Tag Archives: #WSOR

Announcements, photography, Rail transit marathon, Tips and Technique

Reflections on Perception

Here we have a former Burlington Northern SD40-2 on Wisconsin & Southern casting its reflection in a puddle in the Madison, Wisconsin yard.

How long does it take you to spot and recognize the incongruous element in this scene?

Using my Canon EOS 7D, I made this image during a visit to Madison with John Gruber in June 2013. Below are two versions processed from the original Canon CR2 RAW file using DxO PureRAW. The top image was converted to JPEG without cosmetic corrections in Adobe Lightroom. The bottom image received a subtle contrast adjustment in DxO PhotoLab, making the incongruous detail easier to spot.

Tracking the Light examines perception!

photography

Digital Monochrome—Soo 1003.

Often I’ve described the details of my black & white film techniques on Tracking the Light.

Today’s post features a digital photograph converted to monochrome in post processing using Adobe Lightroom.

This was a comparatively simple task. Working with the Lumix RAW file, I used the ‘Saturation’ slider control to eliminate all color from the image. Then, to increase drama and contrast, I implemened some dramatic changes using the ‘Clarity’ slider that intoduced a stark contrast curve before converting the image into the final JPG file displayed here.

Why not make this photo on film? All things being equal, I wish I had exposed a black & white negative, but in this instance I was traveling light: I kept my repitoire of cameras flexble and was working with just two digital bodies, and no film at all.

Perhaps next time, I’ll bring a single film camera with lens.

Tracking the Light Posts Daily!

photography

Soo 1003 Teaser

Last Sunday (November 14, 2021), Kris and & I caught up with the Trains Magazine steam photo charter operated with preserved Soo Line 2-8-2 Mikado 1003.

The day was cold, cloudy and snowing lightly; conditions that made for some excellent steam locomotive photography.

The charter was working on the far reaches of the Wisconsin & Southern network north of Horicon, Wisconsin.

I exposed this view using my Panasonic Lumix LX7, and processed the RAW file in Adobe Lightroom.

More photos to come over the coming days.

Tracking the Light Posts Every Day!

photography

Frozen Scene

Since the heat of July is upon us, I thought it would be a refreshing alternative to present a few frosty photos from years ago.

In February 2008, I was visiting with John Gruber in Wisconsin. We drove out to Baraboo in pursuit of the Wisconsin & Southern (reporting marks WSOR). John had been photographing this line since the 1950 when it was Milwaukee Road.

In these twilight views, a WSOR SD40-2 was working the Baraboo industrial park. It was very cold. I made these images on Fujichrome using a Canon EOS-3 with 20mm lens. I scanned the slides an Epson V600 flatbed scanner and adjusted the TIF files using Adobe Lightroom to correct for color temperature.

Tracking the Light Posts Daily!