Tag Archives: #Composition

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Room for Improvement at Moorpark

Studying imperfect composition can lead to better photo technique.

Among my themes of Tracking the Light is the examination of photos for technical flaws, compositional distractions, and unintenional inclusion of annoying visual elements.

I save some of the ‘perfect’ images as illustrations for publication elsewhere.

The photo below was exposed of an outbound Amtrak Pacific Surfliner at Moorpark, California in July 2016.

To my eye this photo suffers from two flaws that detract from the compostion and reduce its visual effectiveness.

The first flaw was my choice of shutter-speed—1/500th of second—which just wasn’t fast enough to ‘freeze’ the front of the locomotive. As a result, the nose of Amtrak F59PHI 452 is ever so slightly blurred. This annoys me, since I used an f9 aperture, and thus could have easily bumped my shutter speed up to at least 1/1000th without needing to adjust my ISO higher. This would have minimized the blurring.

The other problem stems from my release of the shutter a fraction of a second too soon. If I had just waited for the locomotive to roll another two or three feet, it would have nicely blocked the trackside lamp-post immediately to the left of the locomotive. This lamp is partially visible and causes unfortunate visual tension while performing no useful compositional function. The photo would be better off sans lamp.

On the plus side; I find the locomotive’s blue and silver scheme suits the southern California afternoon sun, while the off-center arrangement makes for a visually compelling photo of the Amtrak train in motion.

Those are my thoughts on this ten year-old digital image.

Tracking the Light examines compositional elements

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I’m Uncertain about this One . . .

Here’s a nocturnal view from January 12, 2007, that I exposed in Rattenberg, Austria on Fujichrome slide film .

At the time, I was aiming to portray the ÖBB local passenger train in its environment and made several very similar color slides.

My feeling today is that I included too much ‘environment,’ and that the train is too small in the frame.

While I won’t throw this slide in the bin, the composition vexes me.

Sometimes the best lesson is a careful impartial examination of an imperfect photograph.

My next class at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania covers night photography techniques. This will be held at the museum in Strasburg, Pa., on Wednesday, Feb 4 from 5 pm to 7 pm EST. See: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/night-photography-at-the-museum-with-brian-solomon-tickets-1980583252825?aff=erelexpmlt

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Metroliner and the Subaru

Here’s a compositional challenge.

I wanted to feature three subjects: the old Pennsylvania Railroad station structure, the passing Keystone with Metroliner cab car leading), and the shiny new Subaru.

I faced some difficulties. There was a narrow shaft of light illuminating an area immediately beyond the station that was needed to light up the cab car. I was positioned on a old sidewalk which offered some elevation, but I’d reached its end, and so I couldn’t effectively back up any further without losing the elevation necessary to make the photo work.

Also, I only had my ‘Fast Fifty’ (50mm) lens, which restricted my ability to adjust the field of view, and I hoped to feature both the station and the automobile in their entirety, which limited space to the left of the building.

While I managed to capture all the essential focus points all in one image, my compostion is unbalanced and the front of the train is very close to the left side of the frame. Further complicating matters, the brighter illumination on the right-hand side of the station has the effect of drawing the eye to the right, away from the other central elements of the image.

Tracking the Light considers composition.

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Making the Most of Locomotives in Bright Morning Sun

I consider this an excercise in composition. I had a few minutes last Thursday morning, so I went up to Leola, Pennsylvania to catch up with Norfolk Southern’s New Holland Branch local.

The sun was bright and the clouds were just rolling in from the west. I made this sequence of photographs of the GP38-3 and SD40E that had paused by the old PRR depot along Horseshoe Road.

Over the last year, I’ve made a variety of railroad photos at this location. I like the concept of variation on a theme. Years ago I learned to make the most of good photographic situation, because you never know precisely the situation and composition that will best suit a photograph for publication.

Of this selection do you have any favorites? All were exposed using my Nikon Z7-II mirror-less digital camera.

Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm Z-series zoom set to 30mm; ISO 100, f 7.1, 1/320th second. Nominal adjustment to shadows and hightlights.
Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm Z-series zoom set to 24mm; ISO 100, f 7.1, 1/400th second. Nominal adjustment to shadows and hightlights.
Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm Z-series zoom set to 33mm; ISO 100, f 7.1, 1/400th second. Nominal adjustment to shadows and hightlights.
Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm Z-series zoom set to 31mm; ISO 100, f 7.1, 1/320th second. Nominal adjustment to shadows and hightlights.
Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm Z-series zoom set to 54mm; ISO 100, f 7.1, 1/400th second. Nominal adjustment to shadows and hightlights.
Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm Z-series zoom set to 45mm; ISO 100, f 7.1, 1/400th second. Nominal adjustment to shadows and hightlights.
Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm Z-series zoom set to 24mm; ISO 100, f 7.1, 1/640th second. No adjustments to exposure or contrast.
Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm Z-series zoom set to 49mm; ISO 100, f 7.1, 1/320th second. Nominal adjustment to shadows and hightlights.
Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm Z-series zoom set to 24mm; ISO 100, f 7.1, 1/400th second. Nominal adjustment to shadows and hightlights.

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Black & White Composition-color save.

We had just a few minutes to wait for a Belfast-bound NI Railways train on the Bangor Line at Cultra.

I set my Z7-II to the ‘Carbon’ profile, which allows me to compose the photos in a high-constant, broad-tonality monochrome mode. This records the monochrome settings as a Jpeg, while saving the full color photo as an NEF RAW file.

I learned photography exposing black & white images, so it seems natural to look at black & white interpretations of color scenes. However, in this situation, I’m actually composing photos as black & white images.

For point of comparison, I’ve included both the in-camera JPG (scaled for internet presentation) and a scaled version of the NEF file (scaled as a Jpeg) but without adjustment to alter appearance though changes to exposure, color balance, saturation, contrast, sharpness etc.

Approaching view-monochrome (as composed).
Approaching view-monochrome (as composed).
Approaching view-monochrome (as composed).
Color version of the above image.
Color version of the above image.
Color version of the above image.
Trailing photo of the same train.
Trailing photo of the same train.
Trailing photo of the same train.
Color version of the trailing photo

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Gray Day at Creek Hill Road

The weather was mild and the light was dull when I crossed Willow Road and spotted the headlight of Norfolk Southern’s New Holland Branch freight.

I zipped down the line to Creek Hill Road in Leola, Pa., where I opted for a slightly different angle than the one I posted from this location on Tracking the Light a few days ago.

In these views, I composed photos to include the road.

Also, where in my previous encounters with the New Holland Branch local, locomotives were working back to back on the train. On this day, sequentially numbered GP38-2s were ‘topped and tailed’ (to use a British descriptive phrase). In other words, there were locomotives positioned at both ends of the train.

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Parallel Perspectives

This is not all about the train, nor the railroad.

I purposefully placed Jefferson Drive to de-emphasize Amtrak’s Keystone racing along to the right.

I’ve inserted a bit irony with the placement of the ‘speed limit 35’ sign. The train was gliding along at about 100 mph.

The green grass of summer contrasts nicely with the sky at dusk.

And don’t forget the two railroad boxes alongside the track. At least one of these house equipment for a lineside defect detector.

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By Goves—Take Two.

Yesterday (September 13, 2022) I returned to Goves, where the old Maine Central Mountain Division ducks under Route 302 east of Bartlett, NH, to again photograph Conway Scenic Railroad’s Mountaineer on its westward run to Crawford Notch.

The other day in my Tracking the Light Post, ‘Poles and Wires Conundrum,’ I described my compositional frustrations with this location.

Working with my Nikon Z6 with 24-70mm lens, I selected a slightly lower position that was a bit closer to the tracks.

On this attempt, the Mountaineer had two units and seven cars, which made for a more photogenic train. Also, it was brightly overcast, which helped to minimize the poles and wires, and I opted for a tight crop.

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Is this pole a nuisance?

The other day at White River Junction, Vermont, I made this photo of the Vermont Rail System yard office and GP38 204 using my Lumix LX7.

I like the classic style railroad building and vintage diesel, but I’m not sure about the pole. Would this photo be better without the pole, or does it lend context and relevance to the image?

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339 at 399—Unusual Perspective.

Note: To get the full picture, you will need to view this post on Brian Solomon’s Tracking the Light.

I like to find non-standard angles and unusual perspectives to make common subjects, uncommon.

In April 1989, an Amtrak F40PH leading Amfleet, was about as common as it got.

I’d set up along Conrail’s former New York Central Waterlevel Route at milepost 399, near the School Road grade crossing, east of Batavia, New York.

Working with a Leica M2 with 200mm Telyt prime telephoto attached using a Leica Visoflex and fixed to a Bogen 3021 tripod, I selected a rail-level view.

My angle deliberately forces the eye away from the primary subject. Why do this? The bright Amtrak train already dominates the scene, so by forcing the eye downward it makes for an unusual angle that better captures your attention.

An unwise photo editor, might try to crop the bottom 20 percent of the image in a misguided effort to center the train from top to bottom.

Sadly, photographer’s compositions are too often foiled by less insightful editors.

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