The Great Marquess

[John 2]

The cottage my wife chose for last weeks trip to the east coast overlooked the North Yorkshire Moors Heritage Railway. A special was due and since I like photographing trains (you may have noticed)....... A few errors though. The place I chose had me shooting into the light and I forgot to fit a CPL filter. Consequently, the image has had a light dusting of HDR (not too heavy I hope). The reason for the mono version is that it is a bit more forgiving w.r.t. the HDR effect.

Fuji X Pro1
23mm f1.4
1/240th sec@ f8 ISO 1000 Exp Compn.-0.67







P.S. Just noticed the bird on the chimney. Funny what you don't see at the time.

[Shadowman]

Nice, both versions work but I think the color version has more movement.

[Kaye Leggett]

I prefer the B&W but only because I associate steam trains with the bygone era which was black and white....

BTW don't tell my husband you stayed there - I know exactly where those cottages are and it would be his dream location

[Mike Buckley]

Very nice composition. I prefer the drama of the color version.

Ironically, many of the dark tones in the engine are darker in the color version than in the monochrome version. If you post-processed the monochrome version to bring out the same richness as in the color version, I think I would prefer the monochrome version.

[kdoc856]

Both superb, John. You always handle HDR with a balanced and judicious hand, and make it a very useful tool rather than an "event". I also occasionally like seeing colour that its partially desaturated, just hinted at, and wonder that this might be an appropriate time, given the age and agelessness of the train.

Cheers, Kevin

[IzzieK]

I like the colour version, John2 -- the bird is a touch in the shot I agree, but it will probably be better looking if you remove the branches at the top of the train at the back left.

[rpcrowe]

I like the color image better. The red really gives it life...

And, I strongly suspect (but cannot prove) that there were actually colors in those bygone days... Sorry, I couldn't resist that!

[Manfred M]

A couple of nice shots, and while I tend to prefer colour shots, in this instance I think I prefer the B&W rendering, probably because it does provide the period look and probably because I find don't feel that HDR is really needed in this scene. The dynamic range of the scene does not look overly wide, so I'm not sure why you went that route.

[bnnrcn]

How did you know that the dynamic range wasn't wide in the original Manfred,because it is a HDR applied photo,the dynamic range is not wide in the uploaded photo already.

A couple of nice shots, and while I tend to prefer colour shots, in this instance I think I prefer the B&W rendering, probably because it does provide the period look and probably because I find don't feel that HDR is really needed in this scene. The dynamic range of the scene does not look overly wide, so I'm not sure why you went that route.

[bnnrcn]

Sorry for forgetting to comment while asking Manfred a question John I like both of them,but #2 a bit more

[MrB]

I prefer the colour version, John, but I'm not sure about the HDR - perhaps OK (and maybe needed) for the sky, but it seems to have taken the appearance of the train a bit too far away from reality for me.

Philip

[dje]

Nice shots John, both work for me in their own way but I do have a slight preference for the colour version. The angle you've taken this shot from gives an interesting perspective.

Dave

[deetheturk]

The two work for me John,well done bud!

David

[John 2]

Thanks for all the comments.

Kaye, we had wanted to be by the sea but as it turned out, Esk Dale is just beautiful.

Mike, you are as always , right. Tweaked since.

That's a good thought Kevin. I use that technique for BGs sometimes but it might make this one different. I will try it and post it if it looks anything like OK.

Manfred/Binnur, I spot metered for the black because I didn't want to lose detail in the engine but against the light, it took out the sky. So in that sense the dynamic range was high. In addition however, the rest was pretty flat. There was enough sky detail in the raw file to bring it out and I could have resorted to just layering the train over an improved sky but there were elements in the rest that needed some individual PP and so it ended up as a 7 image HDR. Could have done the whole thing by layers and selection I Know but I thought that I would let the software (SNS) take the load.

[John 2]

Kevin, is this the sort of thing you had in mind. Makes it look like an old colour post card.

[kdoc856]

I like that very much, John. Looks like your warmed it up a bit with a soft sepia effect, which also is an a nice touch. One thing about the tonal processing that results from the HDR algorithms is their effect on metallic and glass surfaces, that I find very appealing in the right setting, and you have chosen well here.

Richard is certainly correct in pointing out that colour wasn't our recent invention, but the photographic recording of vintage objects in colour IS, and has evolved significantly, so our recall of old icons in B&W and muted colour is not so anachronistic a it might seem.

Congrats on an excellent project, successful on multiple levels.

Cheers