On a recent photo expedition to the BNSF Scenic sub, I took the oportunity to try a different angle on the curved trestle that crosses the Foss river, east of Skykomish (WA).
I spent far more time waiting for the train than the 16 minutes that produced the image below. Was it worth the effort? I’m not sure frankly. I was trying to do at least as well as an earlier night shot I taken of the bridge. What do you think?
So what do you like about the shots? What do you not like about the shots? What do you want to do different? What is the different result you want to achieve? Go do it again.
I like them for what they are…but, perhaps a little too exposed or over exposed. The yellow of the light suggest the bridge is on fire rather than refelctive of a train passing over it. So next time cut the time down to half on each. There are photographers who have spent years and hundreds if not thousands of frames to get the result they wanted.
WOW ! (again) Both photos are nice and each have merits in their own way (kind of like children). Here’s what I think:
For the 30-second one: I’m presuming the train was coming towards you ? How much ambient light was there ? I’m presuming it wasn’t full darkness yet, from how well illuminated the hill in the background is. I suppose you had to use the full 30 secs. to get the sweep of the headlight across the entire bridge, but if it had been darker out - or a smaller aperture used - the hill would be darker or just a shadow or a silhouette, which would add drama to the headlight effect by making it stand out and contrast more with a darker background. The “fire in the sky” concept is a good artistic one - work with it a little more to get more of that effect, I think.
For the 16-minute one: I’m presuming that train was headed away from you, judging from the front illumination of the scene, and that the FRED’s flashes were visible. I think the “really dark” part worked for you on this one to minimize the background and emphasize your subject - contrast with my comment on the 30-second one above; compare with the classic O. Winston Link night photos - the train (only !) against a dark background “canvas”. But I don’t see what the 1st 10 minutes of exposure got you, if that’s how long it took for the train to get there - it looks like it was - yes, really dark - and that all the illumination came from the headlight. Plus, in the end what you have here is a really nice night portrait of a bridge in the woods, with a couple of light streaks above it. [swg] Would it have worked better to just do a short exposure as the loco approached, to illuminate the scene, but not include the train ? And/ or, then add a flash as the loco starts across the bridge to fill the loco i
I agree, both shots are good and the second one has quite an effect, but the picture I really like is the one in your avatar…its amazing. Did you take that one?
The 30 second shot was taken shortly after sunset. I arrived before the train with enough time to try one test shot, made some adjustments based on that and couldn’t have been more happy with the results.
The 16 minute shot is indeed a going away shot. The light streaks are from lights on two or more refrigeration units on containers.
I knew when I headed out to the location that it would not compare to 30 second shot, but I thought it might turn out okay. After getting set up, and carving out a safe spot on the side of the plowed snow, it ocurred to me that a flash to light up the locomotive might be a good idea. But I was just as sure that if I left to get the flash, the train would come before I returned. So I used what turned out to be plenty of time to do some test exposures.
What I plan to learn at some point, is just what effect the extra 12 minutes or so of open shutter had on the image. Would the bridge structure had been as visible? The trees in the background visible? Perhaps the train did all of the work in illuminating the scene and I would have had nearly the same results with just a 3 minute exposure. The 10 minute one before this shot, is black, with the exception of the very front edge of the bridge and snow.
I would have loved to take a second stab a the shot, but it was 11pm when I got this one, and only one more train was expected, from the other direction.
In regards to my avatar image, yes I took that - thanks!. It was an amazing sunset and I used an abandoned boat shed to set it off. It’s at Steilacoom WA and the there was some “saturation” of the colors during post processing.
OK, thanks for the responses to my questions. I hope they were as informative to you as they are to me.
Keep goin’, man - you’re doing just fine ! (as the other comments above should tell you). Look forward to seeing more of your “art” - that’s really what it is. Very enjoyable.