In the dark of a winter’s evening, I worked with my Nikon Z6-III fitted to a 3pod tripod to compose a scene near Amtrak’s Harrisburg Line—the former PRR electrified route connecting Philadelphia with the state capital.

Amtrak Keystone 645 had departed Parkesburg, Pa., and was only minutes away.

My challenge was trying to focus the camera in the inky blackness. I don’t trust the camera’s autofocus system in extremely low light, because I’ve found it has a tendency to ‘hunt’ if the the light changes suddenly, which can result in a photo that is completely out of focus.

Luckily, one of the features of the Nikon Z cameras is the ability to enlarge the scene in the view finder which makes it easier to focus manually.

By the time the headlights of the westward train began to illuminate the scene I was all set. As the train approach and passed me, I made this sequence of trailing images (the train was moving away from me) with the camera set to ISO 64000. I processed the NEF RAW files with DxO PureRaw to eliminate noise and correct for lens imperfections.

Tracking the Light explores railroad photography at night!