Photography Monthly September 2014

Issue 164 September 2014

Take, make, share and be social...

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Gallery

Ditch the Gear

Big Skies

Taking Things Slowly:

Camera Cushion

Mono: + The Guardian’s Denis Thorpe + The Zone System

Buyer’s guides: Remote Releases, Apps, ND Filters & Photo Bags

SIGMA DP2 QUATTRO

Shoot while you hike

DIY

TAMRON 16-300MM

Landscapes:

Billy Currie – Technique

SAMSUNG WB1100F

Outdoor Special

Black & White

Trains in Frame

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Street Photography Vivian

NIKON D810

Long exposures

Zone System |

Bronica SQAi | 80mm lens | Film: Ilford fp4+ Leon Taylor – This shot was taken during a fleeting moment on a summer’s day when a dark and gloomy sky broke momentarily. I wanted to retain detail in the mountains, so I took a spot meter reading and placed this on zone 3. The highlights on the trees and shore fell way above the required threshold for detail in the final print, and as this was on roll film, I didn’t have the option to restrain development times to contract the contrast without ruining the other 11 shots on the roll. Instead, I opted to use a compensating developer and creative printing controls in the darkroom. Without an understanding of the zone system, I doubt I could have been able to plan and realise this print as effectively as I have done.

In the Zone You’ve heard photographers talk about it, perhaps you’ve even considered using it, but what exactly is the Zone System? Victoria Dovey investigates

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If you’re familiar with monochrome photography, you will be familiar with the notion that black and white photographers don’t seem to see colour at all; it’s as if they have transcended to a mono realm where it doesn’t even exist. The only thing that remains in their eye line is tone. But there’s a secret to this second sight, and it doesn’t lay in the twilight zone. In the late 1940s, at the Art Center School in Los Angeles, Frederick Archer and Ansel Adams designed a system that would revolutionise black and white film photography, and continue to influence digital photography. The creation was the Zone System – a technique allowing photographers to coax details out of shadows, and to uncover them in highlights.

But what is the zone system? Imagine a full tonal gradation. If you were to split it into 11, true black would be labelled as zero, pure white as 10, and the grey midtone would be five. It has been said that Ansel Adams knew of another zone he forgot to tell people about, but what did people mean by this? Film cameras have the capability to capture detail from zones two through to eight, though in reality, most skilled photographers would struggle to do even this. If you are new to the Zone System, there are really only five zones you need to concern yourself with when looking to record detail.

THE THEORY OF THE ZONE SYSTEM textural range

ZONE 2 zone 3 zone 4 zone 5 zone 6 zone 7 zone 8

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Highlight with washed out detail. Snow, no detail.

When shooting, identify and spot meter the darkest area you want to retain detail (texture) in as zone 3 and underexpose that by two stops less than the meter’s recommendation to achieve this. Raising a zone, or overexposing, can then be done at a later stage, altering the optimum development time, allowing photographers to wash out unwanted detail. This can be largely trial and error – particularly when using film – so it’s about finding out what works for you. The main advantage of the Zone System is to prevent flat pictures and give you textured black-and-white shots, creating moving scenes and portraits that come to life in print.

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Black. Little to no detail.

The darkest shadow you want to record detail in. Textured shadows.

Still a shadow, but lighter than III. Will retain more detail. Dark foliage.

Middle grey. Dark skin. Average blue sky.

Highlight with rich detail. Light skin. Light stone.

Highlight with moderate detail. Moving white water. Textured snow.

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Keith Moss – I had to be very quick to catch the old lady as she passed me. I used the zone focusing system, pre-set my aperture as I had a 35mm f/2 wide-angle lens on my Leica M9 and I checked my exposure by pointing my camera at the tree’s leaves, to take a reading from the M9. It was quite a tricky exposure as it was predominately a dark scene. I needed to get an accurate exposure to show the knife in her belt.

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© DON BISHOP

On Track The smell and sound of steam trains never fails to impress, but neither does the sight.

Victoria Dovey explores the lure of the locomotive with photographer John Gardner

W

hether it’s the romantic imagery of the steam-filled station, or the nostalgic feeling of childhood wonder as a train chugga-chugs by, there’s something wondrous about photographing trains, as if the image itself can transport you as much as the passengers in the carriage. “I’ve always been inspired by good photographs of steam trains,” explains John Gardner, a professional nature and commercial photographer based in Wakefield.

“Being a member of a camera club since the 80s,” he continues, “I’ve seen my fair share of them!”

For John, it’s not about the mechanics or ‘number of rivets’. “I just see them as beautiful pieces of engineering cutting a dashing swathe of steam and smoke through the rolling landscapes of rural England,” he comments. “I suppose I photograph steam trains with purely a photographer’s eye, rather than an enthusiast’s. I’m not really interested in what the train is, but how it looks and whether I can create a dynamic image.”

With an array of photographic opportunities, from the leading lines of the track, to the long exposures of the moving coaches, it’s easy to become inspired by the prospects of creating the images, but perhaps

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harder to get over the stereotype of a typical train enthusiast. “I suppose photographing steam trains has always been a bit infra dig, a bit anorakish and the reserve of the steam enthusiast and, as a hard core nature photographer, it was never something I thought about until recently,” shares John. “I now photograph mainly with Nikon D3 and D4 and three lenses including a 24-70mm, 70-200mm and a specialist 24mm PC-E perspective control lens,” John tells us. “The latter is great for making sure buildings are vertical if I am photographing steam trains at close quarters in a station or marshalling yard. I try and shoot with a low ISO for clean files and often I bracket by up to +-3EV to ensure I have the correct dynamic range to create a powerful image. In the early days, I used to produce HDR images, but more recently I have changed to manual exposure blending in Photoshop using Layer Masks to paint in the sections of the image that require lightening or darkening. Often the images are toned in Photoshop using Nik Colour EFX filters and there’s nearly always a dodge and burn layer to create depth and contrast in the image, finishing off with a soft black vignette.” www.johngardnerphotography.com

Train Photography | © JOHN GARDNER

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This process of blowing out steam through all the pipework simultaneously is known as ‘blowing down’ and is performed to blast out all the dirt and grit in the pipes. I had the camera on a tripod to take some bracketed shots of the engine being refuelled when the steam erupted unexpectedly and so I managed to grab a series of seven images from -3EV to +3EV. I liked the fact that only the form of the train was visible through the cloud of steam. I chose three images to ‘exposure blend’ in Photoshop, creating a key layer which had the exposure I needed for the engine, then two other exposures chosen to hold back the brighter areas.

These were added to the base image with a Layer Mask and then using a black brush set to low opacity, I painted in the areas from the two darker layers to control exposure over the whole image.

1. Blowing down Camera Nikon D3 | Nikkor 24mm PC-E f/3.5D | 1/80sec | f/32 | ISO 200 | Tripod © JOHN GARDNER

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Looking up the train as it waited in the early morning sun, gently steaming, and rim lit by the autumn sunrise, I saw the ‘glint’ shot. The glint shot is when the early morning light rakes along the train giving depth and contour to the engine, but I was the only one that saw it. I quickly put on a 70-200mm to try and crop out the people and did my best to get a shot.

2. Foxcote Manor at sunrise Nikon D3 | Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 | 70mm | 1/640sec | f/4.5 | ISO 200 © JOHN GARDNER

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A train hauling up a gradient, belching out smoke and steam. I decided to get low in the vegetation and shoot with a wide-angle as the train passed by. This angle gives a sense of the size of the engine and also the movement and direction of the train. Although the image looks like an HDR image, it is in fact processed from a single shot. The Raw file was processed using Nikon Capture NX2 and then taken into Photoshop for post using Nik filters and a dodge and burn layer. I create the heavily edited images specifically for printing at A2 size on a fine art paper such as Hahnemuhle, so that they look almost like a painting. >>

3. Foxcote Manor passing Darnholme Bridge Nikon D3 | Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 | 34mm | 1/250sec | f/8 | ISO 400 | handheld

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© DON BISHOP

Don Bishop’s Top 10 top tips Don, a full time pro since 2006, has been shooting trains for over 26 years. He runs regular photo workshops for other enthusiasts who want to share in is dual passion of trains and photography. We asked Don for his top tips for when shooting these beautiful machines: Safety first: Don’t walk on the tracks, get too close to the tracks or walk through tunnels. Members of North Yorkshire Moors Railway can attend a one day training course in order to obtain a line side pass which will help with your safety.

Find a good location: Look for somewhere that is picturesque and has as few modern artefacts as possible that might look out of place in your scene.

Try and avoid modern houses, cars and pylons.

Shoot wide: If you’ve found a great location, use a wide-angle lens to capture the train in the landscape. Make the train a focal point in a much bigger picture rather than the main subject.

Shoot tight: Use a medium focal length telephoto lens to compress the scene and foreshorten perspective. A 70200mm is ideal or even a 300mm for maximum compression and impact.

Shoot low: Don’t just set the camera up at eye level – getting low and shooting with a wide-angle lens can really emphasise the size of the train Photograph incidentals: Trains don’t run by themselves, drivers, engineers, firemen and ground crew all make great subjects to photograph and help tell the story of steam.

Photograph details: Make close-up images of wheels, gauges, lamps and other details that don’t always show up in the big train pictures. Detail shots can be great presented in monochrome.

Shoot in all weathers: We all love working in good weather but steam trains look great on snowy and rainy days too, especially if there is a brooding storm, grey sky and some sun on the train.

Extreme weather can often make a good picture great.

Pick your shot: it’s easy to be tempted into letting go a machine gun burst as the train approaches but often this can lead to buffering out at the critical moment! Think about your composition and how you want the image to look and shoot fewer images, but at the right moment.

Shoot into the light: Try shooting against the light to get rim lighting on the trains, especially when the sun is low in the sky. Golden light raking the side of an engine adds depth and dimension to an image.

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© DON BISHOP

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© DON BISHOP

Train Photography |

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This is one of my favourite engines, Sir Nigel Gresley, leaving Goathland station during one of the steam gala weekends on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. I wanted a classic shot of the engine leaving the station. I had to remove a few people from the bridge using Photoshop but, other than that, there was nothing in the image to detract and or give an indication that it wasn’t taken in the early 60s. I completed the vintage feel by using Nik filters to bring out detail and texture in the train and then added a Curves Layer and shifted the blue and red channels to give me the soft yellow aged effect.

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The A1 Steam Trust did an amazing job raising funds to build a brand new steam locomotive in the form of Tornado. I was lucky enough to be standing lineside in the engine yards at Grosmont when Tornado was pulled up at the coal hopper for fuelling and watering ahead of the day’s run during a steam weekend on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.

With the D3 mounted on my Gitzo carbon fibre tripod, I took a series of seven shots bracketed from -3EV to +3EV and used Photomatix to create this HDR image.

4. Sir Nigel Gresley leaving Goathland Nikon D3 | Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 | 45mm | 1/400sec | f/8 | ISO 200 | handheld © JOHN GARDNER © JOHN GARDNER

5. Tornado fuelling up Nikon D3 | Nikkor 24mm PC-E f/3.5D | 1/3sec | f/8 | ISO 320 | tripod

John Gardner’s top sites

• Settle-Carlisle Line: Home of the Ribblehead Viaduct; a spectacular viaduct with a stunning backdrop in the Yorkshire Dales. A great place to great some amazing steam train images • North Yorkshire Moors Railway: My favourite location for photographing steam trains. Beautiful landscapes combined with period stations that haven’t changed since the 60s and a great range of locomotives all combine to give boundless shooting opportunities • Keighley and Worth Valley Railway: Home of the railway children and a great line on which to photograph steam.

• East Lancashire Railway: Another great line for steam trains and with an offering of photography courses for those wishing to have a go at photographing trains • Severn Valley Railway: A fabulous selection of trains running in the midlands and a very informative website for all the details of the trains.

In an abstract turn from traditional track side imagery, Aaron Durand, who lives near San Francisco, tells us about his love of trains, graffiti and film photography: Where did your train photography start?

I started taking long exposures of trains a few years ago, as a byproduct of simply being on train tracks in the waning hours of the day photographing graffiti. I’ve been a big fan of graffiti for years.

Because so much graffiti lives on trains and where trains run, I was naturally drawn to the yards and tracks. One day I just turned my camera around and shot the train instead of the wall next to it.

Once I became relatively familiar with a digital camera and had the basics down, I picked up shooting on film and haven’t looked back. All of the images you see here were shot on one of two medium format cameras; a Pentacon Six TL or a Hasselblad 500C/M. Though I recently picked up a Mamiya 7ii and am looking forward to having a little more room for those train leading lines, since the >>

© AARON DURAND

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| Train Photography

ALL IMAGES © AARON DURAND

Mamiya is 6x7 (landscape, not square).

Commuter trains move fast, so you’re not guaranteed more than two-three images per train. I tend to only take one. I usually stick to higher apertures (f/8-f/16) and exposure times of between 20-45 seconds, ISO 200-400. So much depends on ambient light from the street or the moon.

Is it hard to get access to these places?

Yes, most of the places these images are taken require... creative access points.

Let’s call it what it is: trespassing. Holes in fences, waterproof footwear, a sturdy tripod, and cold weather gear are important. But do as I say, not as I do. That is to say; I can’t condone trespassing, and trains are very dangerous, especially at 90mph.

What is it about trains and tracks that you love?

I think what got me into trains is graffiti.

What kept me there was isolation. Granted I usually photograph with at least one friend (for safety). I also love being in freight train yards, just walking down the lines, smelling creosote. It’s not for everyone but it’s serene to me. I love that we’ve been using trains for so long and not much has changed over the years.

What’s your favourite image?

It’s from last winter, of a commuter train on a trestle over a river [pictured right]. I set up my tripod in the river and waited patiently in the freezing cold water, having forgotten my waterproof boots that night.

This particular train is very colourful so every photograph of it is unique. The lines are never the same and the colours can change the whole feel of the image. It’s by far my favourite train to shoot. And I’ve been shooting it for three years. [PM] www.aarondurand.com

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LIGHT

Being able to recognise good light is the key to mastering landscape photography, because good light is what can turn a record of a place into a stunning photograph. On cloudy days keep an eye out for pockets of light, particularly in the mountains as these can illuminate distant peaks. If the light is soft and diffused, choose a subject that benefits from this like woodland or waterfalls. If the light really doesn’t work in your favour, it’s still a good opportunity to practice. Having made the effort to go walking, it seems a waste to go home without even taking your camera out of its bag. After all, it could be argued that there is no such thing as bad light, it is just a case of finding the right subject to match the light you have at your disposal. >>

Canon EOS 5D Mark III | 24mm TS-E f/3.5L II | 1/8sec | f/16 | ISO 100

Torrin, Isle of Skye

Inspired to get outdoors but not sure where to start?

Check out these tops strolls from features writer Victoria Dovey:

EASY

A lovely walk that was never too taxing on our aging Labrador was a stroll down the Sharpness Canal in Gloucestershire. You can start up at Gloucester docks, but we would set off in Hardwicke, by (or sometimes via..) The Pilot Inn and work our way down past the farmer’s fields, long boats and lilies, to rural, rustic, south Gloucestershire, often far enough to see the Severn Bore come in. Just watch out for the grouchy swans in spring time!

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MEDIUM

The Wyre Forest in Kidderminster is currently hosting the Atkins CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year 2014 gallery, using QR codes and iPads. Curious? It’s known as ‘augmented reality’, where you hold your smart device up to the code on the trees to view the images as if they are framed in the forest. You even get to hear audio from the photographer, as they talk about their photographs. It’s one of many lovely trails in the Wyre Forest, and for little feet, you can take children (or grandchildren) ‘Gruffalo spotting’ on the trail of the Gruffalo, further up the hill.

HARD

You wouldn’t normally associate the flat lands of Norfolk with a ‘hard’ walk, but Peddars Way and the Norfolk Coast Path can amount to a 93-mile walk. Within that, photographers have the opportunity to take in scenery as they follow the Roman road, built along an even older trackway, starting in the Breck. Enjoy low cliffs and extensive sandy beaches and dunes as it combines with coastal path. If you don’t fancy taking on the expanse of this trail, then do it in parts and stop off at the many B&Bs along the way.

The summit of Cader Idris, Snowdonia National Park.

The Great Outdoors – Hiking |

Canon EOS 5D Mark III | 24mm TS-E f/3.5L II | 2 seconds | f/16 | ISO 100

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BREAK THE LANDSCAPE DOWN INTO SECTIONS

Whether you are walking by the coast in the mountains or in open countryside, avoid the initial temptation to try and include it all in to your photograph. Although the most obvious solution is to try and fit it all in, and the panorama does have its place, there will invariably be a section of the landscape that is more photogenic than the rest. By just photographing the wider view, the danger is the best bit becomes lost in the picture. A more considered, tighter composition that not only isolates the most photogenic area, but also has an interesting foreground, is a better choice. >>

WEEKEND AWAY WALK The Pennine Way, up North, covers 268 miles and is one of Britain’s most popular long-distance footpaths. It’s not hard to see why with great limestone cliffs, moors, rivers, waterfalls, picturesque towns and stunning views from summits you’ll be glad to have climbed. Wear a good pair of shoes, and take a lightweight compact system camera for a relaxing, rambling time away.

Looking for the perfect app for your outdoor adventure? Take a peek at the award-winning service from ViewRanger on page 70!

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