Tag Archives: nikon 24-70 2.8

Photo(s) of the Day – Riding the Rails

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Northern Pacific – © Tracey Capone Photography 2012

I needed a break from the show prep madness and to step away from the wood photo blocks for a few. I decided to do what I love most and go back through raw photos from the last several months. It’s been quite a while since I went on my train excursion but apparently the time away from the proofs from that photo walk proved fruitful. I was delighted to find several photos that, on the first go round, didn’t really work for me but, after stepping away and viewing them with a fresh perspective turned out to be some of my new favorites.

The Red Caboose – © Tracey Capone Photography 2012

Anyone who has followed my blog for a while knows I have a train obsession. I don’t know what it is about them but, whether it’s a train from Rome to Florence or just the Chicago L train, they are my favorite subjects to photograph.

X18 – © Tracey Capone Photography 2012

While plane travel is quick (ok, minus any flight delays, time spent sitting in the airport and waiting for luggage) I don’t find it the least bit interesting. With train travel, especially when you’re on a particularly scenic route, you can get where you need to go all while taking in the world around you. In a single ride, you can be transported through so many different worlds as you travel through the various towns along the route. I find it almost magical.

The Line – © Tracey Capone Photography 2012

I get a lot of requests for train photography, especially for little boys rooms. I love what the photographs can spark in a child’s imagination. Where has the train been? Where is it going? Who traveled the rails and what made them choose the train? I’m so happy to be able to add to my train collection with these five photographs and I hope to see them go to good homes with little boys (or girls!) who imagine being the conductor or the train enthusiast who knows more about each train than I can even hope to.

These photographs, and many more new ones, can be found here in my Etsy shop.

Silver Ridge – © Tracey Capone Photography 2012

Time to get back to the blocks. The countdown is on until the show and I swear the days are going faster and faster by the minute!

Enjoy!

*tracey*

Photo(s) of the Day: Playing With Trains

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© Tracey Capone Photography 2012

I suppose this post would be more appropriately titled, “Playing With Depth of Field” (you’ll see why in a moment) but it sounds so much more fun to be playing with trains doesn’t it?

A few months back, my photography group planned a trip out to the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, IL. The IRM is a not for profit group dedicated to rescuing, restoring and preserving countless wonderful trains from many different time periods.  I wasn’t able to join the trip with my group but was so geeked up at the idea of there being an entire museum, dedicated to one of my favorite subjects, right here in Illinois, just an hour or so outside of Chicago! Oh the joy.. the bliss! Since finding out about this gem, I have logged on to their website upwards of 100 times, practically salivating over the photographs of the vintage trains, in all their ooey gooey retroey goodness, resisting the urge to drop all art fest preparations and head out to Union.

© Tracey Capone Photography 2012

No matter where I am, whether it’s here in Chicago or traveling abroad, one of my favorite subjects has always been trains.  If you have been following the blog long enough, you have seen some of my earlier photographs, like “Jackson,” from here in Chicago, or “Trenitalia,” from my last trip to Florence, Italy. Last week I added a few more to the repertoire with “The Crossing,” and, “Blue.” But even with these new additions, the call of the IRM was too much to ignore. Friday morning… camera bag in tow and an only vague idea of where Union, IL is, I hopped in the car and headed out to capture images of the beautiful vintage trains I had been coveting for months.

So… here’s what happens when I try to be spontaneous (with a nasty habit of only “half reading” information). I showed up at the Railway Museum, totally prepared to see trains scattered around the grounds, just waiting for me to shoot them. I was delighted at the idea that I would be there on a weekday when I could avoid large crowds and have easy access to the shots that I really wanted. (as I am convinced the front of my camera is a magnet that pulls people in front of it when I’m trying to take a shot)

That’s not quite how it went…

There were trains, several in fact… but the majority were tucked safely away in the barns because…alas… on Fridays, while the grounds are open, the rest isn’t operational. You see, the IRM is a mostly volunteer run organization and only operates their trains on weekends. In the immortal words of a bear named Winnie, “Oh bother.”

© Tracey Capone Photography 2012

All was not lost… Having traveled an hour and a half, and determined to make something of the day, I decided to take the opportunity to explore the grounds and continue to hone my depth of field skills. (and I did get a number of photographs of the wonderful trains they have on their grounds… more to come!) Trains, with their length and repeating patterns are the perfect subject to practice and play around with depth of field, don’t you think?

© Tracey Capone Photography 2012

Much to my delight, the door to one of the barns, the shed where the electric cars are restored, was open and the wonderful Loop car (above) was front and center. To my further delight, a retiree who volunteers his time to the IRM, and was working on the car, let me come in and took the time to show me some of the cars in the shed and learn more about their backgrounds. Needless to say, I am even more excited about my next visit out there. The passion with which the folks at the museum approach what they do was truly inspiring and made the idea of capturing their works of art in print all that much more exciting.

After my time in the barn, with my Nikon 24-70 2.8 strapped to the camera, I made my way around the grounds in search of subjects. My settings vary but, for the most part, I focused in on my subjects about a foot to two feet in front of me, wanting the sweet spot of the photo to be either front and center or as near to middle as possible.

© Tracey Capone Photography 2012

I am of the opinion that, while there are guidelines (check out this awesome depth of field calculator), there are no hard and fast rules for when it comes to your subject. (except of course that your camera should be set to MANUAL for the most control… sorry, I climbed up on the manual soapbox again) Ultimately it boils down to what you want the final photograph to look like. Two photographers could be in the exact same spot, shooting the same subject and come away with two completely different photographs because their creative approach is different. Play around with your settings, and keep firing. Keep the guidelines in mind but, remember, you’re playing with light. You’re not going to break anything so have fun with it. (the practice will come in handy when you have a very dynamic subject, in a fleeting moment, when you won’t have the chance to continuously change your settings)

No matter what your approach, keep in mind that less is more. Even when my camera is dropped all the way down and I have the creamy, dreamy bokeh, ultimately I still want to be able to tell what is outside the sweet spot. This also applies to using Photoshop in post. I have seen way too many examples of photographs using blur filters in post and either going way overboard or having the right amount of blur but not feathering and masking out the very clear lines of demarkation between the sweet spot and the rest of the photograph.

© Tracey Capone Photography 2012

No matter what, get out with the camera and practice, practice, practice. Take multiple photos at different settings and compare them side by side. Even the slightest change in the depth of field can give your photograph a  different look and eventually you will be able to apply your knowledge on the fly. Depth of field isn’t scary, nor is it really difficult to understand. For as simple as it may seem though, understanding how it works, and honing your skills, can add a whole new dimension to your photography.

Photo of the Day: The Right Place at the Wrong Time

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The Windmill – Tracey Capone Photography © 2012

Before every trip, I sit down at the computer, Lonely Planet book open on the Kindle, and, through the magic of Google, Flickr and other wonderful online references, come up with a list of “must see” places that I want to shoot. For the most part, it usually works out extremely well and I end up with shots I was dying to take, such as the one from Eilean Donan Castle in Scotland, or of Chez Marie Cafe in Montmartre, Paris. I was even super excited to find the perfect spot to hop out of the car, drop to the ground and get this shot of the Route 66 marker along a deserted highway during my Route 66 road trip from Santa Monica to Tulsa.

Sadly, sometimes a list is just a list. Mother Nature, with her heavy rains and wind, might delay our trip, and we pass through a number of photogenic towns… in the dark. Or, perhaps, someone demolished the very retro, very cool Route 66 motel and sign that I wanted to see before I got there (you know who you are). Or, in the case of this wonderful windmill in Brennerville, along the trip to the Dingle Peninsula in Ireland, someone decides it’s the perfect time to restore it and wraps it up in scaffolding.

The point is, sometimes you don’t get the perfect shot. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take it because it’s still a memory. Sure, I could spend painstaking hours in Photoshop, whittling away at the scaffolding until it’s nothing but a few unnoticeable, insignificant bars here and there. Maybe, some rainy day, I will spend the day “tearing down” the scaffolding, however, for now, I would much rather focus my energy on the other 700+ shots from the trip. For now, I would much rather look at the photograph, with all it’s imperfections, and look forward to the day when I can go back and revisit this beautiful scene. (preferably scaffold free!)

Enjoy! Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend!

*tracey*

Photo of the Day: “A Place to Pass”

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A Place to Pass – Tracey Capone Photography © 2012

Taken in the Scottish Highlands, today’s Photo of the Day, “A Place to Pass,” serves two purposes for me. The first was to flex my depth of field muscle while we were out in the middle of nowhere (but of course still surrounded by amazing scenery) and the second was to serve as a reminder of the, “never a dull moment,” driving experience in both Scotland and Ireland. Since I was working the camera, I passed much of the driving off to my travel companions, but sitting in the passenger seat (for me, on the wrong side of the car) was an experience all in of itself. To say my heart leapt in to my throat on a number of occasions is putting it mildly.

Along the narrowest of roads were tiny, and I do mean tiny, pull offs which the most experienced drivers would simply tuck in to, while still driving full speed, as an oncoming car, also driving full speed, was passing them. It’s very difficult to explain just how nail biting witnessing that was. For those of us who were far less experienced, we opted to tuck ourselves in to the passing places and simply sit there, much to the dismay of the rare car behind us, and wait for the oncoming car to pass. Sufficed to say, as amazing as Scotland was, and despite how much I missed it when I left, I was very happy to be back on the other side of the car and road when I got back to Chicago.

In any event, while the sign itself is really nothing spectacular, this particular sign provided me an opportunity to play with exposure settings to capture a beautifully colorful background while still focusing on the sign itself. This photograph was shot with my Nikon 24-70 2.8 lens at 1/2500, f/4.0. As always, I am a strong supporter of taking your SLR off the automatic settings, knocking it in to manual and taking as many shots as you can, at different settings, to exercise your creative chops, and this photograph was no exception.

Enjoy!
*tracey*

Photo of the Day – Eilean Donan No 3

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Eilean Donan No 3 – Tracey Capone Photography ©2012

One of my favorite aspects of using an SLR camera is the ability to get creative with depth of field. The majority of my trip around Scotland and Ireland was using my Nikon 24-70 2.8 and I have to say, that has quickly become my go to lens. Whether I’m doing portraits or landscape, the lens never fails to deliver the quality shots. (ok, I’m not letting the lens take all the credit… it does help to understand how to use it, and your camera, of course!)

I had previously introduced you to the Eilean Donan castle in Scotland with my shot at dusk. It was one of those, “in the right place at the right time” shots because the light was so perfect the resulting photograph, with it’s beautiful blues, is my favorite from the trip. Today’s photo of the day, “Eilean Donan No. 3″ was shot earlier in the day, in full sun which is, admittedly, not my favorite time to photograph so I decided to go the route of creative depth of field. With the lens set at f2.8, I focused about two feet in front of me on the stone wall and took the shot.

It’s important to remember, whether you’re playing with depth of field (DOF) in camera or later in post, you don’t want the subject in the background so blurred that you don’t know what it is. It should be blurred to the point where it isn’t the main focus of the photograph but is still an integral part of it.

While I love getting creative in Photoshop (I am currently obsessed with the three new blur filters in CS6), I love when a shot comes straight out of the camera with the DOF I was hoping for! I may not have loved the light while we were there but I came away with some memorable shots.

Enjoy!

*tracey*

Photo(s) of the Day: Playing with the new lenses

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Sigma 70-200 2.8/ natural light/ no edits/ 200mm/ 1/20sec at f2.8

I’ve previously made mention that I’m in the process of upgrading my equipment now that I am  officially doing this full time. It started with the camera:  my ever-reliable D90 has become my backup body and I have moved in to using a D700. I can honestly say, and this isn’t an exaggeration, while I’ve only spent but a few weeks with it, I truly think I love this body more than chocolate. The D90 was wonderful, overall, but this D700 FX is allowing me to reach even further as a photographer and I cannot wait to get it out and about in Scotland and Ireland next month. With upgrading my camera came upgrading my lenses because, and I will always hold firmly to this belief, creatively speaking, they are much more important in the long run and well worth the investment.

Having just received the new lenses in the last few days, I haven’t had the chance to fully break them in but that’s the beauty of having two wonderful subjects right here in my home. Yes, I know, more photos of Jack and Charlie. Hey, some people post hundreds of pictures of their kids; at the risk of sounding like Crazy Cat Lady, I just happen to be posting photos of my cats. ;)

Between these two and the 10-20 I got about a month ago, I am so looking forward to the weather being more consistently amazing here in Chicago (this week we’re getting a preview of Spring but you never know when that will change) as well as hopping in the car and getting out on the roads through Scotland and Ireland. I can’t even imagine how much fun I’m going to have with the wide angle lenses in the Highlands and at the Cliffs of Moher.

The week is winding down. I don’t know about you but it’s gone really quickly for me. I hope it has for you. Just one more day until the weekend!

Enjoy!

*tracey*

Nikon 24-70 2.8/ natural light/ no edits/ 70mm/ 1/50 sec at f2.8