Eastern Railroad Discussion > Night shots, with the new flash triggers

I recently picked up a set of cheap electronic flash triggers, and I've been using them along CSX's Boston Subdivision near my apartment in Framingham.

This first batch are from Ashland. I've been using the old Boston & Albany depot, now a medical practice, as a photo prop.

1 - P448 passes the depot about a month ago. This was my second attempt at this shot; I forgot to turn on one of the flashes the first time. In this one I got itchy trigger finger and took the shot a hair too early, but the results aren't bad.

2 - MBTA 1130 shoves P560 inbound as it passes the depot. I had the camera too close to the flashes for this one, and the camera picked up some of the dust that the train kicked up as it passed.

3 - Fresh out of the camera, last night's 448 crosses the Sudbury River at about milepost 22.5 (from Boston). I like this location, but since the flashes were quite a ways (about 100 feet) from the track I had to raise my ISO to 1250, which made the shot somewhat noisy. It didn't help that last night was little but misty.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/04/12 17:27 by pennsy3750.

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I really like #3 -- at the risk of showing my age, Play Misty for Me!

Bruce

5 - After completing his Framingham station stop, P448 pulls out on the last leg of his trip. The HH Richardson-designed depot, now a closed restaurant, is in the background. (MBTA and Amtrak stop at a platform just beyond the depot.) This was probably my best effort thus far.

6 - The same night, I found MBTA 1133 in Nevens Yard, either going to Altoona for overhaul, or just coming back.

I'm not 100% satisfied with any of these, and I definitely need to pick up some more flashes as my options are limited with the two I have now. I am, however, looking forward to making more progress up the learning curve, especially given the number of trains that CSX and the P&W run after dark in this neck of the woods.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/04/12 17:26 by pennsy3750.

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What are you using for triggers and flashes?

CG Tower

I bet the crews just LOVE you... Flashing them in the middle of the night like that!!!
Don't you get any repercussions from doing that, or don't you stick around long enough to find out!!??

GREAT STUFF,, the night shots are getting better and better.. much easier than bulbs and cords all over.
AND I second the request for what you are using to help us rookies get started.
dave j

mkostecky Wrote:
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> I bet the crews just LOVE you... Flashing them in
> the middle of the night like that!!!

That thought occurred before I started all this. With the MBTA trains its easy, just shoot the inbound runs when nobody's in the loco cab. With Amtrak, I keep the flashes on the conductor's side, and put them low to the ground so that even if the engineer is looking in my direction, he won't see them. With the Sudbury River shot, they were on the conductor's side, but even if I had been shooting a westbound (with the engineer facing me) the flashes were so far from the track that I doubt it would have made a difference - remember the inverse square law from high school physics.

It takes a few minutes to get the equipment stashed back in the car after each shot, and I've been keeping an ear on the scanner. So far, I have not heard anyone complain.

To answer the other question, I use a Canon Speedight 580 and an older Vivitar unit. For triggers I used the cheap Chinese ones you can get on eBay, although I got mine from Amazon for a little more peace of mind.

I've always questioned this too...and actually got into quite a discussion once here on TO about it...I am still not sure how I feel about doing something like this, but, the 12 year old photographer wants to try it out....

Jury is still out...

Thanks for the information!

CG Tower

mkostecky Wrote:
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> I bet the crews just LOVE you... Flashing them in
> the middle of the night like that!!!
> Don't you get any repercussions from doing that,
> or don't you stick around long enough to find
> out!!??

pennsy3750 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> mkostecky Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I bet the crews just LOVE you... Flashing them
> in
> > the middle of the night like that!!!
>
> That thought occurred before I started all this.
> With the MBTA trains its easy, just shoot the
> inbound runs when nobody's in the loco cab. With
> Amtrak, I keep the flashes on the conductor's
> side, and put them low to the ground so that even
> if the engineer is looking in my direction, he
> won't see them. With the Sudbury River shot, they
> were on the conductor's side, but even if I had
> been shooting a westbound (with the engineer
> facing me) the flashes were so far from the track
> that I doubt it would have made a difference -
> remember the inverse square law from high school
> physics.
>
> It takes a few minutes to get the equipment
> stashed back in the car after each shot, and I've
> been keeping an ear on the scanner. So far, I
> have not heard anyone complain.
>
> To answer the other question, I use a Canon
> Speedight 580 and an older Vivitar unit. For
> triggers I used the cheap Chinese ones you can get
> on eBay, although I got mine from Amazon for a
> little more peace of mind.


It would still give me a "Start" seeing a flash in the middle of the night, I'd think someone was shooting at me!!!
And this day and age that's not an unreasonable assumption!!!

Started doing this kind of photography back in the 1980's. Never had a problem with the crews as we also took care not to blind anyone.

Why is it there's always someone out there who finds fault with photo techniques rather than appreciating someones work?

Ed K. cp Laurel Run

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mkostecky Wrote:
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> It would still give me a "Start" seeing a flash in
> the middle of the night, I'd think someone was
> shooting at me!!!
> And this day and age that's not an unreasonable
> assumption!!!

As someone who has been on the receiving end of such night photography more than once, I would agree completely. I do NOT appreciate having high-powered strobes go off as my train passes. The lame "but we gave a warning flash" excuse doesn't cut it either, as all you do is cause the crew to say, "What the heck was that?" and look in the direction of your strobes as you set them off directly in their eyes. We used to have a couple of bozos do that on a regular basis at one particular location of our run. One call to the dispatcher, asking them to send the local police out to have a discussion with the "photographers" (I use that term loosely, since only an amateur would attempt such photography without cooperation from the railroad) about what they were doing, and they have not been seen since.

Such photography is a distraction for the operating crew. If you don't agree, please send me your address so I can set up my flash equipment on your street, and blast you unexpectedly with some strobes as you drive home late at night. Better yet, go set up at the end of a runway at a major airport, and try your flash technique there. Be sure to let us know how long it is before the authorities show up. :-)

I have no intention of starting a flame war here, seems people are really getting touchy in this post 911 world. Each year a RR motel owner sets up flood lights on the NS Pittsburgh line for the benefit of rail buff's for a night shoot which flash is also included, with the blessing of the NS. Most crews sound off their horns for our benefit, There have never been any altercations from the NS police or otherwise.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxtxaSerKNw

Ed K. cp Laurel Run

m1bprr Wrote:
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> I have no intention of starting a flame war here,
> seems people are really getting touchy in this
> post 911 world. Each year a RR motel owner sets up
> flood lights on the NS Pittsburgh line for the
> benefit of rail buff's for a night shoot which
> flash is also included, with the blessing of the
> NS. Most crews sound off their horns for our
> benefit, There have never been any altercations
> from the NS police or otherwise.
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxtxaSerKNw
>
> Ed K. cp Laurel Run


I would say thats different,by having the flood lights on as the train approaches the crews would know whats happening and would be expecting flashes.Especially if you have done it before in the same location. Setting up flashes anywhere on the line and "Sniping" at them with no warning is,IMHO, Not cool!!! And that's all I'm gonna say about that!!

m1bprr Wrote:
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> Each year a RR motel owner sets up
> flood lights on the NS Pittsburgh line for the
> benefit of rail buff's for a night shoot which
> flash is also included, with the blessing of the
> NS.

Key words, Ed, are "with the blessing of NS." As another poster mentioned, I would advise aspiring photographers NOT to set off strobes in any old location without the railroad at least knowing about it before hand.

bioyans Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> m1bprr Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Each year a RR motel owner sets up
> > flood lights on the NS Pittsburgh line for the
> > benefit of rail buff's for a night shoot which
> > flash is also included, with the blessing of
> the
> > NS.
>
> Key words, Ed, are "with the blessing of NS." As
> another poster mentioned, I would advise aspiring
> photographers NOT to set off strobes in any old
> location without the railroad at least knowing
> about it before hand.

As I stated, I didn't want to set off a firestorm here, I was only relating to my experiences back in the 1980's plus impressed with pennsy 3750's work in as much as we did this type of photography back in the 1980's often with out incident. Things were much different with the hobby then, believe me, we were not a bunch of irresponsible rail-buff's. Its a shame what has happened to society since 911 I would go as far as to say Bin Laden won after all. That's all I'm going to say about this post as well!
Ed K.