Tag: East Lancashire Railway
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#226 – People In Railway Photography Revisited – Part 2
As I wasn’t using the optimal lens for the job, cropping played an important part of post processing., and this is where having a reasonably high megapixel count comes in handy. Now I’ve never subscribed to the theory that you should get it right in camera and never crop – it’s a laudable idea, but…
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#225 – People in Railway Photography Revisited – Part 1
Due to the usual late running on the Saturday of the East Lancs Steam Gala, the planned nightshoot was also running late, so by the time the assembled throng were let in, the engines were still being put down for the night. Never one to miss an opportunity to do something different, I hiked up the…
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#163 – Silhouette
Burrs is known as a great location for sunrise and sunsets, but we didn’t really get much co-operation from the weather. So, I’ve cheated and adjusted the white balance to give this rather nice effect!
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#162 – On The Footplate
I’d never been on the footplate of a loco before (well, certainly not a moving one anyway), so when I was offered the opportunity, I really couldn’t turn it down!! “Get your super wide angle on and see what you can do!” was the suggestion from Nigel, who had helped put the charter together. Now…
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#161 – 73129 at Burrs
After being forwarded an invite from charter organiser Richard Newton, I signed up and attended my first steam photo charter. This is where a train is hired for a day and shuttles up and down the line for the exclusive convenience of railway photographers. These are not publicised (so that free-loaders can’t join in without paying)…
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#160 – Tunnel Vision
OK, first of an umpteen part series of some photos I took at a recent photo charter on the East Lancs Railway. I’ve probably been in railway tunnels before, but probably not legally, and definitely not when there’s a steam train going through it. So this was a first and we were allowed into Brooksbottom…
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#152 – Snow, Steam and Damnation!
Although Burrs Country Park is a popular photographic spot for railway photographers on the East Lancs Railway, it’s somewhere that I rarely visit, partly because the caravan club site has spoilt some of it’s potential, and partly because you’re practically falling over other photographers. However, it is one of the better locations on the line…
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#142 – East Lancashire Tornado (again)
Didn’t get chance to actually ride behind Tornado last week, partially due to other commitments, partially due to the fact that I knew it’d be packed. So I left it a week and headed to Ramsbottom on a rather nice day. Nikon D700, 16-35mm, ISO200, 1/500 @ F11 Now if on the off chance you read…
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#141 – East Lancashire Tornado Part 3 of 3
Another set up shot, but I’d faffed around with various compositions and shutter speeds without getting something that I was really happy with. So I left the rest of the gathered throng and went to look at the other locos, before coming back and trying again. By then everyone else was looking at Leander and the Black 5’s,…
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#140 – East Lancashire Tornado Part 2 of 3
Tornado must be one of the most written about steam locomotives in the country, and one of the best known. With it’s appearance on Top Gear and massive media coverage, it has single handedly brought steam railways into the public conscious. I was intrigued to hear a comment on the platform at Rawtenstall station from a lady,…
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#139 – East Lancashire Tornado Part 1 of 3
Last train of the day at Rawtenstall. I must have misread the timetable as I didn’t think Tornado was timetabled for this train, but I nipped over anyway to experiment with some low light shots, and was pleasantly surprised to see Tornado hauling the train in. It wasn’t as dark as I’d expected or…
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#81 – White Balance Nightmare!!
I’d only had the camera a few weeks when I took this, so I suppose that’s my excuse for not fathoming out how to take a manual white balance for this scene. In actual fact, i struggle the whole night with the sodium vapour lighting, but for the most part I was able to correct it in…
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#68 – light and location (part 1)
For me, location is hugely important in railway photography. Once a good location has been found, it is well worth re-visiting, especially at different times of the day and different times of the year. These are taken at Townsendfold on the East Lancs Railway. This first one was taken in 2007 at the winter steam gala,…
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#67 – Colour? Or black and white?
I took this late on a February afternoon, with the sun low in the sky on the other side of the bridge. Clouds kept partially obscuring it, but I kept getting some terrific light on the railway arches, but no train! It finally arrived (on time), and I got this image. I must admit that…
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#65 – over-reliance on technology?
Stabilised lenses (VR in the case of the Nikon system that I use) are a fantastic innovation that has allowed me to take photos in circumstances that would be impossible with a normal lenses. However, I learnt an important (but cringingly obvious) lesson the other night – by and large, they work best when the…
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#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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#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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#8 – ARCHIVE MARCH 2009: Nikon D700 and Low Light Steam Railway Photography
One of the prime reasons I bought the D700 was it’s incredible high ISO / low light ability, matched only by the D3, with which it shares the sensor. At low ISO it’s extremely good, with pretty much no noise visible, and my first shots for the night were at low ISO’s with pretty long…
Mechanical Landscapes 