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| 6024ke1 |
Trains
All these pics were taken on the TV setting as below 1/125 ISO 800 with automatic white balance. Also had it on servo, so I could fire off several shots and pick the best ones! On the close up of Clanline you can see the number on the front of the loco is not clear. I am unsure as yet about filming at speed. Locos on the mainline travel at around 75mph on avarage! Help and advice gratefully received, and yes, I have a wonderful fiance who gave me the camera as a Christmas pressie! Cheers Shirley 
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| jonH |
Re: Trains
Is that the bottom pic? sorry train names other than rocket or mallard don't mean much to me 
I'd say you'd be pushing it with 1/125 if that was thing was at a reasonable speed, although being head-on-ish does help. I would imagine it's a difficult shot to nail, and it's not like you get a second chance either! I think a reasonable way to get it would be to be in af-c (continuous servo focus) mode then pan with the train to minimise motion blur. it'd be worth being in single area autofocus and making sure that the active area is set to be bottom right somewhere (sorry, i don't know the layout of focus areas on the 400D) and whilst panning, firing the shutter when the front of the train is sufficiently large in that focus area. |
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| 6024ke1 |
Yes Clanline is the bottom picture.
I have taken what you said about the single area autofocus, and will try that and the af settings this weekend, as I am out for 2 steam locos. You are right, you don't get a second chance at this! Thanks for the advice. Shirley |
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| creators |
Hi Shirley, if you can choose your spot before the train comes through, I'd suggest a few test shots from your position. The Clanline shot is over exposed by a long way. I've just done a test shot at ISO 800 in very overcast conditions of a passing car and was still able to get a good shot at 1/400 shutter speed. Looking at the conditions when you took that shot, I'd think you could have got away with anything up to 1/1000. Even if the shot comes out a little dark, you can lighten the main picture and still have effective sky/steam. I'm with Jon on learning to pan and using continuous focus, that's what I use at race meets. At 75 MPH a shutter speed of 125 is far too low if you want really crisp pictures even with the train coming almost head on.
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| 6024ke1 |
Hi
Well, I went out on Saturday and tried to put into practice what had been said to me. The image of Tangmere at Keynsham (first shot) was not good though. I had fast fading light, too high an ISO which left it grainy, and no tripod. The learning goes on! Comments/advice appreciated as always. 
Regards Shirley |
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| creators |
Hi Shirley,
all these shots look good to me, there are no blown highlights so what you are dealing with is low light, overcast conditions, for which image software is the answer to lifting the pictures. Can I ask you what software you have for processing images? I have Photoshop CS2, Elements 4, Coral Paint Shop Pro X and PSP Photo X1, any one of which will do the job of adding vibrancy and contrast to your pictures. Knowing what software you're using means we can pass on tips in your chosen package. |
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| jonH |
looks like you've suffered some motion blur in the first one. if you can master panning and altering your zoom at the same time you'll get some killer shots. it's difficult (and is something my wife is having fun coming to terms with at the moment!) but it's well worth the effort mastering, and at least your subject is moving in a uniform fashion, which makes the process a little easier 
it's one of the techniques that makes a dslr priceless over a compact - there's no beating a 'proper' viewfinder for stuff like that that said, I think #2 is rather good, and #3 is great! |
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| 6024ke1 |
Hi
Thanks for all the feedback. Yes, i've got blur on the first shot. I had the ISO setting up as far as it would go. Light was appalling. I use Adobe Photoshop CS2 to adjust pictures, although i'm not very au fait with it! Cheers Shirley |
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| creators |
The easiest way to lift images that will probably work for most of them is to use the curves and levels palettes.
Open the image and if you can't see the levels palette press F7. At the bottom of the palette there are some icons, If you click on the half black/white one, you can create a new adjustment layer. An adjustment layer doesn't change the background image, it overlays it. Which means if you don't like the adjustments you've made you can work on them until you're happy, again and again. Whereas, if you made changes to the background image and weren't happy, you'd have to undo everything you'd done after that to adjust it to how you did want it. 
Choose 'Curves' from the menu that pops up. 
What we want to do is lighten the train, don't worry about the sky, just concentrate on the train. Click on the diagonal line where I've put the red arrow and push it up. Have a play around to see what happens. If you want to reset the Curves palette at any time, hold down ALT and click the Reset button that appears where the cancel button is and start again. Once you are happy, click 'Ok'. 
The levels palette now looks like this. 
Next we'll deal with the sky. There is a lot you could do, but for the sake of ease I am going to get it back to how it was when you took the shot. If you look at the adjustment layer you'll see that it has a white window icon next to the curves icon. Using a black or white paint brush you can paint in or paint out areas you do or don't want affected by the adjustment layer. Using a black brush I painted out the sky and the rear coaches of the train and the platform with a soft edged brush, zooming in to do the edges of the train. 
Lastly I called up another adjustment layer, this time choosing levels. I've warmed the picture up by selecting the red channel and increasing red by 10, and selecting the blue channel and decreasing blue by 10 by moving the little grey arrows in the middle, 
and this is the result. I hope that helps, any questions, shout. 
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| Venom |
Hi Shirley,
Have to agree with John:
Shame about the background  but you can't have everything.
Anyway keep practising it's definitely paying off. Mike |
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| 6024ke1 |
Thanks for your kind comments and also for the in depth tutorial. I will go through it step by step this evening when I have a litlle more time to hand.
You may be interested in my website: www.fireboxchaser.co.uk You can see my efforts at video there as well! No good, I must get a tripod for my DSLR as well as my video. Shirley |
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| jonH |
http://www.fireboxchaser.co.uk/IMG_0133.JPG
and http://www.fireboxchaser.co.uk/IMG_0132.JPG are huuuuuge! i'd cut them down to the dimensions you're showing them at on the page - it'll speed up the download of your picture gallery page no end! |
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| 6024ke1 |
oooh, so they are!!
Consider them cut down to size! Shirley
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| creators |
I hope you don't mind Shirley, I've had a few more goes with this particular picture using the full sized image on your site. Just to wonder, do you really want the full sized images on the web, they are there for the taking?
In the series of pictures I've pushed them almost to pop art. 
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| 6024ke1 |
that photo looks better and better! I am in the process of resizing the pics. Trouble is, its almost impossible to stop people downloading your stuff these days. Even if you stop them right clicking and saving, they can still print scren and do it that way so.....
Thanks for all your time and trouble. Its remarkable how different you can make a subject look! Shirley |
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| creators |
It's a particularly good photograph to work on and I have a great affection for steam trains. Yes, the picture thing is tricky, I tend to keep them at 800 pixels longest edge or less which, these days, makes for a size under most peoples wallpaper size and add a copyright notice. If you do want to add a copyright notice in any typing or add text program, holding ALT and pressing the digits 0, 1, 6, 9, release ALT gives you ©. Amazing what our dear old digital darkroom, Photoshop, can do, eh? |
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| creators |
Just in case you wanted the full sized images, Shirley, I've put them here to use them, or check them over or whatever. Let me know when you've got them or if you just don't want them so I can take them off the server. Thanks.
Edit: removed now. |
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| 6024ke1 |
Thanks very much for those. I have saved them now so you can remove if you wish.
here are 2 I took this morning at Sherborne. Diesel I know, but my fiance was on it! 
Panic is setting in as it is due back later on today and light is going to be even worse! Shirley |
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| creators |
You've done well on the top picture with difficult extremes of contrast, though there are some blown areas in the clouds they don't detract from the overall picture. I think one of the most frustrating things about photographing in England is the perennial haze. I see photographs from Africa and Australia that are so crisp and clear I start to chew my spleen. | ||
| 6024ke1 |
Am I getting any better?!HiA few shots taken at the Wets Somerset railway gala. Do you think my shots are improving? Also, appreciate opinions on my very first ever night shots! http://shirleyturner.fotopic.net/p39546638.html http://shirleyturner.fotopic.net/p39546637.html http://shirleyturner.fotopic.net/p39657705.html http://shirleyturner.fotopic.net/p39688107.html http://shirleyturner.fotopic.net/p39688108.html Cheers Shirley |
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| Jan |
 Great photos of the trains!
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| creators |
Fantastic improvement, those are wonderful shots, absolutely superb! I love the angles too, that really creates a lot of interest as well.
For the night shots, do you have an incandescent white balance setting, as that would reduce the red from the lighting a lot? |
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| hil26 |
some great shots there
night shots are very good, not too sure how they can be improved as opportunity to retake is limited. Seems a couple of the day shots are a little off focus, buts thats a problem I also have, and am still to resolve - not sure if its the continuous focus setting still experimenting, but great shots all the same |
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| Evolution104 |
Have to agree. I took a look at your intro and see you have a very impressive and capable camera 
Based on that, I'd recommend a technique I used with my old film camera - pre-focus and deep depth of field (dof). This works especially well with fast moving objects, like F1 racing. You anticipate where the moving object will be when you take the picture and pre-focus on that spot. Don't use continuous autofocus for this! But digital camera sensors are slower than film, so ISO selection becomes an issue. This may take some practice to get a feel and to get it right. First, start off with your ISO setting at auto - later, you may find you need to manually increase ISO to get faster shutter speeds - experimentation and existing light levels will be your guide. The downside is that increased ISO also means increased noise in the image. Second, and again, this may require experimentation, put your camera in aperture priority mode and set the aperture to something small (i.e. large number). The smaller the aperture, the more things in the image will be in focus. But a small aperture also means less light and a longer shutter speed - potentially leading to motion blur. So experiment to find the right compromise. Third, set your focus to centre metered so you can control what the camera is focussing on. Four - as the train approaches, aim at the rail nearest you and at the point where the front of the train will be when you want to take the picture. Lock your focus there (read your camera's manual on how to do this) and recompose to capture the shot you want while the focus is locked. The combination of having most everything in focus (deep dof) and focussing on the foreground should help improve the crispness of your shots. But practice may be required - you will probably suffer many shots with motion blur until you get the hang of it, and once you do, you may also suffer noisy images due to high ISO settings. Your camera may have a noise filter which can be turned on, but this will mean that it takes longer to save the image to the storage card. You may find that panning with the object can help once you've established the camera's pre-focus. But you still face the problem of slow shutter speeds, which, together with panning, increase the probability of motion blur. And you need to trigger the shutter at the right time to take advantage of that pre-focus. If you keep at it, eventually you'll find the right combination and will be taking stunning photos. Good luck! |
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| jonH |
6024ke1: very much improved - well done!
focus isn't perfect, but you've done much better than previously - keep up the good work. plenty more to be considering from the advice given over the weekend - just goes to show there is always more than one way to skin the focus cat
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| 6024ke1 |
Hi
I have had a quick look at the whaite balance settings and have one called Tungsten Light (3200k) and one white fluorescent (4000k) I presume I would use Tungsten, although not sure waht the numbers mean. Perhaps you could enlighten me? Thanks for the continued constructive criticism and teach ins! Cheers All. Shirley
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| creators |
Hi Shirley, the Tungsten Light (3200k) should do the job. You could do worse then take a few shots under street light conditions to find the right setting for your camera. | ||
| Evolution104 |
I need to add a clarification on my earlier comments.
The technique of pre-focussing comes from the experience of years of taking pictures with a manual focus camera (split ring focus) and from frustration with my lack of success with continuous focus on my digital camera (I think it responds too slowly and/or hunts). With modern auto focus systems, the technique I described may be seriously outdated and might not be the best solution. Having a small aperture will necessitate a longer shutter speed, probably resulting in motion blur unless you're panning and get really good at it. This can be minimized by using a faster ISO setting, but now you risk increasing noise in the image, which I personally find distasteful. Good or bad, you might want to experiment with this and draw your own conclusions. That way you will know if and when the technique might be useful. Or not. For me, the more tricks I know, the higher the probability I'll have a way to get the picture I want. |
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| hil26 |
not too sure on your camera, but on mine it has a facility for what they call "Trap focus technique"
Haven't tried it yet but you pre focus at a specific point and the shutter releases automatically as soon as the subject passes through it. It goes on to say provided that you can predict the path of the subject it can be very effective ---- so would imagine that trains have a predictable path. Will have to go and try this now, |
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| Evolution104 |
That sounds like a very nice feature - I know my camera doesn't have it. |
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