Photo of the Week #001

By
MRL GP35 #401 fuels after dark in the Missoula Yard on September 21st, 2018.  Copyright James Willmus 2018  


This photograph was taken well after dark, about 11:00pm I think, at the East end of the Montana Rail Link yard in Missoula, Montana 3 weeks ago.  I went looking for this particular exposure after my work for the night had ended.  There was only one problem though, when I arrived I realised I forgot my tripod!!!

So how do you take an image like this one without a tripod?  Well, I looked around for something sturdy that would give me the angle I needed.  After debating a couple of options, I decided to use the handrail of a stairwell coming down from a nearby building.  It was right next to the street too so I wasn't trespassing or getting in anyone's way.

Even with the aid of the handrail, it took a couple of tries.  Finally I managed to get the shot at ISO100, f/2.8, and a shutter of 0.6 of a second.  That's as fast as I could do without raising the ISO higher than 100, which is my preferred setting for maximum sharpness.

If I did this shot again, I'd first remember to bring a tripod!  But also I probably would have gone with a smaller f/stop to improve my depth of field.  Important subjects are in focus, but I noticed that some equipment isn't completely in focus, notably the "MRL" on the side of the engine.  That could also be due to a light directly hitting that part of the locomotive, so that area was over-exposed.  Oh well.

And so concludes my first "Photo of the Week".  There's a long winter ahead, and I'm in Montana, so hopefully a few shots will pan out.  For weeks I can't get outside, I've got a lot of back-log to share with everyone!  So expect future "Photo of the Week" installments to occur on Sundays or Mondays.

Thank You!

--James Willmus