Over the last few days I’ve been reviewing thousands of my photos of Union Pacific trains for consideration in a book that I’m completing on the railroad. Consider the photo below:
Six years ago, I was poised at Woodford, California along the former Southern Pacific in the Tehachapis to photograph an ascending Union Pacific freight heading toward Tehachapi Summit.
Leading was a clean SD70ACe with UP’s bold wings painted on the front.
I made a sequence of images as the train passed. This one caught my eye because it really shows the sharp angles of this powerful diesel-electric at work.
The contrast between the sunlit locomotive nose and the inky shadows along the side the locomotive combined with a little telephoto compression helped make for a more dramatic image.
![](https://i0.wp.com/briansolomon.com/trackingthelight/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/UP_SD70ACE_sb_at_Keene_Woodford_tight_DSCF2820-scaled.jpg?resize=474%2C359)
Would an evenly lit photo have the same effect?
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