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photography

Downright Awful Railroad Photos

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Who says?

Me. I’m not picking on anyone. I’m not highlighting lack of talent. These are my photos, and I say they’re awful.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. So if you find joy in these pictures, that’s up to you. But these are not the images I would normally display. In fact, typically I’d erase them.

Today, I’m showing them for several reasons.

  • They are not what I intended to achieve.
  • They offer good learning examples of what to avoid.
  • They might aid novice photographers recognize flaws in their own technique.
  • I think you might find them amusing.
  • Someone might get rattled and write me a diatribe (for free!)
  • They disprove a fallacy that every image I make is suitable for publication.

So what went wrong?
Read the captions an find out:

This was part of a panning sequence. To achieve the effect of a train in motion, I’d selected a relatively slow shutter speed and panned the Flirt railcar as it passed at speed. This image was exposed too late. The train is too far away, and instead of capturing the train in motion, all I managed to do was blur the entire image. That’s one for the trash!
This was part of a panning sequence. To achieve the effect of a train in motion, I’d selected a relatively slow shutter speed and panned the Flirt railcar as it passed at speed. This image was exposed too late. The train is too far away, and instead of capturing the train in motion, all I managed to do was blur the entire image. That’s one for the trash!
Another example of a Stadler Flirt photo gone amiss: The bright white train momentarily confused the autofocus system on my FujiFilm X-T1. Instead of selecting an appropriate focus point, the system was hunting for focus when I released the shutter. The result is totally out of focus. Compare the effect of being out focus with that of the above image, which is suffering from motion blur. These are distinct characteristics. While I often use selective focus and motion blur to positive advantage, here they’ve ruined other wise fine images. If you want to see nicer photos of Stadler Flirts, I featured these in a post last week. See: http://wp.me/p2BVuC-3f7
Another example of a Stadler Flirt photo gone amiss: The bright white train momentarily confused the autofocus system on my FujiFilm X-T1. Instead of selecting an appropriate focus point, the system was hunting for focus when I released the shutter. The result is totally out of focus. Compare the effect of being out focus with that of the above image, which is suffering from motion blur. These are distinct characteristics. While I often use selective focus and motion blur to positive advantage, here they’ve ruined otherwise fine images. If you want to see nicer photos of Stadler Flirts, see: http://wp.me/p2BVuC-3f7
We were getting ready to depart for another location when I heard a diesel working northward. I grabbed my Lumix LX7 and went to make a photo, except the train was too close by the time I released the shutter. What’s wrong with this photo? Practically everything! I had the camera set wrong so the shutter speed was too slow. My angle was too tight to the tracks. The train is too close. I cut the top off the engine. The lighting angle is completely wrong (looking into hard mid-morning sun). And to make matters worse, I shook the camera adding extra motion blur to an already bad image. Also, I’m positioned under a roadway that cast a shadow on the front of the train. (Despite all these flaws, I actually was delighted with the photo. It’s so bad, its funny!)
We were getting ready to depart for another location when I heard a diesel working northward. I grabbed my Lumix LX7 and went to make a photo, except the train was too close by the time I released the shutter. What’s wrong with this photo? Practically everything! I had the camera set wrong so the shutter speed was too slow. My angle was too tight to the tracks. The train is too close. I cut the top off the engine. The lighting angle is completely wrong (looking into hard mid-morning sun). And to make matters worse, I shook the camera adding extra motion blur to an already bad image. Also, I’m positioned under a roadway that cast a shadow on the front of the train. (Despite all these flaws, I actually was delighted with the photo. It’s so bad, its funny!)

Tracking the Light normally publishes quality images on a daily basis,

today’s is the exception to the rule.