Eastern Railroad Discussion > Night photography and using a flash?

I want to do some night shots but have always refrained from doing so because of the flash.
The last thing I want to do is blind the people on the train and/or startle them. I video quite often
at night and I know they can't see me so I'm sure it would upset them to have a flash going off out
of nowhere. Is there a "proper" way to go about using a flash at night? I doubt I'll ever do it
but I was curious? Thanks!

Jay

The people I know who use flash at night often fire off a "warning shot" as the train approaches so that the crew isn't startled. This is a lot easier to do with modern electronic strobes than it was "back in the day" with bulbs or even Lumedyne gear, because the former were consumable and had slow burn times, while the latter needed recharge time.

By the way, a single flash unit is unlikely to do much for you with a large moving object, if that's what you have in mind. The night shooters I know use multiple units set up on stands and synchronized for simultaneous firing.

Using a built in flash can be tricky. However, it can also net some okay shots. I took this photo back in January 2013. It was the last unit on the train, so blinding the crew wasn't an issue for me.

Photo taken with a Canon T2i and the stock flash using a 50mm f1.8 lens. I was still learning my way around the camera so the photo, as you can see, wasn't the best in the world. Enhanced it to this level in Photoshop. There was also a little bit of lighting by the tracks which helped along with my headlights on my car.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/06/14 15:46 by Vanakatherock.

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Do it sparingly if at all. There is a certain person on another RR photo site who takes hundreds of night photos with flash, and for the poor quality of the photos, it is not worth the annoyance he must be causing for all these CSX crews.

Night photography - or low light photography, can be rewarding.

This one had the camera on a tripod (really important).
The ISO was 100; the lens was open for 20 seconds.
White balance was AWB.
Shot with a Canon DSLR.
If your camera has all these features...then I would recommend going out and practicing,
Catching a moving train at night will be tough... even with lots of flash bulbs.
Letting crews know, somehow, is a good plan.

Good luck...hope this helps.

611

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If you try to take a photograph of a moving train at night with your built in flash it will 99.999% of the time look like crap. Nothing to do with the photographer, just the way it is. Time exposures were mentioned earlier and can be fun to play with. If you want to photograph a moving train at night you will need the necessary equipment and patience to learn. I personally have never done it, though I would like to, because I cant afford it. Fellow TO photography Sean Hoyden is master of night photography. He has a lot of really great stuff and explains how he's done some shoots in a few threads.

I know there is a certain railfan-oriented magazine editor who is a big proponent of night flash railroad photography. He claims most of the crews he talks to don't mind it, but on that point I don't necessarily agree. I work in the RR industry full time, and most of the crews I have talked with about the subject find it annoying and distracting to have a flash directed at them. I have a couple of theories on why there seems to be a difference in opinions, but I won't get into them here.

If you are going to try it, don't use one huge flash. Use several smaller units closer to the ground, and avoid angles that results in flashes being directed straight into the windshields. As someone who spends more time in a locomotive cab than most people do in their cars, I find it far less distracting if the flash is lower and more from the side. Direct line-of-sight flashes coming from the direction I am traveling toward are the worst, and are not appreciated.

Sean Hoyden is here somewhere on TO, and gets excellent results with techniques that are pretty kind on crew members' night vision. You might want to start with a search of his past posts and see how he does it, before trying it out on your own.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/06/14 17:19 by bioyans.

Thanks for all the great input. My only hope was that I shoot where the trains come
down the middle of the street and it has quite a bit of street light. However even
with that I know a single flash won't do anything and it's not worth annoying the crew.
I do have the tripods, etc to do long exposures and I think that's what I'm going
experiment with. I'll never have enough money to get the equipment needed do the
outstanding night shots that I love seeing so I'll make do with what I have for now...

Jay

I've found this thread interesting, as well, as I've always been wary of trying flash for fear of distracting crews. I am trying to do a bit more night photography with available light and long exposures for either stills or the obligatory "streaks of light" trains... If I get around to editing some, I may try and post them at some point. Still quite far from anything Sean can do, alas!

I, too, have a question: All my current budget has allowed is 3 old Vivitar flashes and remote sensors, allowing me one on top of my DSLR and two on independent tripods. I have been pleasantly surprised how much more light those can produce than the little flash included with the camera, but am still not sure it's enough for any remotely good-quality shot of a moving train? And, any tips on avoiding glare from the reflective strips? Mainly, I'd like to plan for a time when there's either an unusual train going by at night, or some signal shots... Thanks!