Tag Archives: New York City Subway

photography, Tips and Technique

The Bronx, New York—c.1980.

3 Comments

Using my Leica 3A, I made this view from a NYCTA city bus in The Bronx circa 1980.

I don’t have any notes at all from this trip.

In all likelihood, I was using a 35mm Nikkor lens with a screw-mount designed for the Leica 3 series cameras. This was a favorite of mine at the time because it required an adjustable external viewfinder that made it easier to compose than the tiny window on the camera body.

The primary subject of the photo was the subway train on what I think was the White Plains Road elevated line. At right is my brother Sean. We were traveling with our grandmother from Fordham Road toward Co-op City as part of a shopping trip.

This photo has been quietly hiding, unprinted and unseen in a glassine negative sleeve for nearly 40 years! (Try that with your favorite phone photo.)

Tracking the Light Looks Back!

photography, Tips and Technique

Taking A Ride on the A-train: New York City Subway

3 Comments

It was about 1980, when I made this interior view of an R10 subway car during a trip with my father around New York City. Pop thinks this was on the 8th Avenue line in Manhattan. It was one of three photos I made of the Subway that day .

The cars were not air-conditioned and the open fans intrigued me.

This was in that unsavory era on the Subway when the subway cars were decorated inside and out with graffiti.

Exposed on black & white film with my old Leica 3A 35mm camera.

Tracking the Light Posts every day!

photography, Tips and Technique

Classic Chrome: New New York City R-62A Subway Cars on Conrail—May 1986.

1 Comment


I like the apparent redundancy of today’s title.

Back in May 1986, I made this Kodachrome view of brand-new Bombardier-built New York City R-62A subway cars at Conrail’s West Springfield Yard (Massachusetts).

The cars would come down the Central Vermont Railway to Palmer where they were interchanged to Conrail for delivery to New York City.

Check out the vintage Trailer-Train flatcars carrying the subway cars.

Below is the scaled unmodified scan; and an adjusted scan correcting contrast, color temperature and level.

Exposed on K64 using a Leica; scanned this morning using a Nikon Super Coolscan5000 slide scanner and processed in Lightroom. Scaled, but otherwise unmodified scan.


This is an adjusted scan that corrects for contrast, color temperature and level.

Tracking the Light Posts Daily!

photography, Tips and Technique

New York City Subway Collage—July 2016.

5 Comments

Making my way from point to point underground in New York City, I always keep my Lumix at the ready.

Back in the 1970s and 1980s, I made black & white photos of the subway with my old Leica, so I’ve been at this  a while.

The mix of old tiles, modern signs and the continual rush of humanity makes for lots of photographic possibilities.

For ease of exposure I set the Lumix to ‘A’ mode for aperture; wind the lens open to about f1.4/f2; set the white balance to ‘auto’, and release the shutter from below eye level (as required).

NYC_Subway_Penn_Station_P1490863

NYC_Subway_Penn_Station_P1490868

NYC_Subway_Penn_Station_P1490861

42nd Street.
42nd Street.

28th Street.
28th Street.

NYC_Subway_Station_28th_St_P1490827

NYC_Subway_Station_28th_St_P1490825

NYC_Subway_Penn_Station_P1490871

NYC_subway_Bowling_Green_P1490714

NYC_subway_Bowling_Green_P1490719

Tracking the Light Posts Daily.

 

photography

NYCTA Number 7 Train, Queensboro Plaza, December 2015.

Leave a comment

I’ll call this, Flushing Line Revisited. My first visit was with my dad about 1968. They’ve changed the cars since then

The New York metro-area generates its own quality of light. By afternoon on this day a mix of high cloud and four flavors of atmospheric pollution had tinted the skylight grayish orange with hints of smoggy yellow.

I've adjusted contrast in post-processing with the use of a digitally applied gradated neutral density filter to help balance the sky detail.
I’ve adjusted contrast in post-processing with the use of a digitally applied gradated neutral density filter to help balance the sky detail.

A slightly closer view of the same train. Note the inbound train on the lower level of the elevated structure. Both are moving.
A slightly closer view of the same train. Note the inbound train on the lower level of the elevated structure. Both are moving.

I made these views with my Lumix LX7 from the Manhattan-end of the double-deck Queenboro Plaza station. The Manhattan skyline looms in the distance.

Tracking the Light posts Daily!

 

photography, Tips and Technique

A Dozen new Photos! Subterranean Photography Exercise: Lumix LX7 on New York City Subway.

3 Comments

 

Tracking the Light goes Underground!

 

My Lumix LX7 is a great tool for photographing the subway. It has a fast lens (f1.4) while the camera body is light, compact, flexible, and discrete.

For my New York City Subway photography exercise; I set the ISO to 200, the white balance to ‘auto’, set the exposure to dial to ‘A’ (for aperture priority, meaning I manually select the f-stop and the camera selects the appropriate corresponding shutter speed for optimal exposure ) and open the f-stop to near it’s widest setting.

NYC_Subway_42nd_Street_P1350157

NYC_Subway_42nd_Street_free_WiFi_P1350166

The Lumix LX7 allows me turn off all the sounds and lights, so when I release the shutter nothing beeps or flashes.

I exposed both RAW and Jpeg files simultaneously. While the camera’s automatic exposure was close, I needed made minor adjustments to contrast and white balance in post-processing using Lightroom.

NYC_Subway_42nd_Street_P1350162

Typically this is necessary to bring the highlights under control while opening up (lightening) the shadow areas to make detail more visible.

NYC_Subway_42nd_Street__smart_phone_P1350170

NYC_Subway_28th_Street_P1350174

NYC_Subway_28th_Street_SVBWAY_P1350176

New_York_Subway_Independant_Subway_sign_P1350482

New_York_Subway_14th_St_P1350484

New_York_Subway_5th_Ave_P1350602

Tracking the Light post Original Material, please share with your friends!

New_York_Subway_5th_Ave_P1350597

New_York_Subway_5th_Ave_P1350601

New_York_Subway_5th_Ave_P1350607

New_York_Subway_Lexington_Ave_P1350610

Tips and Technique

Times Square Shuttle

1 Comment

One of the World’s Shortest Subway Routes.

Lumix LX-7 photo at Grand Central of the New York City Transit Authority's Times Square Shuttle.
Lumix LX-7 photo at Grand Central of the New York City Transit Authority’s Times Square Shuttle.

I was making my way from Grand Central toward Penn-Station and took a few minutes to photograph New York City’s famous Times Square Shuttle using a Lumix LX-7.

Although I’ve been making subterranean photos since the 1970s, I find that the digital photographic medium makes the process much easier, and my results generally are better.

In the 1990s, I made many New York City subway photos using a Nikon F3T with Ektachrome 200 and various filter combinations to compensate for artificial light conditions.

Calculating exposure was difficult, and despite the filtration my color balance was never 100 percent.

For these images, I set the camera for 400 ISO, selected the ‘A’-mode (Aperture priority) and set the aperture to f2.0, dialed in +1/3 exposure compensation (my standard override for interior photos), and allowed the camera’s auto-white balance take care of the artificial light.

Times Square, New York.
Times Square, New York.

NYCTA_GCT_Times_Sq_Shuttle_P1050466

New York subway's tiled signs are a vestige of another era. After leaving the Times Square Shuttle I made my way to a change of trains to bring me south to 34th Street.
New York subway’s tiled signs are a vestige of another era. After leaving the Times Square Shuttle I made my way to a change of trains to bring me south to 34th Street.

Tracking the Light posts new material every morning.

Please share Tracking the Light!

http://briansolomon.com/trackingthelight/

 

Related articles
Uncategorized

Brooklyn, New York—TRACKING THE LIGHT DAILY POST

2 Comments

November 1998.

It was a dull autumn day. My father and I were in New York City to visit a friend. We spent the afternoon wandering around on the subway system.

An L train Brooklyn, New York, November 1998. Exposed with a Nikon F3T with 24mm lens. (The route is L, not to be confused with the colloquial 'El' or Chicago's 'L', just for clarification).
An L train Brooklyn, New York, November 1998. Exposed with a Nikon F3T with 24mm lens. (The route is L, not to be confused with the colloquial ‘El’ or Chicago’s ‘L’, just for clarification).

I made this photo at East New York Junction where the Canarsie Line crosses the Broadway Line.

The sky was dark and swollen and the street lights were just coming on. To make the most of the lighting, I exposed this photo on black & white film with my Nikon F3T with an AI 24mm Nikkor lens.

I’ve always felt there was an apocalyptic aesthetic to this image.

Tracking the Light posts new material every morning.

Please share Tracking the Light!

http://briansolomon.com/trackingthelight/

 

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta