learn what it means to use shutter-priority, aperture-priority, and manual modes, and when it’s appropriate to use each. Learn what a histogram is, and learn how to view an image histogram on your camera so that you can make adjustments “in the field”. Learn about composition, including the rule of thirds, framing, image balance, and the golden mean.
You’ll notice that not a single thing mentioned in the previous paragraph has anything to do with computers or Photoshop.
Photoshop can be used to polish up a photo and make slight adjustments after the fact, but nothing beats doing it right the first time in the field. Photography is photography and the elements of photography haven’t changed. A post today on the Philosophy of Photography forum at photo.net talks about the photographically illiterate and how it’s the same with traditional film or with digital.
I challenge all digital photographers to become better photographers foremost, and worry about digital less.
I asked for comments yesterday on which crop folks preferred for an off-the-bridge shot.
It was interesting reading the responses. Who am I to say who is correct and who isn’t… but I can share my own observations. I prefer the second photo. I wanted to include the foreground flowers as an element of the photo, so I don’t see them as a distraction. I wanted to minimize the sky, since this really wasn’t a wide-open sky shot. The subtle line of plants leads the viewer to the locomotive, and as noted in your comments, the rule of thirds seems to apply with the locomotive being a bit off-center.
Shot yesterday, a new angle from familiar ground… which works best?
I know which one I prefer and will post my thoughts after I hear from you. Comment away!
Doug Plummer has posted a good little piece about the “Decisive Moment” in photography, specifically how to recognize it before it happens.
It got me to thinking about anticipating the moment as it relates to railroad photography. In the examples Doug gives, he is able to spend time thinking about the scene, make an observation, switch lenses or equipment as needed, and then take his photo, often offering up the line of “Please continue to ignore me” to his subject.
Depending on your railroad subject, a similar approach can work. If one is taking photos of a static subject such as a signal, depot, or stopped piece of equipment, then the notion of a decisive moment is lessened and one can take several versions of a photo only to later cull and reveal the best.
If you want to shoot a moving train, there’s only one chance to get the shot. Unless it’s a planned runby, that train isn’t going to back up and come by again, so planning the shot and anticipating the decisive moment is crucial to ensure the best photo possible. Here’s a few of the things I try to think about as I plan a shot… some are railroad-specific, some are more general:
Occasionally a gem will appear from a grab shot, but doing a bit of thinking and planning helps one to anticipate the decisive moment.
Tonight I went trackside down at Vancouver center after work. What a waste. There is not one decently-lit angle for a photograph in that whole area at all in the afternoon, at least not any angles that I have shot less than a hundred times. The few frames I snapped are so boring and mediocre I haven’t even motivated myself to load them off the card reader.
Sigh. I need to find a new evening haunt that isn’t too far from home…
Random observation: Every time I take an image that isn’t perfectly level, and I mean every time, it needs counterclockwise rotation. Never clockwise.
It must be because I am right-leaning 
Those of you with publication aspirations might check out National Geographic’s Your Shot contest…
I’m compiling what I consider my best and most interesting photos.
The most interesting and unique images aren’t those out on the mainlines of today’s Class 1 railroads. The most interesting ones are shortlines, people, lines, patterns, and other such un-typical-foamer things.
So why is it that I spend so much time trying to shoot mainline Class 1s?
Update: Steve Boyko is right: it’s because I’m an impatient sucker and can find more trains when I shoot a Class 1.
Don’t get complacent and think “That’s a boring photo I can take any day, so I won’t bother”. Things change.
For a concrete example, as long as I’ve railfanned Vancouver the transfer would always have a couple of geeps. Sure, I took lots of pictures of it. But there were plenty of days when I said “why bother”… and it appears that era is now through.
This week I’ve seen the transfer on three days… each day with a widecab GE… C44-9W units on two days, and a B40-8W today.
For nostalgia’s sake here’s a shot of a geep-led transfer.
Yesterday instead of only chasing trains after work I spent a bit of time taking a few other photographs, including one I threw up for review on RailroadPhotoEssays.com where the comments can be harsh but I respect everyone’s opinions. One of the shots I took was a shot of the I-5 Interstate Bridge between Vancouver, WA and Portland, OR, which I took from close to the bridge, looking south, and then desaturated to black/white. I got some positive comments from folks who often dislike my railroad images.
http://www.railroadphotoessays.com/forum/showthread.php?t=357 - anyone can view the image, membership not required
Since I haven’t yet hit the lottery or found someone who wants to throw free camera gear my way, I’m always interested in ways that I can have a few extra dollars to spend towards glass and other assorted photography items. A while ago I signed up (skeptically) for a site which claimed to pay me to take online surveys about assorted topics. I must say I’ve been pleasantly surprised… I’m not getting rich, but they send me a few surveys per month, and the pay generally ranges around a dollar a minute or so… they might send a short survey which takes five minutes and they’ll pay me five dollars, or (like today) a longer one which paid $20.
If you’re interested in potentially earning a few extra dollars, follow this link and sign up. I’ll be totally honest, they pay for referrals, so if you sign up with that link, I get a dollar each time you take a survey. Consider it a little contribution towards keeping this website running (except that it won’t cost you anything). Of course, once you sign up, you can refer folks as well.
And that’s the end of my little commercial diversion on here…
Yes, I think this might be the most poorly-composed shot I’ve made in the past five years. Sure, it’s in focus. This was the attempt to get a shot at a new location instead of an old standby. I got down here and only had about 10 seconds to compose this shot. I knew the tracks came down a steep grade around the curve and figured it would be a nice shot as the power came around the corner. I also figured that the lighting would be such that the nose would have some light, with the sides nicely lit.
I stopped my truck, hopped out, looked around, and unfortunately this was the best I could come up with:
Nose lighting? Hah! No lighting for you! And hey, if you’re a fan of poles and lines, I’ve got plenty, starting with that big thick one right up the middle of the second locomotive and through the swoosh. The lovely pole-ness of it is almost trumped by the second pole, the one growing out of the top of the cab of the lead unit. The wire running from that pole down to the corner of the nose is an added bonus. And did you hear about the BNSF’s new extended-range antennas? That’s one of them sticking out of the top of the back of the ES44DC. Given how bad this is, I won’t even mention the assorted foreground clutter. Sigh.
So there, have a good end-of-week chuckle at my expense. I can’t believe I pressed the shutter.
This just popped into my head, not sure if it’s something I’d heard before or I just thought of it, but it seems accurate:
Shooting JPG is like taking your roll of film down and dropping it off at your local Wal-Mart for processing. They control the darkroom process and what you get back is mostly correct, most of the time.
Shooting RAW is like taking your roll of film home to your own private personal darkroom, where you control the entire process and can ensure the photos end up exactly as you want.
If you’re coming to GorgeRail and want to know about RAW, be sure to attend Paul Petersen’s Photoshop workshop at 12:30 on Saturday, where he’ll talk about RAW and how it fits into his imaging workflow.
Lately I’ve had a couple people ask about what gear I use so I figured I’d post something that I can point to.
My camera body is a Canon EOS-300D also known as the Digital Rebel. It’s a 6.3 megapixel DSLR. I got this body in December 2003 and have been quite happy with the results. There’s newer, better bodies out there, but I’ll be honest I only have one complaint with the 300D, and that is that I wished it had a bit bigger buffer… the buffer will only hold 4 RAW images. I have the battery grip BG-E1 which I value more for the vertical controls than I do for the second battery compartment.
I pretty much always shoot in RAW mode. Sure, the files are bigger and require more post-processing, but RAW gives me the flexibility to make color and white-balance adjustments that I don’t always want to trust to the camera in the field. If you’re attending GorgeRail, Paul Petersen will be doing a workshop on digital image processing, and he’s a great source of knowledge for everything you ever wanted to know about RAW.
I carry around a few lenses and am looking to add a few more.
When I bought the camera I got the “kit” with the EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom. I’ve been satisfied with this lens; it’s definitely worth the $100 which it cost me. It’s not the fastest lens in the world but it’s very light and the optics are pretty good. It’s a decent lens for roster shots.
My main everyday walkaround lens is the EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS zoom. It runs around $425 and is a great value. I find it to occasionally be a bit soft but not very often, and not enough that I’m gonna chuck this and replace it with primes (well, at least not yet). The IS is great for hand-holding. I use this lens for almost all of my around-town roster shots and close-ups. About the only time I use the 18-55 is if I need to go wider than the 28mm on this lens.
I also have the EF 50mm f/1.8 prime lens, which is a bargain with a street price around $70. This is an entry-level lens, without USM focusing, but the speed is great for low-light situations and the price can’t be beat. Specifically related to railfanning, if I need to do a low-light roster shot I’ll throw on this lens.
My newest lens is the EF 135mm f/2L prime. I wanted something fast around this focal length. I have been quite happy with this lens, which works nicely with the Canon 1.4 extender to give me a f/2.8 prime around 190mm.
My big lens is a EF 300mm f/4L IS prime, which is excellent for long telephoto shots. This lens is tack-sharp. It can be handheld with the IS although I usually use it on my monopod which works out well. My only complaint is that shooting head-on telephoto shots in low light often causes the autofocus to hunt due to the locmotive headlights. Pre-focusing is your friend.
I carry everything around in a LowePro Mini Trekker AW which is a backpack-style bag which has ample space for two bodies and several lenses. It has several pouches inside as well as a couple outside zippered pockets. The “AW” in the name stands for All-Weather, which is because of the built-in fold-away nylon cover which covers up the whole thing if needed. Given the downpours we can have up in this area, the rain cover is a nice feature.
I have a Bogen 681B monopod with a 3229 tilt/swivel head. This is a sturdy monopod which I use almost all the time except for quick grab shots. I also have a cheap Vivitar tripod that I use for night shots. When using the tripod I’ll usually use a remote shutter release.
That’s the majority of what I carry around all the time to take pictures. The few other random things in my camera bag aren’t of much interest (lens cleaning supplies, a washcloth to dry off lenses, and some sporks).
A couple months ago I mentioned that I’d acquired some sensor dust, and then I was a bad blogger by not following up on that post with more information or what I’d learned.
I talked to a couple of my friends with DSLRs and did some research online and the method and system mentioned most often was the “Copper Hill” system. The short version is that the guy behind the method did some research and found a combination of tool, cloth, and solution which easily and effectively cleans dust from a DSLR sensor. He has created special tools for various sized sensors, and offers the materials in a kit. You can read through his tutorials and either acquire the materials on your own, or purchase a ready-to-go kit from his website.
Not wanting to botch things up on my own, I purchased one of his kits. I was very impressed by the super-fast shipping and set out to clean away… it was pretty easy and I must say the results were impressive. After two swipes with the cleaning pad, I couldn’t find any noticable sensor dust on a test shot of a white wall.
Here’s the link to the website for anyone needing to clean their DSLR: Copper Hill Cleaning Method.
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