Project Polaroid - 2nd Test: The Train

This was the 2nd test shot.

Following on from my photograph of a branch in freezing fog I had proven that the camera worked. But that was pretty much all that I had been able to confirm.

I wasn't sure if I was getting much colour from the expired film I was using and I also didn't know what sort of shutter speeds were being achieved.

I spent the afternoon at a workshop about living with diabetes, but before going out I had seen the weather forecast was for a bright sunny day so I slipped the Polaroid Spectra camera into my bag.

The venue for the workshop is close to the airport and I did think I may catch a good shot of an airplane coming in to land. However after the workshop I needed to catch a train into Manchester. So I decided I would take a test shot of a train arriving into the station to see how quickly after pressing the shutter the picture was taken and if it froze the action or if there was any motion blur.

 

What did I learn from this test?

It was a bright sunny day and the shutter speed was fast enough to freeze the motion of the train. I pressed the trigger when I thought the front of the train was in the centre of the frame, and the response was immediate. I've noticed with some cheap digital compact cameras and camera phones that there is such a lag after the trigger has been pushed that you completely miss the shot.

Exposure is very centre weighted. The sun was quite bright, as can be seen in the top right of the photograph. Where I'm standing has quite a lot of shade as I am under the station awning. The front of the train is the centre of the shot and seems to have the best exposure balance.

I'm still not framing my shots correctly. With the branch, I lost the top into the white frame. With this shot I wanted the face of the train to be a square in the centre of the frame. As you can see, I've managed to get this correct in the distance from the right and left edges but (once again) I'm too close to the top of the frame.

Finally, I now know that I can get colour out of this old exposed film!