Keeping the sun’s rays from hitting the front element of the lens is a key to making successful back-lit digital photos.
For this pair of images, I was working with my Nikon Z7-II at Port Clinton, Pa. I liked the SD40-2 ‘snoot’ (with the extended nose section built for 1970s-era solid-state radio control equipment—nearly 3 feet longer than the nose on a conventional SD40-2).
Below are two versions. The top shows sun flare. For the bottom photo, I manually shaded the front element to minimize flare. One of the advantages of digital photography is being able to immediately examine the results for imperfections and compositional snags.
Reading & Northern SD40-2 3058 is former Union Pacific 3246. I wonder if I’ve crossed paths with this machine in my travels across the West?Controling flare and adjusting contrast and level made for a superior image of Reading & Northern 3058. Exposed in late autumn sunshine using a Nikon Z7-II.
Tracking the Light Posts thoughts and techniques on railroad photography!
On July 13, 2014, I visited Palmer, Massachusetts to try to make photos with trains and the rising full moon.
At the time I was working with my Canon EOS7D and a 100-400mm Canon zoom lens.
With the camera firmly mounted on a tripod, I exposed this photograph near milepost 83. It was a relatively long exposure (2/5ths of a second) using ISO1000 and a 190mm focal length.
This image vexed me. It is nearly there, but the moon is overexposed and the headlight is too bright.
Last night, I imported the Canon CR-2 RAW file into PureRaw for correction and conversion into DNG format. Then I imported the DNG into Lightroom for adjustment.
The processed photo is better than the unconverted image, but it’s still lacking. I wonder if using my modern Nikon Z cameras and PureRaw processing if I could have overcome some of the flaws inherent with this photo?
Canon CR-2 RAW file following correction and conversion and the first round of image adjustement using LightroomLightroom work window reflecting the first round of corrections and original metadata.Canon CR-2 RAW file following correction and conversion and the second round of corrections.Adobe Lightroom workwindow showing the changes to create the PureRaw converted image with second round of corrections
Tracking the Light examines the process of Railroad Photography Daily!
Number 600 is the first of Amtrak’s Siemens Mobility-built ACS-64 electrics. This was named to honor Amtrak president David L. Gunn.
I made this high-speed broadside pan of the class leader as it worked the back of a Keystone train at Atglen, Pa..
I’d set my Nikon Z7-II camera in aperture priority mode and designated the aperture setting at f3.5. This allowed the camera to select the correspodining shutter speed based on the camera’s preselected pattern metering. When I release the shutter, the shutter speed was at 1/800 of a second. (ISO was set to 200)
Owing to the speed of the train, these setting allowed for a slight blurring of the background and foreground, while my panning motion kept the locomotive crisp.
Working with the NEF RAW file, I adjusted the highlight and shadow areas in post processing. I’ve posted two versions below, one is slight brighter with lighter highlights than the other, reflecting nominal changes in post processing settings.
Nine years ago, my father and I visited Bordeaux, France where we traveled on the city’s trams.
I made this photo using my Lumix LX7, exposing the original image using the camera’s RAW mode.
Last night I revisited this nine-year old image and converted the Lumix RAW file to DNG format using DxO PureRaw, then make a series of adjustments using Adobe Lightroom to improve contrast and exposure.
These changes resulted in a much better image.
Original Lumix RAW file, scaled for internet without interpretation, lens- correction or alteration to color, contrast, or exposure.First round of changes: High contrast image following PureRaw conversion to PNG format with lens correction and adjustments to contrast and exposure using Lightroom.Second round of changes and refinement to the RAW file following PureRaw conversion to PNG format with lens correction and adjustments to contrast and exposure using Lightroom.
Over the years, I’ve made hundreds of pan photos—where the camera moves along with the subject to set the background off in a see of motion-blur.
For slow moving trains, I’ve typically panned at 1/30th or 1/60th of a second, and sometimes a slow as 1/2 second.
The other day at Greenfield in Lancaster, I panned Amtrak ACS64 644 trailing on train 654 at 1/400th of a second. Since the train was accelerating to a speed of just over 100mph, even this relative short shutter speed still allowed for a successful pan.
Exposed using a Nikon Z7-II with 70-200mm zoom set at 70mm, f5.0 1/400. NEF RAW file processed using DxO PureRaw to create a DNG file. This was adjusted for color, contrast and exposure in Adobe Lightroom.
On our visit to Pittston Junction, Pa., in June, we witnessed the early evening arrival of the Reading & Northern’s Pittston-Jim Thorpe excursion. In the lead was R&N’s 40th Anniversary (1983-2023) locomotive number 2023, wearing immaculate fresh paint.
Clear skies and low sun made for dramatic light. While impressive, this high-contrast specular lighting result in very dark shadows.
Working with Adobe Lightroom, I made a series of easy corrections to the NEF RAW file to lighten the shadows, darken the highlight areas and lower overall contrast. These changes were aimed a producing a more pleasing and more accurate end photograph.
Take a note of the difference in the shadows around the locomotive trucks. The wide dynamic range offered by Nikon Z7-II digital camera captures a lot of detail in the shadow areas that may not be evident when viewing the unadjusted RAW file.
I’ve included the Lightroom work-window so you can see the relative postion of the slider controls and how these altered the RAW image.
Lightroom JPG created directly from the NEF RAW file without alteration to color, contrast or exposure.This JPG was created from the same NEF RAW file as the top image, but reflects changes to contrast and selective adjustment to shadow and highlight areas. See the screenshot of the Adobe Lightroom work- window below for the postion of the slider adjustments.Screenshot of the Adobe Lightroom work-window showing the position of slider controls at right.
The other day, Conway Scenic Railroad’s Buildings & Grounds crew coated the North Conway, New Hampshire station lobby floor with a glossy polyurethane protective finish. I made a few photos for the company’s social media.
Digital photo exposed with a Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens.
The resulting images reminded me a photo that I made at Washington Union Station back in May 2022. In that image, I preserved Daniel Burnham’s classical architecture using a Zeiss Hologon flat-field super-wideangle lens fitted to my Contax G2 rangefinder.
In both photos I used the same visual technique: to maximize the effect of a reflective floor, I placed the horizon relatively high in the frame, while keeping the camera close to the floor.
On a session of the West Springfield Train Watchers, I made this view of four BIG Conrail diesels at the west end of the yard.
It was the evening of July 19, 1983.
I traveled there with Bob Buck in his green Ford van.
As dusk settled, I set up my Leica 3A on a tripod, carefully keeping the yard lights at the edge of the frame. I opened the shutter using the ‘T’ setting and illuminated the train with a Metz strobe to compensate for the inky shadows of the summer evening.
I was keen on making the most of the Conrail C30-7s and SD45-2s leading the evening westbound. These were rare locomotives and worthy of my attention at the time. On the recommendation of my friend and fellow photographer Doug Moore, I’d wrapped the head of the strobe in a white garbage bag to soften and diffuse the light.
Looking back this photo, what strikes me is the relative sophistication my composition. Yet, for years this image sat dormant because of its poor technical qualities. I over processed the film, leading to coarse grain and excessive contrast.
Conrail C30-7s and SD45-2s at West Springfield, Massachusetts on July 19, 1983.
I asked Kris why my early photos benefit from great composition despite their poor technical quality. She suggested that this was because I was making photo for joy of the subject without too much concern for technique.
Over the years my overall techique improved, but as my technical qualities were refined my compositions grew less innovative. Eventually my improved techniques resulted in superior images, but I still look back at my early efforts trying to see what I saw.
On a September 1994 trip with Tom and Mike Danneman, I made this unusual portrait oriented (vertical) image on Kodachrome 25 of a Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range manifest freight approach the yard at Proctor, Minnesota.
It was dull and raining lightly. To make for a more engaging photo I included portions of the bridge on which was I standing over the tracks. This makes a frame for the primary subject and ads depth, while distracting viewers likely to complain by directing their interest to the out of focus bridge members and away from the featureless sky.
This was a trick I learned in the early 1990s when executing commercial product photography to avoid overly complicated re-shoots by distracting fault-finding art directors.
Tracking the Light Posts Daily!
Cropped for the horizontal-demanding internet below;
My preferred camera-lens combination in 1997 was a Nikon N90s with Nikkor 80-200 zoom lens.
This versatile set up gave me great flexibility. At the time I was still exposing both Fujichrome and Kodachrome slide film, but was leaning more and more toward Fujichrome.
Ironically, in retrospect I found that camera flexibility doesn’t necessarily produce the best photos. I think this is because the zoom lens allowed me to quickly adjust the focal length and perspective, I didn’t spend the time to properly scrutinize the scene for the best possible image. This not a fault with the equipment, but in how I was using it.
This photo of JR trains crossing an overpass in Tokyo reminds me when I felt the N90S, 80-200mm lens and Fujichrome Provia gave me limitless photographic potential. Maybe it still does?
