Summer has arrived and with that we will begin to see the daylight begin to shorten daily. In NW Indiana we have sunrise at 514am and sunset at 825pm. Wont be long before we have the sunrising at 715am and setting at 420pm.
So this can be a “train topic”…what is your favorite month for photographing trains? I have found the overall light is best from about November thru February, with the low mid-day light providing great angles. Mid-day now is too much overhead for great angles.
ed
I’ve always been a fan of September to October. The light is starting to get a little easier to deal with, and there’s lots of nice fall color (September up in the high country, and October for lower elevations). Of course, snow is still a novelty at this point too, so I usually take a lot of snow shots in these months (at least in mountain locations that is…)
I like the early summer when daylight arrives earlier in the day! It makes for some interesting contrast shots.
I have a long-standing goal of taking the CZ from SLC to DEN and back around 21 June. If the CZ is on time (hah!) and UP hasn’t rerouted it through WY due to maintenance - it should cross both Soldier Summit and Moffet in the daylight. But other deadlines interfer - maybe another year.
dd
I love the long light of summer, but man is harsh on pictures.
Winter’s best for photography, I find.
well we are tilted away from the sun in summer but winter we are closer to the sun.I get out when we can to take train pictures.
stay safe
Joe
…Having spent considerable Winters in Florida and with mod. temps…one gets out more or less like we do here in Summer. But I have found it seems the Winter light is not nearly as strong and bright…Sun passes overhead at a low angle as opposed to high in the sky and being much brighter. Just seems to be the Winter pic’s. are darker with the less light.
By the way, here in central Indiana Sunup: 6:12…Sunset: 9:14 today on June 20th.
What you would think of being so far north in summer there is 24 hour sunshine followed by 24 hour dusk/night during winter. How would you cope with it? Be honest now.
…I have an unspoken law in my mind not to live any farther north than I am now…Have no love for the Winter, hence, I plan not to be doing so.
Aaah, this is a nice time of year - The sun rises and sets really far north, giving me a lot of shots that I would have no chance with most of the year! My favorite is winter, though. Even thought the sun rises at 9 and sets at 4… but the sun isn’t going to set here until around 10:30!
You get several sheets of black construction paper and carefully mask the window in your room. I left Thule, Greenland before the sun made its last appearance for the year.
The big challenge in June and July is to photograph at 9:00 P.M. or 2100 hours, in only natural light, a moving train while panning the camera. It can turn out great if the photgrapher has the shutter speed and f-stop set properly.
Andrew
Are there are any trains that far north?
I like all the seasons for watching trains. But every year around the summer stolsice, my buddy and I head up to Perryville MD to watch the parade of NS and Amtrak and MARC at the junction of the NEC and the PORT ROAD. That reminds me, better pick up some skeeter-repellant!
| Great Shot Trainboy ! I like that angle really well…Great light on the trucks !..Thanks for sharing…Danny |
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That is a great shot of the CP.
This time of year by 930 or so you pretty much lose the “good light”. In looking at my photos, the best ones seem to be taken either early morning or late evening OR during the winter months. At noon the sun is still at a very low angle.
Anyone else got any low angle shots to share?
ed
G’day, Y’all,
Here in Cumming, GA, US of A, on June 21, we are celebrating the 16th birthday of our son, John the fourth, he was born on the longest day of the year in 1991. But that day wasn’t nearly as long as those when our daughter, 22, was born in early June of 1985 and we were awake from the start of my wife’s contractions Friday night until Molly was born at 6 p.m. or so on Sunday night. I didn’t recognize my in-laws after being awake for some 60 hours and natural childbirth. Luckily when John came along, my wife, Joy, had had enough of the natural part and wanted drugs for the pain. And I got some sleep that weekend.