Has anyone had the opportunity to use Microsoft ICE? (Image Composite Editor) It's a program, from Microsoft, free to download and use, that can take a series of photos, and turn it into a composite. I tested it out with some photos I took in Joliet, and here is the result:
It works pretty well, for being a free program. I plan on doing some more of this as soon as I get the chance..
Poppa_Zit You're actually dealing with two overlapping problems here. 1.) Headlamp bloom due to slight overexposure 2.) Lens flare due to being too "head-on" to the locomotive
You're actually dealing with two overlapping problems here.
1.) Headlamp bloom due to slight overexposure
2.) Lens flare due to being too "head-on" to the locomotive
Thanks! I appreciate everyone's advice. Now if I can just 'find' some trains to shoot when I'm not at work...I'll be all set to try some new techniques!
Dan
Tim, a rank non-photographer like I can't tell that the illustration from Joliet is anything but one photograph. If it's multiple photos, they all had to be taken from the same spot, right? I'd be interesting to see the photographs you used to put that together.
Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
Tim, your photo turned out pretty cool. Like Carl said, it would be hard to tell it was anything but one wide-angle photograph if you hadn't mentioned it.
I haven't used that particular program, but I have used other panorama programs like that which came with my camera to stitch photos together to get really wide panorama shots. I did that for this photo, taken from an overlook in Duluth, MN of Duluth and Superior, WI:
http://badgerrails.webng.com/misc/duluthsuperiormed.jpgI think it was a composite of four photos. It's not perfectly stitched together, but it's pretty good, and I could make it better if I felt like putting the time into it. (As an aside, there are a lot of railroad related things in the photo too if you zoom in. Off to the far left you can see a yard that is the BNSF's Rices' Point yard, and in the center are Docks 5 & 6 that belong to the DMIR, now CN. Across the water from the docks are the piles of coal are a transload point for coal between the BNSF and lake boats).
Noah
Noah Hofrichter Tim, your photo turned out pretty cool. Like Carl said, it would be hard to tell it was anything but one wide-angle photograph if you hadn't mentioned it.
Tim and Noah.....Something different. Very nice.
Quentin
CShaveRR Tim, a rank non-photographer like I can't tell that the illustration from Joliet is anything but one photograph. If it's multiple photos, they all had to be taken from the same spot, right? I'd be interesting to see the photographs you used to put that together.
Carl... it's two photographs, taken from the same spot, I just turned the camera a little and overlapped the shots so the program could stitch them together. It was supposed to be 3 photos, but the 3rd one wouldn't "stitch up" as it were, for some reason. I will try to post the photos I used to put this together.
Noah: That's a pretty cool panoramic photo. Lots of things to look at in there. Download and try ICE, it's pretty straightforward, not many bells and whistles, but it does the job.... .
Thanks, Tim! I've been able to do that with prints back in the photographic dark ages, but it's nice to know that it can be done on a computer nowadays.
Noah, that's an amazing shot. I wish I could do a 270-degree shot from work, but I can't stand in one spot to pull that off (or avoid window posts, etc.). I could figure out the seams on your shot, but only because I was looking for them.
Hi Gang!
It's been awhile since I've been around -- I don't even think I've posted at the new forum. At any rate, I've been kind of busy lately. I finally succeeded (on my third attempt!) at climbing Taylor Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park last weeked. That was fun, but I did come back a bit beat up from it. That story can be found here for anyone that might be interested.
I haven't done an awful lot of train chasing lately, but I did get out yesterday morning for some shots downtown. These are more artsy-fartsy than railfanning, but it was a rather lovely sunrise, and this is a fun part of town to shoot in:
(OK, nothing train related in that one...I just like it!)
Comments and critiques always welcomed!
-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
....Chris, great shots as usual. But what is the vertical {almost}, shaft with the cables holding up....? Looks like a flat roof or platform of some kind......
Modelcar ....Chris, great shots as usual. But what is the vertical {almost}, shaft with the cables holding up....? Looks like a flat roof or platform of some kind......
Thanks for the kind words, Quentin. The shaft and cables are part of the Millennium Bridge here in town. Wiki Page
Great shots in both threads, Chris!
Brian (IA) http://blhanel.rrpicturearchives.net.
blhanel Great shots in both threads, Chris!
Thanks, Brian!
Welcome back to thicker atmosphere, Chris! Nice shots (both above and below the timber line)!
I don't mind being alone on my escapades, either. Used to take a phone card with me on my bike trips to keep Pat informed of my progress. Haven't made any big ones since I got the cell phone, except up in Michigan, in areas where the phone was virtually useless.
Ever try your hand at dune climbing? You probably do 16 miles in about 400 feet! A few years back my family had a race to climb Razorback, a shifting dune near my mother's cottage. I came in third, behind a high-school-aged (at the time) niece and her younger brother--but ahead of my brother-in-law, another niece, daughter, daughter's friend, sister, and Pat. Oh, yes...and the next person to reach the top after me was my mother (then in her 70s)!
(The dune rides go down the steep side of Razorback. The driver informs his/her passengers, "If you're afraid of the drop, just close your eyes as we go down--that's what I do.")
We voted today. At the risk of dragging politics into this, I'll tell everyone that I did not vote for Bush or Blagojevich! So much for the "early" part--now working on "often". again. Snow in the air today.
CShaveRRWe voted today. At the risk of dragging politics into this, I'll tell everyone that I did not vote for Bush or Blagojevich!
Yep, voting this year appears it's going to be on the heavy side Carl. Jean and I voted back on Oct. 20th.....and we stood in line at our City-County Building to do so that day.
Carl -
With as much time as I've spent at 10,000 feet plus this year, I'm really looking forward to coming back to Chicagoland in the coming months. I'm already feeling like there's a huge surplus of air here in Denver. 700 feet is going to be amazing! I may literally be bouncing off of the walls at my Mom's house!
I have done a bit of dune climbing. I did the Great Sand Dunes in 2000 and in 2006. Both times I climbed the highest dune there, which was about 700 feet above it's base. It is definately an interesting experience. 2 steps forward, one back!
I wish I knew how to ski/board, though. When I was there in 2006, there were a couple of boarders riding down the dunes on some old snowboards (very old apparently...sand isn't the best texture for skis/snowboards). It looked like a lot of fun!
Voting is on my agenda, too. Have other duties tonight, but it might be a side trip for tomorrow.
Good. At least you didn't cancel out our votes.
Quentin, I'd expected a long line, but the whole thing was well handled, and we didn't need any ID beyond our driver's licenses. I suspect that they were set up to handle the entire county at this spot (Elmhurst City Hall), with the magnetic card we were given being used to provide the computer with the correct precinct. We probably could have gotten away with parking in one of the ten-minute spots.
Don't know about dune-boarding, Chris (haven't seen that on the Western Michigan dunes), but I have this daughter who's still into wake-boarding between bouts of pregnancy... Of course, that's not exactly a sport for the time you're around here!
Here's a Halloween night heads-up for the Chicago area--what better night could there be for a black-and-orange locomotive to come flying in?
UP Heritage unit 1996, the SP unit, is on a train coming in from the West. Should be at Global 3 as this is being written, with Global 2 (Proviso) as the destination, shortly before midnight.
But wait...there's more! Other units in the company of this one are UP 4141 (the George H. W. Bush unit) and UP 1988 (the Katy Heritage unit).
Thanks to the folks at Trainorders.com who alerted us to this. I don't know yet how long these units will be haunting us; I might get to see them yet tomorrow.
I'm not going to take credit for the picture - that's on the linked page.
This was northern New York on Thursday:
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=257915
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...
Carl - That sounds like a really nice set of Trick or Treaters out your way! Wish I could have seen them!
Larry - That's a wee bit of snow! Those heavy, wet snows are a pain. We seem to get ours more towards March/April/May, though.
Larry I wish we had weather like that now around here...I love it!
When you get that weather, Dan, kindly keep it up by you. We're supposed to have balmy temperatures through mid-week, but Thursday or Friday it's going to drop like a rock. We've had our first frost, so I guess this qualifies as Indian Summer.
The train with the Heritage units didn't come in on the stroke of midnight as expected, nor did it have all of the advertised units. It arrived a bit after 9:00 this morning (saw it poke its nose under the bridge, but didn't see it pull the rest of the way in because I had to do some work). The 1988 was missing, because it was apparently giving the crews problems; it shows as remaining at Global 3.
CShaveRR The train with the Heritage units didn't come in on the stroke of midnight as expected, nor did it have all of the advertised units. It arrived a bit after 9:00 this morning (saw it poke its nose under the bridge, but didn't see it pull the rest of the way in because I had to do some work). The 1988 was missing, because it was apparently giving the crews problems; it shows as remaining at Global 3.
I heard on a Yahoo! group that the 1988 suffered some problems on the way east. Here's the email that was in my inbox:
I set out to chase the 4141,1996,1988 on the eastward stack on the oldSanta Fe. The train came to a screaching halt at MP141.5. Seems awestward train crew after meeting 4141 and company spotted "junk"between the rails long about MP 145. Stopped short of the MP141.2signal, the crew found the 1988 "Miss Katy" experienced a brokengearbox cover on the #3 axle. The remainder of the box wedged into thegears causing the axle to freeze-up and slide. Coaxing the 1988 upabout 10 car lengths to the BNSF maintenance truck, the crew decidedthe cutting torch would do the most good. Once the rest of the junk wasdislodged, the train made it onto the UP and the 1988 had big flatspots. Enough that the unit had to be set-out at Bradmoor (uncertain ofthe spelling).
I'm not just sure where on the BNSF that occurred, but it doesn't sound too good. Anybody know just how bad damage like that is?
The problem that the 1988 suffered is indeed a serious problem- it's gonna be sidelined for a while, ironically it's had this happen before in April 2006 to the #3 axle. The traction motor locked up and did almost exactly the same thing- it was taken to North Little Rock for repairs then.
The unit started dropping parts on the ex-ATSF main line near Monica (where the parts were spotted), which is the first station west of Edelstein. The engine- after the BNSF crews did their ad hoc repairs- was dragged up to Broadmoor which is on the former CNW about 15 miles north of Edelstein. I find it interesting they set it out initially there since there are available industry tracks at Speer and Camp Grove. The unit is now reported at Global 3- as of 0150 this morning.
Busy night on the scanner tonight, and not because of railroad stuff - but the incident certainly parallels the many grade crossing accidents we've discussed here on the forum.
Initial reports indicate that two young men tried to cross the Interstate from the mall to a restaurant on the other side - on foot. One didn't make it - he was hit and killed.
As police were dealing the that incident, a patrol car parked on the median shoulder was hit by another vehicle which somehow set off a chain reaction involving a large motorhome, two SUV's and a car. There was one serious injury from that series of collisions.
There is a highway overpass, recently reconstructed, with plenty of pedestrian accomodations, about 200 yards from where the first incident occured. It would have added 5-10 minutes to their walk.
This is even stupider than people who take shortcuts across tracks. This Interstate is generally pretty busy - it leads to several international border crossings as well as the resort areas along the St Lawrence River and a major military installation.
I feel sorry for his family and friends, but...
Had to vent, and the parallels to many RR crossing accidents are many. Back to our regularly scheduled programming.
Sorry the busy scanner disturbed your night, Larry. But of course, it wasn't the kids' fault--somebody didn't put enough "No Trespassing" signs with graphic illustrations along a totally fenced-in right-of-way to suggest to these poor little darlings that this might not be safe. And nobody told or directed them to this overpass, so how were these little darlings supposed to know what to do? And, naturally, the driver hitting the police car should have used the common sense that these kids never grew up to apply for.
Thanks for venting, Larry!
Larry -- Bummer about that night. That sounds a little nightmarish. I never cease to be amazed at what some people will do to save 5 or 10 minutes. Is that amount of time really worth gambling one's life away?
Meanwhile, I just got back from Denver Union Station. I took a couple pictures -- nothing spectacular -- but I did have the opportunity to briefly meet Jay and his wife. That was very nice and #5 was running on time again. The CZ has been doing well lately. I hope they can keep up this trend when I ride in a few weeks and again in Dec.
I witnessed an incident, similar to what Larry described, about 25 years ago. Two kids tried to cross the I-290 right by Hillside Mall, and about 50 yards from the underpass... The sight and sound is something you don't really forget......
Okay, here is a photo I shot yesterday, and for some reason is very noisy.... This used to happen alot with my older camera in lower light situations, but not with my new one, even when shooting at night.
Here is the photo:
It was shot at 1/1000, f/4.5, ISO 200 Focal length of 84mm. Any suggestions?
Tim,
Because of the physics of sensor design and the way manufacturers are cramming as many pixels as possible onto a given sensor anymore, noise is going to be part of the game. With a few notable exceptions, all non-DSLR cameras use pretty small sensors, so cramming a lot of pixels on them mean that individual photo sites are pretty small. Because of that, you'll start to get noise at anything except the native resolution of the sensor on many cameras. This might be a case of that.
You can fight it a little bit by trying to expose the scene a little more and bringing the exposure back in post-processing. You'll have to be careful about not clipping highlights, but sensors do better at recording higher light intensities than lower ones. You'll see noise in shadows long before highlights.
Also, with head on telephoto shots, you can afford to sacrifice some shutter speed. In this case, dropping the ISO and shooting at 1/500th at ISO 100 should have been OK (unless the train was really flying).
If all else fails, noise reduction programs are pretty good these days, too. I use NeatImage, but there are other programs like Noise Ninja, too. This shot would clean up nicely in either of those. Let me know if you want me to run it through NeatImage for you to show you what it can do.
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