Western Railroad Discussion > Montana grass has Fall Colors, too

Montana certainly has it's share of bright fall colors with the yellow aspen and cotton wood trees, the reds of the creekside shrubs and the later appearance of the tamarac's yellow needles. The grasslands also take on a shade of light, faded yellow that is hard to explain. It is just so rich in it's own way though it has to be described as faded. The sunlight makes it really come alive.

Here is MRL's afternoon gas train at the false summit on the Evaro Hill line. It is about the only place on the MRL where you can get a nice topping over shot with 2% going up and 2% going down. Where else in the USA can you get action shots of an SD35, yet here are three, matched and making two round trips daily. You just gotta love this place!

alan.

Hint: If I win a membership, there will be more photos to post.
Fuji S3, Nikon 80mm-200mm f2.8 ED AF

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Superb - what else can you say with MRL power and good weather !!

John

AL:
With that shot, I'll hope that you win that membership. Who says that only trees can provide fall color?

rh

This sort of pushes the limits to the Fall Colors contest but it seemed like the best way to do this shot. It is the first time I have actually set the Fuji S3 color space to B&W before I pushed the shutter. It is late in the afternoon and the sun is behind the clouds. I like the textures I see here and knew the color shot would be flat and forgetable. B&W seemed like the best choice for what was offered. The clean, well sort of, Dash 9's and the intermodal equipment in white are what make the train work here. A black coal train with dirty PC locos would have caused problems.

The early fall comes through, snow dusting the high mountains, the dried wetlands grasses in a light tan and the red branches of the willows. The pine trees have a rich color which contrasts with the shadows underneath the branches. It feels like fall. All it needs is an elk bugling nearby.

I should try to use layers and keep the sky in low contrast and boost the contrast in the lower areas for the Dick Steinmeimer or Ansel Adams look. Maybe on one of those cold winter nights in Montana that will get done.

This is an eastbound BNSF intermodal at Summit, MT. It is just another great guardrail shot from Marias Pass. If you like B&W photography or are interested in what a good photographer can do in the medium, Martin Burwash has a nice MRL article in this months Railfan and Railroad magazine, the one with the cover one contest winners. Study Martin's photos and see how the tones work to make up for the colors. The best of the B&W shooters can see the shot in contrasts before they shoot the picture. I do just once in a while. Photobob does all the time and his work shows it.

alan.
Fuji S3, Nikon 35mm-135mm AF lens, 50mm iso 400

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fbe Wrote:
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> This sort of pushes the limits to the Fall Colors
> contest but it seemed like the best way to do this
> shot. It is the first time I have actually set
> the Fuji S3 color space to B&W before I pushed
> the shutter. It is late in the afternoon and the
> sun is behind the clouds. I like the textures I
> see here and knew the color shot would be flat and
> forgetable. B&W seemed like the best choice
> for what was offered. The clean, well sort of,
> Dash 9's and the intermodal equipment in white are
> what make the train work here. A black coal train
> with dirty PC locos would have caused problems.
>
> The early fall comes through, snow dusting the
> high mountains, the dried wetlands grasses in a
> light tan and the red branches of the willows.
> The pine trees have a rich color which contrasts
> with the shadows underneath the branches. It
> feels like fall. All it needs is an elk bugling
> nearby.
>
> I should try to use layers and keep the sky in
> low contrast and boost the contrast in the lower
> areas for the Dick Steinmeimer or Ansel Adams
> look. Maybe on one of those cold winter nights in
> Montana that will get done.
>
> This is an eastbound BNSF intermodal at Summit,
> MT. It is just another great guardrail shot from
> Marias Pass. If you like B&W photography or
> are interested in what a good photographer can do
> in the medium, Martin Burwash has a nice MRL
> article in this months Railfan and Railroad
> magazine, the one with the cover one contest
> winners. Study Martin's photos and see how the
> tones work to make up for the colors. The best of
> the B&W shooters can see the shot in contrasts
> before they shoot the picture. I do just once in
> a while. Photobob does all the time and his work
> shows it.

The best way to get contrast on a B&W image is to shoot it with real silver halihides! I am sorry but there is no comparison yet…

Sam Reeves
—
http://www.samreevesphoto.com

Ok, here is the last of my entries. What about Blind Slough in Oregon? Does it ever get cold enough there to frost along the water and cause the leaves to turn? Most of the background here is pine trees, they do not turn. So do the residents of northwetern Oregon have anything to look foreward to in the fall except for a rainy wet winter?

The photo was taken in mid September when colors had already started to turn in the higher elevations of Montana. Down here about sea level things were much different. The day before when I rode the train there was more sun but the day after the ride things were noteably worse. Digital works well in weather I would not even take the film camera out in. There is a lot of data there that can be brought out using levels and saturation if you watch your exposure closely when you take the shot.

I hope the Budd cars find another sponsor and are able to run to Astoria again. It is a nice trip and an economic boost to the area. I would do it again perhaps earlier in the year when there is sunlight for the chase. Thanks to John Bauer for the excellent interpretation of the DeLorme for me.

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Sam, you are correct in your assessment, film is still the best. Digital B&W is catching up fast though and there are some techniques out there where you decolorize the three color channels by different amounts. I have not really worked any of my color to B&W images that way yet but I think that action may hold the secret to getting the same effect as using a yellow filter in front of B&W film on those blue skys full of white fluffy clouds. The ink jet printer you use will also make a difference. I hear the new Epson 2400 gives some outstanding B&W prints. I think the limitation is still in the monitors commonly used with computers. I am not sure they have the range and contrast to do a really fine job with the images. Perhaps I am wrong, I am still looking at the options. It is really nice to decide to do some photo work and not have to worry how fresh your chemicals are. Cleaning up does not involve the use of anything that will end up wet. I have not talked to any photographer who has gone digital and then returned to film full time. It is easy to see why. I can see that I have purchased my last film unless I want to show my nieces and nephew what it is like to see the print come in in a flat tray instead off the rollers of a printer. I do miss that magic moment.

I was starting to wonder if you really had bought the S3 or not........... Nice to see proof finally. :)

The State of Oregon has the Budd cars for sale to the best of my knowledge. I had talked to the person who is handling them about selling a bus for my agency and he had just come back from inspecting them (this was last week).

fbe Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
<snip>
> The grasslands also take on a shade of light,
> faded yellow that is hard to explain. It is just
> so rich in it's own way though it has to be
> described as faded. The sunlight makes it really
> come alive.
>
> Here is MRL's afternoon gas train at the false
> summit on the Evaro Hill line. It is about the
> only place on the MRL where you can get a nice
> topping over shot with 2% going up and 2% going
> down. Where else in the USA can you get action
> shots of an SD35, yet here are three, matched and
> making two round trips daily. You just gotta love
> this place!
>
> alan.

Hi Alan-
Great shot! That place must make for fun train-handling! And interesting listening, too...
-Wes

Allan, you failed to tell how you were able to get that Budd car shot. Somebody didn't have the key to unlock the padlock so they could row over to the bridge and close it. The rain/hailstorm tries to sink the rowboat. A local gets in his tugboat to come over and take them out. Then they didn't know which way to crank so the bridge would close. (Five minutes of cranking and no movement) That's what allowed a chase and catching up with the train.

And then three loaded Budd cars of people are laughing their heads off about "Those guys with cameras on the levee in the rain." (At least one of them had an umbrella.)

jb

John,

Railroaders do not tell on other rails. So there was no need to go into the gory details. Yeah, sure. I was a little pushed for time to get the image ready to post and make it to work on time. I sort of left out the other parts to get out the door.

E-21,

Yes, I bought the S3 in April. I now have 2500 or so photos taken in that time. That is over 70 rolls of film in 6 months, something I did not approach with film cameras even if I took a long road trip in that time. I am also not shooting multiple roster shot extras so I am actually trying more angles, riskier shots and different metering combinations. I think it is good for my photography and am enjoying the results much more especially as I get better with the PhotoShop post processing.

Thanks to all who took time to view the images. I now get to post on a regular basis for 90 days since the fall grass photo was honorable mention #5 for week two. I will try not to post anything boring during that time. Perhaps I can use photo posts to answer some digital questions.

alan

I was kidding you, since I had never seen any actual results until now. ;)

I have my S2 back from Fuji and it's back in action. I still like shooting film along with the digital, though.

There are about 2600 images so far from the S3. I am trying to get some onto a webpage I have started but things like work keep getting in the way. Perhaps now that I can post on TO again for the next 90 days there will be more incentive to get some out to be seen.

I am glad the S2 is back in action. I have not gotten rid of any of my film bodies and I still have a half brick of K'Chrome to shoot but I really like going out with just one body and one camera bag to deal with. I think the next purchase will be a nice printer to make color enlargements and work with B&W images. The Epson 2400 sems to be nice and will print from RAW files. I should go do some side by side comparisons of Provia and the S3 images but things seem to get in the way there as well.