It was a dull June evening at Jefferson Drive in Greenfield, Lancaster, Pa., where I’ve made countless photographs over the last three years.
On this occasion, I planned to pan the approaching westward Amtrak Keystone.
Leading the train was one of the freshly painted former Metroliner cab control cars, while Amtrak ACS-64 No. 642, wearing its Veterans paint scheme, brought up the rear.
Rather than use an extremely slow shutter speed, I opted for a comparatively short exposure that still allowed for a pleasing degree of motion blur.
Exposed using a Nikon Z6 with 24-70mm zoom set to 60mm; 400 ISO, f4.0, 1/640th of a second. NEF RAW file converted to DNG format using DxO PureRaw with Prime3 to minimize the effects of lens defects. Cosmetic adjustments using Lightroom.Exposed using a Nikon Z6 with 24-70mm zoom set to 60mm; 400 ISO, f4.0, 1/320th of a second. NEF RAW file converted to DNG format using DxO PureRaw with Prime3 to minimize the effects of lens defects. Cosmetic adjustments using Lightroom.
Tracking the Light explores railroad photographic technique.
It was a beautiful clear evening at Gap, Pa. I’d timed my arrival at Hoover Road to coincide with the passage of westward Amtrak Keystone 651. This operated with ACS-64 663 at the back of the consist.
Working with my Nikon Z7-II plus 70-200mm zoom, I aimed include the horse at the right of the scene.
Exposed at 82mm, f5.0 1/3200th sec, ISO 200. Scaled as JPG from an NEF RAW file using Adobe Lightroom.
The glint of the setting sun caught Amtrak’s Keystone racing east of Lancaster. When the engineer greeted me with an enthusiastic rendition of “Shave and a Haircut—Two Bits!” punctuated by an extra-sharp final blast, I focused on the head end.
There it was: Amtrak ACS-64 No. 657, adorned with Amtrak’s Freedom 250th banner!
I panned the patriotic locomotive as it zipped by at speed.
In March, Kris and I had scoped out Old Goose Creek Road. Last week we returned in time to catch Amtrak’s westward Cardinal and then wait for Virginia Scenic Railway’s afternoon Summer of Steam Excursion.
While it had been windy and raining on our first visit here, this trip found clear blue skies.
I made these photos of Amtrak using my Z6-III with 24-70mm Nikkor Z-series zoom. Only a few minutes elapsed between trains, but in the Spirit of anticipation, I’ll post the views of the Summer of Steam led by Norfolk & Western 611 in my next post!
Amtrak train 51, the westward Cardinal rolls along Old Goose Creek Road in Fisherville, Virginia.Amtrak P42 No22 leads train 51, the westward Cardinal rolls along Old Goose Creek Road in Fisherville, Virginia.
Tracking the Light Explores the processes of making railroad photographs!
As previously presented on Tracking the Light, Amtrak ACS-64 No. 642 is dressed in a special paint livery honoring American veterans.
Amtrak Keystone 658 was due.
I didn’t realize that No. 642 was leading the train until it came into view.
After exposing my planned long-telephoto image to make the most of the evening glint, I quickly adjusted the lens from 200mm to 70mm and panned with the locomotive to take advantage of the distinctive paint scheme. As the train passed, I received a salute from the head end.
The former Pennsylvania Railroad station and adjacent underpass at Christiana, Pa., have been a recurring theme on Tracking the Light. Recently, I posted a sequence from this location, noting that I wasn’t entirely satisfied with the results. On Tuesday evening, I set up at a different angle on this familiar scene, this time photographing from street level as Amtrak Keystone 656 raced by.
This image was exposed using a Nikon Z6 mirrorless digital camera fitted with a 24–70mm Nikkor Z-series zoom lens.
I wondered what the photograph might look like with different historical film profiles applied, so I imported the RAW file into DxO FilmPack 7 and experimented with several presets. Each profile is identified in the caption below its respective image.
Adjust Nikon NEF RAW file with slight changes to color and contrast.NEF RAW file converted with DxO Film Pack 7 using the Kodak Tri-X film profile. (This is intended to make the image appear as if it were exposed on Tri-X film.NEF RAW file converted with DxO Film Pack 7 using the Ilford HP5 film profile.NEF RAW file converted with DxO Film Pack 7 using the Kodak Elite 200 (Ektachrome) film profile.
The grime of mud season has been washed away and the crisp Spring evening sun makes for some nice light.
I arrived at Jefferson Drive about five minutes before Amtrak Keystone 658 was due to pass. (It takes about three minutes to reach this location after departing the Amtrak station in Lancaster, Pa.)
A month ago, I was framing up photos to make the most of evening glint. This time of year, by the time 658 passes the sun is still high in the western sky.
Rather than make a hard glint photo, I opted for a broadside view to make the most of the bright specular light. I set my Nikon Z6-III with a comparatively slow shutter speed (1/250th) in order to make a panned photo making use of speed blur to help separate the Amtrak electric locomotive from the foreground and background.
Here are three photos exposed in rapid succession as the train raced east.
Expose using a Nikon Z6-III with 24-70mm Nikkor zoom set to 70mm, f4.5 1/250th of a second, ISO 100.
A few nights ago, Kris and I were driving down Greenfield Road in Lancaster and a westward Keystone zipped by overhead with Amtrak ACS-64 642 working at the back of the consist. This is wears the stylish Veterans paint livery. Neat!
Yesterday afternoon it was clear and bright, so I went over to Christiana to catch Keystone trains on the move.
I didn’t wait long, when the rails started singing the approach of train 656 from Harrisburg.
This was led by the cherry red front unique to ACS-64 642.
Lucky break!
I exposed this burst of images using my Nikon mirrorless Z6-III with 24-70mm lens.
In the heat of the day, I took a walk at Amos Herr Park in Landisville, Pa., aiming to catch Amtrak Keystone 652 on its eastward journey over the former Pennsylvania Railroad.
I exposed this pair of images as the headend zipped by.
The second one is a hair to close by my normal standard. The front of the engine is visually intersecting a tree in the park. Is this a problem? Will the image age well?
I was hoping to again catch Amtrak trains passing at Christiana.
Instead, I caught trains 651 and 656 passing the old Pennsylvania Railroad station at Christiana a few minutes apart.
When I see these aged trains, I recall the old Metroliner, which I experienced in its early days as America’s super fast New York to Washington service.
In an era when American railroading seemed to be on the verge of extinction, the Metroliner offered another vision—one of speed and hope.
Soon these former Metroliner cab cars will join the old Metroliner as memories of another era.
I was working with two cameras; a Nikon Z6 mirrorless digital body with 24-70mm Nikkor Z-series zoom, and my father’s old Leica M4 with f1.4 35mm Summilux prime wide-angle loaded with Kodak Ektachrome 100.
Below are a pair of successive images; the first is a digital image exposed as an NEF RAW image using the Nikon, the second was on Ektachrome with the Leica. The slide was processed at AgX Imaging and scanned using a Nikon LS-5000 scanner. Both received very nominal post-processing in Lightroom to adjust contrast/gamma, and color bias to make the most of the data captured.
I like both images for different reasons.
Occasionally I’m asked why I continue to work with traditional color slides. That’s a long story. The simplest answers are: aesthetics, continuity and longevity. The latter seems to upset some photographers, so I’ll leave that for a later discussion.
Nikon Z6 with 24-70mm set at 70mm.Ektachrome with the Leica.
We arrived at Gap, Pa., just a few minutes before Amtrak’s Keystone 649 was due to pass westbound.
I’ve been aiming to make dramatic photos showing Amtrak trains ‘topped and tailed’ with ACS-64s on both ends. Although, I’ve achieved nominal success, as evident by the photos in several recent posts, to make the most of this style of operation, it helps to know when to expect engines at both ends.
My anticipation of ‘topped and tailed’ Keystone consists has largely been been ‘luck of the draw.’
At Gap, I drew the long straw.
In these views, I was working with my Nikon Z7-II with f2.8 70-200mm zoom set to its maximum focal length.
Tracking the Light Examines Railroad Photography Daily!
I love crisp clear evenings, with bright sun, low humidity and a deep blue sky.
On a whim, I drove to Amos Herr Park in Landisville, Pa., where a trail offers clean views of Amtrak’s electrified Harrisburg Line.
When I arrived, I notice that a Norfolk Southern local freight with engines at both ends, was in the clear of the mainline on an industrial park lead.
Amtrak’s westward Keystone 649 was due, so I set up a view featuring the NS frieght in the distance.
When Amtrak came into view, I made a series of photographs. This set featured ACS-64 electrics at both ends, which has become increasingly common on the Keystone service lately, likely to overcome technical problems with the aged Metroliner Cab Control cars.
This set me thinking pondering other locations to best catch such moves . . . while also wondering if the NS local might pull out on to the main line.
In the early evening, Amtrak Keystone trains 651 and 656 are scheduled to stop at Parkesburg just a few minutes apart.
I’ve been aiming to catch a meet between these trains for more than two years. Often, however, one train runs a little behind schedule, and they pass at different times.
The other evening, the stars aligned. Both trains were delayed. I was in position at Christiana, Pa., and they passed right in front of me.
I made this rapid-fire image sequence using my Nikon Z7 II with a 70–200mm lens.
Catching both trains in the sunlight required strategic use of the camera’s ‘motor drive’.
Standing essentially in the same spot, working with the same camera (Nikon Z7 II with a 70–200mm lens), I photographed Amtrak Keystone 658 catching the evening glint at Jefferson Drive in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
In the first photo, I set the zoom lens to 140mm to include the electrical pylon and overhead high-voltage wires.
In the second photo, taken 24 hours and three minutes later, I photographed the same scheduled train. This time, former Metroliner cab control car 9646 was leading, a pickup truck was driving east on Jefferson Drive, I had the lens racked out to 200mm (cropping the pylon and wires), while an extra layer (or two) of air pollution tinted the sunlight more toward the red end of the spectrum.
For a few fleeting days in early April decorative trees blossom along Lancaster’s Jefferson Drive.
It is the third change of seasons that I’ve aimed to capture Amtrak passing the lush Spring trees.
This year, one of Amtrak’sold Metroliner cab cars in the new Phase 7 livery leading a Harrisburg-bound Keystone made for a constrast to earlier views.
Years ago, I studied a beautifully printed Japanese railfan’s magazine that presented compelling compositions of electric trains passing flowering trees.
Photos exposed using my Nikon Z6-III with 24-70mm lens.
I’ve often found that a place appears very different lineside compared to the view from the train.
On a rainy evening, we photographed Amtrak No. 50, the eastward Cardinal, plying the old Chesapeake & Ohio along Old Goose Creek Road between Staunton and Waynesboro, Virginia.
A couple of evenings later we rolled through in the same direction aboard the dome on Virginia Scenic Railway’s Blue Ridge Flyer and I had a complete different impression of this location.
All photos exposed digitally using a Nikon Z6-III with 24-70mm Nikkor Z-series zoom.
Tracking the Light Explores Railroad Photography Daily!
The GP38 was introduced the same year as me, which gives me a certain fondness for this EMD classic diesel. Amtrak’s GP38-3s represent an upgrading of old GP38/GP38-2 models to more modern standards.
In March, I was visiting with my friend Doug Scott on the station platform at Newark, Delaware. We heard a distant whistle and after a while and unscheduled train approached Davis interlocking (east of the station) on a secondary track. This was an Amtrak maintenance-of-way move carrying a Loram ballast cleaning train and some freshly shopped Amfleet cars.
The train entered the mainline, pulled up to the station and stopped in front of us to change directions. This was a nice surprise. Leading was Amtrak GP38-3 744 wearing fresh Phase 7 paint. It was the first of this class of locomotives that I’de seen wearing Amtrak’s latest interpretation of its classic livery.
The locomotive, now 54 years old was built new for Penn Central as its 8032 in 1972. Gosh, it is an antique!
In addition to this selection of digital photos, I also exposed a few slides, and in fact finished off the roll of Ektachrome the I’d loaded into my dad’s old Leica M4.
A lot of Amtrak color in this photo; GP38-3 744 holds on the mainline as an eastward (northward) Regional train zips by with ACS-64 642 at the back. This was painted to support America’s Veterans.
Tracking the Light Explores Photography Each and Every Day!
Amtrak’s Cardinal (New York City–Chicago) is one of the most unusual trains on the network.
It is among the few trains that operate with a non-standard consist, typically including the relatively rare Viewliner dorm/baggage cars. Its route is also one of the few that operates over a shortline carrier, and it is one of only a handful of long-distance trains that runs just three days a week.
A few days ago, Kris and I timed a visit to Staunton, Virginia, to coincide with the arrival of Amtrak No. 51, the westbound Cardinal, at the former Chesapeake & Ohio station.
This historic station is situated on a narrow alignment along a sharp curve near the base of a steep grade, making it an especially unusual location to photograph a modern intercity passenger train. The line is operated and maintained by the Virginia based Buckingham Branch and hosts trains of several carriers including Amtrak.
Rain was cascading when the train approached the station. I thought the sleek, streamlined contours of the state-of-the-art Siemens Charger diesel made for a delightful contrast with the historic setting of the old C&O station.
Photos exposed using my Nikon Z6-III with 24-70mm lens.
Back in the day, railroads used white flags to indicate an “extra.”
Today, even the term “extra” probably eludes many observers.
Under the old system of rules, an “extra” was a means of operating a train that wasn’t part of the schedule. In some cases, this was an extra section of a regular schedule, denoted by green flags. I never saw a proper second section.
A pure extra often represented something unusual.
I didn’t know what “887” signified, but it wasn’t part of the regular program.
A local enthusiast tipped me off that this was a test train with HHP-C cab cars.
I recall the old HHP-8 ‘Hippos’ from their days as high-horsepower passenger electrics. They were always a bit elusive, especially east of New York City. Some of the old HHP8 units have been transformed and are being trialed as replacements for the old Metroliner cab cars. (note the lack of pantographs).
When the headlight of 887 appeared on the horizon north of Newark, Delaware, I set my Nikon Z to capture the train as it passed the old PRR station.
An HHP-C cab car wearing the new “Phase VII” paint was at each end, with an Amfleet car on either side of the ACS-64 electric powering the short test train.
Last Friday, I finally captured my first action photos of Amtrak’s NextGen Acela on the move.
I wanted to photograph this high-speed train at full speed as it passed a landmark structure, so I set up an elevated vantage point across from the old Pennsylvania Railroad station in Newark, Delaware.
When the blue-white headlights of Acela service 2108 came into view, I was ready with my Z6. I set the motor drive to “H*” for a rapid sequence of images and dialed the shutter speed to 1/4000 of a second to freeze the action.
I fired off a burst as the sleek new high-speed train blitzed past.
I’m still pushing the limits of my night action photography.
Working with existing artificial light—in other words, streetlights, locomotive headlights, and the ambient glow from surrounding buildings and signs—I set up near Leaman Place in Paradise to make images of Amtrak Keystone 655.
I set my Nikon Z6 III (fitted with an f/1.4 Nikkor 50mm) to ISO 40,000 and placed it on my 3Pod tripod.
A light fog prevailed, making focusing a challenge. The camera’s autofocus system had difficulty locking onto my chosen focus point, so I had to scroll through the menu options to select manual focus mode. I then enlarged the image in the viewfinder to help set focus on the railhead.
When the train came into view, I made a series of exposures.
For post-processing, I first converted the Nikon NEF RAW file to a DNG file using PureRAW 5 (corrects for lens imperfections and minimized pixelization stemming from the high ISO setting). This gave me the option to import the corrected file directly into DxO PhotoLab 9, a program similar to Adobe Lightroom for making cosmetic corrections.
The results of my post-processing are shown below.
In future posts, I will examine DxO PhotoLab 9 in greater detail.
DxO is offering a discount to Tracking the Light readers. If you are interested in buying DxO PureRaw, PhotoLab9 or other DxO programs, the discount code “TRACKINGTHELIGHT” will work for 15% off for any new customer at shop.dxo.com.
Tracking the Light Explores Photography Daily (or Nightly, If You Will)!
Years ago, my late friend and fellow photographer Brian Jennison described this effect as ‘around the corner light’.
I stood in the shadows under a tree at Gap, Pennsylvania looking west. The sun was setting in the tangent between Gap’s two restrictive curves. I centered Amtrak Keystone 656, led by ACS-64 no. 600 David L. Gunn, as it leaned into the near curve.
He doesn’t know what it’s all about, but Seamus-the-Dog was sitting the back seat of the car to watch the train roll by.
Exposed using a Nikon Z7-II with 70-200mm Z-series Nikkor zoom lens.Greatly enlarged portion of the lower image.
Tracking the Light Examines Railroad Photography Daily!
Last summer, I made a series a variations on a back-lit photograph that I’d exposed looking west at Shelley Drive near Bird-in-Hand, Pennsylvania.
The other evening, Kris, Seamus-the-Dog and I returned to this location to catch a pair of AmtrakKeystone trains. In post processing. I repeated the exercise with one of Nikon files of the second train (Amtrak 656).
For me this has special significance: One of the last serious conversations I had with my father on photography was regarding last summer’s sequence. He had preferred the hard, unprocessed silhouette compared with my more interpretive digital interpretations.
Since that time, I’ve found some his black & white negatives exposed in the same vicinity more than sixty year earlier. I’m sorry that I cannot share any these photos with him.
Below are five variations of my image, plus a surprise . . .
Amtrak Keystone 656 at Shelley Drive; constrast, color temperature, exposure and highlights/shadows altered for cosmetic interpretation.Amtrak Keystone 656 at Shelley Drive; heavy constrast, color temperature, exposure and highlights/shadows altered, plus a mask applied to the sky for heavy adjustment to alter appearance. Amtrak Keystone 656 at Shelley Drive, NEF file converted to DNG file with lens correction and nominal contrast adjustment, but without heavy cosmetic adjustment or interpretation. Scaled from the Nikon NEF file.Amtrak Keystone 656 at Shelley Drive, NEF file converted to DNG file with lens correction and nominal contrast adjustment, followed by additional cosmetic alterations to contrast, exposure, color temperature and shadow/highlight changes.Did you spot the bird? [Upper left to the left of the catenary poles]. Initially, I thought this might be an errant bit of dust on my Nikon’s sensor. Only after extreme enlargement did I notice that this was in fact a bird in flight. Not a bird in hand, but one in the sky. Sometimes details matter.
Soft sunday-afternoon over-the-shoulder sun; classic railroad station and trackside village; plus gently sweeping curve; and a locomotive-hauled train of vintage Amfleet cars. Am I mistaken, but aren’t these the elements for a perfect railroad photo?
Pity the engine wasn’t clean. Unfortunately, the conditions of late winter lead to a thin film of grime and mud gently coating just about everything on the railroad that moves.
Exposed at Christiana, Pa., using a Nikon Z6 with 24-70mm lens.
It was a rainy evening at Bird-in-Hand. Amtrak Keystone 649 was approaching on the former Pennsyvlania Railroad and I made a series of digital photographs with my Nikon Z6-III.
I kept my f-stop at the widest opening, which allowed me a 1/500 shutter speed at ISO 16000. The streetlight behind the building at right supplied necessary light to better illuminate the front of the cab car.
In post processing, I used DxO PureRaw8 to transform my Nikon NEF RAW file into DNG format. This minimized noise from the high ISO setting and eliminated lens defects.
Then, I made some very nominal adjustments to the DNG file in Adobe Lightroom and imported the DNG file into DxO Filmpack 7 and converted the digital color photo to black and white images using the Fuji Neopan 400, Ilford FP-4 Plus and HP-5 Plus profiles for comparison.
For the fun of it, I’ve included an actual Kodak Plus X black & white image exposed at dusk on December 23, 1988, and scanned digitally using an Epson V600 flatbed scanner. This photo was part of a sequence that I made at Newark Penn Station in Newark, NJ. The lighting conditions were similar to those at Bird-in-Hand, but in the 1980s with I had been limited by the film’s 125 ISO.
I’m in the process of upgrading to DxO Filmpack 8, and recently upgraded from DxO PureRaw4 to PureRaw5. The DxO and Adobe software have proved very useful tools for processing my digital images.
DxO is offering a discount to Tracking the Light readers. If you are interested in buying DxO PureRaw, Film Pack 7 or other DxO programs, the discount code “TRACKINGTHELIGHT” will work for 15% off for any new customer at shop.dxo.com.
A Jpg scaled in Lightroom from an DNG file converted by PureRaw8. This was exposed at dusk using a daylight white balance.Lightroom work window displaying camera settings.Same DNG file but converted using DxO Filmpack7 profile to resemble Fuji Neopan 400.Same DNG file but converted using DxO Filmpack7 profile to resemble Ilford HP-5 Plus black & white film.Same DNG file but converted using DxO Filmpack7 to resemble Ilford FP-4 Plus black & white film.Kodak Plus X black & white exposed at dusk using a Leica M2 with 50mm Sumicron on December 23, 1988 at Newark (N.J.) Penn Station. Although exposed decades earlier, the angle, subject and lighting conditions are similar which makes for a neat comparison.
In the summer of 1980, my brother and I were traveling by train from Rye, New York to Hartford, Connecticut.
We were riding behind E60 957 in a Budd-built Amtrak Amfleet-1.
I made this view with my Leica 3A on Kodak Plus-X, as we came into the restrictive curve on approach to the station at Bridgeport.
The E60s are long gone, as is Kodak Plus-X. But, I have the old Leica on my shelf as a display-piece, and the Amfleet-1 cars are still rolling—yet replacements are on the way.
On the morning of July 30, 1987, I awoke to the sounds of 20-cylinder 645-diesels roaring up the grade toward Gallitzin, Pa. at the back of Conrail freights.
The day dawned clear and bright. Amtrak train No. 40 (Chicago-New York Broadway Limited) was running a few hours behind the advertised. I set up looking upgrade toward Allegheny Summit.
Working with my father’s Rolleiflex Model T set up with a 645-sized ‘Super Slide’ rectangular insert and loaded with Kodak 120 TMY (T-Max 400), I made this image of the Broadway descending the grade at Bennington Curve (several miles from its more famous cousin).
I felt that Kodak TMY was a difficult film. This used a fine T-grain structure but was very challenging to process. I only worked with this emulsion for about two years, because I found the photos were difficult to print.
By contrast, TMY seems to scan well. I scanned the 39-year old negative using an Epson V600 scanner and then imported the TIF scan into Lightroom for nominal adjustment digitally. I wish it had been this easy back in 1987!
120 size negative on TMY film. This was processed in D76 1:1. The scan is without cosmetic processing. Compare with the adjusted file below.Same scan as above, but following nominal changes in Adobe Lightroom aimed primarily at improving contrast and exposure. If you look carefully, you will see my shadow on the right
Summer of 1983: I made this trailing view of Amtrak’s westward Lake Shore Limited on the old Boston & Albany at West Warren, Mass.
I had an eye, but hadn’t yet refined technical skills to make my vision work.
My exposure was off; I failed to control flare from the evening sun; and my film processing was imperfect, which resulted in comparatively dense, yet oddly flat negatives that were difficult to print.
For 43 years this photo languished in darkness. The other day I found it in an envelope and scanned it. Working with Lightroom, I was finally able to present digitally what I was incapable of doing with traditional chemical materials. Below are both the straight (unmodified) scan and my digitally processed interpretation of the same.
The end result places me in a dream trackside again, when Amtrak ran with a lone F40PH and classic Budd-built streamlined cars, and I wasn’t yet 17. I can hear the clack of steel wheels on jointed rail and fading roar of the locomotive as the train raced down the Quaboag Valley toward Palmer and beyond.
I had a few minutes on Tuesday night. Amtrak Keystone 649 was running behind the advertised, while eastward Keystone 656 was less that 20 minutes away.
Icy snow covered the ground, limiting where I could safely park, so I pulled into Bird-in-Hand, Pa. Here, I set up my 3Pod Tripod with Nikon Z6-III, and thenas the two trains passed just a couple of minutes apart, I exposed this series of high ISO photos.
These photos made for an ideal addition to my class on Railroad Night Photography, held last night at the Railroad Museum of PA.
In addition to my short slide show, the museum was open to students who were free to wander the exhibits and make images in comparative darkness.
Tracking the Light Explores Nocturnal Rail Photography!
Urban artificial light offers endless opportunities for railroad night photos, but working successfully with man-made light sources comes with challenges.
I admit, I’m drawn to artificial light like a wayward moth.
I see the ghastly glow of street lights as a way to make interesting rail-images.
Digital photography makes working with artificial light much easier than it was with slide film. Automatic white balance settings enable accurate color control without requiring a color temperature meter and filter packs. In-camera exposure histograms and instantaneous results allows us to set and check exposures on-site. Digital processing allow for noise reduction, contrast control, and the ability to adjust highlights and shadows to maximize detail and manipulate ‘mood’.
In January 2014, I made this photograph looking down on Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station locomotive storage tracks. To keep my Lumix LX3 steady, I positioned the camera on small pocket tripod that I carried in my camera bag just for such occasions. I used the camera’s self-timer to minimize vibration.
The other day, I located the original RW2 RAW file on a backup hard drive and converted the image to an DNG file using PureRaw, a program that I’ve been using to improve my night photos. The details of this improved interpretation are subtle, some of which is lost in presentation here owing to image compression imposed by the Word Press hosting site.
In addition to PureRaw contrast improvement and lens defect reduction, I made a some changes to contrast, exposure, and level using Adobe Lightroom.
Scaled file directly from the unprocessed RW-2 RAW file. This is without correction or cosmetic change. Exposed at f2.5 1/3 second, auto white balance at ISO 80 using a Lumix LX3.JPG scaled from converted DNG file without cosmetic conversions. Exposed at f2.5 1/3 second, auto white balance at ISO 80 using a Lumix LX3.This is the same PureRaw processed DNG file following adjustments to contrast, highlights and shadow areas plus level corrections using Adobe Lightroom. Note the improved level of detail in the shadows.
It was frosty and cold at Christiana, Pa. when I set up my 3Pod tripod and composed this image. Amtrak Keystone 656 was just a couple of minutes away.
I had the Z6-III with the ‘Fast Fifty’ set at f1.4, which offers shallow depth of field. I focused on the ‘Christiana’ sign, which put the foreground in perfect focus and set off the background. The lead locomotive blurred a little as it entered my frame.
The resulting effect looks like a model railroad diorama.
I wonder if I’d exposed the photo just a little later if that might have improved the composition, or blocked the background buildings in such a way as to spoil the model railroad appearance.
Tracking the Light explores railroad compositions with an open eye!
I wanted to feature three subjects: the old Pennsylvania Railroad station structure, the passing Keystone with Metroliner cab car leading), and the shiny new Subaru.
I faced some difficulties. There was a narrow shaft of light illuminating an area immediately beyond the station that was needed to light up the cab car. I was positioned on a old sidewalk which offered some elevation, but I’d reached its end, and so I couldn’t effectively back up any further without losing the elevation necessary to make the photo work.
Also, I only had my ‘Fast Fifty’ (50mm) lens, which restricted my ability to adjust the field of view, and I hoped to feature both the station and the automobile in their entirety, which limited space to the left of the building.
While I managed to capture all the essential focus points all in one image, my compostion is unbalanced and the front of the train is very close to the left side of the frame. Further complicating matters, the brighter illumination on the right-hand side of the station has the effect of drawing the eye to the right, away from the other central elements of the image.
Surprise! Gliding toward Harrisburg in the morning light west of the curves at Gap, Pa., was this unusual Amtrak extra.
To the untrained eye, this might seem like little more than a short keystone consist.
In fact, it was ACS-64 633 leading the track and catenary geometry test train. A special treat was Amfleet car 85999, dressed in the as-built 1970s-era paint. This curiosity of a half century ago was the former exhibit train cafe car. In the middle is a former Metroliner car 10005, followed by the Corridor Clipper car 10002 at the back.
Years ago, Conrail routinely assigned B23-7 1933 to its track geometry train. I wonder if Amtrak’s assignment of its 633 is a tribute to Conrail’s train, or if that was just a raw coincidence.
Conrail will celebrate it’s 50th anniversary in just a few more months.
As Amtrak Keystone 667 glided through Gap, I made a series of night photos aiming to stop the action and capture the pouring rain.
To do this, I used my Nikon Z6-III with ‘Fast Fifty’ and the ISO sensitivity racked up to 64,000. This resulted in a very noisy NEF RAW file. I imported the NEF file into PureRaw and processed the image to reduce noise and correct for other lens defects before converting the image into DNG file for final cosmetic adjustment using Lightroom.
The sequence below shows the series of changes during this transformation, including the final processed image.
This is scaled image was made directly from the original NEF RAW file without noise reduction or cosmetic processing. Computer screen shot of the PureRaw review window; the original NEF RAW image is at the left, the PureRaw conversion is at the right.Full frame image following PureRaw corrections and noise reduction before cosmetic adjustments.Lightroom work window showing correction sliders affecting contrast and exposure.Final scaled image following PureRaw and Lightroom adjustments. Notice that the noise in the sky has been minimized while retaining the effect of the falling raindrops.
Tracking the Light Shares Night Photography Technique!
