It’s what they call a ‘Hail Mary shot.’ New England Central 611 rolls north at East Northfield, Massachusetts in a fleeting fading glimmer of October sun.
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It’s what they call a ‘Hail Mary shot.’ New England Central 611 rolls north at East Northfield, Massachusetts in a fleeting fading glimmer of October sun.
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In staying with the spirit of the season, I offer these views exposed last week of a discharged ethanol train, Pan Am Railways/Norfolk Southern symbol 67N, passing a pumpkin field at Buckland, Massachusetts. (Plus an earlier image at East Deerfield, see below).
The movement of unit ethanol trains via the former Boston & Maine routing is a relatively recent change in New England railroading.
For several years unit ethanol trains to the Providence & Worcester have used routings via either CSXT or CP-Vermont Rail System-New England Central. The construction of improved connections between Pan Am Railways/Pan Am Southern and the Providence & Worcester at the Gardner, Massachusetts yard, have allowed Pan Am via NS to emerge as a preferred New England ethanol route.
I’ve known about this for a few months, yet I was taken by surprise when the westward empty ethanol train appeared at East Deerfield Yard, just a few minutes behind a POED (Portland to East Deerfield) carload freight that I’d been following.
So often, locations along the old B&M offer only a very limited view of the train.
This pumpkin field, near the old Buckland station, offered a good place to put the unit train in perspective. I wanted to show as much of the train as practicable and in a New England setting.
Photos exposed with a FujiFilm X-T1 with 18-135mm lens.
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The other day I had my first encounter with one of Norfolk Southern’s SD60E diesel-electrics, which features a modified cab.
Since today’s North American freight railroading tends to be dominated by cookie cutter wide-nose safety cab six-motor diesels, I find any variation in cab style noteworthy.
The beetle-brow look on this engine certainly caught my attention. And since it was paused on an eastward freight near Lake Pleasant, east of East Deerfield, I took the opportunity to make a few detail photos that emphasize the unusual cab shape.
I wonder what the engine crews think of this innovation?
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When in doubt, try again. Earlier in the week Mike Gardner and I had missed the New England Central at Millers Falls, Massachusetts. It wasn’t for a lack of trying, but we’d misqued, got caught in traffic, and just not been at the right place at the right time. This happens.
It was a bright morning. From recent experience I knew that New England Central job 611 departs Brattleboro Yard for Palmer sometime after 8 am.
I drove directly to Millers Falls, I did not pass Go, I did not collect $200. I parked and walked (I fought my way through thicket and briars) to a known good spot on a rock near the shore of the Millers River and there I waited.
This was my reward. And yes, I also exposed a color slide.
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There’s an undeniable magic to the Hoosac Tunnel. It’s old, it’s long, and its portals are nestled deep in scenic valleys of western Massachusetts.
Hoosac East Portal is especially fascinating; the railroad approaches on a sweeping curve and crosses a bridge over the Deerfield. All around are vestiges of earlier times. Some of the old catenary supports survive from when the tunnel was electrified. The keen eye will located the false portal, where early builders initially bored but gave up.
A flume cascades down the mountain making an unending roar that sometimes sounds like a train.
On this cool evening, Mike Gardner and I arrived in time to photograph Pan Am’s EDRJ disappearing into the bowels of the mountain. We’d heard a hint of an eastward freight on the radio and decided to wait it out.
About an hour after EDRJ had passed, the tunnel began to breathe. It emitted an effluence that was part locomotive exhaust and part condensation caused by the air inside the tunnel meeting the cool air outside. After a while it began to fill the valley around East Portal with a fine bluish vapor, like the spirits of lost souls escaping the confines of the mountain.
“I think I hear a train,” Mike said. I assured him that was just the cascading water.
“No, I really hear a train.”
Despite this sense more than an hour and half had passed, and we were about to leave. Then suddenly, as with past visits, the signal across the bridge lit up—high green. “Yahoo!”
We resumed positions a safe distance from the east portal, and exposed photos of intermodal train 22K as it approached.
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It’s been more than 30 years since I first chased a train west toward the Hoosac Tunnel.
The railroad makes a steady uphill climb west from Greenfield to the famous bore in western Massachusetts. Relatively slow train speeds make it easy to catch a freight at various locations.
Symbol freight EDRJ (East Deerfield to Rotterdam Junction) had an interesting consist of older EMDs. In the lead was high-hood GP40 371. This made for some great sound and interesting photos.
Often as you leave the Connecticut River Valley the weather changes. On this October 2015 day, it was sunny at East Deerfield Yard, but raining by the time we reached the Hoosac Tunnel.
Sometimes rain offers an improvement. Not all great railway photos need bright sun. Mike Gardner and I were undaunted by the rain and made the most of this classic chase.
Tomorrow: The Hoosac Tunnel!
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As a follow-up to yesterday’s post; while waiting for Pan Am Southern 14R with Union Pacific SD70Ms, Mike Gardner and I photographed an empty ballast train with an old GP40 departing on the East Deerfield Loop, where it will travel a short distance to crusher for loading.
I thought it made an interesting juxtaposition to show the old EMD with its battered ballast hoppers departing the switches at the west-end with the Union Pacific locomotives waiting in the distance.
Which train was the main event? In the future, which may be of greater interest? The lowly ballast train or the symbol through freight with ‘foreign power’? What do you think?
I exposed these photos using my FujiFilm X-T1 mirror-less digital camera.
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One of my favorite places to experience railroading and expose photos is on the old Boston & Albany ‘West End,’ Washington Hill grade.
On this legendary grade, one of the most interesting places is the 1912 line relocation between mileposts 129 and 130, west of Chester, Massachusetts. This includes a very deep cutting, while the right of way of the original 1839-built line is nearby and features three large stone arches dating from the time of construction.
Bob Buck first showed me this cosmic piece of railroad back in 1982.
I visited this hallowed ground last week and exposed these views with my FujiFilm X-T1. To accentuate the autumn foliage and make for more pleasing scenes, I set the white balance to ‘shade’ which warms up the scene.
CSXT was kind enough to send an eastward stack train down grade mid-morning.
I’ll feature this territory in my Boston & Albany book, which I hope to complete writing in the coming months.
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Last Saturday, I had the opportunity to test a 32mm Zeiss Touit lens on my Fuji X-T1. This is a fast and sharp lens.
These images were made at dusk at the restored former Lackawanna Railroad station at Cresco, Pennsylvania on the climb to Pocono Summit.
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Sometimes finding the train is more than half the challenge. On Saturday October 17, 2015, Pat Yough and I had been following the old Delaware, Lackawanna & Western mainline with an awareness that Genesee Valley Transportation’s Delaware-Lackawanna was operating its ‘Portland turn’ to interchange with Norfolk Southern.
Finally, we found the train as it was arriving at Slateford Junction.
The attraction of D-L’s freights is that they operate with antique Alco diesels. Alco exited the American locomotive business more than 46 years ago, so finding these old machines hard at work remains a real treat.
While D-L’s portion of the freight movement tends to be well documented in recent years as a function of the Alcos, the Norfolk Southern connection is often ignored. As an historian this bothers me.
I have to admit that I too have been guilty of this photographic censorship. While I’ve photographed the Portland turn on several occasions, I haven’t made much of an effort to seek out the NS portion of this run. That is, until last Saturday.
Pat and I agreed, that if the D-L’s connection with NS were to be moved, photos of the NS at Portland would be a rare commodity indeed. So, while we made a point of catching the Alcos at work, we also went after NS H-76, which featured a nice collection of vintage EMD diesels.
All around it was a successful afternoon. It was also the first time that I’ve photographed the D-L using digital cameras. A fair few years had passed since my last visit!
Sometimes after making all the wrong moves, luck falls on your lap.
It was Thursday, October 22, Mike Gardner and I had traveled to Brattleboro, Vermont to intercept the southward New England freight, job 611. Instead of my usual route via back roads, we opted for I-91, then got caught in terrible traffic in the town. By the time we reached the yard, 611 had departed.
To Millers Falls we went, only to learn we missed the train by moments. “Now what?” Mike asked.
So, we went over to Pan Am’s East Deerfield Yard, near Greenfield, Massachusetts. Where trains converged from all directions.
Eastward freight, symbol 14R, came into view led by Union Pacific SD70M 3947. “What is this, the Feather River Canyon?”
This was not hard to take; clean Union Pacific locomotives from the famous ‘Railfan’s Bridge’ at East Deerfield West.
I’ve made countless photos from this well established vantage point, but it’s always nice to get something unusual. The bridge itself is on borrowed time, so my philosophy is make use of it while I can.
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In its heyday, the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western was a super railroad. Visionary management rebuilt and modernized the line in the early years of the 20th century, spending vast amounts of private capital on massive line relocations characterized by massive concrete viaducts.
I can only imagine what the railroad would have been like with its multiple track mainline, numerous signal towers, and a steady flow of freight and passenger trains.
On the afternoon of October 17th, Pat Yough and I revisited the DL&W line over Pocono Summit, and explored the area around Slateford Junction and Portland, Pennsylvania.
I made these views of the old Lackawanna infrastructure. While the old ‘Lackawanna Cut-off’ built in 1908 was abandoned by Conrail in the 1980s, other portions of the DL&W in the area remain active, although it’s a shadow compared to the intensively traveled mainline of a century ago.
Yet, the decayed vestiges of this once super railroad remain a fascinating testimony to the earlier era. A time when coal was the railroad’s life blood, and the dull roar of interstate highways and jet aero planes was still far in the future.
Stay tuned tomorrow: the DL&W Lives on with Norfolk Southern and Delaware-Lackawanna freights.
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SEPTA’s number 15 trolley is among the subjects I regularly revisit on Tracking the Light. My brother lives just a few blocks from the line, which runs along Girard Avenue in Philadelphia.
Like Dublin’s LUAS tram routes, SEPTA’s 15 is a railway line that I’ve routinely used to get around, and that makes it an ideal subject to photograph. The historic PCC cars are an added bonus.
I exposed these views with my Lumix LX7 last Friday evening to and from my way to Johnny Brenda’s Tavern for dinner.
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In its heyday, the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western was a super railroad. Visionary management rebuilt and modernized the line in the early years of the 20th century, spending vast amounts of private capital on massive line relocations characterized by massive concrete viaducts.
I can only imagine what the railroad would have been like with its multiple track mainline, numerous signal towers, and a steady flow of freight and passenger trains.
On the afternoon of October 17th, Pat Yough and I revisited the DL&W line over Pocono Summit, and explored the area around Slateford Junction and Portland, Pennsylvania.
I made these views of the old Lackawanna infrastructure. While the old ‘Lackawanna Cut-off’ built in 1908 was abandoned by Conrail in the 1980s, other portions of the DL&W in the area remain active, although it’s a shadow compared to the intensively traveled mainline of a century ago.
Yet, the decayed vestiges of this once super railroad remain a fascinating testimony to the earlier era. A time when coal was the railroad’s life blood, and the dull roar of interstate highways and jet aero planes was still far in the future.
Coming soon: the DL&W Lives on with Norfolk Southern and Delaware-Lackawanna freights.
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Excursion trains are a perfect opportunity to test photographic equipment. I’m always looking for new glass. It’s not that cash is burning holes in my wallet, but every lens offers new ways of making photographs, and I’m curious to know what each is capable of.
Sunday, I had the loan of a Fujinon XF16-55mm f2.8 zoom. I already have a 18-135mm Fujinon zoom for my X-T1, so I wanted to know what could this lens offer me.
First of all it has a slightly wider field of view. More importantly, it’s faster (f2.8 across the range instead of f4-5.6) and the aperture control is with a conventional ring on the lens with traditional f stop markings.
I found the lens easy to use, quick to focus, and very sharp. On the downside, it is heavier and larger than my existing zoom. Also, from the moment I attached it to the camera I wanted it!
Here are two photos exposed hand-held with the zoom. I’d photographed the same train at this exact location on the previous day using my Canon EOS 3 and Provia slide film.
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Sent from Amtrak 56, the Vermonter.
Exposed with my Lumix LX7 this morning at Trenton, New Jersey.
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Call it: Blue Pacific—Part 2.
Every so often you get a day where everything seems to come together.
Saturday, October 17, 2015 was one of those days.
Thanks to the Reading & Northern and their crews for running an impressive train; thanks to Pat Yough for getting us where we all needed to be to photograph the action; thanks to FujiFilm for producing a great little camera; and thanks to Autumn 2015 for great weather and fine foliage.
All I did was release the shutter.
Hooray!
Historically, a key to successful steam locomotive photos was leaving ample space above the locomotive for the exhaust plume. Imagine this same composition with a diesel.
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Saturday morning, Pat Yough and I photographed Reading & Northern’s handsome Pacific, number 425, on a fall foliage excursion from Port Clinton to Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania.
The weather was perfect; clear and cool.
I exposed this image on the old Reading Company at Zehners, Pennsylvania on the line from Port Clinton to Tamaqua.
My intent was to show that the locomotive is a Pacific type (4-6-2). What better way to do this than with a nicely lit broad-side view?
All told, it was an excellent morning!
What I can’t convey in still images is the sound of the whistle echoing up the valleys, and the bark of the exhaust as the engine worked upgrade, complete with the occasional burst of beats that results from the drivers slipping on wet rail.
Kudos to the Reading & Northern’s operating department for a job well done.
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I arrived on Amtrak 173, which was actually ahead of schedule. By arrangement, I met Bruce and Steve Barry on the platform.
I was on my way to give a talk on British and Irish Railways to the Wilmington Chapter National Railway Historical Society, but Bruce advised me before arrival that we’d have time to photograph a few trains.
They’d selected an ideal spot at the north-end of platform C. The light was perfect and over the course of about 10 minutes we caught three southward trains.
For me the highlight of this short but productive venture was the passage of Amtrak number 97, the Silver Meteor (New York Penn-Station to Florida) which carried Viewliner sleepers and one of the few remaining heritage diners.
I was experimenting with my FujiFilm X-T1, and used the silent digital shutter, instead of the mechanical shutter that I typically use to make railroad photos. I’ll elaborate on that in a future post.
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As a follow up to the black & white variations I posted the other day showing Central Vermont Railway RS-11s crossing the Palmer diamonds, I exposed this view made at precisely the same location.
In 1984, Conrail’s directional double track line crossed Central Vermont. Today, CSXT’s single track line crosses Genessee & Wyoming’s New England Central.
More than just the tracks, names and locomotives have changed.
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I boarded at New Haven Union station and I’m on my way to Wilmington, Delaware. This is my first-ever Amtrak trip to Wilmington.
Tonight, Thursday, October 15, 2015, I’ll be presenting an illustrated talk on railways in Ireland and Britain to the Wilmington Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society.
I’ll be showing original 35mm color slides that span 18 years worth of photographic adventures.
According to the Chapter’s website:
The Wilmington Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society meets at 7:00 PM on the third Thursday of each month (except August and December) at the Claymont Community Center, on Green Street in Claymont, Delaware.
For directions and additional information see: http://www.wilmingtonnrhs.com/meetings.htm
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Photographing the Lake Shore Limited is a tradition in our family dating back almost 40 years.
It was a clear afternoon. The Boston section of Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited was nearly on schedule.
The other day my father and I selected a location near the summit of the Boston & Albany at Washington, Massachusetts.
Using my FujiFilm X-T1 I set up a view that places the train in the left-hand portion of the image, while featuring the pastoral autumnal scenery on the right.
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Tomorrow night, October 15, 2015, I’ll be presenting an illustrated talk on railways in Ireland and Britain to the Wilmington Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society.
According to the Chapter’s website:
The Wilmington Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society meets at 7:00 PM on the third Thursday of each month (except August and December) at the Claymont Community Center, on Green Street in Claymont, Delaware.
For directions and additional information see: http://www.wilmingtonnrhs.com/meetings.htm
I’ll be showing original 35mm color slides that span 18 years worth of photographic adventures.
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Saturday, October 10th, I exposed a series of photographs of Amtrak 54 (northward Vermonter) at Vernon, Vermont.
Low sun and richly colored vegetation made for a simple, but attractive scene.
Starting with the shadow in the foreground, I set up a graphic composition using a series of simple line and color transitions designed to complement and emphasize the Amtrak train.
Which version do you think is more effective: the closer view, or the image where the Amtrak train is slightly more distant?
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On Sunday October 11, 2015, my father and I drove over the Berkshires to travel and photograph’s Berkshire Scenic’s Hoosac Valley excursion that is now operating on a short portion of the old Boston & Albany branch between Renfrew in Adams and North Adams, Massachusetts.
This presented an opportunity to travel in an old Budd RDC and ride a rarely used portion of the Boston & Albany. This new excursion service had only begun on the previous day, and should run over the next few weekends.
At Renfrew I met my friends Otto Vondrak, and Kevin Chittenden. Kevin was the engineer for the day.
The weather was nearly perfect—clear polarized sunny skies.
On the only hitch was that a day or two earlier the RDC had developed an electric fault, and as a result was being towed/propelled by a vintage EMD SW8 switcher.
My Irish friends will note that this 800 hp locomotive is remarkably similar to CIE’s Class 121s (also built by EMD).
I made this selection of photographs with my Lumix LX7 and FujiFilm X-T1 digital camera. However, I also exposed a few colour slides with my father’s Leica M4 with 35mm Summilux lens.
Thanks to everyone at the Berkshire Scenic/Hoosac Valley for making this an enjoyable day out.
For details on the new excursion service see: http://hoosacvalleytrainride.com/
Or look at: Hoosac Valley Service on Facebook.
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In early September, my friends and I witnessed the passage of this old German class 140 electric in classic green paint.
Every day in late morning or early afternoon it would work south along the Rhein’s Right Bank (east side) with a freight.
On this day we hiked out to the Loreley statue on a peninsula near the famous Loreley Rock at bend in the river. I made these photos with my FujiFilm X-T1. As the freight drew closer, I opted to pan, which helps set apart the green locomotive from the hillside beyond.
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I made this photograph on April 13, 1984. It was a Friday, and I was then in my final months of my Senior year of High School.
If I recall correctly, in this instance I wasn’t ‘absent’ as Seniors were allowed to leave the school if they didn’t have a class, and there was an even greater freedom permitted on Fridays.
Anyway, I think the Palmer diamonds, where Central Vermont’s line crossed Conrail’s east-west Boston & Albany route was a better place for me to be on that Friday the 13th.
However, this negative was left in the ‘seconds’ file for many years. Not because of the subject matter, or any grave instance caused by the unlucky day. But rather because my processing skills were not yet up to par.
In addition to careless over-processing the negatives in Kodak Microdol-X (which in my view led to a grainy appearance coupled with slightly unpleasant contrast), I managed to add a few strategic scratches and water spots when drying them. Just basic poor handling on my part.
While the scene is fascinating to me now, as it reveals just how much Palmer has changed over the 31 year interval, at the time it was common. It was easier to return to Palmer and expose more negatives, than worry about correcting my processing faults.
Ultimately, I refined my black & white process. Today, using Lightroom, I spent some time to rid the flaws in the original negatives including spots, scratches, contrast, and put the image on level.
I’ve presented four variations beginning with the raw unmodified scan. The fourth represents the most amount of manipulation in post processing.
Which do you like the best?
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On Saturday and Sunday 26-27 September, 2015, Dublin Port hosted a gathering of antique vehicles, mostly of the road-oriented variety.
I made these photographs, which include a display of railway memorabilia by Donncha Cronin and Ken Fox.
There was a grand array of buses on display, including a few like those that I’d traveled on years ago when I first visited Dublin. I thought the Soviet-era armour was pretty cool.
All of these images were exposed with my Lumix LX7.
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Last weekend (October 3, 2015), I made my second visit to the Belgian Coastal Tramway (LIJN Kusttram). This tramway is one of Europe’s more unusual railways. It’s a narrow-gauge electric interurban line that connects towns and cities along the Belgian coast using modern trams.
The setting is peculiar to my eye, as much of the coast is characterized by mile after mile of high-rise apartments that face North Sea beaches. Between resort areas are heavy port facilities, such as that at Zeebrugge.
On my first visit, back in March 2013, I traveled from Ostend to the south end of the line near the French border. Back then it was gray, cold, and exceptionally windy. In other words, it was a complete contrast to last weekend, when it was warm, sunny, and comparatively still.
During this more recent visit, I explored the North-end of the line with some of my Irish friends who are now living in Belgium. At no point did my two journeys on the coastal tramway overlap.
One of these days I’ll need to visit again, and travel the line from end to end. I’ve by no means worked the most dramatic or most characteristic locations on the line.
Interestingly, I’ve seen relatively few published photos on the route, which makes it a bit more mysterious, and perhaps more interesting to explore.
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It’s hard for me to believe these photos are nearly 30 years old!
Bob Buck and I were at Springfield Union Station on December 30, 1985, watching trains, as we often did back then.
Conrail TV5 pulled up and stopped. I used this opportunity to make a few black & white photos using my father’s Rollei Model T and Metz hand-held electronic flash.
I’d worked out a technique of blending existing light with electronic flash that retained the essential lighting of the scene.
TV5 was a rarely photographed train that carried intermodal trailers from Boston to St. Louis. It was one of several piggyback trains that rolled over the B&A route in darkness.
At the time, these seemingly mysterious night-time piggy back trains fascinated me, and I was very pleased to have captured this one on film
I made two exposures. The first is pretty good. The second suffered from a knock to the camera or tripod. Today, I’d have the opportunity to check my exposure and focus on site, back then all I could do was hope for the best.
I processed the film by hand.
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I’ve written before: always have a camera at the ready. I live by this rule.
Minutes ago (8:20 am, 7 October 2015), I was hastily making my way to the Dublin airport bus, when I spotted LUAS tram 4012 dressed in Virgin advertising making its Heuston Station stop. (Tram featured yesterday in ‘Extra: Virgin Luas . . .’).
With one hand on my suitcase, I grabbed my Lumix LX7, adjusted the exposure dial, and put myself in position on Sean Heuston Bridge to catch the tram in the window of morning sun. After exposing photos, I jumped on the 747 bus, where I am presently.
Dublin bus has free wi-fi, which facilitates extra posts such as this one.
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Light makes all the difference. The current livery used by Brussels trams is silver and bronze. This tends to look sedate on dull days, and makes photographing the trams challenging, as they too readily blend in with the city’s architecture.
However, this silvery livery catches the sun nicely, especially when slightly backlit.
Exposure isn’t exactly intuitive.
Are you better to overexpose (allow more light) to capture detail in the deepest shadows and risk blowing out the silvery highlights? Or, instead, underexpose slight to retain highlight detail and let the shadows go dark.
I’ve chosen the latter course. With the caveat, that from the moment of exposure I intended to work the digital files in post-processing using Lightroom to control contrast for final presentation.
I’ve treated each of the files slightly differently, but in general, I’ve reduced the highlight exposure and boosted the shadow areas to allow for a more pleasing rendition.
I also made a few colour slides.
What do you think?
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To quote the phrase, Just Sayin’.
Twice over the last 24 hours, LUAS tram 4012 has caught my attention. This wears the latest of recent advertising liveries.
The red lettering helps makes for more interesting photos, although the lighting was pretty poor. I’ve had to make a variety of contrast adjustments in LightRoom to put a bit of zest into otherwise flat street photos. Silver trams on a dull day.
My opportunities to photograph 4012 are relatively limited. Maybe the sun will shine tomorrow, but then again if doesn’t I have my ‘safety shots’.
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