For Father’s Day, my wife and I took the kids to Baldwin City for a train ride. Of course I got lots of snapshots of the kids “enjoying” their first train ride (sorry, little buddy, I know that whistle’s loud), but before and after the ride I was able to walk around and get some HDR shots. I had lots of fun with these, and used slightly different settings than what I’d use for landscape shots. HDR photography is kind of like fishing, where you don’t really know until you’ve reeled it in what you’ve got on the end of your line. Photographing old trains would likely bring out some neat old textures, I figured, and the early 20th century metals did not disappoint. The way I processed the pictures made the train look both more colorful and more distressed than it really is, and I’m thrilled with the results. Remember as you look at these, HDR thumbnails always look a bit odd. They’re meant to be seen large, so click on a thumbnail to see it full screen. I’ve gotten lots of feedback on Facebook about my HDR stuff, so I’ll be posting more in the future about how it’s done and what’s required.
First, I still stand by my last comment.
Second, would it be possible for me to buy a print of one of these? My dad has worked on/for/with trains pretty much his entire adult life, and I think he’d love some of these. (And it might make a great “I forgot Father’s day, hopefully it’s there before your birthday gift” for him.)
Rob, great train shots! These are awesome! Thanks for sharing, and thanks for the visit and comment on my site too!