spraguead Loc: Boston, MA

as others have said, make sure you are not metering for the sky at all. You may still have to shoot longer exposures, so either find a way to brace the camera, or if possible have a monopod or tripod. Finally, shoot RAW and you will be able to control the grades of dark gray better.

Here are some shots I took of the steam engine in Nashville's Centennial Park. It is under a shed, so I feel your pain as a lot of the images were too dark, But here are a few that worked out.

(Download)


(Download)

Mr. B Loc: eastern Connecticut

Rich,
As far as I can figure you have three possible avenues to take. The first is to take your exposure reading off the locomotives and then dial down down your exposure compensation by about 2/3 of a stop. But you still risk some blown highlights here if you're not careful. The second is taking your exposure reading on the brightest object in the scene and then use the exposure and/or fill light controls in post-processing to bring out the details in the darker areas (you will get the greatest range here by shooting RAW). This method does a good job of eliminating blown highlights or "blinkies" and is my go-to method of dealing with large dynamic ranges when I have to shoot quickly as you have alluded to. The third is HDR and I cannot comment on that method as I have little experience using it.
Hope this helps.
Mr. B

P.S. If you want examples of the finished product using method #2 send me a personal message. I just shot a few rail cars and locomotives last week at the National Transportation Museum outside of St. Louis.

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

That pesky bright sky, always a problem. Try a graduated ND filter. Or move in for detail to avoid sky, a wide wide angle lens may help with this. Others have mentioned HDR. Or avoid mid-day shots to get more balance between the sky light and the ground.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Your meter is being fooled by the blackness of the engine.
Solution. Learn to properly meter for both the engine and sky. If the sun is behind you and you have a clear blue sky, aim your camera at teh sky in front of you at a 45 degree up angle and over expose using manual metering two stops. You will now have a rough good exposure for your shot. OR, with the sun behind you, meter grass in front of you until you get a proper exposure again using manual metering, as soon as you get a proper exposure of the grass (nice and green) you now have a exposure that will capture both the engine and sky. OR, use a gray card (you can still get these) and hold the card in front of you and take a manual meter reading off of it, make sure that the gray card positioned at an angle that will lite it the same as the engine. OR, get an incident exposure meter, it will also give you correct exposures and ignore the bright sky or dark engine and give you a proper average reading. OR, use the sunny 16 rule, usually on a sunny day with the sun behind you, from 10 to 2 PM you can use 1/125 sec. at f16 at iso 100, or 1/500 sec. at f16 at iso 500, and so on. OR, raise your hand and take a reading from it, make sure the sun is striking you hand the same way it will strike the engine, then stop down one or two stops (this depends on the skin color of you hand though ( I stop down one stop for my hand).

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

That's a common problem. If you Google "Backlighting Problems," you'll get suggestions. If you use Lightroom, or almost any other program, you will be able to bring up the shadow areas.

https://www.google.com/search?q=backlighting+problems&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS716US717&oq=backlighting+problems&aqs=chrome..69i57.4519j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Jimmy T Loc: Virginia

Jerry, great advice.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Tonal placement and ETTR/EBTR techniques will resolve this issue.
--Bob

kmpankopf Loc: Mid-Michigan; SW Pennsylvania

First, shoot RAW.
If you shoot RAW and use exposure compensation (-1 to -2), you can usually get enough detail in the sky so it isn't flat. As also mentioned, HDR is now to the point where images where this is used don't look like the old first generation halo driven final product. Photomatix will do a great job with just one photo as well. And when all else fails, cheat. Replace the sky.

Rich U

Thanks for all your replays. I will put some of these to practice next chance I get.

jackm1943 Loc: Omaha, Nebraska

Assuming the subject is not moving, use the histogram and set camera to take RAW images. I usually try to take closeups, especially of firebox doors, where the sky can be cropped out when possible. For me, HDR for these types of images just never works very well.

Don's Leica Loc: Asheville, NC

An easy low-tech improvement is to open the image in any software (I use Adobe Bridge CS5) that has a linear response curve, and push up the black end, then pull down the middle and white end to preserve the rest of the picture.

elent

The man! When they say "know your summer eject", you should be the exemplar! Great offering of information. Sorry to say that the only trains around here are some abandoned diesel locomotives relegated to feral cat houses.

Lemon Drop Kid Loc: Greeley, CO

[quote=larryepage] Some use glossy paint which photographs OK after it gets "weathered in" a bit. But others (Like the Union Pacific on their 844 and 3985 locomotives) use a paint that is so flat that it seems to suck absolutely all the light out of the air.

I have taken pics of UP844 and 3985 and got good results by using the "lighten shadows" tool.

jackm1943 Loc: Omaha, Nebraska

[quote=Lemon Drop Kid]

This is one I took of 844 a few years ago. Single shot from DSLR. https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-532649-1.html My avatar is from the 3985 but that was with 4x5 film.

2666loco

Trains are my hobby and I take photos of real and model trains.
Obviously if the sun is behind you, no problem. I take photos for detailing models and I know I will get a blown out sky. For backlit scenes, turn to contrast to the lowest possible. You may still get a blown out sky. If it is a cloudy day, that helps your contrast problems a lot. You can crop the photo. You can select the sky and color it blue, use a gradient, use a layer with a sky from another photo (I haven't done this much but know it could be done). I am talking mainly about black steam locomotives. A great place for trains is St Louis National Museum of Transport in west St Louis. My main interest in photography long ago was to take pictures of trains. Trains today are decorated quite colorful. Steam locomotives are nearly always black. Most a are flat black which helps you. For a shiny black steam loco, it is VERY difficult.
In the attached, it was a cloudy day which was my friend for this photo. One reader mentioned HDR, which should work but requires a tripod which is tedious.

(Download)