Scott Turner Wrote:
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> Your night shots completely avoided an effect I
> usually see (in mine and others' images) in
> flood-lit night shoots - indistinct, blurred out
> steam and smoke. The only times I've avoided that
> effect have been shooting on the Nevada Northern
> with Steve Crise's strobes - and years ago with
> Gordon Osmundson's old-school flashes. That's why
> I wondered if these were strobed.
Hi Scott,
Yes, my goal in the past couple of years has been to get away from the old-fashioned, long exposures that folks did in the film and early digital days, which resulted in the steam and smoke being a massive blur. I think those shots are passe. Post that kind of thing on a site such as RailPictures.net and watch the views tank. No one looks at them. But as you say, strobed night shots don't have that problem. The steam and smoke look natural. I really like that. The drawback of strobes is that it often takes the less experienced folks a bunch of "pops" before they get the exposure nailed......so they get one angle and that's it. With floods, folks can test exposures before they step into the sweet spot, and they can shoot a bunch of frames because the lights are always on. With the brighter LED lights, you can jack the ISO, crank up the shutter and get plumes that maybe aren't totally crispy, but they look decent.
WRT the night B&W, I posted that image on RP.net today and it's not getting any love at all. Folks on that site clearly seem to prefer color. I think it may be a younger crowd. I posted the same image on Flickr, and at some point overnight, someone added the image to a Flickr Group called "Explore." Suddenly, the views took off like a rocket. It's the only time I can ever remember getting more views on a shot posted to Flickr than to RP.net. Two other rotary shots also got posted to "Explore" and one of them now has over 13,000 hits. No idea how one gets on "Explore." Maybe that's a site-operated group? Maybe someone else knows.
/Kevin
