Composition -Photo Tips from the Shinkansen

Yuki’s mom at the Shinkansen, Tokyo Station


Mentioned previously here, the Shinkansen or bullet train is Japan’s high-speed rail system and was the first dedicated rail system for high speed travel. It came about because Japan is rather mountainous and the existing trains had very windy and indirect routes between destinations. To speed up travel, quite a few tunnels and elevated railways were constructed to be straighter and as dedicated lines so that the Shinkansen would not have to wait for slower traffic. Also, the wheels are driven electrically giving the train greater acceleration and deceleration traction so it doesn’t loose as much time stopping frequently.

The Shinkansen uses a wider gauge rail with expansion joints which gives it greater stability and to reduces vibrations. The smoothness of the ride was very noticeable from the slow acceleration and decelerations to the quietness of the ride. Japanese trains everywhere are smoother and more comfortable than in North America but the Shinkansen is where they truly shine.

We travelled high-speed on several occasions. The first was on arrival from Narita Airport to the city on the Skyliner, then on a day trip to Fukuchiyama and from Tokyo to Osaka where we took the fastest possible train of several speed classes.

The Excitement of the train! Wheeee!


Shooting photographs out the windows of the Shinkansen can be challenging. Firstly, the trains can go up to 300km/hr. This requires a fast shutter on the order of 1/500 of a second or more. If not, the pictures will turn out blurry. Sometimes that’s the intent to show movement but often looks off unless the subject is in focus. Getting the right amount of movement requires practice but generally still requires a relatively fast shutter.



On the train windows, there are smudges, reflections, and waterdrops (in rain) that add blurry spots to the image. In some instances, this can blur out areas of the picture to give focus to other parts but is generally avoided. This follows in my mantra for simplicity. Simple photos that aren’t cluttered with unnecessary lines, shapes, and colours that distract from the subject of the photo and the atmosphere of the photo.

Tokyo Street from the Skyline, Tokyo

Having said to avoid blurry images and a simple image, let’s look at the other side. This image uses the reflections from the window to add clutter to the top and right side of the image. While making the image busier, it already was and so helps the buildings frame a square around the street and make the eye look down towards the sidewalk where two people are standing. This image isn’t particularly successful in using blur to focus on the subject but does help move the eye around the image.
Beside the Shinkansen are power lines the entire way. They dip up and down as they run along side. For the casual observer, they are small black things and don’t disrupt the view very much. On the other hand, the camera taking a still image makes these the black strips look as if a sharpie was drawn across the photo. Power lines, light posts, and fences are best to be avoided unless they can be used to frame the image well. Sometimes bushes are in the way too and one strategy to avoid the cacophony is to pre-focus the camera on a subject at the distance of interest and wait until there’s a gap in the foreground to take the photo.



The photo below was taken in such a way. I wanted to show the rice fields of the homes that sit in organized roads in these flat valleys surrounded by nearby hills. I focused on the houses, as they were my subject, and waited as the power lines ran up and down. I looked out the window (not through the eye piece) to have more reaction time when the power lines went high enough to be out of the way of the houses. The shutter speed is fast enough to show the houses and fields in relative crispness while the nearby barb-wired fence is blurry. It and the power lines in the sky help frame and focus the eye into the centre of the image towards the line of houses.

Ricefields and houses — Shinkansen Tokyo to Osaka

The power line could have been removed with photoshop but I didn’t think it was true to the image. Plus, it was part of environment there and helps to ground the image back down to earth and to focus on the row of houses.
Remember that as the train moves along in a line, looking perpendicular to the direction of travel, objects that are closer will appear to pass by faster than objects that are far away. This means that the closer the object is the faster the shutter will need to be to stay in focus and something further away until infinity will appear motionless. This is evident in the barbwire compared to the mountains in the picture above.



I’ve also found that a lot of people like to look forward at what’s coming when taking photos and similarly take photos forwards. I’ve found that there’s less relative movement, and thus less blurriness, if facing backwards at what just passed. Generally, I find that the countryside doesn’t change fast enough that I can’t face backwards without having a general idea of what’s coming ahead. I peak ahead every so often, but I take what I see to predict what will come next and take the photo facing backwards.



Finally, I find that the doorways at the end of the carriages provide better locations to set up than in the cabins where all the seats are. Here I’m not confined to the chair and are able to change elevation and angle looking out the window to avoid smudges and face forwards or backwards at my own content. All it requires is to brace myself with my legs against a wall so that I don’t get thrown off balance by the movement of the train.



Here’s my photo tips for composition on trains:

• Keep a fast shutter speed to eliminate motion blur
• If there is blur, ensure that the subject of the photograph is still in focus
• Avoid letting smudges and raindrops on the windows get into the photograph
• Looking backwards out the window, the landscape appears to move slower and,
• Stand at the doorways to the carriages for the best vantage