Operator error
I wasn't going to post this, as this is considerably below my standards of quality. I do so for a historical, and a learning context.
I had a busy day, and topping it off was chasing the CN M338 job on this day from Genoa, IL to East Dubuque, IL. After I got the shot at Galena, I rushed to East Dubuque. I wanted this to be my signature shot of the day. I didn't beat him there by much, until he was stopped by two BNSF "Z" trains, and then it took quite along time for the bridge tender to close the bridge over the Mississippi River. By this time, it was 10:45 PM. And I was getting tired.
But he showed up, and with a minute to spare, I turned on my flashes, and checked my focus. Unfortunately, I didn't set the exposure time back to what it should have been. I set the exposure time to 1 second to get my focus, because most cameras can't focus in darkness; you have to do focus in the dark manually. In short, I forgot to set the exposure back to 1/250 of a second, instead of the 1 second exposure I used to focus on a nearby street light. That mistake cost me an excellent shot.
I know that when I am very tired, I can make mistakes. I reminded myself after this frustrating moment to review everything a second time to make sure everything is set properly when I am feeling subpar. I make fewer mistakes now that I have had experience chasing trains, but this one was a real "Grrrrr!" moment when I realized what I had done. Although I am now very good at not making critical errors, every great now and then, something like this happens, and I blow the shot. The last time I did something like this, I *was* able to recover and get the shot. But I probably won't see the Norfolk Southern "Virginian" heritage unit come into the tunnel at East Dubuque ever again. Lesson learned!
Operator error
I wasn't going to post this, as this is considerably below my standards of quality. I do so for a historical, and a learning context.
I had a busy day, and topping it off was chasing the CN M338 job on this day from Genoa, IL to East Dubuque, IL. After I got the shot at Galena, I rushed to East Dubuque. I wanted this to be my signature shot of the day. I didn't beat him there by much, until he was stopped by two BNSF "Z" trains, and then it took quite along time for the bridge tender to close the bridge over the Mississippi River. By this time, it was 10:45 PM. And I was getting tired.
But he showed up, and with a minute to spare, I turned on my flashes, and checked my focus. Unfortunately, I didn't set the exposure time back to what it should have been. I set the exposure time to 1 second to get my focus, because most cameras can't focus in darkness; you have to do focus in the dark manually. In short, I forgot to set the exposure back to 1/250 of a second, instead of the 1 second exposure I used to focus on a nearby street light. That mistake cost me an excellent shot.
I know that when I am very tired, I can make mistakes. I reminded myself after this frustrating moment to review everything a second time to make sure everything is set properly when I am feeling subpar. I make fewer mistakes now that I have had experience chasing trains, but this one was a real "Grrrrr!" moment when I realized what I had done. Although I am now very good at not making critical errors, every great now and then, something like this happens, and I blow the shot. The last time I did something like this, I *was* able to recover and get the shot. But I probably won't see the Norfolk Southern "Virginian" heritage unit come into the tunnel at East Dubuque ever again. Lesson learned!