These two photos taken on the evening of June 23, 2023, illustrate how much in today’s world the taking of any given digital photo is only the first half of the final product as the second half is using different software packages to “develop” the photograph and bring out its maximum potential according to the photographer’s eye. In this case a BNSF loaded coal train coming into Fort Worth on the Wichita Falls Sub not long after sunset. The attraction is the lead unit, Norfolk Southern’s Illinois Terminal Heritage Engine.
I don’t want to underexpose and lose the details of the lower half of the locomotive in shadow while at the same time I do not want to overexpose and blow out the sky such that it is just a bright white color. I set my camera to record in RAW mode full time, so all details are captured and stored and, in this case, slightly underexpose so the details are not blown out. When I am done running the digital negative through Adobe Lightroom and sometimes Photoshop if needed. Here are the results I decided I was happy with based on the lighting conditions when the train passed by.
It is up to the photographer to decide what he wants the end results to be and plan accordingly in advance.
