November 19, 2017 – Day 20 – iPhone Daily B&W White Photo Challenge: Let kids be kids. Sometimes when you’re photographing kids, it pays to let them be kids and make faces if they want! Usually once they’ve got past the faces you can get other more serious shots if you want. Personally, I love this shot of my nieces, Journey and Elaina and nephew Jayden! They’re all such cutups!!!
November 18, 2017 – Day 19 – iPhone Daily B&W White Photo Challenge: The Bear. Found this little guy just sitting on a bench here in Madisonville, Ky this evening. There are many rules when it comes to composition in photography and art, but as the old saying goes, rules are made to be broken and by placing him in the center of the frame I liked the picture better. You should know the rules of composition and follow them, but also know when to break them! When is Appropriate? It all depends on you!! It’s your photograph!! That’s one of the many things I like about photography. As the artist, I, or you, get to decide when and how to capture the moment in front of our camera!!
November 17, 2017 – Day 18 – iPhone Daily B&W White Photo Challenge: Dock. Keeping things simple and easy to read helps make your picture much stronger! When out looking for something to photograph remember, if it doesn’t contribute or help make the photograph stronger then try not to include it in your photograph! Change your angle to a higher or lower vantage or zoom in or move in closer! It’s the old fashion method of “manipulating” your photo! Do what ever you can to make the photograph the way you want it at the time you shoot it and you’ll come away with a stronger image! #iphone7+
October 26, 2017 – With long hood forward, Norfolk Southern Railroad 8772 heads up a rail train as it sits on the Norfolk Southern/Indiana Southern diamond at Oakland City, Indiana. The engineer was waiting for the crew on the back of the train to cut a piece of rail, before moving ahead to the east to drop more rail.
November 16, 2017 – CSX MOW drops a bucket of ballast next to the tracks at Nortonville, Ky on the Henderson Subdivision. One of the switches for the new interlocking that is being installed sits in the distance close to the new southbound Nortonville signals. Crews have been working all summer to connect the north end of Romney to the south end of Nortonville to form a new section of about 6 miles of double track on the subdivision.
November 16, 2017 – Day 17 – iPhone Daily B&W White Photo Challenge: Bikes! While I was out today chasing and photographing trains I passed by this Mennonite Store in Crofton, Ky and spotted all these bikes parked in a row and hoped they’d still be that way when I came back by from photographing the train I was chasing. I know, you should never pass up a picture, but I was torn between the two and chose the train! Fortunately the bikes were still there when I came back and as a result this is my picture for the day!
Camera Mode on the iPhone.
This photo really helps to illustrate a tip that I want to pass onto everyone as well! When shooting with the iPhone camera do you ever wish you could do so using the full screen of the phone, instead of the scaled back camera you normally get?
Video Camera Settings
Most folks don’t realize that, you can do this by using the video camera of the iPhone! To do so first you need to head to the camera settings on your iPhone under the Settings App on the iPhone. Open it up and scroll down till you find the Camera settings and open them up.
Then change the Record Video settings to the highest Quality your iPhone will support. For mine it’s 4k video at 30fps (Frames per second). This will insure that you’ll get the highest quality photograph from the phone.
Now you’re set to capture your first full screen photograph! Open the Video Camera and click on the record button. After your video starts recording notice the small silver shutter button that shows up under the video camera’s red button.
Shooting video, showing the still camera button below the video record button.
Each time you press this button the camera will create a photograph of the scene using the full screen of your camera!! This is a great feature for the times you have a long skinny photograph you’d like to shoot and not crop from the regular camera! You can also shoot tall verticals by turning the camera vertically!
You’ll end up with a bunch of little video clips on your camera roll, but after you’re done you can go back and delete them, keeping only the photographs you shot! That’s it! Hope you enjoy using this little tip and please feel free to share!!
November 14, 2017 – Paducah and Louisville Railway #2100 pulls into PAL’s Oak Street Yard as PAL’s UK 1998 engine pulls out during operations at Louisville, Ky.
November 14, 2017 – A Paducah and Louisville Railway local backs onto the Norfolk Southern line at LS Junction in Louisville, Ky as does interchange work with PAL 2100 leading.
November 15, 2017 – Day 16 – iPhone Daily B&W White Photo Challenge: Fall – I’ve been eyeing this tree since Sunday for the right time to capture it for this series. I knew that the yellow gingko leaves would produce a great contrast to the ground and sky under the right conditions and today was the day! When you find an interesting picture it’s always a good idea to capture it when you’re there as it may be gone the next time you pass by. However, there’s nothing to prevent you from revisiting the scene on a day where you think the light and conditions might produce a better photograph. Be flexible in your shooting! Also when shooting black and white keep an eye out for good contrasting colors as they can help make for great photos!
November 14, 2017 – Day 15 – iPhone Daily B&W White Photo Challenge: Patterns – Every time in Louisville, Ky I try to swing by the train yards there and see if I can’t capture a few pictures. Today when I was there I found the light on these silos next to the Paducah and Louisville Railway line lit with these beautiful patterns from the light and captured today’s photo with my iPhone. I included the rails and cars as I thought that their lines helped to add to the vertical lines of the tanks! Incorporating patterns into your photos is a way to help add visual interest to your shots!
November 13, 2017 – Day 14 – iPhone Daily B&W White Photo Challenge: Bike! – Shooting with the iPhone at night can be a real challenge as with any smartphone. One of the keys is the pick a subject that is well lit. Another is to use your smartphone as you would any other camera! Hold it steady, brace yourself and press the shutter slowly! You’ll come away with a better photo!
November 4, 2017 – CSX Q648 (Waycross, GA – Chicago, IL) heads down the viaduct at Rham, Indiana as it heads north to Chicago, Illinois on the Henderson Subdivision.
November 12, 2017 – Day 13 – iPhone Daily B&W White Photo Challenge: Two of my many favorite photography subjects these days are my great-great nephews, Jayden and Damion! Here I caught this shot of them sending thumbs up and love my way to the camera during lunch today and of course the kid smiling in the background at their antics helps make the photo stronger!! When shooting kids on the iPhone it’s best to use the “Burst Mode” and pick the best! They move fast! LOL
November 11, 2017 – Day 12 – iPhone Daily B&W White Photo Challenge: A different view of a southbound freight train at Nortonville, Ky shot from a bridge overpass. Looking for a different viewpoint can help add impact and interest to your photos!
November 11, 2017 – It’s late evening as CSX Local J731-11, right, and loaded grain train G411-11 pass each other at Nortonville, Ky as the headlights from CSXT 5438 reflect off the grain hoppers as the trains head in their separate destinations on the Henderson Subdivision. J731 is a new Casky, KY to Atkinson, KY turn and Q411 runs from Haw Creek, IN – Banks, AL.
November 7, 2017 – While this photo of Paducah and Louisville Railway’s “Salute to our Veterans” locomotive 2129 trailing on a northbound local at West Yard in Madisonville, Ky was taken several days ago, I felt today was the appropriate day to post it. I salute all the railroaders, railfans and others that have served our county! It’s an honor to be counted among your ranks!
Veterans Day is a U.S. legal holiday dedicated to American veterans of all wars. In 1918, on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, an armistice, or temporary cessation of hostilities, was declared between the Allied nations and Germany in World War I, then known as “the Great War.” Commemorated in many countries as Armistice Day the following year, November 11th became a federal holiday in the United States in 1938. In the aftermath of World War II and the Korean War, Armistice Day became legally known as Veterans Day. While it’s celebrated on the Friday before or Monday after if it falls on a weekend to allow for the federal holiday, the 11th is the traditional day of celebration.
November 4, 2017 – CSXT 5348 with a CITIRail Unit trailing makes a slight lean as it makes its way past the siding at Sebree, Ky as it heads south on the Henderson Subdivision with hot intermodal CSX Q029 (Chicago, IL-Atlanta, GA).
This project started out on October 31 as a 7 Day Black and White Photo Challenge on Facebook. After the week went by I enjoyed it so much that I’ve decide to continue with the project as long as it takes me. These are the first 10 photos I’ve shot here in a gallery. Others I’ll post daily.
I hope you enjoy viewing them as much as I did taking them!
Perhaps, sometime down the road some of these will be in a book!
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”3″ gal_title=”iPhone Black and White Challenge”]
November 7, 2017 – Light is about gone and so is the fall foliage, as loaded CSX E013-04 (Warrior Coal – Palatka, FL) heads down the grade, as it departs Warrior Coal, heading south back to the Morganfield Branch and onto Madisonville, Ky. At Atkinson Yard they’ll pickup a fresh crew that’s waiting to take the train on south on the Henderson Subdivision to Palatka, FL as N013-04.
November 4, 2017 – I’m amazed by what the camera can see that the eye doesn’t! When I pulled up to this spot with fellow railfan Ryan Scott, we both looked at the scene and man it’s dark!! I love how my full frame sensor captured all the ambient light and how it turned the slow moving clouds into almost what looks like the aurora borealis in some ways!!!
Here we see a CSXT 1543, a GP-15, tied to Chessie System Caboose 904138 on the City Lead that runs along next to Ohio Street in Evansville, Indiana. The set is used to work the industrial area around Berry Plastics and the caboose is used as the shoving platform.
ISO 100 for 30 seconds at f/6.3 with a Nikon 18mm lens on a Nikon D800.
November 4, 2017 – CSX Q647 (Chicago, IL (BRC) – Waycross, GA) heads up the viaduct approach to the CSX bridge over the Ohio River at Henderson, Ky as it makes it’s way south on the Henderson Subdivision from Rahm, Indiana.