All posts by brian solomon

Author of more than 50 books on railways, photography, and Ireland. Brian divides his time between the United States and Ireland, and frequently travels across Europe and North America.
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Viennese Night Photos-Revisited

I was searching through my hard drives for some photos when I came across a large batch of unidentified images from a trip to Austria in October 2016.

This was a very productive adventure, but I never properly sorted my photos.

I made these on a rainy night using my Fuji X-T1 with 28mm pancake lens with the camera set to 1600 ISO—which was just about as fast as I’d push the camera.

I imported the original RAF Raw file into PureRaw to denoise the photo and correct for lens imperfections. I was extremely impressed with the results, which are so much better than I could have anticipated at the time I exposed the photos. For presentation here, I made a variety of color and contrast corrections to the final image using Adobe Lightroom.

For me these images nicely translate the nocturnal urban environment of the cosmopolitan Austrian capital.

Tracking the Light explores the night!

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Phase VII at Gap

A few years ago, Amtrak introduced its ‘Phase VII’ paint scheme that features two-tone blue/navy body with a bold red, white and navy nose section. As applied to the common P42 Genesis diesels this represents a pleasant and colorful contrast to the old ‘Phase V’ scheme that had predominated for the last two-decades.

In recent months, several of these repainted locomotives have made an appearance on Amtrak’s Pennsylvanian (New York-Pittsburgh) which have made for photographic opportunity.

Toward the end of October, I caught Train 42 (eastward Pennsylvania) winding through the curves at Gap, Pa., with engine 112 in the lead.

I find it fascinating to see these relatively old locomotives dressed in a modern scheme. It is approaching 33 years since the Genesis body style came on the scene with the 800-call P40, and many of the P42s are now approaching 30 years years of service.

Nikon Z7-II with 70-200mm lens set at 200mm.
Nikon Z7-II with 70-200mm lens set at 200mm.

Tracking the Light explores railroad photography

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Seamus visits New Freedom

We paused at New Freedom, Pa., to inspect the historic railroad equipment and take Seamus for a walk.

I used this opportunity to make some photos my NikonZ cameras.

During our brief visit, the Northern Central Railway was boarding its midday Santa Express for its run up the valley of Codurus Creek toward Railroad, Pa.

What better place to explore railroad heritage than in this historic area?

Tracking the Light explores railroad photography.

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Northern Central at Railroad Park—December 2025

The former Pennsylvania Railroad Northern Central route passes Railroad Park in the appropriately named borough of Railroad, Pa.

Kris, Seamus-the-Dog & I, revisited this iconic location last weekend to withness the passing of Northern Central Railway’s Santa Express holiday train.

This was powered by a former Pennsylvania Railroad GP9, one of only a few to survive into the modern era.

Tracking the Light Post explores the peculiarities of railroad photography!

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SD40-2 and Flare

Keeping the sun’s rays from hitting the front element of the lens is a key to making successful back-lit digital photos.

For this pair of images, I was working with my Nikon Z7-II at Port Clinton, Pa. I liked the SD40-2 ‘snoot’ (with the extended nose section built for 1970s-era solid-state radio control equipment—nearly 3 feet longer than the nose on a conventional SD40-2).

Below are two versions. The top shows sun flare. For the bottom photo, I manually shaded the front element to minimize flare. One of the advantages of digital photography is being able to immediately examine the results for imperfections and compositional snags.

Reading & Northern SD40-2 3058 is former Union Pacific 3246. I wonder if I’ve crossed paths with this machine in my travels across the West?
Controling flare and adjusting contrast and level made for a superior image of Reading & Northern 3058. Exposed in late autumn sunshine using a Nikon Z7-II.

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Glenside—11 Years Ago

On this day, 11 December 2014, I was experimenting with a FujiFilm X-E2 with 18-55mm f2.8-4 Fujinon lens that fellow photographer Pat Yough had lent me.

At the time, I was intrigued with the FujiFilm X-series digital cameras for their exceptional sharpness, excellent color rendition, and overall ease of use.

In the evening we visited SEPTA’s Glenside Station on the former Reading Company, where I made this series of photos during a snow squall.

Later in the season, Pat loaned me a FujiFilm X-T1. I preferred this Fuji over the X-E2, and bought one about a month later. I’ve been using FujiFilm X-series cameras ever since, and still make occasional used of my X-T1s (I acquired a second body in 2019).

I processed this FujiFilm RAF RAW files using Adobe Lightroom and manually adjusted color temperature to minimize the effects of sodium-vapor lamps.

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Classic Chrome-SD45 on the Mococo Line

On April 21, 1991, I followed a set of Southern Pacific light engines on the Mococo Line to Tracy, California.

At the time, the Mococo Line was very lightly traveled, and simply catching a daylight move on the line was in itself a prize. Better yet, these engines were on their way to collect a loaded sugarbeet train.

I made this image on Kodachrome 25 using my Nikon F3T fitted with a Nikkor 35mm perspective control lens. (Which I adjusted to keep the signals parallel to the film plane).

For more than 30 years this slide, along with a bunch of other ‘out-takes,’ sat in the dark inside the box that Kodak that returned the slides to me in back in 1991. Finally, I scanned it last month.

A sun-lit SD45 passing searchlight signals (and no ditchlights)! This looks pretty neat now!

Today, Tracking the Light looks back!

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Night Before Christmas at Paradise Lane

Strasburg Rail Road’s Night Before Christmas excursion was working upgrade from the East Strasburg, Pa., station with engine 90 leading tender first.

This offered another great opportunity to test the limits of Nikon’s Z6-III with the ‘fast fifty’ (f1.4 50mm).

This sequence was exposed hand held, which allowed me to pan the train as it passed. I had the ISO set to 64000 and this enabled a shutter speed of 1/100th of second at f1.4.

Not bad for hand held at night! A nearly full moon augmented street lights and Christmas lighting near the tracks.

My next Railroad Photography 101 Class will be held on Saturday Dec 13, 2025 from 9 to 11am at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. The theme to this class will be working with holiday settings, including techniques on how to make better night train photographs.

See: https://www.eventbrite.com/…/railroad-photography-101…

Tracking the Light walks the night.

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Fast Fifty with Full Moon at Christiana

Working with little more than the light of full moon and street lights, I made these nocturnal late autumn images at Christiana, Pa.,

Years ago, I never could have imagine making action photos by moonlight! These images were test of the Nikon Z6-III with a ‘fast fifty’ (f1.4 50mm).

All were exposed with the camera on a 3Pod tripod.

In fact, the action photos could have been made without the aid of a tripod. I guess its just a habit to use a tripod after dark.

Below are several pairs of photos to compare before and after processing using DxO PureRaw to de-noise and correct for lens aberrations.

Nikon Z6-III with 50mm f1.4 set at f1.4 1/125th second at 64000 ISO; NEF RAW file.
Same file as above following PureRaw conversion to de-noise and correct lens aberrations; Nikon Z6-III with 50mm f1.4 set at f1.4 1/125th second at 64000 ISO.
Nikon Z6-III with 50mm f1.4 set at f1.4 1/125th second at 64000 ISO; NEF RAW file.
Same file as above following PureRaw conversion to de-noise and correct lens aberrations; Nikon Z6-III with 50mm f1.4 set at f1.4 1/125th second at 64000 ISO.
Nikon Z6-III with 50mm f1.4 set at f1.4 1/125th second at 64000 ISO; NEF RAW file.
Same file as above following PureRaw conversion to de-noise and correct lens aberrations; Nikon Z6-III with 50mm f1.4 set at f1.4 1/125th second at 64000 ISO.
Nikon Z6-III with 50mm f1.4 set at f1.4 1/125th second at 64000 ISO; NEF RAW file.
Same file as above following PureRaw conversion to de-noise and correct lens aberrations; Nikon Z6-III with 50mm f1.4 set at f1.4 1/125th second at 64000 ISO.

Tracking the Light explores the night!

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Nocturnal Passing at Bird-in-Hand

A few weeks back I tried to freeze Amtrak’s passing at Bird-in-Hand in the gloom of evening, only to be disappointed by my inability to use a fast enough shutter speed.

Fast forward to Thursday night: with a Nikon Z6-III firmly fixed to my 3Pod tripod, I was fiddling with the focus with a Nikkor f1.4 50mm when the rails lit up with an approaching train.

My first few frames were not sharp enough, but the last couple showing the trailing ACS-64 on a westward Amtrak Keystone met with my satisfaction.

A full moon lit up the sky and a street light cast enough light on the passing train; this, combined with a 64000 ISO sensitivity setting, enabled me to use 1/200th of a second shutter speed with the 50mm at its widest opening (f1.4).

I processed the NEF RAW file using DxO PureRaw to de-noise the effects of high-ISO and correct lens defects.

Tracking the Light examines rail photography!

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J-Tower at ISO 64000

Strasburg Rail Road’s preserved J-Tower made for an ideal static subject to test Nikon’s Z6-III image-making with f1.4 Nikkor lens at ISO 64000.

For point of comparison I made exposures at ISO 100 and ISO 64000.

I then converted the ISO 64000 image to a DNG format using DxO PureRaw which denoised the image while eliminating vignetting and other lens imperfections. I’ve enlarged the tower section of each image to make comparison easier.

My next Railroad Photography 101 Class at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania will be held on Saturday Dec 13, 2025 from 9 to 11am. The theme to this class will be working with holiday settings, including how to make better night train photographs.

See: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/railroad-photography-101-fall-session-three-tickets-1897166438889?aff=oddtdtcreator

Full frame image with Nikon Z6-III with f1.4 50mm at ISO 64000 and converted without changes to appearance from the original NEF RAW file.
Enlarged portion of the above image with Nikon Z6-III with f1.4 50mm at ISO 64000 converted NEF RAW file.
PureRaw-processed file. This was made from the same RAW NEF image as the above photos. It demonstrates the capabilities of the PureRaw software.
Enlarged portion of PureRaw-processed file. This was made from the same RAW image as the above photos.
Comparison image exposed at ISO 100. Note the lack of noise. This was not processed with Dxo PureRaw.
Enlarged portion of the IS0 100 image.

Tracking the Light examines night photography.

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Christmas Lights with f1.4 50mm

My next Railroad Photography 101 Class at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania will be held on Saturday Dec 13, 2025 from 9 to 11am. The theme to this class will be working with holiday settings, including how to make better night train photographs.

See: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/railroad-photography-101-fall-session-three-tickets-1897166438889?aff=oddtdtcreator

To prepare some material for the class, I went over to Strasburg the other night and made photos of Strasburg Rail Road’s holiday lights around the station using a Nikon Z6-III with f1.4 50mm Nikkor Z-series lens.

With the camera firmly mounted on a 3Pod tripod, I took a series of photos varying the lens aperture from f1.4 (widest setting to f8.0) as a test of the lens abilities. I allowed the camera to automatic adjust the exposure using a matrix metering setting. The white balance was set to A1 (‘auto’) and the color profile to SDR (standard).

The photos displayed here are converted and scaled directly from the Z6-III’s NEF Raw files without any post processing alterations to composition, color, contrast, exposure or any other visual elements of the photo.

This is a work in progress and in following posts, I will explore changes to holiday-night photo RAW files in post processing.

Nikon Z6-III with Nikkor f1.4 50mm lens set at f1.4; 1/13th of a second.
Nikon Z6-III with Nikkor f1.4 50mm lens set at f2.8; 2/5th of a second.
Nikon Z6-III with Nikkor f1.4 50mm lens set at f4; 4/5th of a second.
Nikon Z6-III with Nikkor f1.4 50mm lens set at f8; 2.5 seconds.

If you observe carefully, you may notice that the image exposed at f1.4 has a different color balance and is slightly darker that the others. This likely due to the shorter exposure time and the flickering effect of the LED holiday lights.

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Norfolk Southern on a Rainy Evening at Leola.

I like to keep a camera handy for those fortuitous moments when a train presents a photo opportunity.

One evening after work , Kris and I were driving toward Leola on a errand. I spied a headlight on Norfolk Southern’s New Holland Secondary as we crossed Horseshoe Road.

We continued to drive and when we approached the small yard near the old PRR station, Norfolk Southern’s local freight was just about ready to begin its westward run back to Lewis Yard in Lancaster, Pa.

“This will just take a minute,” I said as I pulled in the clear—off the road. I reached for my Nikon Z6 with 24-70mm lens, and exposed a series of photos as the local began to pull west.

The sky was leaden and the ground was wet; back in Kodachrome days this lighting situation might have been unworkable, but applying modern digital technology I was satisfied with my results. I converted the Nikon NEF files into DNG format using DxO PureRaw, then made changes to contrast and exposure in Lightroom.

Not bad for a freebie!

Tracking the Light explores railroad photography!

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Keystone Sunset at Shelley Drive

A textured autumnal sky made for a painted setting. Knowing the light could change in a heartbeat, I checked the progress of Amtrak train 656 (an eastward Keystone service).

It had departed Lancaster, Pa., and was heading my way. Would the color in the sky hold?

In a matter of moments the rails in the distance glistened from the blue-white LED headlights of an ACS-64.

And there it was!

Captured with my Nikon Z6; f4.0, 1/1250th second, ISO 1600.

Tracking the Light explores railroad photography!

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FL9-Compare and Contrast

Clear sky and bright sun at Hyannis, Massachusetts made for an opportunity to expose some comparative photos.

We had just arrived on Cape Cod Central’s midday excursion train, and I’d ambled to the headend to make photos (as you do).

Below are a couple of examples. The first photo is an Ektachrome E100 color slide; the bottom three are variations of a digital image.

There’s no right and wrong here, just some comparatively contrasty photos.

E100 Ektachrome slide exposed using a Nikon F3 with f2.0 35mm lens. Slide scanned using a Nikon Cool Scan LS-5000 slide scanner.
Exposed using a Nikon Z6 mirrorless digital camera with 24-70mm Nikkor Zoom. NEF RAW file without corrections.
Lightroom work window showing the same file as above before corrections.
Lightroom work window displaying a range of corrections to the NEF RAW file. Notice the positions of exposure and contrast sliders at the left of the work window panel.

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Caboose on Ektachrome

Autumn sunshine made for nice light on this Massachusetts Coastal wide-vision caboose in the former New Haven Railroad yard at Hyannis, Mass.

This was among the photos that I exposed earlier this season on E100 Ektachrome using a Nikon F3 with f2.0 35mm Nikkon lens.

The film was processed by AgX Imaging in Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan.

Sometimes the traditional approach yields lasting results.

Tracking the Light explores railroad photography from many angles.

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Kris’s Christmas Village

Kris has a long tradition of creating a table-top Christmas village for the holidays. This season we set up her annual village in our dining room.

I was in charge of locating the tracks for the HO-scale train and tree-placement among other things.

After it was all done, Kris asked me to take a few photos.

As with many of my projects, one thing led to another, and several hours later I’d produced an album of images.

All images were exposed on a solid tripod, with time exposures up to 30 seconds. In addition to lighting from the buildings, trees and other scale sources, I used a hand-held LED flashlight to provide supplemental lighting and contrast contol effects.

To enhance the magical effect of the season, I made some heavy handed post processing adjustments with some of the photos.

Tracking the Light explores railway image making.

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Acela and The Eagle

We traveled on the Orient Point—New London ferry. From the top deck, I watched the progress of Amtrak Acela Express 2166 enroute to Boston on my iPhone using the asm.transit.docs app. As well approached New London harbor, I said to Kris, “We ought to be seeing the Acela pass any minute now.”

The Coast Guard’s Eagle sailing ship was docked near the tracks, not far from the Shaws Cove draw bridge. It was dusk, with a rosy glow in the sky.

As we glided along the water, I framed up a view, anticipating the train, watching the scene evolve in my viewfinder.

“There!” Amtrak came into the frame, rolling silently along, and I exposed a series of photos.

The train is small in the scene and the file required a bit of post processing adjustment, but the overall image is satisfying. In more than 40 years of making photos around New London, this was the first time I’d ever viewed the city from this angle. I cropped the final image for presentation here.

I made two variations by altering contrast, exposure and color saturation.

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Quiet Night at Port Clinton

I made these night photos in the gloom of an autumn evening at Reading & Northern’s Port Clinton, Pa. yard.

The railroad’s fleet of vintage EMD diesels always make appealing subjects for me.

I’ve been mastering the art of existing light railroad night shots since the early 1980s. My early night photos were largely exposed with a Leica III loaded with Kodak Tri-X and mounted on my dad’s lightweight Linhof tripod. These days, I prefer my Nikon Zs, often mounted on a 3Pod tripod. In both instances, the tripod has been equipped with a ball head.

The digital Nikon’s allow for much greater shadow detail than I could have ever expected with Tri-X. Yet, in both instances the images require a degree of processing to obtain a satisfactory result.

Nikon Z6 with 24-70mm Nikkor Z-series zoom set to 70mm; f4.5, 3 seconds, ISO 100. NEF RAW file Processed using Adobe Lightroom.
Nikon Z6 with 24-70mm Nikkor zoom set to 70mm; f6.3, 2.5 seconds, ISO 100. NEF RAW file Processed using Adobe Lightroom.
Nikon Z6 with 24-70mm Nikkor zoom set to 24mm; f6.3, 15 seconds, ISO 100. NEF RAW file Processed using Adobe Lightroom.
Nikon Z6 with 24-70mm Nikkor zoom set to 34mm; f6.3, 8 seconds, ISO 100. NEF RAW file Processed using Adobe Lightroom.

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Alcos on Ektachrome

It seems appropriate to photograph vintage Alco diesels on Kodak Ektachrome.

Last summer on our visit to Scranton, Pa., we found a Delaware -Lackawanna local freight working the former DL&W yard adjacent to the Steamtown complex.

A former Lehigh Valley Alco C-420 and a former Delaware & Hudson RS-3 made for a photogenic pair.

My Nikon F3 was fitted with an f2.0 35mm lens and loaded with E100.

Interestingly, in the foreground of one of the photos is Maine Central 2-8-2 No. 519, the sister engine to 501, which is displayed at North Conway, N.H.

It was just about four months from the time of exposure until I received these slides back from the processing lab.

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Conestoga River Crossing; Amtrak 42 and 43

In between errands, I had a few minutes to spare. It was a little before two and Amtrak’s Pennsylvanians were due. So I repaid a visit to the Conestoga River bridge in Lancaster, Pa., and scored both east and westward trains just a few minutes apart.

I had just enough time to relocate between trains. The nice thing about the P42 hauled consists is the tell-tale chug of their GE FDL prime movers that gives a few seconds notice before the train rolls into view.

My intent was to make use of the reflection of the bridge and train in the river.

Both images were made using my Nikon Z6 with 24-70mm zoom.

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Ektachrome Save at Sandwich!

Using my Nikon Z6 with 70-200mm lens, my intention was to expose a trailing view of Cape Cod Central’s outbound midday passenger excursion as it passed the Sandwich, Mass., station.

As the train rolled by, I framed up my photograph, but unexpectedly, my Z6 locked onto an imaginary focus point. The image in my viewfinder was completely out of focus. My rapid repeated efforts to get the camera’s auto focus to work were unsuccessful. In a few instants I would be out of time . . .

So, I reached for my Nikon F3 loaded with Ektachrome E100 and exposed this color slide.

Saved by the slide! Although I was frustrated with the Z6, my stalwart Nikon F3 saved the day.

The film came back last week and I scanned the slide for presentation here.

Tracking the Light explores railroad photography!

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Evening Local at High Steel

If you travel from north to south on Greenfield Road in Lancaster, you cross three sets of tracks. The first is Norfolk Southern’s New Holland Secondary near the Greenfield Road exit for Highway 30. The second is a one-lane underpass beneath Amtrak’s electrified Harrisburg Line; the last is an industrial spur that serves High Steel Structures.

We saw a Norfolk Southern local freight with engines positioned on each end of the consist working this spur and paused on Greenfield Road so I could make a few high-ISO photographs with my Z7-II.

These were made using m f4.0 24-70mm zoom hand-held at 6400 ISO.Note the ‘FRED’ telemetry device with flashing red light in the top image.

The Nikon’s NEF RAW files were processed and converted using PureRaw to minimize pixelization and correct for lens defects.

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Ektachrome at Esbenshade Road

Last summer, Kris, Seamus-the-dog and I caught Strasburg Rail Road’s evening train returning from Leaman Place from a vantage point along Esbenshade Road.

I exposed this photograph on Kodak Ektachrome 100 color slide film using a Nikon F3 with f2.0 35mm lens. To make the most of the foreground crops, I made an off-center composition with engine 89 at the center left of the image.

Ektachrome allows for traditional color rendition and contrast that I find distinctive from modern digital images.

This film was processed by AgX Imaging of Sault Saint Marie, Michigan (https://www.agximaging.com) and returned to me last week. I scanned the original photograph using my Nikon LS-5000 slide scanner driven by VueScan 9.8.49 software.

Tracking the Light explores railroad photography!

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Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania—Focus on the Details

On Tuesday November 18th, I gave my fifth Railroad Photography 101 class of the 2025 season at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.

For the class-room portion, I focused my presentation on digital image processing using Adobe Lightroom. Specifically, I demonstrated using a series of steps how I prepare an image for print-presentation by adjusting highlight, mid-tone and shadow areas using Lightroom’s slider controls.

The second part of the class was an open photography session in the museum’s main hall. Museum Director Patrick Morrison opened some of the locomotives for students. During this part of the program, I answered questions and made detailed photos of the locomotives on display using my Nikon Z6 mirror-less camera.

My next class at the museum is scheduled for Saturday December 13, 2025. This will feature a holiday theme.

Tracking the Light explores railroad photography!

photography

Well Timed Visit to Columbia

The other evening we arrived near the old Pennsylvania Railroad station in Columbia, Pa., just as the signal displayed slow-clear for a westward movement at Cola from the Columbia Secondary onto the Port Road Branch.

Within a minute we could hear a train whistling for crossings up the line.

I set up my tripod and opted to experiment with my Nikon Z7-II fitted with my f2.8 70-200mm lens for action rail night photography. The last time I made photo here I’d worked with my 24-70mm and made a wide angle view with the full moon. This time I’d compose view tightly on the approaching train.

Just as I got the camera set up the level crossing signals started flashing, the gates came down, and the rail glinted from the lights of Norfolk Southern’s H19 local.

I adjusted the ISO on my camera to 25,600 and set the aperture to f2.8.

Once the autofocus had locked on to the lights of the lead engine, I switched the focus to ‘manual’ so the headlights wouldn’t confuse the focus setting; then I made this series of images.

The camera’s NEF RAW files were processed using DxO PureRaw to created DNG files, which I then imported into Lightroom for adjustment.

Tracking the Light seeks out the night!

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NEW BOOK! Amtrak’s History Through its Equipment

Last week, I received my author’s copies of my latest book “Amtrak’s History Through its Equipment,” published by Firecrown Media Inc.

In this illustrated history, I discuss the details of Amtrak’s locomotives and rolling stock. I leafed through my copy last night. It’s refreshing to hold a copy of this work in my hands!

See: https://lnkd.in/eJicb_65

Tracking the Light explores railroad image-making.

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Long Island Rail Road—Ronkonkoma

Crossing Long Island we paused for a few minutes at the station at Ronkonkoma, New York, where I made a few photos.

A Grand Central-bound train pulled into the platforms.

I rarely visit Long Island and so the LIRR is a novelty. What is a completely ordinary LIRR third-rail electric commuter train made an unusual subject for me.

Images exposed using my Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm Nikkor zoom.

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Sometimes a bit of Pretend Makes it Real

I like to write in layers.

The surface is but the top of that parfait.

When I need to find ground, it helps to pick up a camera.

When I’m lost, I need to travel back to a special place.

On this September Day, I needed to be back long ago.

My links to it were memories of a trip in August 1981; a black EMD end-cab diesel, and a old Brooklyn Eastern District sidetank steam switcher.

I was seeing each of these things for something other than what they are.

My reality wasn’t very good that day, but at least I made some photos.

Too often the differential between how we want things to be and how they really are, results in our disconnection with reality. Sometimes that disconnect leads to delusion; other times it is necessary to get through the day.

In the end, the old little blue engine is unlikely to ever work the Brooklyn dockside again.

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Corn Stubble at Esbenshade Road

The Sunday Strasburg excursion departed Strasburg, Pa., under sunny skies. I could see the rain coming. It wasn’t too far.

Kris and I were showing around our friend Matty B, who was visiting from Massachusetts.

The corn had been cut, and a few Amish girls were walking along the road. They didn’t seem at all phased by the approaching steam locomotive.

Working with my pair of Nikon Z mirrorless cameras, I made this selection of photos.

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Quiet Visit to Safe Harbor

Rain was predicted last Sunday.

I awoke early to find the sun shining.

So I drove the short distance to Safe Harbor with hopes of catching wheels turning on former PRR rails.

I hiked up to the large bridge on the old Low Grade. I walked the trail and inspected the views.

A bird spotter came along and told me stories about eagles and falcons.

I noted dark clouds rolling in from the West.

“Looks like rain.”

Before I reached the car drops were falling.

No trains passed during my visit. Not this time.

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Retro-Painted Genesis

Over the last month, Amtrak’s Pennsylvanian (New York-Philadelphia-Pittsburgh) has regularly sported a GE P42 diesel in heritage paint.

I’ve been fond of catching locomotive 130, which wears the so-deemed “Phase 2” scheme—reminiscent of Amtrak’s F40PH diesels and E60 electrics in the 1970s.

Using a Nikon Z mirror-less camera, I made these photos of Train 43 as it worked westbound along the former Pennsylvania Railroad near Lancaster, Pa..

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12-step Correction Sequence for my Class

My next Railroad Photo-101 Class at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania is scheduled for 9am Tuesday, November 18.

See: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/railroad-photography-101-fall-session-two-tickets-1897150832209?aff=oddtdtcreator

I’ve altered my syllabus for this session to include some guidance and philosophy on how to process digital RAW files.

For one of the lessons I’ve included the following 12-Step Correction Sequence using Adobe Lightroom to demonstrate how I interpret a difficult lighting situation and use the histogram to make corrections.

I realize that the Word Press file compression may make it difficult to delineate some of the more subtle changes, but I thought I’d present them here anyway. This sequence shows screen shots of the Lightroom work window including the relative position of the adjustment sliders. I’ve presented each of the steps in order, with only one change between each image. (Note the slider positions at the right of the image).

Watch how the changes alter the exposure histogram at top right. My goal is to make the most of the data caputured by the camera.

Unaltered Nikon NEF RAW image. (No adjustments)
Highlights adjustment.
Overall exposure increase following the highlight adjustment.
Overall contrast reduction.
First Shadow adjustement: Shadows lightened.
Black point adjustment.
Second overall exposure adjustment to place midtones at the center of the histogram (top right).
Clarity adjustment slider to alter contrast and broaden the exposure histogram. This change improved midtone contrast.
Selecting the sky.
Using the sky mask to locally adjust sky highlights.
Final sky adjustment.
Final adjustment; setting the white point by moving the white slider to the left.
Scaled version of the final photo.

Tracking the Light Examines Railroad Photography!

Announcements, photography, Rail transit marathon, Tips and Technique

Bredas on the Streets of San Francisco

More Fujichrome retrospective views of Breda-built streetcars in San Francisco.

San Francisco has been a colorful venue for photographing transit vehicles.

Looking back, I still think of these fading antiques as ‘the new cars’. Yet, what was once new is now historic!

Among the commonality of these images was my use of long telephoto lens; some Nikon, others Canon.

Tracking the Light examines railway photography!

Announcements, photography, Rail transit marathon, Tips and Technique

Rain at the Electric City Trolley Museum

As we entered Scranton on I-81 the rain started and Kris suggested we get off the road for a few minutes. So, we headed for the Steamtown complex on the westside of the city center.

I made this view of the Electric City Trolley Museum with glossy rails and an autumnal sky.

The old 1930s-era SEPTA Brill Bullet car has been posed out in front of the museum for years.

Back in the late 1970s/early 1980s, I recall seeing cars like this one in service on the Norristown High Speed Line, but I never traveled on one, which is among my lasting regrets from that era.

Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens set at 70mm.; f10 at 1/50th second, ISO 100.

Tracking the Light examines railroad photography.

Announcements, photography, Rail transit marathon, Tips and Technique

Modern Baggage Car and an Automobile

Sunday, I exposed a follow up photo to the Ford Model A image at Blackhorse Road that I posted last week.

In this view, I framed up a passing Amtrak Viewliner baggage car with our Honda CRV Hybrid in the foreground.

For point of comparison, I’ve included the photo of the Model A.

Tracking the Light Discusses Railroad Photography!