See The Light?

One of the most basic mistakes made in railfan photography is not paying attention to the direction of light. I know this because I made this mistake many, many times.

Here's an example of terrible light. I shot NBEC 1855 in Campbellton, NB in May 2009 shortly before it was scrapped. This is straight out of the camera with no editing.

Awful, right? Where's the sun? Off to my right, creating terrible shadows on the unit..

Now some creative editing in Adobe Lightroom or other programs can help bring details out, but the result is going to look artificial. Keep in mind that in digital photos, bright areas hold more information than dark areas, so when you lighten a dark area it will be very pixelated. I did some serious smoothing on this image to try to get rid of the pixelation.


It's much better if you can walk around and take the shot from a different angle.



The common rule of thumb is to have the light source (usually the sun) behind you, over one shoulder. This should give your subject decent illumination, not quite head on but enough to get rid of most shadows.


Of course, you cannot always get the angle you want. I was fortunate in this case but in many cases you're stuck with the sun in front of you. What to do?

Some people would just not take the photo. I figure, it's digital, why not? Maybe you can get something good out of it.


Here you sacrifice all ground and engine detail but you get a lovely sky and some nice light on the side of the train. Notice I'm still on the "sun side" of the train. If I had walked across to the other side before the train came, I would have been shooting right into the rising sun.

Shooting into the sun? Well, we can make that work too.

The trick is to expose it properly. The sun is going to make your camera sensor underexpose everything. If it is a static scene like this one, you can use HDR like I did and take several frames at different exposures and combine them. Or, you can go for a silhouette shot and expose for the sun and let the subject go totally dark.

But what about a moving target, like a train? Well, chances are, unless you are super prepared you are going to be using automatic exposure and you're going to get a dark train. Your best bet is to not do it.

Here's an example. I was up near Symington Yard in Winnipeg when I saw an interesting train leaving, led by GTW 5948 and new-to-CN 5442. The problem was they were heading north out of the yard in October at 1:30, so the sun was basically high and behind the train. Hence this kind of light:

Terrible, right? I knew this was a throwaway shot but I took it anyway to make sure my camera was working. I took side shots of each engine as they went by, and the light was better.


A "going away" shot would have been even better for light, except that I was on the wrong side of the train!

In this case there was no way to get on the other side of the train without being unsafe and trespassing, and I won't do that. Take what you can get.

I've only been talking about the direction of light. Another whole blog post would be about the quality of light - noon, sunrise, sunset, "blue hour".

Here's what I want you to take away from this:

• Know where the light is coming from
• Try to keep the light behind you, over one shoulder
• If the light is in your face, try a different angle or be inventive to save the shot

NBEC Update

Jeremy MacPherson relayed the news that ex-NBEC 6905 (SD40) "has been sold to the Dakota Missouri Valley & Western and should be shipped from Woodcrest soon. This is the same line that recently purchased some of the retired SD50F units from CN."

Good news... better that than the scrapper. Speaking of the scrapper... NBEC 1855 has been scrapped.

Scrapped

By Thursday afternoon (June 4), NBEC 1809 and 1830 have been scrapped at Campbellton with 1855 in the process of being scrapped. Plow NBEC 55420, flanger 56201 and spreader 50955 are next.

I saw them on May 30 in a line railway east of the shops. Click on the photo for a larger view.


You can see that all the parts have been stripped. Number boards, classification lights, bells, even handbrake wheels were all removed. Even some of the headlights were gone.

Also, I understand that NBEC 1814, 1816, 1834, 1840, and 1854 have all been sold for scrap.

Goodbye, Alcos.

RS18s in Campbellton

On Monday night I had the opportunity to tour the Campbellton yard. With permission, of course! NBEC 1819 was in the shop track, having received a new head. It was being readied for its new career.


Outside, NBEC 1845 was resting in the yard. 1845 is operational and is currently used as the shop switcher.


There are three dead RS18s around the yard, 1809, 1830 and 1855.






There were a few MOW (Maintenance Of Way) pieces around the yard. Plow NBEC 55420 was the only one left, since its sister 55419 went to the Bay.


Two cars are waiting for the scrapper. The plaque on Jordan Spreader 50955 reads "JORDAN SPREADER O.F. JORDAN CO. EAST CHICAGO INDIANA PATENTED OTHER PATENTS PENDING".


Rare flanger NBEC 56201 is also destined for the scrapper. Yes, it's a flanger, not a caboose.


A quick hat tip to CJF - it was very nice to meet you. Thanks to all the Eastern Railway Services people for your hospitality! I wish you all the best of luck.