train

Crossing Powell’s Creek /  by Todd Henson

Crossing Powell’s Creek

At the end of November I met my father in Leesylvania State Park to go for a morning hike. The park is crossed by a north-south railroad line and you can sometimes watch as trains traverse Powell’s Creek Crossing, a bridge over the creek. We had just passed under the bridge and were about to enter the woods when we heard the rumbling of an oncoming train. I didn’t think I’d get back to the bridge in time to photograph it but decided to try anyway. And as luck would have it I arrived in plenty of time to stand and photograph the train as it crossed the bridge. This ended up being a fairly long train pulled by two CSX locomotives.

The History

Powell’s Creek Crossing, a concrete deck railway bridge over Powell’s Creek

The history of this rail line stretches back to 1864, when they began constructing it, and in 1872 it opened for service. At the time it was a wooden trestle bridge, but in 1928 they replaced it with the current concrete deck bridge to allow for larger and faster trains. Previously the trains were limited to 20 miles per hour in this stretch due to the wooden trestles and curves in the line. So they straightened the curves and replaced the wooden trestles. Powell’s Creek Crossing was the last wooden trestle bridge on the line.

The Photograph

On this particular morning the sky was completely clear and the sun was shining from behind me, illuminating the bridge and the train as it crossed. I had on my wide angle zoom lens so I was able to photograph a large part of the bridge, showing a bit of the shoreline on each side. I often like showing a bit of motion blur with moving trains to show they are, in fact, moving. I didn’t have my tripod with me on this hike, but the train was moving fast enough that a shutter speed of 1/50 second was still enough to capture a small amount of blur while holding the camera steady enough to keep the bridge sharply in focus. And because I was using a wide angle lens and the train was moving away from me the front locomotive, which is further away from the camera, appears to have less motion blur than the car closest to us, which I also like.

The Processing

As I mentioned, it was a perfectly clear day, not a cloud in the sky, and it was still early enough to show a nice blue sky. I was hoping for a little punch to the photograph with contrast between the sky and the train so I had on a circular polarizing filter to darken the sky and make that blue even richer, as well as possibly reducing any reflections from the train. However, I made a very common mistake. I didn’t take into account the wide angle I was shooting at (16mm on a cropped sensor) and my angle from the sun. If you look at the original unprocessed color version below you can see the result of this mistake. Notice how the blue in the sky changes, very rich and dark in the central portion but getting progressively lighter on the left and right. Sometimes circular polarizing filters create this effect when shooting very wide angle. I won’t get into the technical details of why, but it’s something you should be aware of. Try it sometime if you have both a very wide angle lens and a circular polarizing filter. Change your angle to the sun and see how the tones in the sky change.

The unprocessed original color version of the photo

The color, itself, didn’t do much for me in this photograph so I decided to convert it to a monochromatic image. In Adobe Lightroom I converted it to black and white and did my typical post-processing. Then I added a split tone to give it just a touch of color, to warm it up a bit. This involved adding a yellowish tone to the highlights and an orangish tone to the shadows. I also corrected the sky tones caused by the polarizing filter, trying to create a more consistent tone in the sky that gradually lightened towards the horizon. I think this monochromatic treatment really helps the train and the bridge stand out.

Click on the image below to cycle between the final monochromatic and original color versions.

What do you think? Did the monochromatic treatment add something to the photograph? Or do you prefer the color version?

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Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Company & Museum /  by Todd Henson

Working engine outside the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Co. & Museum (7 image HDR)

While visiting Portland, Maine, my father and I stopped at the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Company & Museum, off Fore Street, just down from the Portland Ocean Gateway, where cruise ships dock off Casco Bay. This was a small, but very interesting museum that also included a ride on their narrow gauge train.

Serenade of the Seas docked in Portland, Maine, with statue of George Cleeve (5 image HDR)

The ride began at the museum, where we had good views of Serenade of the Seas, a large cruise ship at dock. The train took us down to the Portland Ocean Gateway, where passengers from the cruise ship would enter and exit Portland. Some of the folks on the train were from the ship.

From the dock area the train reversed direction, passed by the museum, and then along the coastline paralleling the Eastern Promenade Trail, through Fort Allen Park. Around Fish Point we had very foggy views of Fort Gorges in the bay. One minute we could see the Fort, the next it was obscured in fog.

The train continued past East End Beach where we saw someone swimming in the cold water, and through the Eastern Promenade, stopping at the old railroad bridge. We were able to disembark from the train and walk around the area. The old bridge had crossed the water to the right side of the Burnham & Morrill Company factory, known for their B&M Baked Beans.

Looking through planks at old railroad bridge with Burnham & Morrill Company factory on distant shore

Old railroad bridge with Burnham & Morrill Company factory on distant shore

After we boarded the train it made its way back through the parks along the Eastern Promenade to the museum grounds. The view continued to change the entire ride, fog moving in and out. Some of the folks on the train were annoyed by this, but I found it fascinating to watch and photograph.

Luggage display in the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum

Interior of passenger train with stove (3 image HDR)

After the train ride we spent some time in the actual museum. It was small, but had a lot packed in the small space, including several full size narrow gauge train cars we were able to walk through.

There wasn’t a lot of light in the cars, but their interiors were very interesting, so I did the best I could to capture what I was seeing. I had to hand hold the camera since I didn’t have the tripod with me, so I raised the ISO on my camera to let me use faster shutter speeds, and captured a number of image sequences where I adjusted the exposure (shutter speed) between each image, holding the camera as still as possible between them.

I knew I would take each image sequence and combine it into a single high dynamic range (HDR) image, where I could better show the interior as I saw it. The camera just wasn’t capable of capturing what my eyes could see. One day cameras may have better dynamic range than our eyes, but for today we need to either decide what we want to compromise on, or capture multiple images and merge them into HDR. I don’t use this technique often, but it is fun and useful every once in a while. I worked to keep the images looking as natural as I could, trying to avoid the over-processed look of many HDR images.

Another interior of passenger train with stove (3 image HDR)

Interior of passenger train with individual seats (3 image HDR)

Horizontal view of passenger train interior (3 image HDR)

When we visited the museum it was located in Portland, but they told us it would soon be relocated to the town of Gray. If you’re interested in visiting be sure to check the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Co. & Museum website for the current status and location.

Train engine inside Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum

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