AbeWischnia

Ghost Train

Canon EOS 20D

settings

Aperture f/14.0 ISO 200 Shutter 1/5 Focal Length 18/1

upload_date

Feb, 2015

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579

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+45

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The last line from the song "City of New Orleans": "This train has got the disappearing railroad blues."

See all

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Behind The Lens

Location

The image came about from a photo meetup at the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum in Campo, CA. It's a small town east of San Diego. They have old and, in some cases, restored railroad cars, engines and other related equipment. This was a restored passenger car that is used to give paying visitors a short ride. This car was right behind the locomotive. I had just finished shooting in the locomotive's control compartment when I turned and set up to shoot the passenger car. Camera was on a tripod, manual exposure to capture the available light coming in through the windows. I had just taken a shot of the empty car when a museum docent, dressed as a train conductor, came aboard to check everything before they started loading the small number of museum passengers. I took a shot of him at the same slow exposure -- 1/3 second -- as I had used for the car.

Time

Time of day was mid afternoon (close to 3 p.m.). The light was not yet low enough to throw shadows inside the car.

Lighting

I shot in manual mode, having metered for available light. I shot at f/14 to get better depth of field. 200 ISO.

Equipment

Camera was a Canon 20D, lens at 18 mm, on a Bogen tripod with a ball head. I was one of the only people at that meetup who brought along a tripod. I am so grateful I did. This image would not have been possible without the tripod.

Inspiration

When you visit a railroad museum, you get a feel for that bygone transportation era. I was thinking about the last line from the song, "City of New Orleans," which ends with "This train has got the disappearing railroad blues."

Editing

I always shoot in Raw. This is really a Photoshop blend of two images that were shot back-to-back. When I got home, I realized the image of the car by itself was nothing special. And by itself, the blurred image of the conductor didn't do anything for me. I don't recall what inspired me to layer the two together. Each layer was at a 50 percent opacity in Photoshop. The rest was just minor adjustments for contrast and sharpness.

In my camera bag

Last year I upgraded to a Canon 70 D. My main lens is a Sigma 18 - 250. Other gear I carry includes polarizer and ND filters, canon strobe plus other stuff depending on what and where I'm shooting.

Feedback

Carry a tripod. Shoot in manual or aperture priority. Learn to use layers in Photoshop or other image editing program.

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AbeWischnia

AbeWischnia

Ghost Train

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow AbeWischnia

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