Who knew train pictures could be so complicated

I've been trying to take photos of trains with a 50mm prime lens lately. The results haven't been very pleasing to me. It's something about the angle and composition that I somehow just can't seem to grasp. The lack of access to a car, also puts quite a significant limit on where I can try to take photos from (S-Bahn Stations, streets/structures not too far away from public transit, etc.), so I can't really go to nice fields, or glamorous hills, or anything of that sort, all that often.

Straight out-of-camera JPEG here. It could probably use a bit of straightening and cropping, but I'm not sure if this is the most flattering angle for this little Br 422. I like the looks captured by telephoto lenses, but I sure don't like to travel with them a lot.

Got caught a bit off guard by what looks like a ballast train, so left the camera in ISO 200 and aperture priority mode (if I remember correctly). The shutter speed suffered a little as a result, but I don't know, the blur doesn't look too bad to me.

I have this app on my iPhone that acts like a reflectance light meter, although I'm sure people would argue its actual worth. After playing with it for a while, I've noticed that it's not bad indoors. The settings usually agree with what the in-camera spot meter comes up with, but whenever I'm pointing it at some tracks waiting for a train to come around, the meter app is completely hopeless. I don't know what gives, but maybe I'll just rely on the in-camera meter from now on. The results don't look bad to my eyes at all, however untrained they are.

I'm barely touching the surface, and the technicalities are merely small fish in the big world of photography. It sure is a long road ahead, but fun regardless.

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