Tag Archives: #sunrise photography

Tips and Technique

Sunrise at Worcester Union Station

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Autumn sunrise. No two are the same. The mix of clouds and particulates in the air make for endless mixtures of texture and color.

Last week I arrived in Worcester to take the 7am MBTA train to Boston.

I made these sunrise views using my FujiFilm X-T1 with 12mm Zeiss Touit lens handheld.

Worcester Union Station: MBTA 011 with the 7am train to Boston.
Worcester Union Station.
December sunrise in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Working with the RAW files, I made some minor adjustments in Lightroom to balance highlights with shadows and tweak color balance.

The RAW file is not what your eye sees.

Where the in-camera Jpg uses a pre-profiled set of parameters in regards to color saturation, contrast etc. The digital RAW file represents the data as captured by the camera and is comparable to a film negative; it represents an intermediate step that requires adjustment and interpretation to produce a pleasing photograph.

I typically expose both a pre-set in-camera Jpg (often with one of Fuji’s digitally replicated film color profiles, such as Velvia) and a RAW file simultaneously.

 

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Tips and Technique

Housatonic Railroad at Canaan Union Station—November 2017.

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A little more than a month after the events of 911, the historic Canaan, Connecticut Union Station was destroyed by fire.

Thankfully the classic structure has since been reconstructed and today it stands along the Housatonic Railroad line where the old Central New England route once crossed.

Exposed with a FujiFilm X-T1 digital camera fitted with a 18-135mm Fujinon zoom lens set at 98mm.
Exposed with a FujiFilm X-T1 digital camera fitted with a 90mm Fujinon prime lens.
Exposed with a FujiFilm X-T1 digital camera fitted with a 90mm Fujinon prime lens.

I made these photos last week on a visit to Canaan. Sometimes it helps to be in position at a sunrise and watch how the light changes as the sun climbs into the sky.

I featured the old Canaan Union Station in my book Railroad Stations published by MetroBooks in 1998.

For more information on the station see: https://canaanunionstation.com/history/

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Tips and Technique

Making Sunrise—CSX near Palmer, Massachusetts.

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Since 1986, the interlocking east of Palmer at the east-end of the dispatcher’s controlled siding has been known on the railroad as ‘CP79’ which describes it as a ‘control point (remote control power switches and signals) 79-miles west of Boston’.

Friday, morning (June 22, 2017), I anticipated a westward freight just after sunrise, and set up looking across the farmer’s field west of CP79, looking toward the rising sun.

Working with an external graduated neutral density filter, I carefully exposed a sequence of photos, including pictures with the train. Then working with the camera RAW files in Lightroom, I manipulated contrast, exposure, color temperature and color balance, to make for better balanced more pleasing photos.

With extreme lighting conditions I find that post processing is a necessary, if tedious, part of the photographic process.

Below are my results.

Here’s the equipment: FujiFilm X-T1 digital camera with 18-135mm Fujinon zoom lens. It is fitted with an externally mounted Lee 0.9 graduated neutral density filter with an aftermarket filter holder. I can rotate the filter left or right, and adjust it up and down in order to meet my specific requirements. The 0.9 filter works out to be about 1 full stop at its darkest.
In anticipation of the westward CSX train, I made a series of photos to show changes in the lighting. The interesting part of the scene is also the most difficult part to make a acceptable exposure.
Changing lighting conditions makes for added challenges.
CSX Q009 rolls west toward Palmer, Massachusetts.

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