Western Railroad Discussion > A Question for Don and Lance

While the bad light, back-light, low light, no light antagonism you two exhibit for each other is entertaining in the extreme as well as edifying to the collected membership (myself included), it raises a question. Have either of you have ever had to deal with banded back-light? This example from January 2010 of an eastbound climbing Cajon Pass had contrasts sufficient to traumatize the light sensors in any digital camera.
Be of good cheer,
—Mac
www.lowellamrine.com

---

Back in those fondly remembered Kodachrome days, once I 'learned the ropes' I tried to pay attention & adjust to all such background lighting conflicts with foreground subjects. But I still got it wrong a few dozen times. In today's digital world the technology is much more forgiving, so I've gotten a bit lazy. I know I can just keep shooting through such situations, and be able to correct the exposure with a minimum of editing. It makes it a lot easier to shoot multiple exposures without break, and while adjusting focal lengths. That provides a lot of flexibility when shooting moving trains...

Lance/199

In the attached photo, let the camera set the exposure correctly for the snow by adjusting the f-stop and then with editing, bring up the under exposure of the lower part of the photo. 

Don Winslow
Glendora, CA
http://www.donwinslow.net/Railroads

DonWinslow Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> In the attached photo, let the camera set the
> exposure correctly for the snow by adjusting the
> f-stop and then with editing, bring up the under
> exposure of the lower part of the photo. 
If possible, shoot those challenging photos in RAW mode. Many cameras have 12 to 14 bit dynamic range when shooting in RAW mode. The extra dynamic range will help bring out the background with post processing.
Mark