I wanted to recreate the sense of old B&W pictures in books with these bridges. I left them intentionally soft with an ISO setting of 200 in fading light to achieve this grainy effect. And I used a long focal length to compress the perspective. Desaturated in PSP9, but I decided to leave the train in colour...
Just arrived back in Warsaw and see I never responded to your in-depth and much appreciated comment, Doyle. (Not that I need to be in Warsaw to respond, of course, but I have been reviewing my images from Warsaw in order to get some inspiration for the cold grey days to come!) You make some very valid points, but I've decided that I like the train in colour - otherwise, I feel it would be lost in the overall image. Point taken about the grain, though. And I believe that one year on my post-processing skills should be sufficient to do something about this!
Wishing you all the best for the holiday season (and hoping to see some photographs of yours again soon?) AJ
Hi John: Overall, I'd say well done as to acheiving the goal here John but I have to think to myself . . . WHY? The old time train shots weren't that great due, in part, to the old equipment and tools they used. I know some people will get nostalgic . . . and that's great . . . but I think the grain is too severe in shots like this and that's distracting . . . well . . . to me. That being said . . . I think the appropriate thing to do would be to leave the goals to the artist / photographer . . . and keep my narrow-minded opinions about why those goals were selected to myself. I think you acheived your goals. I think either the grain or the selective color should go though . . . simply because the two together, to my eye, seem to clash . . . the 'Old' feel . . . is hampered by the color, while the color is hampered by the grain. In a way, I think this shot would have been MUCH better without any color . . . certainly better than full color. Perhaps with a finer or lesser grain. Still the reflections are great and the composition is very well done (In my opinion). You get a 7/7 . . . on creativity anyway . . . Regards, Doyle I <~~~~~
Very, very nice, John. You certainly achieved your objective as far as the old B&W pictures effect. The coloured train is a nice added touch. Cheers, Ann.