Tag Archives: #night photo technique

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Amtrak Locomotives by Artificial Light

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.

My next class at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania covers night photography techniques. This will be held at the museum in Strasburg, Pa., on Wednesday, Feb 4 from 5 pm to 7 pm EST. See: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/night-photography-at-the-museum-with-brian-solomon-tickets-1980583252825?aff=erelexpmlt

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I’m Uncertain about this One . . .

Here’s a nocturnal view from January 12, 2007, that I exposed in Rattenberg, Austria on Fujichrome slide film .

At the time, I was aiming to portray the ÖBB local passenger train in its environment and made several very similar color slides.

My feeling today is that I included too much ‘environment,’ and that the train is too small in the frame.

While I won’t throw this slide in the bin, the composition vexes me.

Sometimes the best lesson is a careful impartial examination of an imperfect photograph.

My next class at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania covers night photography techniques. This will be held at the museum in Strasburg, Pa., on Wednesday, Feb 4 from 5 pm to 7 pm EST. See: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/night-photography-at-the-museum-with-brian-solomon-tickets-1980583252825?aff=erelexpmlt

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PRR Station at Christiana: Santa & Mrs Claus viewed with a 135mm lens.

Christmas decor at the preserved former Pennsylvania Railroad station in Christiana offered a suitable seasonal opportunity to test out an unusual nocturnal camera lens combination.

My 1990s-vintage Nikkor f2.0 135mm ‘defocus’ lens is a heavy piece of glass. I’ve used this occasionally with my Z6 mirrorless camera to make digital images, and this lens offers a distinctive quality that allows for classic railroad telephoto views.

Coupling the traditional lens to the Z-body requires a Nikon FTZ adaptor.

I’ve been waiting to try the fast 135mm lens with the new Z6-III to see how it works with the more advanced sensor and see if it is sufficiently sharp.

I set up the Z6-III on my 3Pod tripod and exposed several images. This one was made at f2.0 (wide open) at 1/13th second at ISO 400. Upon inspection, I found the photo is sharp. More to the point, if I were to set the ISO to 6400, I could use a 1/250th of second shutter speed, which is fast enough to stop a moving train . Focusing will be a challenge.

That will be a test for another night! Stay tuned . . .

NEF RAW file scaled to JPG for internet presentation without cosmetic alteration. (No adjustments for exposure, contrast, color balance or color temperature).
Greatly Enlarged portion of the above image.

Tracking the Light explores the night!

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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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Cola with Stars

Saturday night, Kris again suggested we head out to find a freight train on the move.

Since we scored a loaded coal train on Norfolk Southern’s Port Road Branch at Washington Boro, Pa. last week, I thought that would be a good place to start. As we arrived at the intersection of Rt999 and Water Street, I heard a whistle. We could see a distant headlight.

“Westbound!” Now that was good timing.

We drove west on Water Street toward Columbia, staying a good distance ahead of the train.

We pulled up near old Cola tower, where I had enought time to set the Nikon Z7-II to ‘M’ (manual), attach it to the tripod, level out the camera and frame up the scene, while setting the sensitivity to ISO4000 and adjusting the shutter speed.

Then the headlight came into view. It was a Norfolk Southern tank train, possibly an empty ethanol move? Kris counted 93 cars.

I made a sequence of images with the camera set at f4.5.

This selection was processed using DxO PureRaw to eliminate the effects of lens vignetting and reduce pixelization from the high ISO setting.

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Mine locomotive in the Mine.

During our coal mine tour a few weeks ago, I exposed this image of a coal mine locomotive on display deep below the surface.

It was pretty dark inside the Lackawanna Coal Mine, so I set my Z7-II for ISO 8000 in order to record this photo handheld.

Afterwards, I made four versions of the same image. The first is a NEF RAW straight out of the camera. The second has been processed using Lightroom. The third is the NEF RAW after conversion to DNG format using PureRaw; the last is the Lightroom adjusted PureRaw DNG formatted file. Each is captioned appropriately.

All have been scaled for internet presentation.

Image 1: NEF RAW file straight out of the camera.
Image 2; NEF RAW that was processed using Lightroom.
NEF RAW after conversion to DNG format and without adjustment or post processing adjustment.
NEF RAW after conversion to DNG format following post-processing adjustments to color, contrast and exposure.

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In the Ink of Night Something Blue Blurs By

Kris wanted to go for an evening drive.

Amtrak Keystone 653 from Philadelphia was running behind the advertised. I figured we could drive against it and catch it passing Gap, Pa.

We arrived with a few minutes to spare. I had time to set up my 3Pod Tripod and framed up a scene with a tree by the former PRR Main Line.

I exposed a couple of test photos to check exposure and focus.

Before long, I heard the squeel of steel wheels on steel rails. I made this series of time exposures. To my surprise, Amtrak ACS-64 621 wearing the Crayola-blue advertising livery was working the back of the consist.

Wow! That was neat! Trailing, eh? Hmmmm.

It did little for the photos, except add an ever so slightly blue tint to the second image in the sequence. But, I knew what I’d be after the following morning! Stay tuned . . .

When we spied the blue ACS-64, Kris smiled and said to me, ‘You’re welcome!”
Wow that really was cool, even if didn’t mean much in the photo, just a fleeting hint of blue.

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New England Central’s Veterans & Service Members Locomotive by Night

On that hazy evening in Palmer, Mass., last week, I made several classic nocturnal locomotive portraits of New England Central GP40-2L 3015 that has been painted to honor America’s veterans and service members.

During the course of switching, this sharp looking locomotive paused for a few minutes. Thick haze contributed to the laser-like beams of the locomotive headlights.

I made these images with my Nikon Z7-II firmly mounted on a 3Pod tripod.

Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens set to 40mm, ISO 80, f4 at 10 seconds. File converted to DNG using DxO Pure Raw, then edited in Lightroom.
Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens set to 31mm, ISO 80, f4 at 8 seconds. File converted to DNG using DxO Pure Raw, then edited in Lightroom.

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Golden Moon Rising

I have a long history of making night photos of trains in Palmer, Massachusetts.

The names have changed since my first attempts at exposing Tri-X in the early 1980s, but Palmer remains an interesting place to practice night rail-photo techniques.

The other night a full moon was rising through an ash-tinted sky, (presumably as the result of Canadian wildfires). Kris said, ‘Never mind the train! Look at the moon!!” It was a grand golden globe.

New England Central’s 608 was switching the former Central Vermont yard. So, I made several images attempts to make compositions with the train and the moon. The steam locomotive on display is a stock-industrial 0-6-0 built by Porter in the early 20th century.

Making the most of the moon proved challenging and I’m not completely pleased with this selection.

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Moon, the Stars & Mars . . .

And an SW8.

Working with my Fuji XT1, I made a series of 1/2 to 3 second exposures of Strasburg Rail Road SW8 8618 by the light of the full moon.

While, I had the benefit of a 3Pod Tripod, I didn’t have the use of the specially made clip that holds the camera to the ball head. Unfortunately, that was attached to my Nikon Z7-II, which I’d left at home.

I made due by firmly holding the camera to the tripod during exposure.

After importing the RAF Raw files, I converted these to PNG format using DxO Pure Raw software, and then imported the converted file into Adobe Lightroom for adjustment.

Exposed in RAF RAW using a Fuji XT-1 with 16-55mm Fujinon Lens.

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Shadow and Lights

I’ve been making shadowy photos of trains at Palmer, Massachusetts in the gloom of night since the early 1980s. In my early days, I made black & white night photos of Central Vermont RS-11s and GP9s at Palmer. Back then, I often augmented existing light with a hand held Metz electronic strobe.

On our most recent trip, I made a long exposures of New England Central GP38-2 2168 working purely with existing light.

For this exercise, I braved 10F degrees in a light coat with my Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens mounted firmly on a 3Pod Everest tripod. I made a series of 15 second exposures using the Nikon NEF RAW format and then adjusted the files in Adobe Lightroom.

The NEF format offers exceptional dynamic range which allowed me to significanly lighten the shadow areas to reveal impressive amounts of detail.

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Orion in the evening sky.

The other night, I used my Nikon Z7-II to capture the constellation Orion in the evening sky.

Although an amazing camera, when fitted with the Z-series 24-70mm lens, this picture making combination suffers from vignetting when used at the widest aperture.

I needed an 4.0 aperture to picture the starry sky while keeping my total exposure time to just 30 seconds, when set at ISO 200.

To minimize the effects of the vignette, I converted the NEF RAW file to a PNG file using DxO Pure Raw software. Once converted, I imported this file into Lightroom to make a few corrections.

Below is both the adjusted file direct from the NEF RAW, and the adjusted PNG file to show the advantage offered by converting the RAW using Pure Raw.

The light streaks moving through the image are from an eastward Amtrak Keystone bound for Philadelphia on the old PRR Main Line. Please note that in both versions, the images have been compressed by the Word Press platform used by Tracking the Light to display the photos via the internet.

Scaled JPG made from the NEF RAW file without DxO Pure Raw conversion. Note the constellation Orion in the sky toward the top center of the photo.
This is the same NEF RAW file as above, but following conversions to PNG format using DxO Pure Raw to denoise the image, and more importantly, eliminate the effects of vignetting inherant to the 24-70mm Nikkor lens at f4.0. Notice the more uniform rendition of the night sky, especially in the corners of the frame.

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Night photography in Cork City.

Working with my Nikon NZ-II mounted on a compact Gitzo tripod, I made a variety of photos around Cork City.

The tripod allowed me use a lower ISO, which required a slower shutter speed but captures a greater amount of data with minimal loss.

Working with Lightroom, I adjusted shadows and highlights to reduce contrast and make for better balanced images despite the prevailing darkness punctuated by harsh artificial light.

Bridge over the River Lee.
Cork bus station.
Cork bus station.
Cork bus station.
Kent Station, Cork. Note the position of the light above the train shed to the right. I’ve used to the shed to crop most of the light, thus limiting this potential distracting element, while make the most of the light to better define the top of the train shed.
Kent Station, Cork. Note the position of the light above the train shed to the right. I’ve used to the shed to crop most of the light, thus limiting this potential distracting element, while make the most of the light to better define the top of the train shed.
Kent Station, Cork. Note the position of the light above the train shed to the right. I’ve used to the shed to crop most of the light, thus limiting this potential distracting element, while make the most of the light to better define the top of the train shed.
Kent Station, Cork.
Kent Station, Cork.
Kent Station, Cork.
Kent Station, Cork.

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Holiday Lights

I’ve found that successfully photographing holiday light displays requires a bit of patience and some counter-intuitive techniques.

When I used film, a tripod was a necessary requirement. That is not true with modern digital cameras.

I’ve found that my most successful images are exposed when there’s still a hint of light in the sky. These generally look better than when colored lights are photographed against an inky black sky.

For these photos at Greenfield in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, I was working with my Nikon Z7-II and 24-70mm lens.

After a little experimentation, I settled on the following settings: ISO 2500, f4, White Balance preset ‘shadow’. I allowed the camera to select the exposure in ‘A’ (auto) mode, but dialed in -0.7 exposure compensation. This was key to avoid over-exposing the lights or allowing the background to appear too bright (my goal was have a dark background, but not so dark as to lose all detail.)

I made some minor adjustments in post processing, including increased saturation, nominal brightening of shadows, and overall adjustment to exposure to better balance the contrast and color.

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Night Photo—Secret Revealed!

I made these images the other night when Kris & I were photographing the St Lawrence & Atlantic’s westward road freight (train 393).

Night photography isn’t easy, or straight forward.

There’s a variety of approaches.

These images were exposed during the last hints of daylight.

To capture the train in motion in very low light I used a ‘secret combination’: a telephoto with a wide maximum aperture and a high ISO setting on the camera.

The telephoto minimizes the relative movement of the train to the camera sensor; the wide aperture lets in greater amounts of light and thus allows for a faster shutter speed. Likewise, the higher ISO also contributes to using a faster shutter speed.

However, the real secret was exposing manually, taking into account of the very bright headlights relative to the over all scene, while taking a position relatively off axis to the headlights to avoid the very bright lights directly hitting the front element of the lens.

FujiFilm XT1 with f2.0 90mm lens, camera set to ISO 3200 and 1/60th of a second.

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Irish Rail’s Grand Canal Docks at Night and the Sperry Train.

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—Some nocturnal views of Dublin suburban operations—

Working in the gloom of night has its challenges and benefits.

It’s especially challenging when the camera I intended to make film photos was suffering from a flat battery, again (so I thought).

One of my Nikon F3s was again showing signs of no electricity. Changing out the batteries on an railcar, I began to suspect something else . . .

Anyway, last week Paul Maguire, Jay Monaghan and I arrived at Pearse Station as a potential location to picture Irish Rail’s Sperry train that was making its run to Bray to inspect rail conditions.

We decided to try the next station down the line, and traveled on a DART electric train to Grand Canal Docks. With my Nikon dead in the water, I opted to work with my Lumix LX7 and FujiFilm digital cameras instead. This changed my perspective as I’d hope to make black & white film photos.

Grand Canal Docks viewed from Irish Rail’s station of the same name. Lumix LX7 photo.
DART at Grand Canal Docks. Lumix LX7 photo.
Irish Rail 29000 series CAF-built diesel train. Lumix LX7 photo.
A Howth-bound DART at Grand Canal Docks, FujiFilm XT1 photo.
Irish Rail 086 leads the Sperry detection train at Grand Canal docks. FujiFilm XT1 with 90mm f2.0 prime telephoto.

As we waited on the platforms for the Sperry train. I made photos of the DART and suburban diesel railcars, which dominate operations on this route.

Diesel haulage is the attraction of the elusive Sperry train; and on this evening Irish Rail 086 did the honors.

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Oh yeah, about the F3T’s battery problem. Later, I discovered that the plastic cartridge that holds the batteries appeared to have developed a short. Luckily, I have a spare F3 and swapped out the cartridge solving this difficulty.

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Irish Rail 217 River Flesk—A Lesson in Night Photography.

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The other evening I made a few handheld photos of Irish Rail class 201 diesel number 217 River Fleskat Dublin’s Heuston Station.

217 was working a Mark4 set on the 2100 schedule to Cork.

There are myriad approaches to night photography. In this instance, I worked with my Lumix LX7 without a tripod.

I’m fortunate because I have an unusually steady hand. The Lumix further aids my efforts because it has image stabilization.

I set the camera to ISO 200, and working in ‘A’ (aperture priority) I manually set the lens aperture to its widest opening, which in this case is f1.8. The wider the aperture, the more light passes through the lens to reach the sensor, so having a ‘fast’ lens (one with a small maximum aperture number, such as my f1.8 lens) is a huge benefit.

This set up allowed me work with a 1/10 of second shutter speed, which is adequate speed for a static photograph.

Lumix LX7 photo f1.8 at 1/10th second hand-held, ISO 200, auto white balance. JPG adjusted from a camera RAW file using Lightroom.


Lumix LX7 photo f1.8 at 1/10th second hand-held, auto white balance

If I had been using my FujiFilm XT1 with the kit zoom lens, my widest aperture would have been about f4.5, which is nearly two full stops slower than f1.8, which means at ISO200, I’d require about ½ second exposure to obtain a comparable result, which is too slow for a sharp handheld image in most instances.

Another way of approaching this would be raise the ISO. So with the FujiFilm set up just described, I could increase the ISO setting to 800, which would boost the effective sensitivity of the sensor by two stops (bringing me back up to 1/10thof a second using f4.5). However, this would also boost the noise level and reduce sharpness.

Back in the old days, I would have used Kodachrome, and that would have required a tripod, and probably some filters to colour-correct for the artificial light. Today, digital cameras when set to ‘auto white balance’ do an admirable job of balancing the colour for fluorescent, sodium vapor and other forms of artificial light that tend to tint an image.

Normally for night work with the Lumix, I’d dial in a 1/3 over exposure compensation (+ 1/3 on the exposure compensation dial) however in this situation the relatively bright night sky where low cloud was illuminated by lots of artificial light combined with the silver body of the locomotive and bright platform lighting, obviated the need for boosting the exposure by 1/3 of a stop.

However, I did make some very subtle changes in post processing to help visually separate the roof of the locomotive from the sky.

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Night Photos of a New Orleans Trolley Car—Wide and panned.

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The other evening, I made these panned views of a streetcar in New Orleans at night.

I set my FujiFilm XT1 at ISO 3200, the shutter speed dial to ‘A’ and the exposure compensation dial to +1/3 (to compensate for the dark sky). The camera auto-selected my shutter speed based on available light, which was about 1/12thof a second.

To keep the trolley sharp, I panned car as it passed me. I was careful to maintain my pan for the full duration of each exposure and avoid speeding up or stopping as I released the shutter.

I had the shutter release set for ‘CH’ (Continuous High) so the camera continued to expose images as I panned.

I’ve selected the most effective of my burst of images.

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Inky Gloom and Artificial Light: Metrolink at Riverside California.

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I exposed these views using my FujiFilm XT1 with 12mm Zeiss Touit lens.

Key to my success was the high ISO setting (ISO 5000) and auto white balance setting that adjusted and balanced myriad artificial light sources.

Lacking a tripod, I positioned and steadied the camera on the half open ‘dutch door’ of private passenger car Silver Splendor as it was paused across from the Metrolink train storage sidings in Riverside, California.

My exposures were about 1/2 second at f2.8 (ISO 5000).

To make the most of the photos, I imported the camera RAW files into Lightroom and adjusted highlights and shadows to make for more pleasing final images.

November 17, 2018, Riverside, California.

November 17, 2018, Riverside, California.

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Looking Down on Great Victoria Street, Belfast.

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Plans are afoot to redevelop Belfast’s Great Victoria Street Station.

Although NI Railway’s platforms are not an architectural wonder, I’ve been making photos of the present arrangement before it changes.

Belfast Great Victoria Street Station from Durham Street.

Great Victoria Street at dusk 1/5 second at f1.8 ISO250 with Lumix LX7.

Inbound NIR train arriving Great Victoria Street at dusk 1/5 second at f2.0 ISO250 with Lumix LX7.

Great Victoria Street at dusk 1/5 second at f1.7 ISO250 with Lumix LX7.

I made these views with my Lumic LX-7 from the Durham Street bridge which crosses above the platforms.

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Heuston Station Pictured at Night using my Lumix.

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I often walk by Heuston Station in all hours of day and night. I’ve been photographing this station for almost 20 years.

Despite this, I never let this pioneering railway terminal building escape notice. Just because something is familiar doesn’t mean I’ll ignore it.

Quite the opposite; I’m always looking for a new angle, different light, or some way of capturing this building.

This recent selection of photos was made using my Lumix LX7.

Lumix LX7 in scene mode ‘Night Mode’ allowed for this handheld early morning view with the moon.

LX7 photo.

Heuston Station with a bus.

Vertical view at dusk.

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Milan Peter Witt at Dusk.

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It was a drizzly dusk two weeks ago (April 2017) when I used my Lumix LX7 to expose this image of a Peter Witt streetcar in Milan, Italy.

With the Lumix set at ISO 200; my exposure was  f1.8 at ¼ (using  ‘A’ mode that allows me to select the aperture, while the camera automatically selects the shutter speed).

To steady the camera, I rested it on a railing conveniently located at the tram stop.

I’m fond of making night shots where there’s still a hint of colour in the sky.

For the next week Tracking the Light will be on Auto Pilot while Brian is traveling.