Tag Archives: #portraits

Announcements, photography, Rail transit marathon, Tips and Technique

2102 Fans, People and Portraits—20 photo special.

Last weekend’s Reading & Northern Iron Horse Ramble was more than just a trip. It was an event and a confluence of railway people, railway fans, railway photographers, train riders, and even members of the general public.

I sent my dad an SMS text with a of photo of 2102. He wrote back, ‘take photos of the fans.’

He has photos of Reading Company’s rambles with the railroad’s class T-1s surrounded by fans and photographers.

Below is a selection of my people photos from Saturday July 1, 2023.

Tracking the Light Posts Daily!

photography, Tips and Technique

Train Crew—Portraits

My photography for Conway Scenic Railroad often focuses on the people.

The train crew are the faces of the railroad and are often featured in the company’s social media and advertising. Not everyone likes to be pictured, so I tend to focus on those who don’t mind my camera.

Last week, fine Spring weather made for some great light to photograph railroaders at work.

I often use short telephoto lenses and wide f-stops for shallow focus to better set the people apart from the background. In post processing I soften contrast and lighten shadows to make for more flattering images.

Tracking the Light Posts Daily!

photography, Tips and Technique

Portraits at Paoli

What are you supposed to do while waiting for trains?

How about take portraits of each other on the railroad platform.

That’s what we did two weeks ago at Paoli, Pennsylvania!

I made some views of my brother Sean and his partner Isabelle with my wife Kris as a westward Amtrak Keystone and SEPTA trains made station stops. Then Kris made a couple of photos of me with Sean and Isabelle using my Nikon Z7-II.

Hi ISO and auto white balance makes night photos easy!

Tracking the Light Posts Daily!

photography, Tips and Technique

Valley Crew Portraits

Recently, Conway Scenic Railroad invested in new employee uniforms.

Yesterday, I made a few portraits of the Valley crew on the platform of the North Conway station, shortly before the train was ready to board for Sawyers River.

These photos were exposed as NEF Raw files using my Nikon Z6 with 24-70mm zoom, and processed in Adobe Lightroom to adjuste highlight and shadow detail, over all color temperature, and sky detail.

The advantage of the Nikon NEF Raw is that it captures an enormous volume of data.

I posted versions of these photos to the company’s social media to help promote the railroad.

Tracking the Light Posts Daily!

photography

Spring Portraits on Conway Scenic

During the past few weeks, I’ve made portraits of Conway Scenic’s employees at work preparing for the Spring season.

This selection was exposed using my Nikon Z6 mirrorless digital camera and processed using Adobe Lightroom.

Many of these photographs have been used to decorate the company’s Facebook Page.

Tracking the Light Posts Everyday!

photography

Faces of The Cobh Rambler—lots of photos!

1 Comment

Saturday wasn’t the brightest or driest day.

Railway Preservation Society of Ireland’s  The Cobh Rambler departed Dublin Heuston Station as per schedule.

It was raining by the time we passed Lucan South (about 6 miles from Heuston).

By the time we reached Cork it was lashing.

On these excursions I often focus on my friends, many of whom are Irish Rail employees and/or RPSI members.

Thanks to everyone who made this trip a success!

All images were exposed using my Lumix LX7.

Tracking the Light Posts Daily!

photography, Tips and Technique

Old School: Steam and Coal Dust.

Leave a comment

What better place to work with black & white film than on the locomotive footplate?

Last week, I made these steam portraits and views of Railway Preservation Society of Ireland’s engine 85 at work using my battle worn Nikon N90S with f2.0 35mm lens loaded with Kodak Tri-X.

Processing the film was the tricky part.  I did this by hand the old fashioned way.

To make the most of highlight and shadow detail, I used multiple-stage split-development, followed by selenium toning to give highlights the silvery edge.

After processing, I scanned the negatives using an Epson V500 flatbed scanner.

So in the end presentation my silver photos are digital after all.

Tracking the Light Posts Daily!

 

 

photography, Tips and Technique

Steam Portraits-Faces of the Footplate.

2 Comments

A locomotive is hardly an ideal portrait studio.

Or is it?

Shafts of filtered light and a dark background make for a fascinating setting, while the opportunity to make silhouettes against the daylight provide a contrast.

The men of the footplate proudly wear the coal dust, cinders and ash that identify them.

I made these portraits of the crew on board Great Northern Railway of Ireland 85 on its excursions last week.

Driver Ken Fox adjusts the regulator on locomotive 85.

Lumix LX7 portrait.

Lumix LX7 portrait.

FujiFilm X-T1 with 12mm Touit lens.

Lumix LX7 portrait.

Special thanks to everyone at the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland (RPSI) and at Irish Rail for making my locomotive journeys possible.

For details about the RPSI and scheduled steam and diesel trips see:

https://www.steamtrainsireland.com

Check out: Room with a View: The Challenges on Photographing from/on a Steam Locomotive Footplate—12 Photos.

Tracking the Light Posts Every Day!