{"id":43509,"date":"2026-02-02T06:58:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T11:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/?p=43509"},"modified":"2026-02-02T07:53:24","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T12:53:24","slug":"amtrak-locomotives-by-artificial-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/amtrak-locomotives-by-artificial-light\/","title":{"rendered":"Amtrak Locomotives by Artificial Light"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Urban artificial light offers endless opportunities for railroad night photos, but working successfully with man-made light sources comes with challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I admit, I’m drawn to artificial light like a wayward moth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I see the ghastly glow of street lights as a way to make interesting rail-images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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’.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to PureRaw contrast improvement and lens defect reduction, I made a some changes to contrast, exposure, and level using Adobe Lightroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\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:\u00a0https:\/\/www.eventbrite.com\/e\/night-photography-at-the-museum-with-brian-solomon-tickets-1980583252825?aff=erelexpmlt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

I admit, I’m drawn to artificial light like a wayward moth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43511,"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":[5028,4143,4990],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/20140119-Amtrak_locomotives_30st_at_Night_P1590770-3.jpg?fit=2048%2C1342","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2BVuC-bjL","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43509"}],"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=43509"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43509\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43523,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43509\/revisions\/43523"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}