Any advice?

[jnjkerbin]

A few months ago, I took the plunge and upgraded from my Compact digital camera (A Fuji A850) which had served me well for many years to a Bridge camera (a Fuji S4500). As I also had a BT mail account, I could therefore get a free flickr pro account and have been adding a few photos recently, mostly railway related, with a few not.

Basically, I'd be interested to hear any thoughts on my photos. Here are a selection:













Thanks in advance for any (honest!) advice.


Joe

 

[ash39]

The first two are underexposed (too dark). I really like the sparks coming off the third rail on the shot of the 92 but it's either out of focus (focussed on the signs not the train) or the shutter speed is too low, hence the blur.

The last shot is the best, nice work!

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I agree the bottom one is the best, but I do also like the top one - the degree of darkness gives it a very atmospheric effect; it's a dark subject with a lighter background and that is always going to be a challenge to photograph - going for atmosphere in such circumstances is always worth trying. You made it work.

 

[jnjkerbin]

Thanks very much guys! May I ask what you think is better: taking a photo from above track level ie. from a bridge, or from platform/track level?

Thanks
Joe

 

[ash39]

I think both can work, but when you've got overhead wires it's trickier to shoot from a bridge. It can be done but only really from a 3/4 angle. Your shot of the 67 for example, wouldn't have been possible with OLE masts in the way.

Platform and lineside shots require more thought to get an interesting shot, but I think I prefer it generally. Especially if you can get close to the lineside (level crossing, station platform etc) and shoot at a long focal length. This compresses the train and allows you to fit, for example, a full HST into one shot, without being so small in the shot you can't make out any detail.

 

[jnjkerbin]

I think both can work, but when you've got overhead wires it's trickier to shoot from a bridge. It can be done but only really from a 3/4 angle. Your shot of the 67 for example, wouldn't have been possible with OLE masts in the way.

Platform and lineside shots require more thought to get an interesting shot, but I think I prefer it generally. Especially if you can get close to the lineside (level crossing, station platform etc) and shoot at a long focal length. This compresses the train and allows you to fit, for example, a full HST into one shot, without being so small in the shot you can't make out any detail.

Thank you very much - it is a blessing to live in 3rd rail land!

 

[Track Basher]

OK this may seem harsh what I am about to say but please take it constructively.

The key to the best shots is location. That is the problem with a number of your shots.

1. This is not a bad location but you are there at the wrong time of day. You can see that the sun is illuminating the cutting where the wagons are at the rear of the train. I would guess this is taken at either the beginning or the end of the day when the bottom of the cutting is in shade. This location may work with the sun in a different location at a different time of day.

2. This looks like it was taken at dusk. It is very difficult to get a good shot at this time of the day. The location is not great. You are too side on and the power lines also look to be going across the picture. You need to look what else is in the picture, not just the train.

3. Nice try. You need the sun on this side. This could have worked at a different time of day.

4. Either too slow a shutter speed or out of focus, can't tell. You also have too much clutter in the left of the photo. Station signage etc. This takes a little while to master.

5. Is not bad. Shutter pressed slightly too early but this could be recovered by a tighter crop of the picture.

6. I don't think you could have done better.

As for location anywhere can work but look at the whole picture you are taking.

Another tip, look at a good quality image site like www.railpictures.net. You can filter by country if you are only interested in the UK. See what you like and how the picture has been taken. Try to replicate what you like.

Hope this is not too critical and provides you useful advice.

Some of my stuff is below.

 

[Zoidberg]

Thank you very much - it is a blessing to live in 3rd rail land!

From pic 1 it looks like five rail land

And for a camera designed for taking pictures of bridges (that is what a bridge camera is, isn't it?) I think you've done well to take those pics of moving objects. Much better than what I produce at any rate.

 

[jnjkerbin]

OK this may seem harsh what I am about to say but please take it constructively.

The key to the best shots is location. That is the problem with a number of your shots.

1. This is not a bad location but you are there at the wrong time of day. You can see that the sun is illuminating the cutting where the wagons are at the rear of the train. I would guess this is taken at either the beginning or the end of the day when the bottom of the cutting is in shade. This location may work with the sun in a different location at a different time of day.

2. This looks like it was taken at dusk. It is very difficult to get a good shot at this time of the day. The location is not great. You are too side on and the power lines also look to be going across the picture. You need to look what else is in the picture, not just the train.

3. Nice try. You need the sun on this side. This could have worked at a different time of day.

4. Either too slow a shutter speed or out of focus, can't tell. You also have too much clutter in the left of the photo. Station signage etc. This takes a little while to master.

5. Is not bad. Shutter pressed slightly too early but this could be recovered by a tighter crop of the picture.

6. I don't think you could have done better.

As for location anywhere can work but look at the whole picture you are taking.

Another tip, look at a good quality image site like www.railpictures.net. You can filter by country if you are only interested in the UK. See what you like and how the picture has been taken. Try to replicate what you like.

Hope this is not too critical and provides you useful advice.

Some of my stuff is below.

Thank you very much for your comments. Picture no.2 I knew was poor but I'm hoping to pop out again now the days are longer to get that working in slightly brighter conditions. The reason for the poor choice of location was that I was a bit late getting to my prefered location and had to make do with a lay-by!

Fair comments though, and thanks very much.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Thank you very much - it is a blessing to live in 3rd rail land!

From pic 1 it looks like five rail land

And for a camera designed for taking pictures of bridges (that is what a bridge camera is, isn't it?) I think you've done well to take those pics of moving objects. Much better than what I produce at any rate.

Thank you very much

 

[Bevan Price]

To add to some of the other comments.
1. If your camera permits, sometimes you need to over-ride the exposure suggested by the camera's automatic exposure system. Don't worry if you sometimes get it wrong, you will improve with practice. Unlike film, digital mistakes can be erased.
2. Don't always use the images you get straight from the camera - you can often improve the appearance using imaging software (Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, etc.) - I think with practice, you could make image 2 look a lot better. The "levels" (or equivalent) control is often the best place to start software adjustments if images look too dull or too bright.

 

[causton]

Agreed that cropping can be a real help, making the difference between two photos e.g. the following:



And the following final version:


NXWM 4822 (BX09 PGV) on route and 4824 (BX09 PGZ) out of service beside Snow Hill station by -Causton-, on Flickr

Now you will see another problem if you have a camera that's not the best like mine, now the resultant picture is slightly pixellated. If you can use a good optical zoom it can be better as it preserves the resolution but if you don't get a good framing you can see it is not the end of the world as cropping can massively improve your shot IMO

 

[jnjkerbin]

To add to some of the other comments.
1. If your camera permits, sometimes you need to over-ride the exposure suggested by the camera's automatic exposure system. Don't worry if you sometimes get it wrong, you will improve with practice. Unlike film, digital mistakes can be erased.
2. Don't always use the images you get straight from the camera - you can often improve the appearance using imaging software (Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, etc.) - I think with practice, you could make image 2 look a lot better. The "levels" (or equivalent) control is often the best place to start software adjustments if images look too dull or too bright.

Thank you, I will try that if I go out today (got the day off ).

Agreed that cropping can be a real help, making the difference between two photos e.g. the following:

View attachment 14692

And the following final version:


NXWM 4822 (BX09 PGV) on route and 4824 (BX09 PGZ) out of service beside Snow Hill station by -Causton-, on Flickr

Now you will see another problem if you have a camera that's not the best like mine, now the resultant picture is slightly pixellated. If you can use a good optical zoom it can be better as it preserves the resolution but if you don't get a good framing you can see it is not the end of the world as cropping can massively improve your shot IMO

Thanks for that- I'll give it a go

 

[jnjkerbin]

OK, here we go!


It has been cropped and the levels adjusted using Windows Live Photo Gallery.

And here's the original image...

Any thoughts?

Thanks

Joe

 

[455driver]

I like Windows live photo gallery!
It does show just how much detail has been captured in the "black" of the original shot.

That is a rather nice picture now, just keep on trying different things, some will work for you and some wont.

 

[jnjkerbin]

Thank you 455driver, and indeed all of you for your help!

 

[ash39]

A couple of pics to help show what I described above about using a long focal length to compress perspective.

Apologies if you've seen this one before, I've posted it a couple of times on here but it's one of my favourites...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ash_3939/8622208251/in/photostream/

If you can't get close enough to the track to get a shot like that, it works at stations too (as long as the platforms are straight, like Donny!)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ash_3939/6953073952/

Also something I meant to mention, for 'standard' 3/4 shots, try getting a bit lower down and shooting up towards the sky, makes the train look that bit more imposing and gives a sense of size and power. Night shots look good too if you have a tripod
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ash_3939/8518328569/

 

[455driver]

That 3rd shot is also rather tasty, no I dont mean the McDonalds, I would rather eat the box thew "meal" comes in.

To be honest if you can keep the shutter speed above 1-500th for a fast(ish) moving train you wont go far wrong, if its a really sunny day then go even faster.

 

[Temple Meads]

To be honest if you can keep the shutter speed above 1-500th for a fast(ish) moving train you wont go far wrong, if its a really sunny day then go even faster.

I agree with this, under exposure can usually be fixed - blur can't, and blur is what you will get if the shutter speed is too slow to freeze the movement of the train.

If you have a camera that is good at high ISO then bumping it up can help with using a faster shutter speed in poor light, but my camera is poor in terms of image noise (the downside of using a fossil!), so I only up the ISO in really poor light, otherwise I try to help the exposure out afterwards using GIMP or Flickr's Aviary.