RAILROAD VIDEO QUARTERLY ISSUE #86 - WINTER 2014
RAILROAD VIDEO QUARTERLY - ISSUE #86 Winter 2014 Two Hours 20 Minutes - our second longest yet!
In This Issue:
Fall Outing on Reading & Northern N&W Final Fling with Steam Penn Central • Becker's Farm Train and Lots More
WINTER 2014 MANIFEST:
1. Reading & Northern Fall Outings with #425 2 1990s with 2102 and Special Ttrains 3. The Hard Coal Carriers - 1970-1976 Survey 4. N&W 1958 Steam on Blue Ridge and Roanoke Action
5. #6325 GTW 4-8-2 in Winter 2004 & Other Ohio Central Memories
6. Santa Fe and S.P. Passenger Trains in LA on the Eve of Amtrak
7. Derailment Study on Santa Fe, 1974 8. San Luis Central Colorado Shortline Celebrates 100 Years
The morning Denver & Rio Grande Western / Southern Pacific DVROF hustles through Kremmling, Colo. in the 1990s at about 55 m.p.h. The faint first light of dawn was too dim for action stopping shutter speeds, so ¹⁄₃₀of a second with the camera on a tripod was used to purposely capture the train’s motion as a blur
.
is the most critical function for action stop- ping train photography, unless you are shooting in manual (M) mode and setting both shutter speed and aperture, always shoot in the Shutter Speed Preferred TV or T (for “time value”) mode where you set the desired shutter speed and use whatever cor- responding aperture the camera selects. In Aperture Preferred (AV or A) and Program (P) modes the camera may select too slow a shutter speed in low light conditions.
Creative Blur
What can you do when you want to get some variety in your photos of a railroad or loca- tion you have photographed numerous times? Or the light is just too low for action stopping shutter speeds? You can create a look of action by selecting a slow shutter speed to intentionally create blurring, as seen in the accompanying photo of a 55 m.p.h. train shot at ¹⁄₃₀ of a second. To sug- gest speed with a very slow moving train, use an even longer shutter speed. Another technique: If photographing a speeding train from the side, set a shutter speed of ¹⁄₃₀ and as the locomotives pass your position, smoothly swing the camera to keep them in the same spot in your viewfinder while firing off several shots as they go by (this is called “panning”). This should render the locomotives reasonably sharp while the foreground and background will show as a streaked blur, and with a steam locomotive, the driver wheels will also show a nice circu- lar blur.
When are Apertures Important? While a fast enough shutter speed to “freeze” train movement is the main consid- eration, there are times when you might want to give some attention to what effect the corresponding aperture is having on your photo. One such situation is when you need a greater depth of field (DOF, the range of acceptable sharpness front to back), which is controlled by aperture. Ex- ample: You are composing a photo to include a switch stand in the foreground, and you notice when you focus on the train in the
background said switch stand is out of fo- cus. Yet when you focus on the switch stand, the train looks a little soft.
The solution is to set an aperture that will give a deep enough DOF to include both the train and switch stand. By “compressing” the image carrying light to come in through smaller apertures, such as ƒ/16 and ƒ/22, a deeper DOF is created than with wider aper- tures like ƒ/4 or ƒ/5.6. (Again, this is like your eyes. If you squint, out of focus objects can appear sharper.) In addition, the farther you are from your point of focus, the greater will be your DOF. And the smaller the lens power, such as a 50mm, 35mm, etc., the greater the DOF at any given aperture than larger lenses like a 100mm or 200mm. Most non-zoom interchangeable lenses
that are capable of being manually focused have “hyperfocal” markings on them that in- dicate DOF at a given focus distance and aperture setting. From a printed range of apertures running in two directions from a central point on the lens (such as 22, 16, 11, 8, 5.6, 4.5 / 4.5, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22) a line from the same aperture on each end of this scale extends to the near and far focus distance points on the lens. For example, the lens shows focus on the
switch stand is ten feet, and when you focus on the train, the distance is 30 feet, and your aperture is ƒ/11. To use the hyperfocal tech- nique, turn the focus ring to a point where both the 10 and 30 feet distances are at or be- tween the two ƒ/11 marks. Now both your train and switch stand will be in acceptable focus. If you cannot line up the aperture marks to include both distances, maybe mov- ing back a couple of feet and refocusing on each subject will move both focus points within the aperture guides. Or you can select a smaller aperture such as ƒ/16 or ƒ/22 (with a corresponding slower shutter speed) and read where its wider aperture marks line up. If having a smaller aperture necessitates your shooting at too slow a shutter speed to freeze train movement, go with a higher dig- ital ISO setting to maintain both the small aperture and fast shutter speed.
9. PENN CENTRAL Part Two: 1973 - 1975
10. Greatest Hobby on Tour at Cleveland I-X Center 11. Becker's Farm Train Story, 1938 to Today 12. Fostoria Iron Triangle Rail Park: A Grand Opening
13. Fall Variety Through New England, NY and PA 14. Winter Highlights from NE Ohio - Bitter Cold Delays Amtrak
15. "Something Magic" - Richie Havens Tribute
This issue is $29 Ppd, or SUBSCRIBE AT ONLY $69 FOR ONE YEAR (4 Issues)! Check or M.O. to: RVQ - BOX 129,
TALLMADGE, OH 44278
The ONLY
$3 599. $35.
(A
comprehensive guide to Canadian railways,
includes U.S. based operations. 736 (Am eri
pages ric (all ppd.,taxes included) 95 (Canadia
ian addre an addre
can i
Locomotives of CN
resses resses
(including IC, DW&P, EJ&E, DMIR)
, CPR, VIA,
) )
WC, GTW, B&LE, Regional &
Shortrtline railways, plus all Industrial locomotives; Urban Rail Transit, Passenger Cars, Cabooses; Preservrved Canadian Locomotives & Equipment; Work Servrvice Cars & other Non-revenue Equipment; VIA, Commuter and Excursion Train schedules; Subdivision details for all railways: station names, mileposts, radio frequencies, detector locations,
divisional maps, detailed maps of major rail centres;
BYGAY LEPKEY 336 pages;
hard cover $49. 95 (all ppd.,taxes included) This 2nd
volume features addition details on CNR passenger equipme :tn Great for a CNR fan or modeller with 249 B&W equipment photos, 297 car diagrams, a listing of preserved equipment and details on passenger car technology
(U.S. Orders in U.S. Funds) BY TO WN R A IL
Send Cheque or IntlMoney Order to: ILW AY SO C IETY
P.O. Box 47076, Ottawa, ON Canada K1B 5P9 Or order online at:ww
w.bytownrail
to raiwaysocie l lw i ty.cety a 15
PHOTOGRAPHY: GREG MONROE
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66