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photography

LUAS at Dusk—Silvery Trams in Silhouette

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The other evening, rain had cleared, and clear skies prevailed for a little while before sunset.

Yet, heavy clouds were encroaching from the west, making for some interesting evening light.

I made the opportunity to take a spin on Dublin’s LUAS Green Line.

Pausing at Dundrum, I  made photos of the trams crossing the Dargan Bridge.

The far end of the line at Brides Glen (I saw no brides) was a convenient place to make some portraits of the 5000-series LUAS Citadis tram that I’d traveled on.

I was one of two passengers to board on the return trip. It took the tram 39 minutes to make the run to St. Stephens Green. By time I arrived, the rain had closed in again.

The LUAS trams are a silver-tinted with lilac, with large plate windows, which makes them ideal for photos at dusk. The trams reflect the hues of the evening light.

I exposed these images using my Lumix LX7.

Inbound LUAS tram glides across the Dargan Bridge at Dundrum. Exposed as a RAW file with my Lumix LX7, white balance set to 'daylight', contrast adjusted in post processing.
Inbound LUAS tram glides across the Dargan Bridge at Dundrum. Exposed as a RAW file with my Lumix LX7, ISO 200, white balance set to ‘daylight’, contrast adjusted in post processing.
Outbound LUAS tram glides across the Dargan Bridge at Dundrum. Exposed as a RAW file with my Lumix LX7, ISO 80, white balance set to 'daylight', contrast adjusted in post processing.
Outbound LUAS tram glides across the Dargan Bridge at Dundrum. Exposed as a RAW file with my Lumix LX7, ISO 80, white balance set to ‘daylight’, contrast adjusted in post processing.
End of the line: Brides Glen at dusk. Exposed with a Lumix LX7 as a RAW file. No modification (except for scaling).
End of the line: Brides Glen at dusk. Exposed with a Lumix LX7 as a RAW file. No modification (except for scaling).
End of the line: Brides Glen at dusk. Exposed with a Lumix LX7 as a RAW file. Slight contrast adjustment in post processing.
End of the line: Brides Glen at dusk. Exposed with a Lumix LX7 as a RAW file. Slight contrast adjustment in post processing.
End of the line: Brides Glen at dusk. Exposed with a Lumix LX7 as a RAW file. No modification (except for scaling).
End of the line: Brides Glen at dusk. Exposed with a Lumix LX7 as a RAW file. No modification (except for scaling).
Interior of a LUAS tram at Brides Glen.
Interior of a LUAS tram at Brides Glen.

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Tips and Technique

Dublin’s LUAS at Heuston Station, October 14, 2013

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Early Dawn on the Tram Line.

Heuston Station (known as King’s Bridge Station until its 1966 renaming) is a multimodal transport hub. In addition to being one of Irish Rail’s primary long distance and suburban stations, it’s also an important LUAS tram stop (one of only a few with a turn-back siding) and a terminal bus stop for 145 and 747 buses.

LUAS
Outbound LUAS tram pauses for passengers at Dublin’s Heuston Station.

I made this time exposure with my Lumix LX3 on Monday morning. Since I didn’t have a tripod, I set the camera on a waist-height railing and set the self timer for 2 seconds to minimize camera shake.

I had the camera set in its ‘Vivid’ color mode which enhances the blue effect of dawn while making red lights more prominent. To calculate exposure, I used the ‘A’ aperture priority setting with a +2/3 (2/3s of a stop over exposure to add light to the scene).

This override is a means of compensating for the dark background and dark sky combined with bright highlights from electric streetlight (which have a tendency to fool the camera meter).

See my post: Lumix LX-3—part 2:  Existing Light Digital Night Shots for more night photography technique.

I made a series of exposures, both to bracket exposure and keep the camera steady. I only had a few moments before the tram pulled away.

For more images of Dublin check Tracking the Light’s: Recent Images of Dublin, Ireland page.

Also see this link to LUAS Red Line Book Festival.

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