Oakdale under the lights

[PGupton]

I recently purchased 3 Yungnuo YN560-II's to get my start in night flash photography and made the trip up to Oakdale to get some shots of the LAST remaining searchlights on the CNO&TP in Tennessee at night. This was really my first experiment in the field with these flashes in total darkness, and while I'm happy with my shots it did serve largely as a learning experience.

There was a stalled train up at Lancing (116 I think), and so I got an almost exclusively southbound parade.

If anyone else on here is experienced/using this technology I would be grateful for any tips or tricks you may have!

[PGupton]

These photos have actually been attached in sequential order.. Look closely and you might be able to tell how I was moving the lights around.

[thpbears]

Nice clear shots .

[leroy]

Peyton...

The pictures looks great to me ... You are freezin the action and the subject is popping up out of the darkness... Looks ta me like you are doin the right thing ALA O. Winston Link... I guess my only concern would be how the crews take to the flash...

leroy

[Bill Richardson]

    Interesting pictures.  Ditto on Leroy's question.  I wonder what the locomotive crews think about camera flashes aimed at them?  Seems to me that it might be bothersome.

    I too am familiar with O. Winston Link's night photographs. Your pictures remind me of them.

[NSMoWandS]

Another group I am on had this to say about night flashes(discussion was over a couple of months).
The biggest things that came out of it were...
1)When train is approaching... do a test flash to warn the crew you are there.
2)The flash does not reallty blind the crew members. A lot of the back and forth was between actual engineers and conductors.
Hope this helps DE Dan

[PGupton]

Yes, I do a warning flash as soon as I see the headlights (generally a short time after I hear the crew call the signal on the scanner).

These flashes are actually far quicker/insignificant than you might expect. I think you can only go temporarily blind if you do set one off a few feet from your face       You can actually see one of my flashes to the far right in the first photo (I've been too lazy to shop it out). I'm not using any large reflectors, just the straight flashes.

I was attentive to the scanner after the trains passed in case any complaints or opinions might be said, but heard none...

[Bill Richardson]

   That's a nice flash.  I'm not sure if the slave trigger is built in, or you attached one to it.  I have two Vivitar 283 flashes that I used in cave photography years ago.  Sometimes I took both, and attached a Vivitar SL-2 slave to one, and set it on a mini tripod some distance out front.

   Now and then I use one of the 283s with a digital camera, by using a slave trigger.  Some railroad fans might want to take night pictures, but can't go out and buy a good, new flash.  If they have any of the old big flashes, they can use them with a slave trigger.  There are numerous slaves available, and some of them can be found on Ebay at a low price, in the teens, plus or minus.  The Vivitar SL-2 is a good slave, and it will swivel.  I just bought an older model by Vivitar, an SL-1.  It is different, but works.  I tried it inside the house only.  Bought it for $9, shipping included.  The SL-2 is usually priced around $15. Some have "free shipping", and some have shipping extra.  I haven't looked at other brands.

  A railfan could set up an old flash on a tripod and use a slave connected with a "pc cord".  The SL-2 has a socket for a tripod, and a hot shoe.  It could be connected either way, but a 283 for instance, with batteries, has a little weight, and the SL-2 is not a robust item.  In caves, I used to have the slave on the camera hot shoe, and the slave screwed to the tripod.   It would probably be better to mount the flash on a tripod and attach the slave with a pc cord.  Now days, using a digital camera, I have the slave attached to the flash, connected with a pc cord (hotshoe on one flash doesn't work right), and hold it up and out front.  I have a Sunpak 322 flash with its own pc cord attached.  I can plug that into a slave.

   The 283s and similar size models are strong flashes.  It might be objectionable to aim one of those at the front of an engine.  I suppose the best method would be to aim the camera flash at the front of the engine, and have the big flash aimed farther back on the engine, or the second engine.  A 283 flash has different power settings--full flash, and step-down levels, with a sensor to control the output.

    This probably belongs in the photographer's section, but we are already on the subject of night photography and flashes.

[Bill Richardson]

PGupton---I hope you make more photos like this with your new flash and post them.  I'd like to see how they turn out.