Moving Steam at Night

Recently I have been trying to capture the excitement of steam at night... the roar of a loco working hard, the glow of the fire in the cab, steam trails lit by the moon....
All of the attached photos have been taken on the Mid-Hants showing a variety of workings of the Watercress Belle and RAT real ale services. To get a decent shutter speed, all are at high ISOs with fast glass; this means there is some noise (think of it as "grain" and it looks much better) and focussing is tricky, manual only as my AF doesn't work well at such wide apertures, and anyway some of these are taken with old manual focus lenses...all taken with a Pentax K5 APS-C DSLR

I like the last two, almost have that Cuneo effect I think



Murky Mogul | Flickr - Photo Sharing!


Lord Nelson at Night | Flickr - Photo Sharing!


Heading West | Flickr - Photo Sharing!


Moonlight and steam | Flickr - Photo Sharing!


Moonlit Belle (3) | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

 

Love the last two.

 

Superb, something I must try some time!

 

What great photos. Absolutly love "Heading West" and "Moonlight and Steam"

 

those shhots are truly awesome

 

I agree with all the comments, some superb shots here.

 

Some superb scenes there ! I assume that some are panned [No 1 especially ?] but the results are worth the effort; a better excuse than "just taking the dog for a walk - dear" for a celebratory drink.

 

Fred, yes these were all panned, the first one below is from earlier in the year and shows more obvious panning, but I cut the tender off!
Both these locations are from footpaths, as I don't lineside after dark for safety reasons. The last two show daylight pans from the same spots.

Regards
Stephen



Moonlight Pacific | Flickr - Photo Sharing!



Lord Nelson | Flickr - Photo Sharing!



Speeding Santa | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

 

Looks like this next weekend at the SVR Steam Gala will be an opportunity to try the technique out for myself; thanks again for showing that there's always something new and challenging from the younger generation ! Well done !

 

A couple from last week and last night


Night Schools runs through | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Fiery 9F | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

 

That last one is gorgeous. Reminds me of a similar sight I enjoyed from Bewdley South Box, with the signals silhouetted against the fiery steam. Magic!

 

Cracking photos - I especially enjoyed the 9F shot as I was driving the thing on the RAT.

It went well.....

 

It certainly did, I was up at Rookwood Lane bridge and heard you through Bishops Sutton, stop at Ropley then blast away up towards me, I had goosebumps!

Station staff at Ropley said you were up to line speed before clearing the platform.

Here's one from the yard on the second trip (I have got a PTS and informed the Signalman etc where I was)




Ropley yard at Night | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

 

U class at Night | Flickr - Photo Sharing!


One from last night, a bit of flash used this time (with knowledge of loco crew!)

And a couple of earlier ones

http://www.flickr.com/photos/arleimages/8084319360/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/arleimages/8084319360/in/photostream