Dave Cohen wrote: Black steam engines are always an exposure problem, but there may also be another factor on this particular shot.......................................................... ................................................................ 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?
_____________________________________________________________________________ Hey, the slides dark! But in my own defense, there is nothing that is not black in the shot. = no light. If it had been shot any slower or wider open it may have washed out or blured or both. It was also shot through a screen window! That will mess with your exposure. Getting the right balance to get a black subject to show some detail while not overexposing the rest of the shot is pretty tough. The general rule I follow is to over expose the shot by one stop. I use mainly Kodachrome and it is generally a forgiving film. The one stop over will bring in some detail and not overexpose the back and foreground. I used this rule when shooting the N&W 1218, which was one of the worst "light suckers", and the results came out good. Regarding the green cast of some black locomotives: Hey, thats what a black steam locomotive looked like pre-color film! Its what a properly restored locomotive should do. My father (Martin Brown, if there are modelers around Chicago reading this, you may know him) is a modeler and has a large collection of CB&Q HO Brass. He mixes some blue/green into the black paint before spraying, giving the loco the blue/green cast. He points out that thats what they look like when viewed! Steve Brown http://s.brown.home.mindspring.com -> SPORRS: Serious Photographers of Railroad Related Subjects -> Web Site: http://www.anet-stl.com/acphotog/sporrs -> Message © SPORRS® 1998 - All Rights Reserved
