Steam: third visit

Our project to compile a series of photos for the local railway museum is now in full steam, if you pardon the pun. On our third visit to the facility I concentrated on taking photos of two subjects in particular - one of which was a display showing a woman working in the smoke box of a locomotive (above).

Anyone who saw my entry for September 28 will have read that the overall aim of the project is to produce images that convey the atmosphere of the museum. It's not an easy task photographically, but I thought that one way of doing this was to use flash to communicate drama.

That September 28 blog entry also included a series of pictures showing promising locations, one of which was the smoke box exhibit. As soon as I saw this engine, I had a picture in mind that made full use of my flashes. I'm glad to say the end result was pretty much what I had imagined.

I positioned one flash inside the smoke box directly behind the mannequin, pointing away from her. I placed a second flash on a light stand high to my right, with the flash pointing across the mannequin's face. Both were triggered using radio-controlled Pocket Wizards.

The result was the dramatic arc of light inside the smoke box and a mannequin that had pleasing definition because of the interplay of light and shadow.

I do still need to carry out some work on the photo because of the distracting red box to the right and the light shade above the engine.

The museum includes several mocked-up railway scenes, including this station platform. I wanted to make it look like night-time and I used flash again to achieve this - highlighting the mother and child and making the background appear dark. 

In this case I used just the one flash, positioned to my left, and fitted an umbrella so that the shadows were softened. I think this adds a little bit of drama in its own right.

It's a nice feeling to have two or three shots in the bag at this stage.