Chasing Trains

Jul 25 2009

I’m not a train spotter.

But on Thursday I did go chasing trains with my camera. I took my opportunity to get outside while the English cloud (singular – just one giant cloud) was off harassing other parts of the country. I decided to shoot one of the steam trains on the local Paignton to Dartmouth steam railway, an endeavour which didn’t not require an uninsignificant degree of planning, so that I was in the right place at the right time.

Armed with only a wide angle lens, I knew I had to get in close. I grabbed a timetable from Paignton station and drove to a good spot along the line. It was late in the afternoon so the sun was shining East, towards the Bay: perfect for a shot of the train with the water behind. I deployed my tripod.

Okay, good spot, good light, train due any minute. A quick test to check my exposure-

Looking fine. Here we go.

Any second…

*chug chug chug chug*

Excellent.

Ready…

You have got to be kidding me-

I should have known that one tiny cloud would have the sole intention of ruining the photograph. I swear it darted in front of the sun at the very moment the train came into the frame, and then slid off again as the very last carriage clicked on by. Typical. So I waited-

Oh by the way, welcome to my new blog. I have every intention of posting more stories here related (perhaps loosely at times) to photography.

I digress. Three quarters of an hour later and I finally got the shot of the train. Hurrah! And as an added bonus the engine hadn’t been put on backwards this time. Here is the raw capture-

With a bit of post we have the final image-

Canon 50D + Canon 10-22mm lens @ 22mm f/5.6

Not bad. Had I a longer lens at the time, I would have stepped back, zoomed in tighter and rid myself of the distracting foliage in the foreground. I also think the light would have been better had it been a couple of hours later in the day. Guess I’ll have to go back