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InterstateFan621's Random Road Sign Gallery

Started by InterstateFan621, January 29, 2022, 12:44:53 PM

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InterstateFan621

Hello everyone! Welcome to my random road sign gallery! You are welcome to give comments or suggestions on what should I do next!   :sombrero:

- Anyway, to start this off, I am gonna link my best road sign picture here. This is a picture of a Interstate 75 road sign I like to share.
https://flic.kr/p/2mZP5BX
Life is a highway, I wanna ride it all night long.
(From the song "Life is a Highway" by Tom Cochrane)
Get your kicks on Route 66!

My Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/194860463@N06/albums/


InterstateFan621

Here is another one!
- This is a collection of highway signs near an intersection near Macon GA.
https://flic.kr/p/2mZP5E7
Life is a highway, I wanna ride it all night long.
(From the song "Life is a Highway" by Tom Cochrane)
Get your kicks on Route 66!

My Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/194860463@N06/albums/

InterstateFan621

- This is one that I took on I-475 yesterday (Georgia)
Exit 5 - Macon Thomaston
https://flic.kr/p/2n1nnP1
Life is a highway, I wanna ride it all night long.
(From the song "Life is a Highway" by Tom Cochrane)
Get your kicks on Route 66!

My Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/194860463@N06/albums/

paulthemapguy

Just wanted to stop by and smash that follow button on your Flickr page!

I've been snapping photos of route markers since I was 14 and decided to collect every state highway marker in my home state by photographing it.  Now I'm trying to get all the Interstates and US routes nationwide.  ANYWAY, I love that you're getting started with this thing a lot of roadgeeks do: photographing route signage.  We don't really have a unified name for it yet--I've started to call it "routesnapping".  It seems like a lot of different people started doing this independently of each other, but there isn't a central website for collecting route marker photos, like there is for route clinching and county clinching.

I like a lot of your first photos! I learned a lot from looking at this thread of tips on taking nice-looking road sign photos, especially user @formulanone's advice.  I recommend this to anyone trying to get a better handle on making the sign photos look nice: https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=29483.msg2624177#msg2624177
Avatar is the last interesting highway I clinched.
My website! http://www.paulacrossamerica.com Now featuring all of Ohio!
My USA Shield Gallery https://flic.kr/s/aHsmHwJRZk
TM Clinches https://bit.ly/2UwRs4O

National collection status: 361/425. Only 64 route markers remain

InterstateFan621

#4
Quote from: paulthemapguy on February 01, 2022, 09:17:42 AM
Just wanted to stop by and smash that follow button on your Flickr page!

I've been snapping photos of route markers since I was 14 and decided to collect every state highway marker in my home state by photographing it.  Now I'm trying to get all the Interstates and US routes nationwide.  ANYWAY, I love that you're getting started with this thing a lot of roadgeeks do: photographing route signage.  We don't really have a unified name for it yet--I've started to call it "routesnapping".  It seems like a lot of different people started doing this independently of each other, but there isn't a central website for collecting route marker photos, like there is for route clinching and county clinching.

I like a lot of your first photos! I learned a lot from looking at this thread of tips on taking nice-looking road sign photos, especially user @formulanone's advice.  I recommend this to anyone trying to get a better handle on making the sign photos look nice: https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=29483.msg2624177#msg2624177


Thank you so much for the support and the follow! I have been looking at the Formulanone's road sign advice, and I saw "Please of out your car carefully and make sure you are not blocking traffic." I was kind of stumped, because I do not go out of my car and take these pictures. I have a good friend who drives me around different sorts of Interstates and highways, and we love going on trips together. I am usually on the front seat taking pictures.

I kinda wanna show you how I do this, but I think some people on the forum use the same strategy.
First off, I get on either of my local Interstates, I-475 and I-75, hold out my phone and hold it very carefully. Then, I get to snapping. All kinds of exit signs. Every single one I can find. I love doing it. However, due to the shutter speed of my Pixel 3, some pictures end up blurry, and the windshield of the car is dirty  and my phone keeps on focusing on the crud on there. Gross. Some pictures end up good, and then I add filters on there to make it look pretty.

Anyway, thank you so much for following again and the suggestions and have a good day.
Life is a highway, I wanna ride it all night long.
(From the song "Life is a Highway" by Tom Cochrane)
Get your kicks on Route 66!

My Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/194860463@N06/albums/

InterstateFan621

Life is a highway, I wanna ride it all night long.
(From the song "Life is a Highway" by Tom Cochrane)
Get your kicks on Route 66!

My Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/194860463@N06/albums/

jlam

I have my Flickr in my signature, but I have yet to post anything. With a DC trip next week, photos will be coming soon.

InterstateFan621

- This is a picture of Exit 9 Zebulon Road on Interstate 475. I hope you like it!
https://flic.kr/p/2n1FLJd
Life is a highway, I wanna ride it all night long.
(From the song "Life is a Highway" by Tom Cochrane)
Get your kicks on Route 66!

My Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/194860463@N06/albums/

paulthemapguy

When it comes to freeways, tollways, or Interstates, I don't get out of the car to take any photos.  Any Interstate shields I've photographed have been markers posted along surface roads.  All of the signs posted along the expressways and Interstates themselves are photographed through the windshield for safety reasons.
Avatar is the last interesting highway I clinched.
My website! http://www.paulacrossamerica.com Now featuring all of Ohio!
My USA Shield Gallery https://flic.kr/s/aHsmHwJRZk
TM Clinches https://bit.ly/2UwRs4O

National collection status: 361/425. Only 64 route markers remain

formulanone

#9
Well, I appreciate that my advice is helping!

Quote from: InterstateFan621 on February 01, 2022, 11:49:33 AM
Thank you so much for the support and the follow! I have been looking at the Formulanone's road sign advice, and I saw "Please of out your car carefully and make sure you are not blocking traffic." I was kind of stumped, because I do not go out of my car and take these pictures. I have a good friend who drives me around different sorts of Interstates and highways, and we love going on trips together. I am usually on the front seat taking pictures.

I wrote that advice based on the driver; though it's kind of a given for any sort of photography. If you can do so in a safe way, that's always better for you and for the hobby!

Photographers both professional and personal can occasionally suffer from an unusual miasma; where one can lose sight of the danger in surroundings and yet be painfully aware of those same situations while taking those photos. I can only attribute it to a sort of a fixation on the subject, when hearing and reading stories of professional photographers in dangerous situations.

SkyPesos

Quote from: paulthemapguy on February 03, 2022, 10:14:07 AM
When it comes to freeways, tollways, or Interstates, I don't get out of the car to take any photos.  Any Interstate shields I've photographed have been markers posted along surface roads.  All of the signs posted along the expressways and Interstates themselves are photographed through the windshield for safety reasons.
I have never taken a picture on the road with myself driving. All of my road pics either are taken while I'm in the passenger seat, or I crop it from dashcam footage. Would like to learn how to take photos while driving, but unlike most people here, I've only been driving for 2 years, so don't really want to risk anything yet.

InterstateFan621

I would like to say this. When there are a lot of reflections everywhere on the windshield or even crud all over the it, it just makes me mad because of all my photos come out with reflections or dead bugs on it. That's why I do not want to share my old road sign pictures from Kentucky and other states because they either A: REFLECTIONS! B: Blurry!!! or C: Crud on the windshield. I could share them, but it might not look good because of those 3 things.
Life is a highway, I wanna ride it all night long.
(From the song "Life is a Highway" by Tom Cochrane)
Get your kicks on Route 66!

My Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/194860463@N06/albums/

paulthemapguy

You sure do need a clean windshield! When photographing signs, I try to pick signs that face into the sun.  On north-south routes, I aim for signage that points south to northbound traffic.  A lot of my trailblazer photos are "North [route]" for that reason.  In the morning, a lot of my photos are of signs for westbound traffic, and in the afternoon, a lot of my photos are of signs for eastbound traffic.  Pointing your aperture into the sun causes so many problems with photo quality--the stuff on the sign becomes hard to read, and the crud on your windshield becomes more easily visible.
Avatar is the last interesting highway I clinched.
My website! http://www.paulacrossamerica.com Now featuring all of Ohio!
My USA Shield Gallery https://flic.kr/s/aHsmHwJRZk
TM Clinches https://bit.ly/2UwRs4O

National collection status: 361/425. Only 64 route markers remain

InterstateFan621

Yeah. You do need a clean windshield.
That's a very good idea on taking road sign pictures! I would use it in the future sometime. Thank you.

-Anyway, this is what I mean by "crud on the windshield.". This is a picture I took back in November coming back from DC. https://flic.kr/p/2n1HgLU
Life is a highway, I wanna ride it all night long.
(From the song "Life is a Highway" by Tom Cochrane)
Get your kicks on Route 66!

My Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/194860463@N06/albums/

formulanone

#14
I tend to go through a lot of washer fluid. I've used a bottle of drinking water just to keep an empty washer tank going (not recommended on very cold days). I also carry a small plastic-edged scraper, because if you're not careful with a razor blade, it can scratch the windshield. Even so, it rarely lasts...Two minutes later, we intrude on bugs' lives and we're back to square one.

Paul's advice is excellent; for the northern hemisphere, the sunlight usually defines a lot of the photograph's lighting. Glare is a though one; it's always the worst when facing the sun, or heading south (especially in winter months). It's best when facing north, or in the opposite direction of the sun, or in mid-day (~ noon) for sign photographs. If your camera can take a circular polarizer, those reduce glare and are a magic trick for eliminating almost all reflections.

Blurriness is a matter of shutter speed or the camera's focusing reaction times.

InterstateFan621

I took a few more pictures on my way somewhere in Southwest Georgia. I hope you like them
https://www.flickr.com/photos/194860463@N06/shares/E96in6
Life is a highway, I wanna ride it all night long.
(From the song "Life is a Highway" by Tom Cochrane)
Get your kicks on Route 66!

My Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/194860463@N06/albums/

InterstateFan621

Life is a highway, I wanna ride it all night long.
(From the song "Life is a Highway" by Tom Cochrane)
Get your kicks on Route 66!

My Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/194860463@N06/albums/

InterstateFan621

#17
Just wanted to share my best Interstate 85 sign photo on here. It might be included in the post above, but for some reason it does not work, so I am just gonna post one photo here, my picture from my trip to Atlanta.

- https://flic.kr/p/2n3CHg1
Life is a highway, I wanna ride it all night long.
(From the song "Life is a Highway" by Tom Cochrane)
Get your kicks on Route 66!

My Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/194860463@N06/albums/

InterstateFan621

I have taken some pictures in Atlanta and some parts of Macon that I wanna show you guys!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/194860463@N06/shares/9yDL3P
Life is a highway, I wanna ride it all night long.
(From the song "Life is a Highway" by Tom Cochrane)
Get your kicks on Route 66!

My Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/194860463@N06/albums/

InterstateFan621

It was very cloudy that day
I guess, rule number one, don't take road photos while it is raining or when it's cloudy, because it won't look good
https://www.flickr.com/photos/194860463@N06/shares/6Bc389
Life is a highway, I wanna ride it all night long.
(From the song "Life is a Highway" by Tom Cochrane)
Get your kicks on Route 66!

My Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/194860463@N06/albums/

InterstateFan621

Life is a highway, I wanna ride it all night long.
(From the song "Life is a Highway" by Tom Cochrane)
Get your kicks on Route 66!

My Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/194860463@N06/albums/

paulthemapguy

Quote from: InterstateFan621 on February 28, 2022, 09:59:47 PM
It was very cloudy that day
I guess, rule number one, don't take road photos while it is raining or when it's cloudy, because it won't look good
https://www.flickr.com/photos/194860463@N06/shares/6Bc389

These photos look okay actually, given it's cloudy! If it's cloudy, I'll switch to the "low light" setting on my digital camera.  It's a preset bundle of settings that my camera has. Also, the dim light from an overcast sky makes shots very blurry if you take them when you're in motion. At least these aren't really blurry!
Avatar is the last interesting highway I clinched.
My website! http://www.paulacrossamerica.com Now featuring all of Ohio!
My USA Shield Gallery https://flic.kr/s/aHsmHwJRZk
TM Clinches https://bit.ly/2UwRs4O

National collection status: 361/425. Only 64 route markers remain

ozarkman417

#22
Quote from: InterstateFan621 on February 03, 2022, 11:35:37 AM
I would like to say this. When there are a lot of reflections everywhere on the windshield or even crud all over the it, it just makes me mad because of all my photos come out with reflections or dead bugs on it. That's why I do not want to share my old road sign pictures from Kentucky and other states because they either A: REFLECTIONS! B: Blurry!!! or C: Crud on the windshield. I could share them, but it might not look good because of those 3 things.
I'll also add that using the zoom feature on your smartphone can diminish image quality. Take this absolute eyesore of a Road Sign UNO submission of mine from 2019, when I had just started taking road pictures (the dirty windshield is also worth mentioning). Unfortunately, I have to use it a ton when I'm attempting to take photos from the back seat of my car.


Edit: Just gave that follow button of yours a smash.

InterstateFan621

#23
Quote from: ozarkman417 on March 12, 2022, 12:58:41 AM
Quote from: InterstateFan621 on February 03, 2022, 11:35:37 AM
I would like to say this. When there are a lot of reflections everywhere on the windshield or even crud all over the it, it just makes me mad because of all my photos come out with reflections or dead bugs on it. That's why I do not want to share my old road sign pictures from Kentucky and other states because they either A: REFLECTIONS! B: Blurry!!! or C: Crud on the windshield. I could share them, but it might not look good because of those 3 things.
I'll also add that using the zoom feature on your smartphone can diminish image quality. Take this absolute eyesore of a Road Sign UNO submission of mine from 2019, when I had just started taking road pictures (the dirty windshield is also worth mentioning). Unfortunately, I have to use it a ton when I'm attempting to take photos from the back seat of my car.


Edit: Just gave that follow button of yours a smash.

Oh! Yes, another thing. I used to take pictures of road signs by zooming in. Absolutely horrible and blurry pictures came out of it and I wanted to do something else. I hated not seeing the "interstate" on those interstate highway shields and BGS's.

• Here is one example of one eyesore I made back in September of last year: the blurriness and that crop too!!
That was when I first started taking pics of road signs.
https://flic.kr/p/2n8tWQy

Ps. Thanks for the follow!

Life is a highway, I wanna ride it all night long.
(From the song "Life is a Highway" by Tom Cochrane)
Get your kicks on Route 66!

My Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/194860463@N06/albums/

InterstateFan621

Life is a highway, I wanna ride it all night long.
(From the song "Life is a Highway" by Tom Cochrane)
Get your kicks on Route 66!

My Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/194860463@N06/albums/



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