Post your Train shots!

[Sandpatch]

Your spike driver is pretty in pink. I like the brick depot too -- I always treasure finding unexpected jewels like this when I'm out taking pictures.

 

[nikonpup]

location: Edmonds, wa. Mt. Baker in background headed for seattle with containers for shipment.

 

[nikonpup]

 

[Sandpatch]

Shot these yesterday in Columbia, SC on another beautiful day. There's one "diamond" crossing in Columbia to allow CSX trains to cross the NS.

 

[Kias]

This is the Norfolk Southern 9365, a GE C40-9W cruising through the cornbelt of Ohio. My very first train picture.

I've beat myself up in so many ways on what I should've done differently, I just need to practice more...

 

[Rick M]

View attachment 20222

This is the Norfolk Southern 9365, a GE C40-9W cruising through the cornbelt of Ohio. My very first train picture.

I've beat myself up in so many ways on what I should've done differently, I just need to practice more...

You're right, its all about practice! Don't beat yourself up about it, we are rarely completely happy with our work. There is always something we could have done better or a setting we didn't check before shooting.

 

[Kias]

And this motion was what I was trying to accomplish when I wandered out to the track. I was just a tad late on the shutter to capture the engine.. Next time!

 

[Kias]

You're right, its all about practice! Don't beat yourself up about it, we are rarely completely happy with our work. There is always something we could have done better or a setting we didn't check before shooting.

I think it's just what I do in all of my hobbies. I beat myself up. The wine I make, the soap I make, the ton of bread I make, the crazy meals I make, the photos I take, and the computerized Christmas light show I have, they could ALL be better in my mind. Though everyone has nothing but good things to say about them...

 

[Sandpatch]

I'm my own worst critic Kias, but I've come to find that the defects in my hobbies that loom so large become much less significant to my eyes with the passage of a little time. In photography there are days where everything comes together and other days where I'll squander $50 in fuel and a day of vacation and come away with nearly nothing. Being new to digital photography, I'm slowly learning to enjoy the freedom of being able to shoot away with wreckless, cost-free abandon.

 

[Rick M]

location: Edmonds, wa. Mt. Baker in background headed for seattle with containers for shipment.View attachment 20010

I think if you cut that tree down, you'll have a perfect angle . Sometimes its a good thing I don't have a chainsaw with me!

 

[Sandpatch]

Some railfans have been known to carry handsaws to trim errant foliage. I routinely pick up trash to improve a lineside shot. In MD I once saw a fan who carried a short stepladder in his truck so that he could literally rise above the fray to gain better angles -- a very clever idea.

 

[nikonpup]

nice shot, remember "do not stand in the tracks". If it was not for photography hindsite we would not be learning.

 

[ssnidey]

It's kind of a train,
made from ore cars.

 

[nikonpup]

train station, west yellowstone, mt.

 

[RookieDSLR]

Here is my addition to this way coooool thread of train pics. Thanks

 

[Sandpatch]

Shot these in Asheville, NC today using my 55-200mm AF-S ED. I went in hope of getting a splendid shot of NS's Wabash Heritage unit, but as you see, it was tucked deeply within the engine terminal and I didn't want to trespass and risk injury or trouble to get a shot. I took a 200mm shot and resolved to find it again another day. :-( The others I shot as personal compensation for the drive time.

 

[Dave_W]

We don't get a lot of chances for train shots here in San Diego but I caught this guy while mucking around in Barrio Logan last week. Not long after I got this shot, I was quickly escorted off the premises. Oh well, such is the life of a wayward photographer....

 

[Sandpatch]

... Not long after I got this shot, I was quickly escorted off the premises....

The NS yard in Asheville was operating at full tilt today -- Thanksgiving Day. With several trains working the yard and company vehicles driving about, I'd have suffered the same fate as you did. Nice former AT&SF "warbonnet" unit you spotted!

 

[Sandpatch]

Went out today to get a shot of a CSX freight that now operates in day light hours instead of at night. I'd always wanted to take a picture of this scene with the depot and train and after 20 years, I have it. It's a light density line and this is the only daylight train running in this direction:



There was very little arrival warning, so when I ran and arrived on the bridge, I had no time to swap to my 55-200mm. I may return another day with the 55-200 and try again for a composition that brings the train and depot closer together.

Later in the day, I caught the train again at a lesser location with a composition-spoiling antenna in the background:



One thing about train photography is that sometimes composition trumps light. There are locations where you have to set up on the darker side of the train to stay safe or to gather all of the elements in the photo together. I try to always be on the lit side of trains, but sometimes it can't be done. But, whatever the scene, it's nice to be trackside.

Sandpatch

 

[AxeMan - Rick S.]

Later in the day, I caught the train again at a lesser location with a composition-spoiling antenna in the background:

Sandpatch, I hope you don't mind I want to show you how easy it is to remove that antenna from the photo using Photoshop's spot healing brush.

You might want to consider some type of Photoshop (Elements or CS5) if you don't already have the software.