photography, Tips and Technique

Backlighting

I was set up to make a video of Conway Scenic’s Sawyer River crossing the Ellis River at Glen, New Hampshire. My Nikon Z6 was mounted on the tripod for a telephoto sequence of the train heading west through the truss bridge.

Z6 with 70-200mm set up to make video at Glen, New Hampshire.

As an after thought, I made a few still photos with my Z7. Although backlit, the combination of hazy midday light and the yellow GP38, made it relatively easy to use Lightroom to lighten the image, adjust contrast and increase overall saturation to produce a more appealing photo.

For better separation between the subject and the background, I framed the nose of the engine between the trees.

I’ve included both the unaltered NEF RAW file and my adjusted file, as well as a screen shot of the Lightroom work window.

Nikon NEF RAW file without adjustments (other than scaling for internet)
Lightroom created JPG following adjustment.
Screen shot of the Lightroom work window showing adjustement sliders and the sequence of images.

Tracking the Light Posts Daily!