Railroad tracks on the Westside of Atlanta

Atlanta Trains

There are some great places around Atlanta if you like trains. 

There are the regular train tracks and also the MARTA trains, and now that Pullman Yard is active and somewhat open, maybe you can even get some photos there, though I doubt you can wander around freely.

You can also get some fun photos of the streetcar downtown. 

This was a quick little trip out on Sunday night over toward the Westside of Atlanta. The sky came out pretty nice and orange in this photo but overall, it wasn't much of a sunset, so I didn't get a lot of photos. 

I've been having fun playing with one of my old SLR Pentax lenses. I got an adapter for it so I can use it on my LUMIX mirrorless camera. 

My first SLR 35-mm film camera was a Pentax and I still have it. Being able to use the old lens is great! 

The camera doesn't "recognize" the lens when I put it on, so it's like the old days when I used the Pentax. There's no autofocus, though I can use the dancing-red-ant feature to show me when parts of the photo are in focus, which is helpful.

My old Pentax had a circle in the middle of the frame and the two halves of the circle lined up when the shot was in focus. It was a little finicky and not that easy to learn, but once I got it, I got it. 

Even with autofocus, perfect focus isn't always a given. You have to work with your aperture and understand depth of field to really get your photos in focus. I still have photos all the time that aren't tack-sharp because I wasn't paying enough attention to all the moving parts. 

The smaller the number (1.2, 1.8, 2.8 etc), the shallower the depth of field, and fewer areas in the photos are in focus. If you have trouble focusing, try using a 5.6 to 8 aperture, though it also depends on what type of lens you're using. 

There's a lot to remember all the time when you're out shooting. That's one of the things I love about photography. It's challenging all the time!

I don't think I'll put any of Sunday's shots on my website, but I haven't had a chance to go through all of them yet. 

Have a great Wednesday, and see you between the raindrops!

xoxo,
Susan 

You can find some train shots in the Atlanta gallery on my website.