How to Take Better Train Travel Photos
For an Internet Rail Travelogue, and for Personal Use.
By Carl Morrison at MoKnowsPhotos.com
- Carl@TrainWeb.com - TrainWeb.org/Carl(The photo examples are best viewed while online, since some references are to photos on other web pages of mine.)
Click any photo to see a double-sized copy, click BACK in your browser to return to this page.
18. The Challenge of Shooting Through Train Windows.
When you board the
train, select a seat
that has a large window, some seats have the window post beside the
seat. If it is a double-level car, select a seat on the upper
level. It is higher, you can see past lower obstructions,
and
the windows are usually cleaner being farther from the ground.
Find out ahead of time which side will have the best scenery, then select a seat/room on that side. For example, traveling north along the coast on the Pacific Surfliner, you will want to be on the west/left side of the train. Since you cannot always be sure about this, if you find your seat/room is not on the ocean/scenic side, go to the Parlour Car (for sleeper car passengers only), or the Signtseeing Lounge Car (for coach and sleeper passengers), and get a second-level seat on the scenic side.
Find out ahead of time which side will have the best scenery, then select a seat/room on that side. For example, traveling north along the coast on the Pacific Surfliner, you will want to be on the west/left side of the train. Since you cannot always be sure about this, if you find your seat/room is not on the ocean/scenic side, go to the Parlour Car (for sleeper car passengers only), or the Signtseeing Lounge Car (for coach and sleeper passengers), and get a second-level seat on the scenic side.
Try and position yourself on
the side of the train so that the sun is not in your face, or camera
lens, thus eliminating lens flare and silhouetted objects and properly
exposed sky. If you are in the lounge car, this simply means
moving to the shade side of the car.
If you are in a sleeper, and the window across from your romette has
closed curtains, go to the stairs and stop on the first landing for a
stand-up window from which to shoot. Going to the lower level,
there is a window in the top of the exit doors, but it is usually very
dirty, so try and shoot from the upper level.
 18.1 |
 18.2 Making good use
of my rotating polarizing lens, both these shots were taken hrough an
Amtrak window as the train went around bends in Glenwood Canyon
|
As for the glass, position your camera
lens as close to
the window as possible to eliminate any reflection of the lights or
other objects in the room. A good filter to eliminate glass
reflections is a rotating polarizing filter. This filter is also
good for increasing the contrast between white clouds and blue sky.
Remember to force your camera's flash OFF, or you'll not only get a reflection like the sun in the window, or you will nearly blind yourself!
Remember to force your camera's flash OFF, or you'll not only get a reflection like the sun in the window, or you will nearly blind yourself!
The Challenge of
Shooting from an open vestibule or rear platform.
If you are on a rail
car with open
windows, vestibule, or rear
platform, or an open rail car (other than Amtrak) you can usually lean
out, or hold
your camera out to take pictures forward, or backward. I recall
on the Expresso Maya in Mexico, we were going through sections of
single track where the sapling trees actually scrapped the sides of the
cars. You could easily have your camera knocked out of your hand,
even break a hand, or worse, be struck in the face with a 1-inch
diameter branch! After getting my hand whacked once, I began to
use the open vestibule window as a mirror to look forward to see if we
were approaching trees before I stuck my camera out. Even then,
having your face outside a traveling train is dangerous, especially to
your eyes. Take goggles, or at least sunglasses to keep the
specks of dust, or cinders if it is a steam train, out of your
eyes. With that polarizing lens mentioned above, it would be the
protection for your expensive camera lens. If you do not have a
polarizing lens, at least get a UV filter, just for the protection of
your camera lens.
Move around the train, from car to car, and keep looking for a better vantage point. If you are going through tall trees, you are going to want to be in an open topped car to shoot up. If you see a spot that looks perfect, but it is occupied by another photographer, either ask if they'd mind rotating in that spot with you so you both could get some shots, or, if not, return later and that person will probably have moved on.
 18.3 Modern rear platform on the McKinley Explorer |
 18.4 Classic train rear platform, in LAUS in 2007. |
18.5
Report on the McKinley Explorer (above), full
dome 2-car unit, with photos taken from its rear platform at:
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