{"id":4626,"date":"2013-11-22T05:22:57","date_gmt":"2013-11-22T10:22:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/?p=4626"},"modified":"2013-11-22T07:25:22","modified_gmt":"2013-11-22T12:25:22","slug":"daily-post-new-england-central-at-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/daily-post-new-england-central-at-night\/","title":{"rendered":"DAILY POST: New England Central at Night"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nNovember Moonlight.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Last Friday evening, November 16, 2013, I stopped by New England Central in Palmer, Massachusetts on my way to meet friends for dinner.<\/p>\n

The moon was nearly full and a venerable GP38 was resting in the yard. Here was an opportunity for a photograph (or two)!<\/p>\n

\"Lumix<\/a>
Lumix LX-3 photograph: exposed for 30 seconds at f2.8 at ISO 80. Notice my shadow at far left.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u2019ve made numerous images of New England Central 3855, since this locomotive arrived with the creation of the railroad nearly 19 years ago. So why bother make more, especially on a chilly November evening?<\/p>\n

My short answer: because it was there to photograph.<\/p>\n

The long answer: the moon was out casting a surreal glow across the Palmer yard and the mix of moonlight and sodium vapor street lights inspired me to expose some long time exposures.<\/p>\n

I positioned my Lumix LX3 on my large Bogen tripod and manually set the camera. I carefully avoided direct light by using tree branches and nearby buildings as natural lens shades. I also minimize the effect of street lamps in the photograph, while aiming skyward to catch the twinkle of evening stars. (On the full-sized un-scaled RAW file, the stars are very clear in the sky. Unfortunately the scaled and compressed images do not translate as well as I’d hoped.)<\/p>\n

\"Lumix<\/a>
Lumix LX-3 photograph: exposed for 15 seconds at f2.8 at ISO 80. The best part of this image is the tree shadow on the locomotive side.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Using long exposures require a very steady tripod. Also to minimize noise I selected the lowest ISO value. For more on my ambient light night photo technique see earlier posts including: Friday Night in Palmer, Massachusetts, July 12, 2013<\/a>; and\u00a0Lumix LX-3\u2014part 2:\u00a0 Existing Light Digital Night Shots<\/a><\/p>\n

Tracking the Light<\/a>\u00a0posts new material every<\/span> morning.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Please spread the word and share\u00a0Tracking the Light<\/a>\u00a0with anyone who may enjoy seeing it!<\/strong><\/p>\n

http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Related articles<\/h6>\n