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Tips and Technique

A Value of Film-A Digital Photographic Lesson.

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Back in the day, when I set out to make photographs, I had a finite number of images that I could make on any given adventure based on the amount of film in the camera bag.

It might be one roll, or ten, but the number of exposures was a distinct number. Not only that, but certainly in my younger days, there was a definite cost to each and every photo exposed.

When I was in college I could afford just 74-76 frames of Kodachrome per week and still eat. (Sometimes I cheated and starved). On the morning of January 14, 1989, I put this New York, Susquehanna & Western SD45 on film carefully placing the the old upper quadrant semaphore in the frame. I had my two rolls of Kodachrome, and probably some black & white, but a lot of ground to cover.
When I was in college I could afford just 74-76 frames of Kodachrome per week and still eat. (Sometimes I cheated and just starved). On the morning of January 14, 1989, I put this New York, Susquehanna & Western SD45 on film—carefully placing the the old upper quadrant semaphore in the frame. I had my two rolls of Kodachrome, and probably some black & white, but a lot of ground to cover that day. I knew that the old Union Switch & Signal Style S signals were on borrowed time, and I might not have another chance to make this  photograph.

This was a limitation, but like many handicaps it encouraged discipline. Every time I released the shutter I wanted to make the photo count. At times I’d experiment with exposure, lighting, and angles, but I avoided gratuitously wasting film.

Running out of film before the end of a trip could be a disaster.

Yet, I found that my photography was at its best at the very beginning of a trip (when I still had plenty of exposures left) and toward the end (when I was making the absolute most of each photo, and really concentrating the mechanics of making photos having benefitted from days of being in the field).

In the 1950s, my dad would set off on a two week trip with just 6-10 rolls of Kodachrome. He’d carefully budget each day’s photography. Just imagine visiting Chicago in 1958 with its vast array of classic railroads but only allowing yourself to make 15 photos during the whole day.

By comparison today, digital photography doesn’t impose such limitations. You can buy storage cards that will hold hundreds (if not thousands of images). Even if you run out, you can go back and erase select images to free up space.

True, digital-photography allows great freedom to experiment, there’s no cost associated with each and every frame, nor the level of concern that you might run out. In retrospect, it was that strict limitation of film that often helped me craft better photos.

Think about it.

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photography, Tips and Technique

Irish Rail Gem from the Garbage—078 with Cravens at Balbriggan Aug 1998.

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Have you willingly deleted a railroad photo because of an exposure error? Or perhaps pitched an underexposed color slide? Maybe traded away a photo that you dismissed as substandard. Or maybe even dumped an entire roll into the trash because of a camera flaw?

I have.

Step back to August 1998. That wasn’t yesterday. Denis McCabe and I were photographing on the Northern Line at Balbriggan. Our aim was to catch cement trains on the move.

It was a mostly sunny afternoon with the occasional puffy cloud in the sky.

An inbound suburban train approached the platforms with Irish Rail 078 in faded orange paint leading a pair of Cravens and the requisite generator van.

Just as the train reached the optimal location for my photograph, the sun was suddenly blocked by a cloud. [Most of us familiar with making railway photographs has experienced this phenomena, and it has many names, most of them are unsuitable for reiteration here.]

Despite this setback, I released the shutter anyway, and exposed this lone 35mm black & white negative.

brian_solomon_663700
This is the scaled scan of the otherwise unmodified black & white negative (made positive).

After I processed the film a few days later, I made prints from the best images on the roll, then sleeved all of the negatives: good, bad, and otherwise.

I never considered printing this one. At the time, seeing an 071-class diesel leading Cravens was not unusual. It happened daily. Nor was having a cloud ruin a photo in Ireland especially unusual.

I scanned the entire roll in November 2015, not for this photo, but for the better shots either side of it. It was only on close examination on the computer that it occurred to me that now, in 2016, this image is both interesting and historic.

Its lighting/exposure defect is easy enough to compensate for using Lightroom. So I present it to you now. In retrospect it offers a better lesson and a more interesting story than the perfectly lit images of cement trains exposed on the same roll.

Irish Rail class 071 General Motors diesel number 078 leads a pair of Cravens plus gen-van at Balbriggan in August 1998. Exposed on 35mm black & white film using a Nikon F2 (on a long-term loan from Brian Jennison) and Nikkor 24mm lens with yellow filter. Film processed in ID11, and image adjusted for exposure and contrast in Lightroom.
Irish Rail class 071 General Motors diesel number 078 leads a pair of Cravens plus gen-van at Balbriggan in August 1998. Exposed on 35mm black & white film using a Nikon F2 (on a long-term loan from Brian Jennison) and Nikkor 24mm lens with yellow filter. Film processed in ID11, and image adjusted for exposure and contrast in Lightroom.
A further refinement using Lightroom.
A further refinement using Lightroom.
One more variation with greater contrast.
One more variation with greater contrast.

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photography

Making Better Photographs—Learning the Light: Four Phases of Sunset

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The other day my brother sent some brilliant sunset images from Philadelphia. I commented, ‘nice drop-under’, and this led to a conversation about sunset light.

‘You should make a post about that’. And so here we are.

I’ve quantified sunset into four phases. There may be more. And in fact, sunset isn’t really so-divided, but rather one continuous changing of light. But recognizing these four phases can allow you to be in position to make better photographs (and that’s really what I’m trying to convey).

Too often, I’ve been traveling and just before the light reaches its optimum, I’ve found myself out of position.

As the sun sets, the quality of light is altered by clouds, air-pollution, and the horizon. Sometimes a lack-luster sunset in one of the early phases wll blossom during a later phase. Or vice versa.

Watch the sun and clouds and be patient.

My four phases of sunset are:

  • 1) Sun above the clouds
  • 2) Sun behind the clouds
  • 3) Drop-under (sun below the clouds)
  • 4) Afterglow (sun just beyond the horizon)
Phase 1. As pictured with an eastward Conrail doublestack train at Elkhart, Indiana.
Phase 1. As pictured with an eastward Conrail doublestack train at Elkhart, Indiana.
Phase 2: As seen with an Irish Rail overflow cement train at The Curragh, County Kildare just after 10pm back in 1998.
Phase 2: As seen with an Irish Rail overflow cement train at The Curragh, County Kildare just after 10pm back in 1998.
Phase 3: 'Drop-under' as seen with Shiprock in northern New Mexico in August 1991.
Phase 3: ‘Drop-under’ as seen with Shiprock in northern New Mexico in August 1991.
Phase 4: Looking west on 18th Street in San Francisco.
Phase 4: Looking west on 18th Street in San Francisco.

Phase three, drop under is the often the best, yet most fleeting and unpredictable element of a sunset. This often occurs on an otherwise cloudy evening, when for a moment the sun as it nears the horizon will illuminate clouds from below.

The drop-under effect is accentuated when there is a thick layer of air-pollution as the combination of particulates and gases in the atmosphere bend the light toward the red-end of the spectrum.

The bottom line: if you want to make better sunset photos, don’t abandon your photography too soon. Find a suitable location and wait for the light.

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