Night Moves ( the early hours)




     One thing besides I don't know when to quit that can be said about me is I like to take on tough if not impossible challenges. One challenge facing some railfans is night photography while the aspect is hard in itself, it has it's other challenges like personal and physical safety, accessibility to certain areas  along with the fact of lighting, and the weather all play into the factors. This is some of my early work while I was learning the basics and still am learning the total aspect of the night photo hobby. Below is one of my early long exposures of a B&O Signal here in Akron.
CPL @ Night
Now for the Most part I follow or try to follow what I call the 3S system I came up with which basically is Safety,Scope, and Simplicity The first being safety I always search the area out in daylight first to note the type of neighborhood, ground conditions and make note of any holes, low lying objects that can cause tripping hazards, and any other safety hazards I also take into account of the weather that night as well. The next is Scope this involves seeing any angles to shoot from and taking notes of lights, the locations and sometimes either going in the early winter hours to note the style (sodium, LED, etc.) and any other obstructions. After studying and gathering my data I go home and out together my final list of being Simplicity meaning carrying as little equipment as possible to get the Job done.

Taking Advantage of a sitting Duck

Once I put my list together I need,I usually mainly like to work pre dawn between the hours of 3-6 am during the summer and 4-7 am in the winter the reason is it is that it is darkest before the Dawn (on a side note this is true even with situations in our lives) Celestially the earths axis is at it's furthest point away from the sun at this point in it's nightly rotation Add in clouds or Phases of the moon and then you can really get yourself into dark situations (no pun intended) so more on that in a later post.

One thing is being in a Urban setting I like to do is find subjects like the Photo above to incorporate into my pictures sometimes it could be a building or a bridge or sometimes a paralleling road like above. Another thing to consider is those pesky orange lights either you can hate them or embrace them I choose the latter I embrace them but if you don't hey not problem you can get rid of them. Here is how I embrace them.

The pesky orange lights to my advantage
In the above pic I used a long 15 second exposure some cloud cover and daylight settings on my camera the lights from the parking deck white LED type helped make the exposure easier but this is one example of how to use the lights to my advantage and on a final note see how peaceful the transition from the lights to the sky is made.

No lights ma :)
 Now setting the cameras white balance to tungsten helps eliminates the orange in the picture but still allows for a great shot without any further color loss.

Next I will cover lighting using it to your advantage and it's potential for kicking your tail in night work In the Photo Below I used my new 50mm lens 1.8 F-stop used the LED lighting on a bridge and the reflected light of the snow to capture a 4 second exposure and make the shot that some say is my best one yet (I beg to differ as I always can do better in one way or another) but never the less here I present it to you
Night at the University curve
Now while I was satisfied how the picture came out I went down trackside to shoot the opposite direction (note the kicking butt sideline here) Now not only I had less light to work with I had to shoot into the light (not easy) but here is after 3 attempts (hey I am getting better) I was able to get it to come out acceptable in my opinion.

Note the road bridge I was shooting from just viewable under the old signal bridge


 On a final note Don't overlook Clouds while we hate them as railfans sometimes they can be used for some cool night shots as Below.

Note the Greenery helps with lighting
Using the pesky orange lights (at a considerable distance) and setting the white balance custom I was able to highlight the clouds to make the picture come out to suit my taste. Like most of photography there is more than one way to do something this is some of the things that has worked well for me and as I get better equipment and skills I will share them here. Now time for my words of wisdom as I close Psalms 30:5 talks about we may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning, and as I do my night work I carry a small Flashlight to be able to read, see my equipment, and most importantly to Guide me in my way around the area. Do you have a light? and not the flashlight in your gear but the true light to guide you through the darkness in your life if not It is free Just read John 8:12 and get yours today until next time stay blessed and take care.

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