On Thu, 2 Oct 1997 08:54:06 -0500, Dave Cohen wrote:
>I just flipped my Union Pacific calendar one page too far yesterday when
>changing the month, and I noticed the really killer shot for the month of
>November by someone named Olev Taremea. Nice and artsy; my kind of shot.
>Good backlit silhouette profile with minimal lens flare.
>Here is some food for thought for the foundation of this list.
>Backlit images. I know that some of you don't care for them. "What's one
>man's trash is another man's gold".
>Possibly it is because they are
>more difficult to accurately portray on paper that we shy away from
>submitting or even shooting such contrasty images, but I have seen some
>real art content derive from this type of dramatic light usage.
Hi Folks:
I'd like to reply to Dave's thought-provoking post from the b/w
standpoint. I have almost no experience shooting color "art."
The typical front-lit train scene has a brightness range of five
f/stops. This type of scene will make a very ordinary print that
reproduces most excellently in a magazine. The original print is okay
but not one that's technically impressive.
OTOH, a back-lit scene will have a brightness range of 10 to 11
f/stops. This kind of print will stand out immediately and resemble
those mission scenes from the southwestern US that you always see in
photography books. It will not reproduce in a magazine, and editors
will generally not use it. You will need to publish your own book and
use the duotone technique of printing.
I have standardized my b/w development for front lighting. To do back
lighting effectively, I would need to carry another camera with film
which would be developed for a shorter length of time. For the small
amount of film I shoot, it's just not worth the effort.
Mike Gardner, one of our list members, sent me several original b/w
prints a couple of weeks ago. One was particularly outstanding. It
was a back-lit MRL train in the snow. Every tone in the print was
"right-on." The snow was just barely textured, the background was
"big-sky blue," and the locomotive was very dark but still retained all
of its detail. It contained all of the drama that Dave is talking
about.
I have no clue as to how you would produce this type of image in color.
The easiest way to shoot a contrasty color photo is to use the
silhouette technique. Lots of these are published in the fan mags, but
none have any detail in the dark area. Thus, I don't find them very
interesting.
To me, from a marketing perspective, if you want to be published in a
fan mag, shoot front-lit or silhouette. An article with creative color
photography and lots of shadows usually generates a lot of "letters to
the editor" in the next issue. In my opinion, if you want to see some
really bad photography, look at the winning shots from fan mag photo
contests. The judges' equation seems to be:
unusual = winner
Through his efforts at self-improvement, Dave's artistic abilities have
now transcended what folks want in a fan mag. That's quite a
compliment to him and very beneficial to his income. He can now sell
his art to folks who pay market value.
Personally, I will occasionally shoot a back-lit photo; usually because
I am a victim of the circumstances at hand. I don't make it a habit.
If I did, I would have to develop an entirely new technique of shooting
that would parallel what I am already doing.
So, folks; choose your lifestyle and choose your photography style.
There's a great big world out there, and there's plenty of room for all
of us.
>On a closing note, isn't it amazing how we continually hear about the
>railroads being 'filled to capacity', yet we can wait all afternoon and
>watch the rails rust?
I would think that by now someone would have arranged a fantrip to
Panama so that we could all shoot the UP's APL boat going through the
canal. :-)
Seriously, I believe that it's the yards, the crews, and the
locomotives that are filled to capacity--certainly not those "two main
tracks" that run near my home.
Later,
Warren
--> SPORRS: Serious Photographers of Railroad Related Subjects
