Tag Archives: #East Northfield

photography, Tips and Technique

Telephoto Ektachrome at East Northfield

In 1990, I’d bought a second-hand F4 Nikkor ‘prime’ 200mm telephoto. For several years I made great use of this lens to photograph trains across the West.

Through the 1990s, my photography was telephoto heavy.

These days, I’ve shifted my focal length wide.

Most of my digital photos are made with focal lengths between 16-70mm (super wide to short telephoto).

But, when I tend toward the longer telephoto range, I still reach for my film cameras.

Partially because I have several excellent long telephotos for my Canons, but also because when I think ‘long’, I think film.

So when Kris Sabbatino and I visited the Junction at ‘East Northfield,’ Massachusetts on March 8th (2021), I made this long view on Ektachrome using my old Canon EOS-3 with f2.8 200mm lens. This winning camera-lens combo has served me well for nearly 15 years.

Perhaps, it helps that I’m photographing a classic train with 1960s-1970s vintage EMD diesels bracketed by searchlight signals.

New England Central southward 611 approaches the junction at East Northfield, Massachusetts on March 8, 2021. Ektachrome 100 slide film.

Tracking the Lights Goes Retro!

photography, Tips and Technique

Morning Sun at East Northfield.

Last Monday, March 8, 2021, Kris Sabbatino and I, followed New England Central’s southward 611 freight.

I drove us to my old standby location at East Northfield, where the NECR line toward Palmer, Massachusetts and New London, Connecticut diverges from the old Boston & Maine Connecticut River line (now operated by Pan Am Southern).

As the train approached I exposed a series of photos using my Nikon Z6.

I’ve displayed two variations of the same image.

The top image is a camera generated JPG with color set to Nikon’s Vivid profile.

The bottom image I created from the NEF RAW file in Adobe Lightroom by manipulating color, contrast, and saturation to emulate my FujiFilm XT1’s in-camera ‘Velvia’ mode.

This in-camera JPG was created by my Nikon Z6 set to VI ‘Vivid’ color profile.
Working with Adobe Lightroom, I adjusted the Camera NEF RAW file by lightening shadows, adjusting saturation, fine-tuning contrast settings, and warming the color balance.

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