Thanks Noah.
When I shot those first three photos I was using the sports setting and it seemed to give a good pic. I used full auto on the last pic just to see how that turned out. But I was also reading up on the "P" setting and the different settings it has. I learned you can use the "P" setting for shooting fast moving things like animals and cars, etc. Just set the ISO speed and the AE setting to a desired setting and shoot. But thanks for letting me know about the TV setting. I'm glad you told me. It now gives me some more practicing methods. This Tuesday I plan on going out if it isn't raining. I have copied down your directions on how to use the TV setting. I was reading up and getting to know the Camera yesterday so I understand what your saying. It helps to know the buttons. Thanks for the help, it was much appreciated!
James
Nice shots James. Love the WC shot, stupid CN put some Q Tron crap on the trucks though (this was an EM 2000 and didnt ever have it), too bad. One thing I can tell you, when its really hot, dont zoom in too much, because the heat waves will eat your shot for breakfast.
Besides that, those shots look nice to me (and you didnt oversharpen like 90% of people seem to do!).
Alec
I...have a confession.
I almost always shoot on auto mode! (Shutter and aperture only, I haven't trusted the auto ISO since day one, and have never tried it) It usually turns out well, and circumstances are rare where it doesn't give me the depth of field or shutter speed that I want. (Of course, I usually manually expose shots of weird lighting or really bright/dark shades)
....But then again, I don't have a fancy DSLR like you twats.
James, you're picking up very nicely.
In the first shot, I love the angle, like the light, but find the signals a bit distracting...
And yes Alec, I do tend to oversharpen a lot, but that's because arpee rejects mine for undersharpened excrutiatingly often!
(Two more in the queue from a chance encounter that turned out okay today, but I screwed up the second shot on)
Go here for my rail shots! http://www.railpictures.net/showphotos.php?userid=9296
Building the CPR Kootenay division in N scale, blog here: http://kootenaymodelrailway.wordpress.com/
Well looks like there was some conversation going on.
Trainboy- Glad you liked the first shot. I can see where the signals could be a little distracting... unfortunately this is the only place at Saunders that you can photograph the train. All other parts are a bit off limits. I could go to Boyleston just a mile down the line and get a good shot of the train there but there are signals all over the place there too. Or I could go to mile post 15.9, up from Boyleston and there are few signals there but a long piece of track facing the sun... I guess there are a couple of places to go.. I will see what I can do.
Well anyway, talk to you guys later.
Happy railroading
Matt, with my old camera I shot at full auto all the time too, as it was just a lot simplier. I don't think there's anything wrong with it so long as the camera doesn't cause the train the blur really. For me though, one of the things I read when I was reading up on DSLRs is that there is basically no point to buying a DSLR if all you do is leave it on auto. You can do that with a much cheaper point-and-shoot and get about the same results. As long as I sunk the dollars into the camera though, I want to try and really learn to use it properly, not just as an oversized point-and-shoot.
James, I wouldn't recomend even using the P mode too much. P is basically full auto, except you can modify more things like ISO speed, Auto Focus style, and things like that. It allows you a little bit more flexibility, but it still sets the shutter speed for you, which means there is still the potential for train blur. I'd still recomend shooting on Tv most of the time.
One other mode I didn't mention but that you may find useful is full manual mode, or M on the dial. Full manual allows you to adjust both the shutter speed and the aperture at the same time instead of you adjusting one and the camera setting the other. The shutter speed can be adjusted the same way as always, just by rotating the dial. The aperture can be adjusted by holding down the "Av +/-" button (to the upper right of the screen), and rolling the dial to set the apeture.
I usually only use this though in a case where the camera doesn't want to meter properly (like when it's cloudy and lots of sky in the picture causes the forground to be way too dark). Usually when I use this I set the camera to the shutter speed that I would use and take a test picture before the train arrives, and see if it's light enough. If the photo looks underexposed and dark, Then I flip over to M and make adjustments from there. For example, the other day I was chasing a UP train in cloudy weather. If I used a shutter speed of 1/400 like I wanted, the camera set the f at 3.5 (as low as it would go), and it was still far to dark. So I bumbed up the ISO to 400, but now the F stop was automatically set to f10, and so the picture was still too dark. So I flipped over to manual, set the shutter speed up to 1/400, and bumped the f stop down to something like f5.6 and took a test picture before the train got there. With the ISO at 400, the scene was now properly exposed. I deleted the test photos, and then waited for the train.
That was a rare case where I actually used M. But if you try it a few times and get used to it, you may find some places where it comes in handy. For the most part though, I just shoot in Tv mode.
Noah
So what you're saying is that one the rebel, the auto mode controls ISO? Ugh, I would NOT allow that under any circumstance! I have to admit, I don't trust manual control on digital cameras for two reasons: I suck at exposing pictures right, and on digital cameras you can't swing over the aperture ring as fast! (I know, it's silly, but knee-jerk reactions have saved a few of my shots in the past!)
Another thing is that my camera usually does a good job of balancing aperture and shutter speed, and in many cases gets very close to the settings I would put in if it was manual! (Although, like I said, there are a lot of cases where I like to choose my own shutter speed or aperture, or both)
And yet....I still don't fully trust myself
I definitely had a nasty case of operator error the other day...
Firstly, I was on 200 ISO. That doesn't sound bad, I know. But my camera is really only good at 64 and 100...it's depressing. Secondly, I took both of them too soon. In the first case, this could be remedied by cropping, but that acccentuated the noise! On the second one, I was trying to shoot the mountain, so...no. The worst part is that the train came through during the 45 seconds that I had good light in the entire day! And I wasted it!...sigh...
Well, here are the pics.
Anyone have any way to fix the first one? Second one's hopeless, with luck I'll be back there sometime...
With the XTi at least, there are basically two auto modes. One is a truely full auto, everything, including the ISO, is set for you. The second, labeled P for whatever reason, lets you set the ISO and most everything else manually, but the Shutter Speed and Aperture are set for you. This would be real similar to the auto on your camera it sounds like.
I don't think either of those are too bad, although I can see what you mean about them being even better had the train been a little further along. The first one looks pretty good really. I took it into photoshop, and the only thing I changed was to choose auto levels for the colors (to remove some of the blue hue and bring out the sunshine). I played with it, but I liked it best with the way you had it, so no change to the cropping:
That's what looks good on my monitor anyway. Even with the bush, it doesn't look that bad. The second, well, I don't know how to save it either other than to shoot it again, as you'd lose the feeling of the mountain to try cropping it closer. It's still pretty neat though.
Speaking of photo editing, I downloaded the free 30 day trail of Adobe Photoshop elements 5.0 this morning (which is what I used to play with the photo above), and it is offically exactly what I want. I took a class at school this semester where we worked with the full version of photoshop (although one that is a few years old, which probably explains why it was so similar to Elements, because it was older technology), and I really liked working with it there. After checking out Elements it's basically exactly the same sort of thing that we used, so I'm used to the work flow already. I especially like the sharpening tool. The only problem that I've had with my Canon XTi (I think mainly to blame on the lens quality, not the camera), is that the photos sometimes come out a little soft, especially when I get near the 200mm end of the lens. Photoshop allows me to correct this problem pretty easily though.
I've been editing a bunch of shots this afternoon, and the plan is that tomorrow I'm going to go on an uploading blitz and get them all up on the internet. For curiousities sake I sent two in to railpictures.net, and I got one in:
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=191406
Now to get my parents to buy me the software for my birthday (and it's relatively not that expensive, so I think they'll go for it...)
Thanks Noah for the explanation of the "M" function. Well, were you are you may get a lot of sun but were I am It's cloudy 8 months out of the frigin year.. But I am glad you told me. Now I can practice photo taking in the more cloudy weather. Thanks.
That photo you took of the CP train at Kellog... however you spell it, would that by any chance be the line that comes down through detroit lakes and through Alexandria, MN? Because I have a friend at Miltona who lives right next to the CP main and that looks like the same main.... Now if I could remember the name of the line.... I will have to look it up on a map...
Anyway thanks for the help. Like I said, I hope to get out tomorrow and get some train action in.. We will have to see. Next I am going to have to learn how to use my photo shop more correctly....
Thanks James
CMSTPP wrote: Thanks Noah for the explanation of the "M" function. Well, were you are you may get a lot of sun but were I am It's cloudy 8 months out of the frigin year..
Thanks Noah for the explanation of the "M" function. Well, were you are you may get a lot of sun but were I am It's cloudy 8 months out of the frigin year..
No its not.
Mechanical Department "No no that's fine shove that 20 pound set all around the yard... those shoes aren't hell and a half to change..."
The Missabe Road: Safety First
coborn35 wrote: CMSTPP wrote: Thanks Noah for the explanation of the "M" function. Well, were you are you may get a lot of sun but were I am It's cloudy 8 months out of the frigin year.. No its not.
Oh please, quit being so crittical.. lol
Anyway... It's suppose to be raining tomorrow which might hinder my railfanning a bit but I do plan to get out there and do some this week.
Talk tp you guys later.. And thanks again for all of the information.
Lionel collector, stuck in an N scaler's modelling space.
James, The short answer is yes, that is the same line, sort of. The long answer is yes and no. Looking at a map, the route through Alexandria ends up in St. Paul. The line that I took this photo on is the CP River sub, and the town is a good ways south of St. Paul on the Mississippi River. Both are part of the CP (ex SOO), main line from Chicago to the Canadian Border, but I'm pretty sure they're actually different subdivisions. And the town of kellogg is spelled with two Gs. It looks kind of funny, but that's why I remember it...