The Flying Scotsman's on, off, on again trip to Fife was last night. I got some good images, which I will post as I process, but here was a difficult one on which I would welcome advice. I spent the late evening racing her from one viewpoint to another, reaching my final viewing point just before she arrived at ten to nine. By this time the light was fading by about half a stop every two or three minutes, which rather dictated my settings choice. Short of a camera with better Hi ISO performance, or a faster telephoto lens, or even a closer viewpoint and a shorter tele, I don't know what I could have done. What would you have done?
"Flying Scotsman enters Cardenden, on Fife Circle Line."
Nikon D80, 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 VR lens, Manual mode, 1/250 sec, f5, ISO 1600, 217mm lens equivalent, processed in Lightroom and Nik Software.
Ask yourself, "What's most important for the final image?".
Looks OK to me, John, but perhaps remove most of the sky - a crop to the top of the hills works for me, the little triangle of sky that would remain at the top left acting as a balance to the trail of steam. You might have taken a risk panning with a lower shutter speed (with lower ISO), but it might well have been a failure - and the shot you've got must be better than one that doesn't work!
She is a credit to the engineers that first built her and the restoration team. Great to see her once again.
What would I have done to take the shot ?. Probably dialled in Auto and hoped for the best.
Under the shooting conditions that you were faced with John, I would be very pleased with the result.
Cheers, Mike.
" Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst "
Henri Cartier - Bresson.
I had 7 seconds with her in view at that spot and I wanted a capture, not a risky shot. I felt that with a panned shot I would only have captured one exposure whereas I got 4. I was tempted to use Shutter priority in Auto but I try to use Manual as much as possible these days. I was taking an exposure every half minute, prior to her arrival, and studying the histogram before making corrections.
Here is the same shot cropped on Philip's suggestion. Does it work?
Ask yourself, "What's most important for the final image?".
(May 16, 2016, 08:46)Jocko Wrote: The Flying Scotsman's on, off, on again trip to Fife was last night. I got some good images, which I will post as I process, but here was a difficult one on which I would welcome advice. I spent the late evening racing her from one viewpoint to another, reaching my final viewing point just before she arrived at ten to nine. By this time the light was fading by about half a stop every two or three minutes, which rather dictated my settings choice. Short of a camera with better Hi ISO performance, or a faster telephoto lens, or even a closer viewpoint and a shorter tele, I don't know what I could have done. What would you have done?
"Flying Scotsman enters Cardenden, on Fife Circle Line."
Nikon D80, 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 VR lens, Manual mode, 1/250 sec, f5, ISO 1600, 217mm lens equivalent, processed in Lightroom and Nik Software.
