{"id":43433,"date":"2026-01-21T06:21:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T11:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/?p=43433"},"modified":"2026-01-21T10:30:53","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T15:30:53","slug":"nocturnal-musings-and-bridge-shadows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/nocturnal-musings-and-bridge-shadows\/","title":{"rendered":"Nocturnal Musings and Bridge Shadows"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I didn’t think we could do it, but we did!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent months, we often rolled by nocturnal freights at Columbia or Washington Boro, Pa. Likewise, I’ve made numerous trips to the bridges at Safe Harbor, but rarely caught a train on the move. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If only we could just chase a train and beat it to the bridges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After I made my exposures of Norfolk Southern unit coal train 632, we decided to follow it. It had a good roll-on and was making a steady 30 mph. By the park in Washington Boro, we were even with the locomotives, and with a clear road ahead of us, I zipped southward to Safe Harbor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We arrived in time for me to set up my tripod, expose a few test photos and set my camera to catch NS 632 framed up beneath the enormous trestle that once carried Pennsylvania Railroad’s Atgen & Susquehanna Branch\u2014a busy double track freight route in its heyday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To stop the train, I set my Z6-III to ISO 64000, and adjusted my ‘Fast Fifty’ to its widest aperature (f1.4). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Afterwards, I processed the NEF Raw using PureRaw to minimize image noise. For point of comparison, I’ve displayed both the unprocessed NEF RAW file (with detail enlargement) and the post processed image (with enlargement).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m 89 percent satisfied with my results, but will need to try this again!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
NEF RAW file before processing, displaying the effects of high-noise which is a function of using high-iso settings. (ISO 64000, f1.4 and 1\/100 second shutter speed)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Greatly enlarged portion of the unmodified NEF RAW image.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
NEF RAW file following processing with PureRaw to minimize noise and with Lightroom to adjust contrast, exposure and color.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Enlarged version of the image following post-processing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Tracking the Light works by night!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I didn’t think we could do it, but we did!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43441,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[6060,10,6108,48],"tags":[5423,6310,7460],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/NS_632_coal_loads_Safe_Harbor_Dam_\u00a9BrianSolomonDSC_0761-1.jpg?fit=2048%2C1365","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2BVuC-bix","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43433"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43433"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43433\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43450,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43433\/revisions\/43450"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}