10 Tips for photographing trains by Jim Pearson

While this is by no means a compressive list of ways to photograph trains, these ten tips will help get you started. I hope these will provide you with some inspiration. If you just shoot a photo carelessly you’ll get a careless snapshot. You need to bring something of yourself to photo for it to be successful.

¨ Capture Movement: Railroads are a moving industry. While at times it’s a hurry-up and wait industry, you often will find trains in motion. If you capture that movement in your photo it will add drama to your photographs. To capture movement or motion in your photos you’ll need a slow shutter speed and probably a tripod. Shooting just before sunrise or after sunset will give you the low light you’ll need to capture motion blur.

¨ The Light: Usually the hour just after sunset or sunset are great to photograph in, but great light can be found anytime day or night, but these two hours are considered the best and predictable.

¨ Photograph the cars:  Of course everyone photographs the engines and cabooses, which are loud and often colorful, however, most of the train consists of cars that can be colorful and large. Trains are rolling canvases and many punks and malcontents, and the graffiti they leave behind can often be interesting. Finding creative visuals among the spray paint can be rewarding.

¨ Change your angle: Look for moments where you can photograph trains from different angles. Get high, low and move around when shooting. Look for high vantage points such as overpasses, tunnels and curves. This will add impact to your photos.

¨ Be Contextual: Railroads provide a service for other industries. By capturing the industries, they serve, you tell a much bigger story of what trains are about. While they’re big, they’re actually pretty small compared to the large refineries, plants, etc., that generate the freight.

¨ Photograph the infrastructure: Railroads need rails, signals and a host of other infrastructures in order to operate. You can add interest to your pictures be capturing photos of these things such as switches, bolts, couplers or rails.

¨ Add human interest: People like seeing photos of people so look for opportunities to include them in your pictures. This includes spectators and workers.

¨ Sometimes less is more: Don’t think you always need trains in your photos! Tracks leading off into the sunrise or sunset make for some great photos. Don’t pass on a good photo just because there’s no train.

¨ Edit Creatively: Try inverting your photos, use creative filters, create multiple exposures and just play around with your software to come up with creative compositions.

¨ Use a different camera: It seems like everyone has a DSLR these days. They become better, cheaper and smarter every year. However, sometimes they’re too clean and bland. Spend $20 and buy a Holga film camera. Buy some camera apps for your phone that provide creative options, such as Hipstamatic, Painteresque or Plastic Bullet, just to name a few.

¨ Remember, you have to be creative. You have to think about what you’re creating and somehow give that a voice. There are really no rules and the camera really makes no difference. There’s only you, the one that does the creating! It the person behind the camera that “Makes’ the photo and that’s you!