Category: Railway Photography

#64 – Guesswork / bulb mode

Sometimes, you run out of pre-set exposure times on your camera and you have to resort to the ‘guess’ mode, AKA  Bulb. This particular scene was tricky as the big floodlight in the background kept being turned on and off, which made exposure a pain. After several tests, I ended up thinking f*ck it, counted to…

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#62 – Details

 Who said railway photography has to have the train as the main, or only, compositional element? OK, so unless you are a railway enthusiast you may not recognise these lamps as being used on steam engines, but as part of a larger set of images, it adds a different perspective to it. As I often…

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#60 – it doesn’t always go according to plan… (part 2)

Following on from my post the other week, I attempted to photograph the Cotton Mills Express again. Right, I thought, I’ll watch it locally, then head out to somewhere more photogenic. So I saw it a couple of miles away from my house (which was further than it got last time – it failed at…

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#57 – sunset

I always moan at how in the UK we don’t get those lovely skies we see in those fabulous photos of steam in China. This is as good as we get in Preston. I wanted to capture the young lady at work on the engine, perhaps need a bit of dodging to bring her out…

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#56 – adding a bit of atmosphere 3

More steam trains! If on the off chance you read this blog regularly, you’ll have noticed a few recent posts of steam train pictures. I love steam trains, and have done for years, although I kind of drift in and out of photographing them. I enjoy the challenge of trying to make something creative and…

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#52 – Adding a Bit of Atmosphere 2

Following on from my last post, here’s another from the East Lancs Railway. Same idea, as before, although the engine is now a much larger part of the overall scene. However, I chose to compose it with the mill, water tower and signal box all in the scene, to help add a bit more visual interest….

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#51 – Adding a Bit of Atmosphere 1

I’ve now been using the Nikon D700 for exactly a year, and I know this because the first place I took it was to the East Lancs Railway winter steam gala at the end of January. One year on, time for a return visit. Other than a nightshoot at Bury, I’d not done any railway photography since then,…

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#43 – the importance of a good title

When entering photographs into competitions, especially ‘open’ (i.e. unthemed) ones, it is critical to choose a great title for your entry. A good title can make the difference between a judge (or any viewer) looking at the image and thinking ‘I don’t know what the photographer is trying to say!’, or thinking ‘Ah, I get it’….

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