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Shooting Trains w/ Flash


stephen_doldric

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<p>I'm posting a question to Kent Satubus aka Kent in SD. I love your work on trains and I find it really interesting. I also figure other people might want to know. Not sure if you read the Lighting forums so its going under Nikon SLR's.</p>

<p>When you shoot trains and set of the flash (ie this last Wed with x3 White Lightenings @ 100%). Do you give them advanced notice? Or do they just not care? Or are you such a regular its pretty much accepted that it happens in the area? This is more out of curiosity as I'm not personally planing on doing anything similar.</p>

<p>Keep up the great work!</p>

<p> </p>

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<p>I get this quesiton a lot. If the train is close by (<50 ft.) I usually use my little Nikon SB-25 flash to light it up (full power.) Keep in mind several things. First, the flash are always going to be at least 20 feet away (usually 50 ft.) so the flash beam can spread out (trains are fairly large to light.) Second, the train crews are staring ahead into an area already well lit by their three bright headlights, so their eyes are already accustomed to light. Third, the duration of the flash is 1/1000s which is too fast for eyes to really react. Bottom line, they don't care. Sometimes they don't even notice it. They tell me even my big monolights are less annoying than say have a truck stopped at a grade crossing with its headlights pointed at them.</p>

<p>The big X3200 monolights at full power with a medium or long throw reflector probably is too strong to put right along the tracks, so I -usually- don't. Those are used to light up really BIG stuff (grain elevators) or trains that are distant and I need the reach (think of long bridges on a river.) By the time the light reaches them, it's not all that potent. Sometimes I do need to pop a really big flash fairly close to a train. When I do, I generally do let them know in advance. (Some of my shots are at the railroad's request after all.)</p>

<p>I rarely bother to tell a train crew I'm going to take a shot when using the small SB-25 flash, because they just don't care about those. I do wear a safety vest and stand in the open where they can see me (when possible.) I pop the flash once when they are about 100 yards or so out, to get their attention. They see me with a camera on the tripod and figure it out pretty fast. I've been doing this since 2005 on a regular basis and never had a complaint.</p>

<p>This kind of photography is pretty demanding as you REALLY need to learn how to use light. It takes me half an hour to an hour to set up flash, focus the lens, and dial in exposure (I only have manual flash.) Also consider that when I'm out doing it, often it's below zero and it can be over an hour until a train shows up. Since the flash duration is only 1/1000s, I never see the shots until after the train passes and I check the LCD. Every one is literally a "shot in the dark" when I take it. Below shot, x2 White Lightning X3200 at 1/1. I needed a lot of power to not only light the train but also create enough light to make the reflection. Since the flash were angled up (and engineer is on the other side of the cab) crew would be looking straight ahead and likely never saw the flash units down below.</p>

<p>Kent in SD</p>

<p> </p><div>00cDIe-543984084.jpg.aaf9feeaa3de0e656fafabec2b48ed76.jpg</div>

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<p>I just wanted to say thanks for this, Kent - I'd always vaguely wondered. I'm always annoyed when people set off flash at a concert or sporting event - typically where the flash won't actually illuminate anything so much as be a distraction - so I'm a little paranoid of doing this (not that I planned to), and it's good to know protocol. A little facetiously, I have to ask how you'd know if someone minded (if the train's going quickly they can hardly stop and walk back to talk to you, and if it's dark you'll hardly see them waving at you), but I assume you'd know! It's not like you're likely to cause a crash, especially since you'd probably notice if there was something on the tracks before they did. I'm sufficiently used to electric trains having a shower of sparks when the electrical contact with the power rail is dodgy that I have to think most train drivers are used to random unexplained flashes of light anyway!</p>
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<p>Someone once asked if I was afraid I'd cause a train to crash when the flash went off, and I said, "You mean the engineer is blinded and swerves into the ditch? Oh, the humanity!" I try not to set off flash around switches or warning signs, but that's about it. As for how I know they don't care, I've talked to many dozens of them by now, and once even rode in the cab of an engine and set off several flash pointed directly at the cab windows as I passed. It wasn't a big deal. Here's the engineer of the train that I lit with my three big monolights just half an hour before. He said it (he would have seen only one) was plenty bright, but he saw my "warning" pop shortly before so it wasn't a surprise.</p>

<p>Kent in SD<br>

Photo: Engineer LaTelle in DAIR 3031</p><div>00cDJg-543984984.jpg.1e768f3334792538955991687de5f251.jpg</div>

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<p>I'm going through all of the same thought patterns as it relates to using camera drones. It takes time for people to "get" what I'm doing, so there's lots of education involved, up front. <br /><br />Kent: you would have a blast doing your exact same work, but with the camera hovering 75' above a bridge. The problem is that LiPo batteries really don't like sub-zero weather. You'd have to keep the drone warm in the car, and get it up in the air (with a Pocket Wizard!) only a minute or two before your shot lines itself up. If I were in your neighborhood, I'd insist that we try it!<br /><br />Of course, there's also the little problem of South Dakota's non-stop 900mph winds. That doesn't help video in the air, but it should still work for stills. </p>
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<p>Considering that I usually take photos from public property, or from places I have permission (e.g. elevators, there's really nothing the local authorities could do anyway. As for the octocopter, I've been looking very closely at them but am putting it off. I don't think there is a flash sync on the GoPro, but I could be wrong. My CyberSync transmitter is very small and light, should work fine on heli-cam (if the camera has sync shoe or port.) The winds here are a bigger deal than the below zero cold, IMO. Well, it's dark now so out I go. Need to put on the heavy stuff as it's already 8 below zero.</p>

<p>Kent in SD</p><div>00cDR1-544001784.jpg.a584583cb93e188ecfe10d8657c84526.jpg</div>

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<p>Kent: This month I'm flying a Sony NEX 7 and can trigger the shutter remotely. I'd have to re-balance the gimbal, but it could certainly carry one of Buff's little triggers - would work like a champ! But I'd have to research the RF issues. Don't want something hanging off the camera messing with the flight controller, the telemetry tx/rx or anything else that might bring down the bird when there's a short blast from the trigger. But the more I think about the creative possibilities of an overhead camera triggering an array of lights on the ground, the more I like the idea. Hmmm! </p>
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<p>The frequency of the CyberSyncs is 2.4mg. I think most all of them made for the American market use that. (Europe is different, Japan is different.) I'm interested in the Octocopter things and will likely end up getting one. With a NEX they would cost about $2,000 though, and every time I seem to have that much $$ lying around, I end up buying another pre-Civil War lens, LOL. Right now when I want an "overhead" shot, I'm sticking my light little D5100 on a 15 ft. Manfrotto lightstand and triggering it with a CyberSync. This is actually quite effective. At least, when it isn't very windy.</p>

<p>Kent in SD</p>

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