Digital Railway Photography: Creative Techniques and the Digital Darkroom

by Jeremy de Souza

Overview

Digital photography equipment and software now give enthusiasts the ability to create images of exceptional quality. For those who want to develop their skills and improve their results, this book will show you how to get the best from your digital camera. It will help you create a collection or portfolio to be proud of, and show you how to achieve outstanding results without a huge investment in equipment. This book is a ‘how to’ guide for railway photographers. Intended for those comfortable with their digital camera, it will show you new techniques to try and the true capabilities of your camera. Using clear examples, you’ll learn how to get the best image quality from prevailing conditions, and maximize the impact and creativity of your images. Once back at home in the ‘digital darkroom’, the book will offer tips and advice on how to use common imaging software. It will show you how to enhance an image, so you can bring out the best results in a creative manner without losing the inspiration or atmosphere of the original shot.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781781555736
Publisher:	Fonthill Media
Publication date:	07/06/2017
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	6.75(w) x 9.75(h) x (d)

About the Author

Jeremy de Souza is a British railway photographer with over 40 years’ experience. Through travelling widely, he has recorded many of the dramatic changes in the British and European rail scene. Although originally a committed film user, he migrated to digital photography in the early 1990s, amassing throughout a fascinating collection of several thousand railway images. In this, his second title on this popular subject, Jeremy explores the straightforward camera techniques and computer skills that will help any enthusiast create fantastic railway imagery.

Table of Contents

Introduction 7

Use of Technology 9

Image processing 9

Processing software 9

Railway photography-be safe and secure 10

Getting the Best from Your Camera 12

Shutter speed is king 12

Aperture 12

White balance 15

Mastering your metering 15

Evaluative 16

Centre weighted 16

Spot metering 16

Picture styles and presets 16

Time of day and angle of light 18

Sunrise and early morning 18

Noon and the middle hours 20

Afternoon 20

Sunset and the 'golden hour' 20

Twilight and night photography 20

Handheld shooting 24

Focusing correctly 24

Composition 26

Graduated filters 29

Achieving maximum image quality 31

Remote control-wireless and remote shooting 33

Using mobile devices 35

Phones and tablets-pros v. cons 35

Saving your images 37

Invest in an external hard drive 37

Use an online backup service 37

Network attached storage (NAS) 37

Understanding photo editing 39

Getting started with image processing 39

Using Lightroom 40

Five basic Adobe Lightroom Skills 40

Exposure 40

Crop and straighten 43

Detail 43

Spot removal 43

Graduated filter 43

Using Photoshop (or your equivalent software program) 45

Five basic Photshop Skills 45

Exposure 45

Straighten and crop 45

Adjust contrast and brightness 47

Spot removal 47

Improving detail (sharpening) 49

Crop and resize 49

Sharpen 50

Levels 50

Getting started with layers 52

Making selective changes 54

Lightening and darkening 54

How to remove unwanted objects 58

Content aware tool 58

Processing raw files 62

Higher dynamic range (HDR) 63

Improving skies 65

Improving an overexposed sky 65

Creative use of black and white 67

Basic method 69

Advanced method 69

Crop and resize 49

Common Problems and How to Fix Them 71

Dealing with underexposure 71

Rescuing a burned-out image 71

Fixing a colour cast 75

Chromatic aberration 77

Tweaks and Adjustments 78

Correcting verticals 78

Noise reduction 78

Hardware options 78

Software options 80

Finishing Touches 82

How to make images 'pop' 82

Creating a 'trainset' look 82

Adding text with the brush tool 85

Sharing With Others 87

Using social media 87

How to set up a website 87

Steps to creating your website 89

Have a selection of images ready 89

Choose a site builder / buy a hosting service 89

Set up an email address 89

Design a site 90

Plan your content 90

Choose a domain 90

Making money from your photography 91

Protecting your images 91

Camera metadata 91

Save images for web use at low resolution 91

Google images 93

If all else fails 94

Gallery 95

Examples of techniques described in this book, and some creative angles that will help inspire your railway photography 95