Greg Anderson wrote: > caught #261 running north on the BNSF at Alma and Nelson Wisconsin > (7/2/98) and found that engine extremely tough to meter with it's glossy > black paint. It seems that Steve had the same problem at Oshkosh. I'm > not running down his shot but I would like some suggestions on how best > to handle such a dark yet reflective subject.
Black steam engines are always an exposure problem, but there may also be another factor on this particular shot. There are a couple of other problems associated with looking at shots of dark steam engines on a computer monitor, which tends to reproduce shadow detail very poorly. I didn't see Steve's original slide, but the thumbnail GIF file that he provided me with was too dark, so I made him a lighter one. I think it looks better than the big file, which was already in JPG format, so I couldn't save it over again (like after lightening it). Plus, most PC monitors are too dark and too blue right out of the box. Macs are usually warmer and a little brighter at their center (default) settings. This is directly related to the gamma and white-point settings that your monitor is set at. When I made Steve a new brighter thumbnail file directly from the darker larger file, the shadow detail increased, so I believe that it was there all along and that his slide must look better than the digital file displayed on the monitor. This is probably because of the scan, (or the scanner's limited optical density). I have tried to fix other darker scans and dense shadows before with little success, because there was just nothing there in the file to work with. What's the original slide look like Steve? Regardless of what the digital file looks like, I still think it is a neat shot and I'm glad that Steve could share it with us. You don't see many shots like that one. Dave Cohen Photographer Action Photographic Webmaster [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.anet-stl.com/acphotog/home/ -> SPORRS: Serious Photographers of Railroad Related Subjects -> Web Site: http://www.anet-stl.com/acphotog/sporrs -> Message © SPORRS® 1998 - All Rights Reserved
