Lesson 1 – Introduction and Light
For starters, I'd like to open by saying anything I'm going to present is just my interpretation of this hobby. There's only one hard and fast rule to photography: no photo is worth endangering your life or the lives of others. I've seen rail photographers set up tripods between the rails in front of approaching trains. If that's how you choose to participate in this past time, please move along. I don't want to be any part of your “hobby.”
Beyond that, everything is open for interpretation. I plan to present my views on photography and how I see and compose. Everything I post is merely what works for me! I encourage you to experiment and find your own style. If every photo followed the same “recipe,” the world would be a pretty dull place indeed!
With all that being said, I'd like to open by talking about light. Chances are that if you've read any photography guide books or web articles, they almost always start by talking about equipment. Equipment is important, and I'll get to my thoughts on that soon enough, but I think any real discussion about photography as art needs to start with a solid understanding of light. The word photography comes to us from the Greek words photos meaning “light” and graphos meaning “writing.” Over the years, that has morphed into the romanticized definition of “painting with light.” If you think about any photo you plan to take in that vein, you're going to have a leg up on most photographers.
Truly skilled photographers are masters of using light to their advantage. Compelling light can turn the most mundane objects into works of art. Likewise, even the most interesting of subjects can seem lifeless and dull if the lighting doesn't suit the subject. I'll state that I don't necessarily believe that there's any bad light. There's just bad use of light. Midday light in middle of summer, for example, often gets labeled as “bad” light. That sort of harsh light can indeed be unflattering for most subjects, but it can also be used to illustrate an idea. Look at the gravestone (of a man that I'm guessing was a railroader as there were rail spikes on the other side of the gravestone) photo below. The harsh light combines with the dead vegetation to tell the story of the hard life of the high plains of southeastern Colorado. Soft, diffuse light from an overcast sky would not have been as useful in this situation.
Flickr Link
When we think about light, we need to discuss the various qualities that make up light. Understanding what's happening with light allows us the opportunity to best use it for our purposes. For the most part, we as rail photographers are interested in natural light. However, I'll have some thoughts on artificial lighting in a future lesson.
The first and most obvious quality of light that we need to understand is direction. The sun, of course, is our main source of light and where we position it in relation to our subject will have a huge effect on what our photo will look like and what type of story it will tell. The unofficial rules of railroad photography state that we should be shooting with the sun over our shoulder, ideally with it at ≤45º angle from the horizon. While this style of light is indeed useful for illustrative purposes, such as a roster shot, it can seem a little dull for more artistic shots. Take a look at the shots below and think about what side lighting and backlighting do for the “story” of the shot:
Flickr Link Flickr Link In both cases, had I been in a more traditional position with regards to the sun and the train, the pictures would surely have been nice, but they wouldn't have nearly the impact that sidelighting and backlighting offer. The next quality of light that is important to us is color. Our brains are fantastic at “white balancing” a huge variety of light. Think about a Norfolk Southern locomotive for a minute. The black and white of the NS scheme are both neutral colors. Under normal, sunny daylight conditions the white will be white and the black will be black. Lets take that same locomotive, though, and shoot it at sunset. When we're looking at the locomotive, we're still seeing the white as white and the black as black. As I said, our brains are very good at interpreting white balance. Our camera gear, however, is not quite so adept. Even the best auto white balance can be fooled. With digital, we can post process for proper white balance and film shooters can use filters to achieve the same end. However, we can also use the color of light to our benefit, too. Let's step aside for a quick minute to understand how the color of light is measured and what affects it. Light is rated by temperature and tint. The temperature of light is measure by degrees of Kelvin. Normal “white” daylight is around 5500ºK. Numbers below 5500ºK are “warmer” and change from yellow to red the lower down the scale. Above 5500ºK, temperatures are “cooler” and gradually get bluer the higher the number gets. Tint is a measurement of the green and magenta in the light. For natural light purposes, tint isn't as large a factor as temperature is. Photographers shooting under man made lighting such as mercury vapor lighting, however, need to pay more attention to tint. Mercury vapor lighting is very green, for example. Let's get back to temperature, though. So we know that sunlight during most daylight hours is fairly neutral. What happens when the sun gets lower on the horizon, though? The light rays coming from the sun have to travel through more of the earth's atmosphere before arriving on our subject. Because of the physics of light, only the longer wavelengths – yellows, oranges and reds – can penetrate through the atmosphere. Because of that, the temperature of sunrise/sunset light is much warmer (lower Kelvin number) than the whiter light of the rest of the day. We can correct this in post processing, but the warm colors often add a nice element to a photo. They help tell the tale of either the beginning or the end of the day. Natural light can tend towards blue, too. Overcast light is somewhat blue, and open shade lighting is very blue. Personally, I don't find the blue as attractive as the warmer sunset colors, but I do find it useful for winter shots to lend a feeling of cold to an image. Still, most of the time, I find myself trying to correct overall cool color casts much more than warm ones. Below, find a couple of examples of using warm and cool lighting for artistic effect: Flickr Link Flickr Link The final aspect of light that is useful for us to understand for rail photography is the idea of “hard” and “soft” light. Hard light is very directional, very contrasty and casts prominent, well defined shadows. Soft light is diffuse, not very contrasty and casts little or no shadows. The prime example of hard light is our midday summer sun again. An example of the softest type of light occurs in foggy conditions. A wide variety of light lies in between. Again, I feel that there's no good or bad here, it's just a matter of using what's best for your subject and what you're trying to convey in your photos. I've noticed a lot of railroad photographers shy away from shooting on cloudy days. I think they're missing a terrific opportunity every time they do. Having an overcast sky is like having a free, giant softbox in the sky (softboxes are tools that portrait and product photographers use to soften artificial lighting). The key is using such light in a useful manner. A grade crossing wedgie featuring a large expanse of lifeless, steel grey sky is going to seem flat and boring. Such conditions are much better suited to shooting detail work. Take a look at the example below. I was fascinated by the shapes of the O-5's driver, and I didn't want any shadows detracting from the image. Overcast skies allowed me to concentrate on those shapes with a very even, shadowless light. Flickr Link I think that's probably enough for our first lesson here. There are no formal assignments, but if you're so inclined and want to work on ways to improve your photography, I challenge you to think very critically about light the next time you're out shooting. Analyze the light. Is it warm? Is it cool? Hard? Soft? Is putting the sun to your back the best option, or are there creative opportunities from different angles? Once you've thought about it all, think about your subject and how you can best utilize the light you have for that subject. Alternatively, you can work the other way and think about your subject and what you're trying to say about it. Try to figure out what kind of lighting would work best achieve what you want. The key is just to think about the light. It's the foundation for all we do as photographers!
In both cases, had I been in a more traditional position with regards to the sun and the train, the pictures would surely have been nice, but they wouldn't have nearly the impact that sidelighting and backlighting offer.
The next quality of light that is important to us is color. Our brains are fantastic at “white balancing” a huge variety of light. Think about a Norfolk Southern locomotive for a minute. The black and white of the NS scheme are both neutral colors. Under normal, sunny daylight conditions the white will be white and the black will be black. Lets take that same locomotive, though, and shoot it at sunset. When we're looking at the locomotive, we're still seeing the white as white and the black as black. As I said, our brains are very good at interpreting white balance. Our camera gear, however, is not quite so adept. Even the best auto white balance can be fooled. With digital, we can post process for proper white balance and film shooters can use filters to achieve the same end. However, we can also use the color of light to our benefit, too.
Let's step aside for a quick minute to understand how the color of light is measured and what affects it. Light is rated by temperature and tint. The temperature of light is measure by degrees of Kelvin. Normal “white” daylight is around 5500ºK. Numbers below 5500ºK are “warmer” and change from yellow to red the lower down the scale. Above 5500ºK, temperatures are “cooler” and gradually get bluer the higher the number gets. Tint is a measurement of the green and magenta in the light. For natural light purposes, tint isn't as large a factor as temperature is. Photographers shooting under man made lighting such as mercury vapor lighting, however, need to pay more attention to tint. Mercury vapor lighting is very green, for example.
Let's get back to temperature, though. So we know that sunlight during most daylight hours is fairly neutral. What happens when the sun gets lower on the horizon, though? The light rays coming from the sun have to travel through more of the earth's atmosphere before arriving on our subject. Because of the physics of light, only the longer wavelengths – yellows, oranges and reds – can penetrate through the atmosphere. Because of that, the temperature of sunrise/sunset light is much warmer (lower Kelvin number) than the whiter light of the rest of the day. We can correct this in post processing, but the warm colors often add a nice element to a photo. They help tell the tale of either the beginning or the end of the day.
Natural light can tend towards blue, too. Overcast light is somewhat blue, and open shade lighting is very blue. Personally, I don't find the blue as attractive as the warmer sunset colors, but I do find it useful for winter shots to lend a feeling of cold to an image. Still, most of the time, I find myself trying to correct overall cool color casts much more than warm ones. Below, find a couple of examples of using warm and cool lighting for artistic effect:
Flickr Link Flickr Link The final aspect of light that is useful for us to understand for rail photography is the idea of “hard” and “soft” light. Hard light is very directional, very contrasty and casts prominent, well defined shadows. Soft light is diffuse, not very contrasty and casts little or no shadows. The prime example of hard light is our midday summer sun again. An example of the softest type of light occurs in foggy conditions. A wide variety of light lies in between. Again, I feel that there's no good or bad here, it's just a matter of using what's best for your subject and what you're trying to convey in your photos. I've noticed a lot of railroad photographers shy away from shooting on cloudy days. I think they're missing a terrific opportunity every time they do. Having an overcast sky is like having a free, giant softbox in the sky (softboxes are tools that portrait and product photographers use to soften artificial lighting). The key is using such light in a useful manner. A grade crossing wedgie featuring a large expanse of lifeless, steel grey sky is going to seem flat and boring. Such conditions are much better suited to shooting detail work. Take a look at the example below. I was fascinated by the shapes of the O-5's driver, and I didn't want any shadows detracting from the image. Overcast skies allowed me to concentrate on those shapes with a very even, shadowless light. Flickr Link I think that's probably enough for our first lesson here. There are no formal assignments, but if you're so inclined and want to work on ways to improve your photography, I challenge you to think very critically about light the next time you're out shooting. Analyze the light. Is it warm? Is it cool? Hard? Soft? Is putting the sun to your back the best option, or are there creative opportunities from different angles? Once you've thought about it all, think about your subject and how you can best utilize the light you have for that subject. Alternatively, you can work the other way and think about your subject and what you're trying to say about it. Try to figure out what kind of lighting would work best achieve what you want. The key is just to think about the light. It's the foundation for all we do as photographers!
The final aspect of light that is useful for us to understand for rail photography is the idea of “hard” and “soft” light. Hard light is very directional, very contrasty and casts prominent, well defined shadows. Soft light is diffuse, not very contrasty and casts little or no shadows. The prime example of hard light is our midday summer sun again. An example of the softest type of light occurs in foggy conditions. A wide variety of light lies in between. Again, I feel that there's no good or bad here, it's just a matter of using what's best for your subject and what you're trying to convey in your photos. I've noticed a lot of railroad photographers shy away from shooting on cloudy days. I think they're missing a terrific opportunity every time they do. Having an overcast sky is like having a free, giant softbox in the sky (softboxes are tools that portrait and product photographers use to soften artificial lighting). The key is using such light in a useful manner. A grade crossing wedgie featuring a large expanse of lifeless, steel grey sky is going to seem flat and boring. Such conditions are much better suited to shooting detail work. Take a look at the example below. I was fascinated by the shapes of the O-5's driver, and I didn't want any shadows detracting from the image. Overcast skies allowed me to concentrate on those shapes with a very even, shadowless light.
I think that's probably enough for our first lesson here. There are no formal assignments, but if you're so inclined and want to work on ways to improve your photography, I challenge you to think very critically about light the next time you're out shooting. Analyze the light. Is it warm? Is it cool? Hard? Soft? Is putting the sun to your back the best option, or are there creative opportunities from different angles? Once you've thought about it all, think about your subject and how you can best utilize the light you have for that subject. Alternatively, you can work the other way and think about your subject and what you're trying to say about it. Try to figure out what kind of lighting would work best achieve what you want. The key is just to think about the light. It's the foundation for all we do as photographers!
-ChrisWest Chicago, ILChristopher May Fine Art Photography"In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration." ~Ansel Adams
Thank you! You have settled something that has been confusing me for quite some time, but I had not really recognized the confusion... It was just something that made no sense, so I put it aside and didn't learn because of it.
The terms "Warm" and "Cool" are backwards! Temperatures that are "Hotter" in the physical sense (>5500°K) produce light that is perceived as "Cooler" (blue) in the visual sense. And vice-versa, Temperatures that are "Cooler" in the physical sense (<5500°K) are "Warmer" (red) in the visual sense.
Even aside from photography, getting this in my head will make picking out household LED lighting a bit easier when reading the differing info on the various brands of LED bulbs where some list only temperature and others try to compare to incandescent and others just use the terms "Warm" or "Cool".
Semper Vaporo
Pkgs.
Good info. Thanks for taking the time for writing it up. Really nicely written and easy to understand.
I learned about tint. Always thought that was the same as color temperature.
-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/)
Great lesson...thanks for taking the time in sharing this. I am looking forward to more.
Ihave always enjoyed your photos and the use of lighting and composition that you put into your work. The explanation of different types of lighting and how it effects the photo (with your examples) was great.
A question from the students...
How do you plan your photos? Do you have a finished image in mind and then wait for the proper lighting conditions? Or do you go to an area and see what is available and then use the lighting and elements? Ed
Chris:
Thanks for your interest and time!
Looks like you are going to force me to "up-scale' My Wal*Mart disposable camera!
MP173 Great lesson...thanks for taking the time in sharing this. I am looking forward to more. Ihave always enjoyed your photos and the use of lighting and composition that you put into your work. The explanation of different types of lighting and how it effects the photo (with your examples) was great. A question from the students... How do you plan your photos? Do you have a finished image in mind and then wait for the proper lighting conditions? Or do you go to an area and see what is available and then use the lighting and elements? Ed
Ditto MP 173 and his comments for me. I'm 'OK' with composition but your explanation of lighting and its different 'textures' as they shape the resulting picture really hit home. I intend to print this information and study it more. You keep the copyright!
I most definitely look forward to more!
Charlie
Chilliwack BC
I finally got a chance to sit down and read this.
Informative and well-written.
A question (please disregard if you are planning to discuss this in future posts), but is there certain types of lighting you prefer for B&W vs. color, or is that more influenced by the subject matter/intent?
Thanks,
Tom.
It's been fun. But it isn't much fun anymore. Signing off for now.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any
A very nice start, Chris.
There is so much of this wrapped up in your personal experience that putting it into manageable lessons is definitely not a trivial task. Much of this understanding becomes a reflex after a time and thus becomes even more difficult to express.
I like that you started with fundamentals of light and how it varies in nature. In general, the railroad subjects do not allow much if any control of light (excepting night photography in the Link tradition) so understanding what can be done with the light you have is certainly a big first step in capturing stunning images.
Looking forward to the next installment.
Thank you, all, for the very kind words.
Semper Vaporo - It seems a little counterintuitive at first, but if you think about flame colors in a fire, it makes a little more sense. Blue flames are hotter than red and orange flames, etc. I used to know exactly what the Kelvin numbers related to, but I've lost that information. If I come across it, I'll let you know.
Don - Tint can be a little confusing. On some digital cameras, white balance can be tweaked by on a graph. For example, on my D600, minor tweaks to the color temperature fall on the x axis and tweaks to the tint fall on the y axis. Seeing the visual representation helps sometimes, although most of the time I just shoot RAW with auto-WB and worry about white balancing in post processing.
Ed - It depends. I work both ways. If I see a location that I really like, I'll sometimes ponder lighting and think about the conditions that would really make it sing. If I see those types of conditions developing, I'll head to that location. At the same time, if I'm just out and about, I'll take note of the light and try to use it to the best of my abilities. The former approach really only works well for local subjects, though. Beyond a 40 or 50 mile radius of home, it's harder to really plan a shot. There are some cool apps available for my iPhone that are changing that, though. I'll have some thoughts on those in a future installment.
Sam - Equipment will be covered in either the next installment or the following one. I'll have thoughts on everything from Walmart disposables to medium format digital in that one. ;-)
Charlie - Thanks for the very kind words. I was actually really excited to put this together, and I'm glad that it's been so well received!
Tom - B&W can depend on light, but more often than not, it's more about the color and composition of the shot. I'll definitely have some thoughts on this in the future, but basically it comes down to if I'm seeing tones or colors on a given day.
Chuck - Thanks! It's amazing how hard I had to think about things that have just become second nature over the years. On the other hand, it's been good for me, too. I've noticed that since penning this, I've even become a little more consciously aware about the light when I'm shooting. I like that.
CopCarSS Chuck - Thanks! It's amazing how hard I had to think about things that have just become second nature over the years. On the other hand, it's been good for me, too. I've noticed that since penning this, I've even become a little more consciously aware about the light when I'm shooting. I like that.
Many years ago one of my best engineering professors observed that until you had to teach a subject you really didn't understand completely what was going on.
Later, I had a thesis advisor who would "play dumb" and force me to explain my results in a way that someone unschooled in the topic would understand them, which I eventually figured out was his way of getting me in the habit of clearing my thinking up on the topic.
I see that concept is still in play here. Good.
Fantastic! Thanks for sharing your information! May I suggest a topic perhaps on "Developing" or maybe sparking a creative eye to recognize these things?
-Justin
The road to to success is always under construction. _____________________________________________________________________________ When the going gets tough, the tough use duct tape.
CopCarSSJustin, 2) Shoot. A lot.
Amen to that! With digital capture now, the expense and time for processing shots is basically nothing. The best way to learn has always been to shoot, shoot and shoot some more. Make the mistakes. Learn from them. The ratio of tossers to keepers will fall over time, which means you are improving your technique.
ChuckCobleigh CopCarSSJustin, 2) Shoot. A lot. Amen to that! With digital capture now, the expense and time for processing shots is basically nothing. The best way to learn has always been to shoot, shoot and shoot some more. Make the mistakes. Learn from them. The ratio of tossers to keepers will fall over time, which means you are improving your technique.
I go through phases. I can shoot a lot for a few weeks or months, then lose all interest for weeks or months. I envy guys that can shoot stuff every day.
There's an old rule of thumb in photography which posits that you'll get one good shot out of a roll of film. Given that film usually came in 24 or 36 exposure rolls (or 12 in come cases), that means as few as one in 36 pictures that you take will be truly good, with the rest ranging down the scale to "why did I take that?" And once in a while, you'll get a magnificent image as well.
So take lots of pictures.
Chris will be presenting many concepts on exposure and composition. As you progress, you'll find yourself using those concepts with every shot, oftimes turning a "snapshot" into a "portrait." And you'll still take a lot of "dogs."
You'll probably start thinking of different ways to approach your shots, too.
But take lots of pictures. One of my favorite pictures - of a locomotive at Greenfield Village in Michigan - was little more than a "grab shot." But I'm glad I "grabbed" it.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
tree68 There's an old rule of thumb in photography which posits that you'll get one good shot out of a roll of film. Given that film usually came in 24 or 36 exposure rolls (or 12 in come cases), that means as few as one in 36 pictures that you take will be truly good, with the rest ranging down the scale to "why did I take that?" And once in a while, you'll get a magnificent image as well.
Back when I was considering switching to digital, I did a cost comparison; I realized that in less than six months with digital I will have saved enough on film to pay for the camera. It wasn't an easy choice however, as digital back then kinda sucked as far as quality goes. So I used the digital for my more "casual" shots, but when I wanted to really get a good image I brought out the Fugichrome Provia 100 or the Velvia 50.
Chris, you have given us a very well-written essay that is so understandable and useful!! I am impressed with not only your photography skills, but your writing abilities as well.
Thank you for all your effort.
zardoz Chris, you have given us a very well-written essay that is so understandable and useful!! I am impressed with not only your photography skills, but your writing abilities as well. Thank you for all your effort.
Ditto. You may have created a monster. We want more!
oltmannd zardoz Chris, you have given us a very well-written essay that is so understandable and useful!! I am impressed with not only your photography skills, but your writing abilities as well. Thank you for all your effort. Ditto. You may have created a monster. We want more!
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.