Tressle Mural
An old railroad tressle with a mural painted by a local student.
An old railroad tressle with a mural painted by a local student.
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Jun, 2019Views
312
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Awards
People's Choice in Bridges from Below Photo Challenge
Peer Award
Top Choice
Absolute Masterpiece
Superb Composition
Emotions
Impressed
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Top 20 rank
Top 30 rankTop 20 rank week 1
Top 20 rankTop 20 rank week 1
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken in my home town of Vassar, Michigan. This is a railroad bridge whose concrete abutments were painted with a mural by a high school art student some years ago.Time
The photo was taken in late afternoon, about 5:30 pm, toward the end of June. The summer sun was still quite high in the sky.Lighting
Ambient light was used for the photo, and I was standing in the shadow of the bridge with my back against the other abutment.Equipment
I took this photo with my Canon 80D, with my 10-18mm EF-S zoom set at 15mm. The ISO was set at 100, and the aperture was f/8. I was shooting in aperture priority, and the shutter speed was 1/50s. The camera was hand held.Inspiration
I wanted to go around town and capture some of the more interesting places, and this was first on my list. The mural itself is becoming quite weathered and covered in the tar pitch used by the railroad to treat the timbers, so I really wanted to preserve this cool mural as a photo. I also wanted to get a perspective type view, so I used my wide angle lens, which gave me the effect I was after.Editing
Yes, I masked the underside of the bridge and adjusted the exposure, because the details in the shadows were important to me. I used Luminar's Sky Enhancer to bring out some of the clouds in the sky, and used the Foliage Enhancer to adjust the green overgrowth a bit. I also adjusted the HSL to bring out the rust colors of the steel structure.In my camera bag
I typically carry my Canon 80D with my four lenses (50mm f/1.8, 10-18mm wide angle zoom, 18-55mm zoom, and 55-250mm zoom). I also have my Haida M10 pro filter holder with a 10-stop ND and 3-stop GND filter for long exposures. I've recently added a Godox V860-II speedlight with an X1T remote trigger. While not in my bag, I always have a carbon fiber tripod with me, and I always have my standard accessories like spare batteries, lens hoods, memory cards, etc.Feedback
First, I'd say you'll be amazed at what you'll find around your home town. Mine is a very small town, and I was amazed at what I found! Next, my advice is always simple...soak up everything about where you are, and feel the story that starts to reveal itself about your subject and your surroundings. I'm always amazed that eventually a compelling story begins to emerge, and my job then becomes how best to capture that story. Sometimes that's easy to do, sometimes it's damn hard, and sometimes I'm not able to do it at all. It's those times that I just enjoy the story and the moment, and then later it drives me to get better at my craft so in the future I can perhaps succeed.
