Old train

John Power
Posts: 94
Joined: 26 May 2021, 10:18

Old train

Postby John Power » 11 Aug 2021, 07:46

Was so happy on the weekend!
1) no rain, finally
2) found some good grit in Canberra

There is a good railyard out the back of the train station here with some absolute classic carriages rotting away. I emptied a roll of 35mm there and took a couple of sheets of 4x5 too. Will develop the colour tonight.

ImageLF train carriage 25 by J P, on Flickr

John Power
Posts: 94
Joined: 26 May 2021, 10:18

Re: Old train

Postby John Power » 12 Aug 2021, 08:10

A couple more, on ektar

ImageFollowing by J P, on Flickr

ImageOpen door with Ektar by J P, on Flickr

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Maris
Posts: 882
Joined: 27 Jul 2012, 16:02
Location: Noosa

Re: Old train

Postby Maris » 14 Aug 2021, 12:47

There's a nice subtle visual metaphor about time and change here. See how the outside of the carriage is weathered and eroded but also look at the little door that's swung open; still smooth inside like the day it was made.
Here in the beach resort of Noosa I've seen people down by the sea frying themselves in the sun all day. A few decades on and they're crimped and creased like those old carriages.

Walter Glover
Posts: 1270
Joined: 31 Jul 2012, 22:31
Location: Leichhardt, NSW

Re: Old train

Postby Walter Glover » 15 Aug 2021, 09:36

Strewth John,
The other night when there was only the black-and-white picture of the railway cars I pondered for about an hour thinking of what to say. I’d just finished making the comments about the ‘Deathly Woods’ scene and the heavy tones of the black-and-white railway wagons had me continuing with very morose thoughts which I feared were simply repeating myself.

Now I check in as I have Sunday breakfast and see that you’ve added the colour pictures which have changed considerably what I was reading into the picture.

It’s long been my opinion that a great deal of the power of the photograph exists in the low values and the high values and that very often the mid tones play a supporting role.
In the colour shot with the open door we see that there’s some sort of russet coloured roll of some sort whereas in the black-and-white shot there’s largely just a dark abyss. I’m not suggesting that in the black-and-white that roll be as bright as it is in the colour one, but it could be some welcome tonal variation to break up the void.

Overall I feel that the colour scans could be a little darker than they are but for me what counts is that there’s a dignity to what those carriages of been – their former glory – that is missing in the black-and-white. Part of that might be due to the colour (chroma) information but, as an inveterate black-and-white adherent, I doubt it because colour can be a distraction.

One of the key advantages os Large Format is its resolution yielding ‘the perfect description of the lens’. It can reveal in minute detail whatever is set before it.
I’ve always been a fan of using filters but with digital and or colour there are not many filters that are a great deal of help. One that is immensely powerful is the circular polariser. It cannot only knock off the obvious reflections in glossy planes but it can also cut through the surface sheen to reveal the mast detail hiding beneath. Not so much in the front-on shot but in the slightly oblique one. It might also be able to give some tonal influence in the sky.

I understand I’m not dictating my own approach but simply trying to shed some light on the diversity of the visual tools that are available to us.
Walter Glover

"We see things not as they are. We see them as we are."
Emanuel Kant

John Power
Posts: 94
Joined: 26 May 2021, 10:18

Re: Old train

Postby John Power » 15 Aug 2021, 16:53

Thanks a lot for the feddback, Maris and Walter!

The abyss in the carriage was not able to be totally recovered in the black and white, but I thought it interesting that I can make out some detail in ceiling in that image, but not in the colour image, which is, as you say, otherwise a fair bit brighter.

I really, really enjoy reading what you guys get out of the images posted here. I've not spent much time in life pondering these sorts of things, and still find myself simply asking "did i capture what it looked like", but I think that you're opening my mind a bit and I'm grateful for it :)

Regarding the circular polariser, yes! I do have one, but I did not think to bring it out that day. A good reminder!

mark.darragh
Posts: 61
Joined: 30 May 2013, 14:06
Contact:

Re: Old train

Postby mark.darragh » 16 Aug 2021, 16:38

Great photographs, John.

They really capture the decay and passage of time well. It looks like you have a wealth of potential subject matter for details too if that takes your fancy.

Just further to Walter's comment regarding Ektar, I find a useful filter to have on hand is an 81b or similar. Ektar has a tendency for a shift to cyan in the deepest shadows which is very difficult to correct post-development. A mild 81 filter knocks the cyan out of the shadows without overly affecting the mid-tones and highlights. There is a fair bit of magenta in both images too, I suspect that it's probably the way the scanner software has inverted the negatives.

Look forward to seeing some more images when you can get out again.

All the best, M

Walter Glover
Posts: 1270
Joined: 31 Jul 2012, 22:31
Location: Leichhardt, NSW

Re: Old train

Postby Walter Glover » 17 Aug 2021, 02:59

Interesting point Mark,

When shooting E-6 I always carried a full complement of LB filters, particularly the 81 series from just an 81 to 81 EF but never shot C-41 and would have thought that with colour neg such filtration might be done in printing (dare I say post LOL). Good tip you make. Worth pointing out also for John that there can be a warming effect with the Polariser on backlit objects because very often the surface sheen you're getting rid of can be a reflection of blue sky. With backlit tanned models at the beach it was Araldited onto the lens.
Walter Glover

"We see things not as they are. We see them as we are."
Emanuel Kant


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