Announcements, photography, Rail transit marathon, Tips and Technique

Pennsylvanian on Ektachrome at Mexico

At 3:43pm on April 13, 2025, I exposed this single Ektachrome 100 color slide of Amtrak’s westward Pennsylvanian passing Underpass Lane in Mexico, Pa.

The camera was fitted with a Nikkor f2.0 35mm lens, which has long been one of my favorite lenses. I don’t use it often, but it rarely lets me down.

I scanned the slide using an LS-5000 Nikon slide scanner powered by VueScan software. Below are two versions of the same scan. The top is the scaled, but un-modified version, the second is following post processing adjustments improve appearance.

One of the challenges with the Word Press platform that presents Tracking the Light is that the photo files get compressed. This tends to minimize the subtle changes I make to files during processing. Unfortunately, I don’t have any control over this effect on the Word Press presentation.

Scan prior to post processing adjustments.
Adjusted image improved using Adobe Lightroom to alter shadows, highlights, contrast, saturation and sharpness.

Tracking the Light Posts Daily!