LMS Black 5 - 44871
LMS Black 5 44871 steams towards Filton Abbywood station on day 3 of the Great Britain 9 rail tour.
LMS Black 5 44871 steams towards Filton Abbywood station on day 3 of the Great Britain 9 rail tour.
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May, 2016Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This image was taken from the platform of Filton Abbywood station in Bristol. Its walking distance from my house and a good spot to photograph Steam engines heading north or to Wales as they have to work hard up the incline so you get to capture all the steam and smoke. You just have to hope you don't get another train in the opposite direction that would obscure your subject but I have been lucky and only came close on one occasion.Time
The image was captured early morning at about 8.30am and the sun is in perfect position at this time of day to light the locomotives.Lighting
I especially like the dappled lighting in this image, although challenging to work with as it kept changing.Equipment
The image was shot using a Nikon D700 and Tamron 70-300mm lens. My settings were 500th second @ F8 and 400 ISO with the lens set to 300mm.Inspiration
I have always enjoyed photographing railway locomotives and being a train spotter in my youth was what got me into photography in the first place. These days I mainly shoot people but I still enjoy the challenge of capturing steam engines and I am lucky that we get quite a few in Bristol throughout the year on rail tours.Editing
I do all my own post processing and like to produce images a little different from others. I like my images to look more like drawings/paintings which probably stems from all the paintings of steam locomotives we had on the walls when I was growing up. Each image can take hours to produce but I really enjoy messing about in Photoshop so the time tends to fly by.In my camera bag
Equipment I use varies from shoot to shoot and subject to subject but for steam locomotives I travel light with usually just my Nikon D700 and Tamron 70-300 lens. I always carry several memory cards as I have had them fail in the past so it pays to carry spares.Feedback
For those wanting to capture images like this one I would say research locations and sun positions throughout the day. I use several spots depending on the time of day and the direction of travel of the trains. I always get to my location well before the expected arrival of the train and take test shots and set up the camera ready. You don't get that long to capture the locomotive so you don't want to be messing about changing camera settings when the action starts. Most of all stay safe and enjoy the experience of a bygone age brought back to life.
