Trains & Modern Photography: Stitching and Panoramas

June 19, 2015 Emily Moser 1 Comment

If you’re a frequent viewer of this site, then the subject of today’s Trains & Modern Photography post is something you’re probably familiar with – panoramas. The most generic definition of a panorama is an wide view of an area, in which you can see in all directions. For my Metro-North Panorama Project, I used the definition loosely, featuring at least one photo per station that used the technique of stitching, thus giving the viewer a photo that provided a far wider view than one could capture in a single photo’s frame. Using modern technology like Photoshop, one can take multiple photos around a central axis point – either on a tripod, or by standing in the same spot and rotating your body, while holding the camera at the same angle for each shot – and combine them. This technique is called stitching, and is one of the most common methods of getting high quality and high resolution panoramas.

If this is a technique you’ve always been interested in trying out, or you’re just curious to see how exactly one makes a panorama (especially one featuring a train) – from camera to computer – read on.
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A Wedding in Grand Central

February 24, 2015 Emily Moser 39 Comments

Over the one-hundred-plus years Grand Central has stood on this Earth, it has played host and been a witness to so many important things. Whether it be a an introduction to the space age, the place from where men march off to war, the place where thousands of eyes watch history unfold, or the spot where we protest injustice, Grand Central has stood at the center of Manhattan in importance and influence. And while the event that took place here last month isn’t much in terms of history, it was most important to me. Grand Central, the venerable cathedral to transportation, was a cathedral of another sort on January 9th, as it hosted my wedding.

Although it could be argued that this site is just as much about me as it is about trains, I do try and avoid discussing too much about my personal life. And rightly so, lest you try to show up to my house unannounced (yep, it happened), or try and convince me that despite you being double my age we should totally be together because you have a big you-know-what (yeah, that happened too. This may also be why the demographic of female railfans is so tiny). Nonetheless, it was too difficult to not share some of the wonderful photos from a wedding in the Terminal. Grand Central is gorgeous, and certainly one hell of a great place to get married. Brilliant photo ops are everywhere, and I finally got to get the shot I had planned for years of someone looking out from the hidden window in the Tiffany glass clock (though I happened to be on the opposite side of the camera lens).

To view the entire gallery, click “read more” below. All of the photos were taken by Johnathon Henninger, with the exception of the final two by Carey Wagner, who was looking up at the clock tower from Park Avenue.

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2014 in Photos – Your favorites from last year

January 8, 2015 Emily Moser Leave a comment

As is customary around this time of year, it is always fun to look back on the previous year and what was popular. For the past few years I’ve counted down your favorite articles and social media posts, and today I bring you 2014 in Instagram. Instagram has quickly become the most popular social network that this site is on. While I’m often out photographing, the good majority of the photos I take never make it onto this site. The good ones, however, show up on Instagram. Here’s the top 10 favorites from 2014:

Two Metro-North diesels meet near the Pleasant Ridge Road crossing in Wingdale, New York.

Left: An Alaska Railroad train bound for Fairbanks rounds the bend north of Nenana at sunset. Right: A Genesis pushes southbound on the Danbury Branch, kicking up leaves after departing Cannondale.