The third class in the autumn series of my Railroad Photo 101 class was focused on making images of holiday trains.
I had a great group of students and my presentation was well-received. Before the serious part of my talk, Museum Director Pat Morrison opened the hall for us and allowed myself an the students inside some of the trains on display.
I used this opportunity to make detailed photos of the equipment inside and out, while aiming to capture the museum’s holiday decorations.
Today, Tracking the Light expores holiday rail photography!
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.
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.
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.
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.
Tracking the Light Posts about railroad photography.
At 9am on June 10, 2025, the third session for my Railroad Photography 101 class will convene at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg.
Where the previous classes were held inside the museum’s main hall, this session is focused on the yard and the equipment displayed outside.
Recently the equipment in the yard was significantly re-arranged in preparation for work to build a roundhouse to display some of the gems in the museum’s collection.
Yesterday morning, I toured the yard with Museum Director Pat Morrison in preparation for Tuesday’s class. I made these images with my Nikon Z7-II as we made our inspection.
Next Tuesday, May 13, 2025, I’m giving the second class of my Railroad Photography 101. This will largely emulate the program of my first class. I hope to impart skills, perspectives, techniques to participants, while offering a better understanding of railroad photography.
This will be held on Tuesday, May 13 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., and will emphasize technique and the approach to indoor light.
If you are interested in attending, see: RRMuseumPA.org .
The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania will be hosting me on Saturday, February 25, 2025 from 10 to noon. Advanced booking is required. The Museum’s promotion reads:
“Here’s your chance to learn some great tips and techniques for photographing your favorite locomotives and railroad cars, in a class led by noted railroad photographer and author Brian Solomon.
Bring your smart phone, digital camera or film camera and get ready to take some memorable photos of the Museum’s historic equipment, like the Virginia & Truckee Railroad Tahoe, the Pennsylvania Railroad GG1 No. 4935 and the Conrail GP30 No. 2233
The Railroad Photography 101 class will be held on Tuesday, February 25, from 10:00 a.m. to noon, at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. The cost is only $25.00 per person. The class size is limited to 15 individuals and is designed for beginning photographers ages 18 and over. The inclement weather is date Tuesday, March 4.
Brian Solomon earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Photographic Illustration from the Rochester Institute of Technology. He produces a daily blog about railroad photography and his articles and photography have appeared in many railway magazines including Trains Magazine, Railway Age, Railroad Explorer, Railfan & Railroad, National Railroad Historical Society Bulletin, Germany’s Modelleisenbahner, the Journal of the Irish Railway Record Society and the UK’s Rail Magazine. Brian was presented with the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society’s prestigious Fred A.& Jane R. Stindt Photography Award in 2022 for his lifetime achievements in railroad photography. “
