Train Photography with a DSLR

[leomartin125]

Hi,

I'm using a Canon EOS 750D and want to get more out of train photography than I currently do. I feel a little lack of knowledge about DSLR's is hindering my ability somewhat as I'm shooting JPEG's. Are there any tips for improving the quality of my shots? Should I be shooting JPEG or RAW, which is better for train photo's?

Thanks,
Leo

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I shoot in .jpg on a Nikon D40 and it performs very well. My personal technique is to turn the ISO up as high as it'll go without losing definition ( ASA1600 in the case of the D40 ) and quite often a few rapid half-presses of the button to pre-focus before doing the actual shot.

 

[Haydn1971]

The choice between RAW and JPEG really comes back to what post processing you wish to do, I'd advocate using RAW to have greater control over exposure, selectively across a photo, but if you are happy with the rendition of the in camera JPEG files, just stick with them.

What exactly do you feel is lacking in the quality of your shots ? If it's colour and light rendition, then shooting in RAW and investing in something like Lightroom will help, if your shots are blurring, then you may need to look at your technique or lens choices.

 

[Shaw S Hunter]

Hope this doesn't come across as stating the obvious but take some time to thoroughly read the complete user guide rather than just the quick start booklet. Assuming you have a basic understanding of the science of photography you may very well learn about all sorts of useful features on your camera that you hadn't even thought about. Like taking full advantage of the auto-focus system or how different modes affect white balance. HTIOI.

 

[leomartin125]

It isn't my technique at all, I know how to shoot trains no worries at all, I have mastered that. I look at other people's photos of trains, for example this:

https://flic.kr/p/M761uM

And then wonder how I can get the same quality at that size, an example of my shot with my camera (which is capable of doing it easy!) can be found here:

https://flic.kr/p/KdS1WA

What am I missing, or can I improve to boost the quality of my shot? Is the Canon EOS 750D good enough to provide outstanding photo's?

Regards,
Leo

 

[Haydn1971]

I'd suggest that the first has saturated colour, I prefer the saturation of your image. Best suggestion would be to consider composition, the low level shot works well, gives a sense of how huge the train is, I'd also suggest you don't photograph in the direct sunlight, try shooting at dawn and dusk in the golden and blue hours, especially in the morning, a subject coming out of the morning mist, with subdued colours looks amazing...

The 750D is a good camera, there are better ones out there, but the next up the 80D wouldn't offer you much more than better AF, going up from there to the 6D or 5Div would give you a full frame sensor, but you are getting into new lenses and such, expect to fork out £3k+ for FF and a decent lens. Best investment I made was in the Lightroom software and shorting in RAW.... Best personal thing I did, was get up early, play with the early morning light, stay out for sunsets, always have my camera with me... I have a Canon 6D with a lot of glass, which I use when I'm in a photo mode, I often carry my EOS-M with a 22mm prime, but I always have my iPhone with me, some of my best photo moments have been captured on my iPhone, I have a sunrise photo in my living room captured on a 2mpx Fuji... Don't get hung up on equipment, just capture the light with whatever is in your hands.

 

[Shaw S Hunter]

Ultimately it comes down to doing what you enjoy. Why take photos in the first place? Is it purely for the pleasure of the act itself? Or to have images which trigger happy memories after the event? Perhaps you have an exhibitionist or competitive streak which leads you to wanting your photos "published" and therefore technical standards may be an issue. Or many other possibilities. Does it matter that much what other people think so long as you are satisfied with your own efforts?

 

[Bevan Price]

The only real solution is practice, practice, practice and even more practice until you get the results you like.

You need fast shutter speeds for moving trains, at least 1/500 second - and even faster in bright light. Increasing ISO setting introduces more grain into images, but you will often not notice unless you are printing images to A4 size or larger.

On SLR cameras, you can often choose the main zone(s) of focus / exposure - make sure that you select the area which includes the train rather than the background scenery. Also, in some lighting conditions, it can be better to use manual exposure settings rather than let the camera choose what it thinks are the best settings.

Remember - you can practice as much as you want until you find your best technique - apart from more frequent battery recharging, it costs almost nothing. Unlike film, you can just delete all the "failed" images.

As others comment, RAW images allow more latitude in software "editing" of your images. However, they can also take more time to write the image onto the memory card. At some locations, I tend to take multiple images of moving trains, and then choose the preferred image (e.g. the ones excluding that tree / mast / other object that I misjudged when looking through the viewfinder.) With my camera, it is sometimes incapable of writing all the RAW films to card , and the last couple of intended images are "lost") This problem does not normally occur if I record only as JPG format files (which are smaller than RAW files.)

 

[Track Basher]

Could you post some of your images so we can take a look?

 

[Bevan Price]

It isn't my technique at all, I know how to shoot trains no worries at all, I have mastered that. I look at other people's photos of trains, for example this:

https://flic.kr/p/M761uM

And then wonder how I can get the same quality at that size, an example of my shot with my camera (which is capable of doing it easy!) can be found here:

https://flic.kr/p/KdS1WA

What am I missing, or can I improve to boost the quality of my shot? Is the Canon EOS 750D good enough to provide outstanding photo's?

Regards,
Leo

In my computer monitor, the blue sky looks over saturated (too intense) in both images. Apart from that, your shot looks pretty good - most of the loco detail is in focus and the composition is OK. True, we can't see much wheel detail, but that is due to the shadow, and none of us can control the position of the sun. You can use software to make the wheels more visible, but beware of overdoing the changes, as that can produce unnatural effects.

As an afterthought - do you check the colour balance setting ? On my Canon, in daylight, I usually rely on the automatic colour balance option. Using, for example, white balance set for tungsten lighting can give unnatural colours in daylight (or vice versa)

 

[leomartin125]

Could you post some of your images so we can take a look?

My Flickr collection is available here, and is where I post my shots online:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/138309095@N05/

And thanks Bevan, that's really helpful. I do understand your point about over saturation, and believe I may have taken editing a bit too far with that Class 90 picture of mine. A lot more of my recent shots are more natural, and I try not to use ISO where possible. In terms of colour balance, I don't really know how to control this. My white balance is almost always set on Auto unless it's a sunny day when I set it onto daylight.

 

[ComUtoR]

Should I be shooting JPEG or RAW, which is better for train photo's?

Thanks,
Leo

I am a new photographer and I'm learning pretty much each time I go out with my camera. I know the basics and I only bought a Bridge Camera as I knew I would struggle with a full blown DSLR. I wanted point and shoot with benefits...

Mine can shoot JPEG + RAW I have no doubt that yours could easily do the same. I think I have mentioned that to you before. When I set to both it will limit some settings. (zoom mostly)

When I read up about RAW I found that it was partly about what you do with the photo after you have taken it. If your going to process it through various editors then RAW seems to be the preferred format. I haven't edited any of my photos but I still shoot both sometimes. If your shooting then loading onto a PC or uploading etc then JPEG is more portable and easier to manage.

On of the best bits of advice I've read so far is to use the custom settings and switch between those for your preferred choice. Mine has C1-2-3 for customised settings. A fully manual mode and the usual speed/aperture priority modes. My settings : Full zoom (lower quality) Full quality (lower zoom) Bit of everything (RAW+JPEG) I have a black and white preset too.

I'm very much in the shallow end doing the doggie paddle. When I start editing then I'll learn more about the RAW format and why its preferred in some instances but I'll be very happy that I shoot both.

 

[rf_ioliver]

Get yourself on a photography course - you can probably find a night course somewhere, and/or join a camera club. It'll improve your knowledge and technique immeasurably!

A DSLR with a great lens does not equal a great picture - in fact, if I'm anything to go by, about 1 in 20 is OK. In one camera club lecture by a famous Finnish photographer he stated that the difference between a pro and an amateur is that a pro takes 10,000s of c### pictures and experimented with every setting and post-processing option imaginable while an amateur takes a picture and wonders why it isn't like a pro's.

One of the issues with moving to a DSLR (apart from spending a small fortune on a bad lens habit ) is that a DSLR is designed to give you huge amounts of control *and* to give you a file (jpeg or raw) for post-processing - meaning Photoshop or Gimp (even Canon's software is fine). There's nothing wrong with post-processing - it isn't cheating; film photographers spent most of their time doing the analogous thing with chemicals. A DSLR is *not* for taking a quick picture - even though they have fully automatic settings - and is certainly not optimised for that mode of usage.

Photographers spend a lot of time setting up their workflow, from taking the picture through to the post-processing stages. This is something a course or club will help you with.

For example, the colours in a picture depend upon camera settings, the ambient light, the monitor, the colour space, the paper you're printing on, the file type etc etc.

There's a huge amount to learn and you're going to take 10,000s of c### photos - just like the rest of us - and maybe, you get 1 or 2 real amazing pictures and many more that you can feel proud about.

So as a suggestion, try setting the camera to ISO800, 1/500th, f/13 (feel free to play with these, eg: bright day, drop the ISO) and just pointing at trains. Take the jpgs (easier to work with at first), stick them in Gimp or use the Canon tool, fiddle with the brightness, contrast, saturation and curves until you get something that pleases you.

And watch out for the lens habit...you will need a telephoto eventually, and a few primes, a wide-angle, a couple of zoom lenses, a 40mm prime is fun....

t.

Ian

 

[xc170]

And watch out for the lens habit...you will need a telephoto eventually, and a few primes, a wide-angle, a couple of zoom lenses, a 40mm prime is fun....

I agree with this, it can be a bad habbit to get in to, I've narrowed my lens collection down to the Nikon 18-105 for general stuff, a couple of primes, 35 and 50mm and a 70-300 for telephoto stuff.

Don't underestimate the kit lens that came with your camera, they're nothing special, but you can get some pretty decent results if you learn how to use them, this was with my 18-105 on a D90 body.

CrossCountry 221 131 by Adam Priseman, on Flickr

I'd say the best way to get better results is to do your research on the internet, join a photography forum and ask questions and of course just get out and play with the camera, learn what exposure/apeture/iso do...