I got a shout from a fellow TOG the other evening (Douglas) who said he was heading out for a bit of stomp and a shoot. I joined him at a place we had previously identified as a good spot to shoot some long exposures of passing trains. After a good chat where we put the photographic world to rights, we got on with the task of capturing some long exposures in daylight conditions.
Setting up for the shot is not like shooting at night when you go out to to get those beautiful visual tracer lights. For a start, you haven’t got that lovely black background to paint light on. Instead you are contending with a lot of light and there is a lot more detail is being burned upon the cameras censor. Setting the timing up to burn the right amount of image into the composition exactly where you need it to sit in the composition is critical. You are also pushing the camera to the hilt regarding the settings just to squeeze enough exposure time out without overexposing. Some luck is involved also as you can never really determine just how fast each of the locomotives will be travelling, which can have a critical effect on the image. There were one or two occasions where I had done everything right as far as I was concerned to capture the type of image that I was after, only to be scuppered by an uber slow train rolling through the composition. After some minor adjustments and a couple of test shots I got an image that I was really pleased with. This colour image was exactly what I was after and just how I had envisaged the image to be. The black and white one I liked too for different reasons. These shots were a lot of fun in the making and it’s always good fun to hook up with a like minded TOG to share in the fun with. I might have to go out again soon to see if I can get a few different results and perhaps some more diverse compositions. Watch this space.
© Mike Barrett Photography 2019 – All Rights Reserved
Lens EF70-200mm F/4L USM @ 200mm, F32, ISO 100, 0.6 Seconds Exposure, Manual, Tripod Mounted.
Lens EF70-200mm F/4L USM @ 200mm, F32, ISO 50, 2 Seconds Exposure, Manual, Tripod Mounted.
