Tag Archives: #photography technique

Valley Flyer

Amtrak’s Valley Flyer connects Greenfield, Mass., with New Haven, Conn. by way of Springfield, Mass.

A couple of weeks ago, Kris and I rolled the train by at its Windsor, Conn., station stop.

Working with my FujiFilm XT1, I made this handheld at ISO 3200—’look ma, no 3Pod (clip)!’

This gave me enough shutterspeed to stop the arriving train.

In the lead was former Metroliner cab control car 9638.

FujiFilm RAF Raw file processed using DxO PureRaw and color corrected in Adobe Lightroom.
FujiFilm RAF Raw file processed using DxO PureRaw and color corrected in Adobe Lightroom.

Tracking the Light Posts Daily!

Zoom-Pan at Blackhorse

It was a misty evening when I rolled by Strasburg Rail Road No. 89 at Blackhorse Road.

Working with my Z6, I used the Japanese zoom-pan technique to capture the steam locomotive in motion.

This unusual way of making photos, involves working with a comparatively slow shutter speed and simultaneously zooming out while panning the subject and keeping a central point constant and continuing both motions while releasing the shutter. If you stop to release the shutter the effect is lost.

If you look at this image, the sliver of sharp focus centered on the crewman leaning from the engine, while everything to the sides is muted in a sea of motion blur.

24-70mm zoom lens at 53mm, f4.0, at 1/80th of a second, ISO 400. Zoom-range began at 26mm and ended at 69mm.

What really makes this work for me is the combination of blurred drivers-rods down, the glow of the firebox and exhaust from the engine.

Tracking the Light Posts Daily!