Can car headligts illuminate a stopped train enough for a long-time exposure?
In short, yes.
But.
You’ll want to make sure it’s a picture where the light doesn’t sharply drop off.
Yes, but you’ll need a tripod, a shutter remote and a camera with low noise, such as a Canon DSLR.
Dave
I presume you mean “Night” photos? [;)]
Yes…but I would recommend illuminating your subject indirectly…otherwise you will get some very harsh glare or light reflection, especially with many of the newer locos painted these days with the yellow FRA stripping…
Depending on your model of camera, especially if you have a DSLR, just shoot in the “Bulb” mode…try a medium aperature…but maybe a 2:00 minute exposure to start with?
Just experiment and go from there…
Here is one I took recently with about a 2M:15 sec exposure…using only ambient light from the nearby freeway…
Car lights can actually work fairly well for night-time illumination. I did a shoot several years back at the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic using mostly car headlights (and a bit of the yard lighting) that turned out wonderfully.
Keep a couple things in mind:
- If you have an older car available that uses tungsten lights, I think that would work best. Tungsten light is naturally warmer, and works well with most railroady type scenes. If not, Halogen should work well, though the light is definately going to be a lot cooler (not a bad thing, but not as atmospheric). I’d avoid the bright little blue lights that seem to be the rage at the moment. You might be able get some cool effects with them, but (at least in my experience) blue light does a terrible job of illuminating stuff (which is why I find it ironic that the things are even made).
- Think about placement of your car, and the angle you’ll be lighting. Are there shadows that are going to pop up due to objects between the car and your subject? Is the lighting going to look natural, and not posed?
- Make sure you can illuminate fairly evenly. High beams do a good job of this, but you still might have to make an effort at aiming the headlights “up” by parking on a shallow incline or something (generally, headlights are designed to illuminate things at or near the cars operating level…since trains can be a bit taller, they don’t always get fully illuminated.
- Make sure you have a steady tripod, and a cable release if possible. If you don’t have a cable release, use the camera’s self timer option if possible.
- Make sure the camera is set to the lowest ISO setting, and that the flash is turned off. The camera is probably programmed to think that you’ll never use a tripod so it’ll do what it can to ensure a handheld shot doesn’t get blurred. If it bumps the ISO up, you’ll lose some image quality to grain and the flash could complicate the lighting that you’ve just worke
That’s a nice night shot! I try to get some night shots but my ‘point and shoot’ digital doesn’t have the moxie to pull off any great shots. Particularily if the subject is moving. Chris (or anyone else) if you know anything about the Olympus D-540 can you suggest something for me? I have used the tripod and timer options with some limited success.
Below are some examples of what I’ve gotten thus far:
http://www.danielgbraun.com/cgi-bin/i/images/NS/Chatting%20with%20the%20hogger.jpg
http://www.danielgbraun.com/cgi-bin/i/images/CN/Jan%2020%20005_256x192.jpg
http://www.danielgbraun.com/cgi-bin/i/images/NS/NS%208994%20lighting%20the%20snow.jpg
There isn’t much I can change and I know there’s no ISO setting on the camera that I can adjust.
Dan,
You really need a quality DSLR and fast lenses to take good night photos.
Dave
That’s what my budget was afraid of hearing!
I disagree, Dan. While a DSLR would certainly be nice (and there are actually some pretty great deals on them right now; Nikon D40 and Pentax K110D for example), I don’t think it’s absolutely necessary for good night photography. Likewise, fast glass is definately a luxury (not only for the speed, but also for focusing in dark areas!), but not absolutely necessary for stationary subjects.
What you do want, though, is something that you can control the ISO on, and something that does well with long exposures (as a general rule, the longer the exposure, the more digital noise will be prevalent). At the moment, I think that the Fuji F20 is an insanely good consumer camera that handles noise very, very well (ISO 800 and even 1600 is usable - which is unheard of for a P&S). Likewise, long exposures should be fairly noise free for a P&S. There aren’t many stores still selling this camera (thanks to the continual march of digital progress), but there’s a couple. Additionally, you can find them pretty readily on everybody’s favorite auction site. They seem to go in the $150 range, so they’re a pretty good value, too.
Alternatively, you could stick to film and scan it. An older manual focus SLR body with a 50mm f1.4 can be found for dirt cheap in some cases these days (Canon FD & Minolta MC/MD come to mind as they’re orphaned systems). Get something like that, some fine grained film, a sturdy tripod and a cable release and you’re ready to go.
Hope this helps a little. Let me know if you need any more input.
Sorry, Chris.
Your second paragraph implicitly describes the capabilities of a decent DSLR. To expect a P&S to handle long exposures as well as a DSLR is simply unrealistic.
By the way, no serious astrophotographer uses a P&S for long exposure imaging.
Dave
What? Nobody wants to head off in the convertable with a trailer load of home-brew flash reflectors, lantern batteries and a few cases of screw-in flash bulbs any more?
I guess Link’s legacy is safe, then.
Dave,
I’m not suggesting the F20 as a replacement for a DSLR. I was merely suggesting a viable option (and it is just that, a viable option) for someone on a budget who wants a P&S that can deliver decent results. The Fuji F-series has become something of an anomaly in the P&S realm with it’s low noise abilities. The F20 is the low end of the line and can be found for $150-$200. Maybe one could find a used original Digital Rebel for that price, but I’d doubt it.
BTW, serious astrophotographers are making exposures for hours, buying specialty products, using Peltier coolers, etc. to control noise. Are you suggesting all that for a couple night railroad shots that probably won’t be more than a few minutes long?
EDIT: OK…I was wrong about the F20…it only supports long exposures to 15 secs. Still enough for moderate to well lit night scenes (especially with the higher ISO capabilities of the F20), but not what one would need for dim scenes. My bad.
I took these a few weeks ago with Chris’s old Canon D60 up at Cajon. I used a tripod and the time delay setting on the shutter. Both were taken with car headlights. The car sitting on a hill at about mid height of the train. I just played with the shutter time while checking the histogram till I liked the results and then waited for the train. I don’t know if I could have ‘stopped’ the train though as I was trying for this effect.
OOps, I lied. Now that I look at them the first one was illuminated solely with the locomotive headlights.
Here are my results- Kodak C875 P&S camera
Nice shots SP 4449. Couple thoughts:
- Next time, try to get a little more even illumination if possible. The shots with the headlights on are kind of heavy on foreground illumination. I don’t know what terrain was like where the loco was parked, but if you could have illuminated from the side of the loco at a greater distance, I think it would have looked a bit more natural. If you could have parked on an incline with the lights on the loco a little more, I think that would have helped, too.
- There’s a fairly bright light source just outside the frame of the shot. You can see it causing a bit of flare in your shot. If you have lens that accepts filters/etc. try to get a hood to keep out unwanted light. If you don’t, use your hand as best as you can (without getting it in the shot). Recomposing a bit to try to put the extra light source could help, too.
Anyways, nice shots. Thanks for sharing!
One ancient technique we are missing here is the “painting with light” multiple flash technique. It really takes two or three people and some learned skill, but filling in some of the darker pits with a flash or multiple flashes from a strobe as you move around during a long exposure can do wonders. I haven’t done something like that in a long while, but it is still moderately interesting.
There are a few key things, though, that you have to remember. If most of the available light is, say, incandescent or low-pressure sodium vapor lighting, and you are shooting color, then you need to put a warming filter on the front of the flash. Second, flash placement can be somewhat critical, needless to say. Third, you have to be mindful of the flash exposure levels, although the good thing is that in a long exposure you can get several successive flashes to build up the total light. Finally, if you’re strobe has the usual ready-lights and illuminated displays, keep them covered up if you are walking in the frame (duh! that was a real revelation in the darkroom, get out the SpotTone).
The grim truth is that this becomes a multiple-person operation, but the results can be very pleasing. It’s not how O. Winston Link did it specifically, but he certainly did paint with light.
Goodness, it’s been ages since I heard someone refer to SpotTone. [8D]
Nick
Gary Knapp in my humble opinion is the current day master of night time photography…
take a gander at his excellent work
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=191336
…Wow, what a beautiful night time {red locomotive and buildings}, railroad photo…!
And what a beauty that CSX photo is…Don’t know what one could have done to make that result better…The way that house is lit in the background and even the roadbed, and the warmth of that evergreen on the near left…Just beautiful…!