Tag Archives: #telephoto technique

photography

400mm four-photo sequence near Rogers Crossing

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The former Maine Central Mountain Division crests a rise just east of  Bartlett near Rogers Crossing (where the railroad crosses Route 302 west of the Attitash Ski area).

Friday, I set up here with my Canon EOS 7D fitted with a 100-400mm telephoto zoom lens to capture a Conway Scenic work extra west led by GP35 216.

The extreme visual compression afforded by this lens exaggerates the grade profile of the line to show the effect of this rise.

This sequence of images is intended to show the train climbing the grade.  

I selected my focus point manually and initiated the camera’s autofocus independently of the shutter release in order to control the focus to my satisfaction. This separate focus-control is among the features of the Canon EOS 7D.

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photography

Foggy Morning at Wellingtonbridge.

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On the morning of 23 November 2004, I exposed this photo of a pair of Irish Rail bo-bos (class 141/181 General Motors diesels) shunting sugar beet wagons at Wellingtonbridge, Co. Wexford, Ireland.

This was a typical scene made a bit mystical by a thick layer of fog.

To accentuate the effect of the fog and compress the elements in the scene, I worked with a 180mm Nikkor prime telephoto lens fitted to a Nikon F3 camera.

My film choice of the day was Fujichrome Sensia II (ISO 100).

I scanned this slide yesterday using a Nikon Super Coolscan5000 digital scanner and processed the hi-res scan with Lightroom to scale the image for internet presentation and make minor adjustments in the color balance and contrast.

All is quiet at Wellingtonbridge today.

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photography, Tips and Technique

New England Central—Telephoto at Brattleboro.

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I’ve posted a variety of my New England Central photos on my Flicker account. The link below should direct you there.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/163833022@N05/albums

Today on Tracking the Light:

Toward the end of June 2019, I visited New England Central’s yard at Brattleboro, Vermont.

It was the first time in many months that I used my old Canon EOS-7D, which I’d fitted with a 200mm telephoto lens.

As the 611 crew was getting organized to take Brattleboro to Palmer turn south, I made these photos.

I’ve always like the Canon color palate, which I believe is a function of their lenses and sensor. This is decidedly different than the digital photos I make with either my FujiFilm XT1 or Lumix LX7. Playing with a long telephoto is always fun, although in recent years I’ve shied away from very long lenses, as I’ve found that they tend to be overused.

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photography

Low Angle Telephoto View: Ovar, Portugal.

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To make for a more dramatic photograph, I used my FujiFilm XT1 with the rear-display tilted skyward, which allowed me place the camera at platform level.

The display’s heads-up detail includes exposure and a leveling information that makes it easier to set the camera and expose at arm’s length.

Standing on the platform of Portuguese Railway’s passenger station at Ovar (south of Porto on the Porto-Lisbon mainline), I made this view using a fixed focal-length (not a variable focal length zoom) 90mm telephoto. This lens and angle compresses the scene, lowers the depth of field, and owing to the relative proximity to the ground and focus on the trains minimizes the foreground.


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Tips and Technique

Kildare Summer 1999.

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In the summer of 1999, I was standing on the footbridge at Kildare station where I focused on Irish Rail 225 leading Mark3 carriages as it approached at speed.

My first Nikon N90S was loaded with Ilford HP5 and fitted with an old Tokina 400mm fixed focal length telephoto.

The train was common; my photograph was unusual. Working with extreme telephoto compression, I’ve framed the train in the arch of road-bridge, which has the effect of accentuating the pattern of the crossovers east of the bridge.

I recall the piercing Doppler squashed screech of 225’s horn as it neared the platforms, warning passengers to stand back.

The memory of that sound and the following rush of air as the train raced past puts me back in that place in time nearly 20 years gone. I know too well how I was feeling at the time. Strange how one photograph of a train can summon such memories and feelings.

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photography, Tips and Technique

Telephoto versus Wide angle: Picturing Irish Rail’s Tara Mines Run at Drogheda.

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A few days ago, my daily Tracking the Light post featured a long distance telephoto view of Irish Rail’s Tara Mines zinc ore train crossing the Malahide causeway.

See: Long View: Tara Mines Zinc Ore Train at Malahide. 

In that photo the train is relatively small in a big scene.

Three days later, David Hegarty and I were again out along the old Great Northern line, this time at Drogheda, to photograph the Tara Mines on the move.

In contrast to the distant view in the earlier posting, the photographs displayed here  focus tightly on the locomotive and train using more classic three-quarter angle.

In the top photograph, I used my FujiFilm XT1 with a 90mm fixed telephoto for a tight compressed view (what some photographers might term a ‘telewedgie’).

While in bottom photograph I used my Lumix LX7 with zoom lens set with a wide-angle perspective that approximates the angle of view offered by a 35mm focal length lens on a traditional 35mm film camera.

Exposed using a FujiFilm XT1 with 90mm fixed telephoto lens. Notice the crossovers located on  curved track.

Lumix LX7 wide view.

I prefer the telephoto view for overall appeal; this handles the soft lighting conditions more satisfactorily, focuses more closely on the locomotive and train, minimizes bland elements of the scene such as the ballast and white sky, and offers a high impact image of the train in motion. Also it helps emphasize the trackage arrangement with crossovers between the up and down lines.

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