Sometimes a descriptive file name isn’t very helpful.
I made this photo on a visit to the coal fields west of Köln, Germany on September 2, 2013.
The metadata reads: Canon EOS7D, EF28-135mm, 75mm, f7.1 1/500 ISO 200.
The branches make the picture.
Tracking the Light normally posts every day!
When staying in Monson, Massachusetts, I’d often listen for New England Central 608 climbing State Line Hill.
I didn’t need a scanner, a call from a friend, or consultation with an ap on the phone. The sound of the train down in the valley would alert me.
On this day in 2013, I heard the train sounding for crossings in town. I jumped in my Volkswagen GTI and zipped down to Stafford Springs, Ct., where I waited for the southward train rolling slowly through the village.
Waiting for the train at one of my favorite locations, I made the following notation in my notebook: “… It is a sunny morning, but looks to be a baking hot day. Yesterday, I scanned John Pickett negs, plus various prints for Steam Twillight, and interviewed Fred Matthews over the phone. Tracking the Light was down most of the day owning to host server problem.” John and Fred, have both since passed across the great divide, their photos immortalized in my books, among other places.
Exposed with my Canon 7D with 28-135mm lens.
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The other day was bright, but overcast, leading a color temperature quandary. Should I set the white balance to ‘auto’ or something else.
Working with my 10-year old Canon EOS 7D with 20 year old 100-400mm zoom, I made a series of photos of Conway Scenic’s 930am train at Conway, New Hampshire as it prepared for its return run to North Conway.
Significantly, I altered the white balance setting between these two images. For the first: the zoom was set at 170mm, and the white balance was at ‘auto white balance’; in the second image the zoom was set to 180mm, and the white balance was manually adjusted to ‘overcast’ which warms the scene.
Both images are scaled for internet presentation from in-camera JPG without adjustments to color temperature, color balance, exposure, contrast or saturation.
Someone may ask which white balance setting is ‘true’, and unfortunately the answer is not clear cut. Each of us sees color slightly differently and our brains provide an automatic white balance. There is no one right answer, only an approximate compromise.
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