Hi guys. On the night of Tuesday, April 3, I noticed an empty coal train preparing to leave the power plant at Shelocta, PA. Since the weather was nice, I figured I'd go out and take a crack at some night photography again. I was also counting on the moonlight to illuminate much of the ground, and I thought I could get some nice shots with its light included. The "getting skunked" rule quickly came into play, however. To start, when the train was about to leave, clouds from an approaching cold front insisted on moving in the way, getting rid of my precious full moon's light for the rest of the night. And of course, to add to the mess, even though the highway barely had any cars going by at all, as luck would have it, someone would show up just as I was to take my shot at the crossing. It didn't turn out as bad as I thought, but that was still another kick in the pants. I've included most of the pictures I took. Try to ignore the sleazy ads off to the left of the pictures. This is the only photo site I know of.
http://www.imagedump.com/index.cgi?pick=get&tp=496124
(shutter speed-48 secs)
Here, I just did a generic shot while the train was waiting to get a feel for what shutter speed I should use. Since I'm not very experienced in night photos, I had to do a couple test shots, and this is what I was able to pull off from those tests. After the 1st one, I did a couple zoomed-out shots for the crossing, using a couple different shutter speeds to guess how to shoot it. Once the train was on the move, I tried one that I hoped would show the streaks of light from where it started through the whole crossing. I wasn't able to pull it off, but this is the next shot I got. Since I didn't get the whole thing and that car had moved in the way, I didn't try to get another. After this, I just went down a couple crossings. In all pics, the reflections on the bottom are from my car. I had a mini tripod set on top of it to shoot these.
http://www.imagedump.com/index.cgi?pick=get&tp=496125
(shutter speed-32 secs)
Waiting for it at the 3rd crossing, shooting towards the 2nd, I hoped to get a shot with the scenery lit up from the headlights, but for the second time, I got headlight streaks going in all directions. Now I know that anytime you try to shoot into the lights, you're asking for trouble, and I expected a huge bright blare where it was, but I don't get what's causing the streaks to appear outward in all directions. I had this same problem the 1st time I tried it another time before. Does anyone have any info about this, or how to avoid the streaks?
http://www.imagedump.com/index.cgi?pick=get&tp=496126
Unfortunately, on top of that, my attempt to shoot it going around a curve didn't work. With the curve being dark, I found out after the shot that I hadn't aimed the camera far enough right for the curve, so I just got this shot of it going past the straight part, with a couple town lights in the background.
http://www.imagedump.com/index.cgi?pick=get&tp=496127
By now, I was feeling lousy about the way it was going. Rushing to the 4th crossing, the last I could chase it to, I was able to pull of this one, which I don't think turned out bad. BTW, the yellow light is from my 4-ways that I had on, so that any people that might show up would see me there.
http://www.imagedump.com/index.cgi?pick=get&tp=496128
Now I pretty much got a couple more pics of the train as it was going by with the high beams on to illuminate the train. I'm not sure why there is a difference in color between the next 2. The NS train consisted of Top Gon cars, as well as Conrail cars, so I understand that may have played a role, depending on which were going by at the times, but I didn't expect the road to be affected as well. I did use 2 different shutter speeds, but I don't know why that would have an effect on the color.
http://www.imagedump.com/index.cgi?pick=get&tp=496129
http://www.imagedump.com/index.cgi?pick=get&tp=496130
(shutter speeds-48 and 24)
Finally, I was able to get one with the rear-end device going by, which I think turned out okay.
http://www.imagedump.com/index.cgi?pick=get&tp=496131
(shutter speed-32)
So, for the most part, this shoot didn't go well. I got a couple decent pics, but that was pretty much it. If anyone here is more experienced in night shots, do you have any advice for me to improve my pics the next time I try it? I'll take anything I can get. Thanks for all help.
(Note-pictures will remain up for a while, at least 2 weeks from this post, but may be taken down anytime after that.)
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
As far as the two pictures with different colors, I can think of two possible explanations.
The first is that the longer shutter speed caused the foreground to blow out from the light of your flashers and go to pure white, rather than retaining the detail and color. Notice how much pure white you have in the foreground that lacks any detail. I suspect that this was a result of the longer exposure time.
The second possibility is that you popped your flash at some point during the exposure. You don't mention doing this, but, since the light from a xenon strobe is much whiter than the normal night time illumination, you can end up with a different color balance. Combine flash with a long exposure, and you can really get blown highlights as the second example shows, as the flash will illuminate the foreground plus you get a lot of ambient exposure.
For me, night photography is all about the dramatic colors you get from all of the different color temperatures of artificial light that come into play. For that reason, I love the one where you can clearly see a yellow patch on the grass in front of the crossing from your car flashers.
The previous poster mentioned flash bulbs. That's certainly an option, however you need a whole lot and they're not cheap. The last I checked, a full box of a dozen GE #5s or Sylvania P25s were selling for anywhere between $25 and $40. You'd probably need a couple dozen to satisfactorily illuminate a night scene, and more than that to account for the fact that there will probably be some duds. Especially if you'll be shooting color, since the blue varnish or blue filters necessary will rob a fair amount of light. Also, flash bulbs aren't that great at shooting action. They take around 1/60 second to reach their peak, and give off light for close to a full second. This is not a great recipe for stopping action. Electronic strobes are much better in this respect, but for a given number of flash bulbs, you need at least twice as many strobes, and probably 3-4 times as many. Common Vivitar 283 strobes have an ISO 100 guide number of 120 feet, while the ISO guide number of a P25 or GE #5 is over 300 feet.
All of your shots look just like the NIPSCO power generation plant on the North Shore of Michigan City, In.
I could take some pictures that your would swear was out of your portfolio in PA.
Were you using a Digital Camera?
I just picked up a Canon 10 MP. As soon as the weather clears up I will attempt to shoot some and show you how simular they are.
I hope mine come out as good as your.
I would love to see your pics and compare them.
BTW, I was not using a flash. In fact, since this camera allows me to turn it off completely, I simply never use it. (My old one didn't have such a feature, and the flash would get troublesome if I forgot to turn it off each time.) I've got a Kodac EAsyshare Z760 digital camera. And thanks for the info, guys. I won't be buying flash bulbs given that kind of price, but if I get to do some serious nightime railfanning, I may try the strobe thingy.
Hi Ski!
I really liked the second pic.
hey guys, I got some more night shots. For the time being I won't be going with flash bulbs (the expense mainly), but I did get some more to look at and give opinions on. I had to reduce the sizes for imagedump. Some of these are old ones I posted at the start to compare to. Let me know what you think, including any further hints. here's my post:
I'd like to ask some questions to those of you more experienced with night photography, as well as show some pics to anyone interested. It is rare that I get to take any night shots, so I don't have much opportunity to practice. But I have noticed some patterns from the shots I did take that turned out decent and the ones that didn't. In addition to these, I'm wondering if you guys have any additional pointers. Here are some samples of my latest night shots (just the good ones). All are from 2007 and taken with the Kodak Z760 Digital Camera, 6.1 MP, and zooms up to 3x. Shots were in Shelocta, looking at the Keystone Generating Station, and both Anthony Run road crossings a short ways down. There is one road crossing between these, but never enough time to get to it. I'll refer to the plant one (Route 156) as 1st crossing, the 1st of the Anthony Run Road as the 2nd crossing, and the 2nd of the Anthony Run Road as the 3rd crossing.
4/04/07-
(164)
Train is waiting before departing plant.
Shutter-48 sec
Aperture-4.1
Focal length-91mm
ISO speed-100
(169)
Train departing 1st crossing
Shutter-32 sec
Aperture-3.4
Focal length-39mm
(172)
3rd crossing, with 4-ways flashing
Aperture-4
(173)
Aperture-8
Focal length-52mm
(174)
Shutter-24 sec
Aperture-4.8
(178)
End of train device going by
Shutter-32
Aperture-5.6
6/17/07-
This was a very bad night. After all the preparation I did at the first crossing, which rarely had any vehicle traffic, I finally got my tripod set up (after fighting with it for some time, due to some problem with it failing to stay in position) on a guard rail off the side of the highway and was prepared to get 2 good shots. As luck usually has it, a car had to show up just as the train was leaving. It would be right in the way, cast interfering light, and simply completely ruin it. As soon as I saw it arrive, I abandoned the crossing immediately. I'll have to try to retake those shots some time.
In this next set, I find that when shooting into the headlights at this crossing, shutter set at 1/8 seems to produce better pics, though I still have problems with the camera shake. I simply let go of the camera fast enough, or if I do, the jolt doesn't wear off in time before it takes the pic.
http://www.imagedump.com/index.cgi?pick=get&tp=515528
(411)
2nd crossing
Shutter-1/8 sec
Focal length-117mm
http://www.imagedump.com/index.cgi?pick=get&tp=515529
(416)
Shutter-1/6 sec
Due to tripod plroblems, I failed to get a decent pic of the train passing the 2nd crossing. Sadly, this 3rd crossing would only give mixed success. I had been having trouble with my tripod not holding well during the night session, and it is the reason I got as few pics as I did that night. It wouldn't cooperate much better at this final crossing either.
http://www.imagedump.com/index.cgi?pick=get&tp=515530
(420)
The tripod problem would become obvious here. Other than being a bit overexposed, this pic would have been good enough had the tilting problem not occurred.
Shutter-64 sec
http://www.imagedump.com/index.cgi?pick=get&tp=515531
(422)
A truck had pulled up to the crossing while the train was going by. It was kinda a curse, because I wouldn't be able to shine my headlights on the train effectively. I did try a shot using his headlights shining direct on the train, but since my car was so close to the crossing, I couldn't take the pic from any farther away, so it appears a bit closer than I wanted.
http://www.imagedump.com/index.cgi?pick=get&tp=515532
(423)
Sadly, the truck also ended up leaving a huge light streak when it went by after the end of the train passed, soiling what should have been a perfect shot of the flashing rear end device.
Due to my lack of success with that angle of the crossing, I intend to redo it, hopefully without any other vehicles around. It was a miserable night, and a waste of gas, time, and effort.
7/27/07-
Fortunately, this 3rd attempt wouldn't be as cursed as the last one. In fact, I was lucky to catch this train sitting so close to the crossing. I would have liked to have more time, but not surprisingly, it was leaving in minutes after my arrival. A crew change van was also sitting next to the crossing on the left of the picture.
http://www.imagedump.com/index.cgi?pick=get&tp=515533
(1283)
1st crossing
Shutter-8 sec
Aperture-3
ISO speed-400
http://www.imagedump.com/index.cgi?pick=get&tp=515534
(1285)
http://www.imagedump.com/index.cgi?pick=get&tp=515535
(1287)
Focal length-65mm
http://www.imagedump.com/index.cgi?pick=get&tp=515536
(1289)
Here, the train is leaving. In addition, the van also leaves, creating the light streak and glow on the road, and allowing the train's light to be seen during its whole passage past where the van was parked. I really like this shot.
http://www.imagedump.com/index.cgi?pick=get&tp=515537
(1295)
Shutter-1/15 sec
http://www.imagedump.com/index.cgi?pick=get&tp=515538
(1298)
Shutter-1/60 sec
I failed to readjust my camera setting in time to shoot it past this crossing.
http://www.imagedump.com/index.cgi?pick=get&tp=515539
(1313)
3rd crossing, my settings weren't right to shoot the locos coming or going over the crossing
In a nutshell, I notice that usually when the aperture isn't at 4.x, or at least close, I tend to get lousy pics. I was using shutter priority mode, which automatically sets the aperture, but I think I may have to switch to manual mode just to make sure I can keep it within decent numbers most of the time. Especially when the aperture is high (in numerous shots I have at 8), there's an annoying sparkling effect that screws the picture, so I must stay away from those. When shooting right into the lights, a shutter speed greater than 1/6 seems to produce blaring, so I'll try to keep speeds at 1/6 or 1/8 when shooting into the lights. The sad news is that I often experience camera shake.
Shutter-
Aperture-
Focal length-
ISO speed-