Niles Tool Works

Last fall I got hooked on the steam railroad engine, PM 1225.  After the holiday run, the engine spends the winter going through maintenance at the Steam Railroading Institute in Owasso, MI. 
Today, the Flint Photography club had the behind the scenes tour.  As far as the tour goes, we were paired up with a few volunteers who had a wealth of knowledge, and made sure we didn't hurt ourselves.  And although the trains and support cars were interesting, my end of the rainbow was all the unused/forgotten cars.  What stories could they tell?
Some of the machines, I had no idea what they were for.  But the colors and textures were too good to pass up.  The rust, the cracked pain and metal, just can't find that anywhere.
So this is not a picture of a train, per se.  It is on a train car, trust me.  This appears to be a mobile maintenance tool.

I worked with a 35 mm prime lens for the day.  I traveled light and if I had to do it over again I'd do the same.  In later indoor shots, I could have used a flash, but I didn't, and that decision could use some review.  But the outdoor shots were pretty good despite the bland sky.  Or in shots with no sky, it all works out.

This could be a winch of some sort, but most of the internal mechanics are gone.  But that is OK, the exterior is just fine.  I like the layout of this, I usually don't get this lucky for everything to fall into place.  And what would this look like in Paint?

No favorites here, I like both!

Santa Fe at Dorrance Station

This is the first of the photo stacks from the DMRRC 2019 shoot.  I like the Santa Fe 330 engine.  Actually, I like all the colors on the engines, and one that I'll look at later that looks very weathered.  But for now the reds, yellows and silver of the Santa Fe are on display.
This is an eleven shot stack.  Somewhere around shot five, the train was moved.  Fortunately, the train was moved in a backward direction.  And fortunately I have good images of the train before it was moved.
Fortunately.
In all the previous stacking projects I've done, I've pretty much let the software do its thing and that was good enough.  Here was a challenge.
The basic settings:

When I did the original eleven shot stack, this was the best I (the software) could do with respect to the train.

If the ultimate goal is a sharp image, that ain't it.
So I decided to blend a five shot stack to get the sharp train and blended it in the final eleven shot stack.

Tough to tell, but the images are different.
After I had the two together, and a little cleanup.  This is my finished effort.

There is a lot going on here, and I like it.  The blue background is what the walls in the club look like now.  To go much further with this, I'd have to think of something.  And with any luck, the club will have something on the wall next year.
And the painted version.

Both will make wonderful screen backgrounds.

Heron in the Green (?) - Paint

After looking at the Heron in the Green image for a while, I thought a paint take might look good.  I laughed a bit, as most of the green was gone.  But this would look good in a smaller print - and would certainly would beg the question if it was real - or painted.

What happened to all the green?

Fort Mackinac from the Bay

This image of  Fort Mackinac was taken in late June, 2011.  We were on a day trip to Mackinac Island, and the day weather-wise was perfect.  This image was taken from the ferry on the way from the island returning to the mainland at the end of our stay.
On the hill is Fort Mackinac.  The white diagonal is the walkway.
The Fort has an interesting history.  The current fort was built in the early 1780s by the British.  The Fort remained under British control until 1796 when the Fort was turned over to the United States as part of the Treaty of Paris agreement.  As part of the War of 1812, the British regained control of the Fort without firing a shot in July of that year.  The British retained control through July of 1814, when the terms that concluded the War reverted control of the Fort back to America.  
From the end of the war to the mid 1800s, the Fort was basically used for exploration and trading.
Currently the museum is in great shape and is very interesting.  And the entire Island is interesting.  The Island is definitely worth a visit.  It helps if the weather is nice.
This image does include something you will never see again.  The docks are part of the Arnold Transit Company.  Unfortunately the ATC closed its doors in 2016 after 138 years of continuous service.
As to the image, while looking at some old vacation files I saw this one.  Lots of great colors and subjects.  I like the Fort on the hill and the vessels down below.  I really like the larger vessel on the right, takes up a lot of great space.  I like the color flow all around.

NIKON D90/18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6

ISO 400, f/10, 1/400 sec, 75 mm

And I thought this would look good in a creative style.

Back in 2011, I was just shoot and pray.  This one did OK.

Point Iroquois Lighthouse at Dusk

In May of 2011, we took a short trip to the UP.  We were staying in SSM as usual.  One of our day trips was to head up to Whitefish Point.  On the way to Whitefish Point is the Point Iroquois Lighthouse.  Point Iroquois is where the western end of the St. Mary's River and Lake Superior intersect.  The light was to guide Great Lake freighters going downbound to the Soo locks.
The original lighthouse was completed and started operation in June of 1856.  In 1870, the original lighthouse was torn down and the current lighthouse was completed and in operation.  This was the time of the Great Lakes industry boom.  The Great Lakes was the place to be.
The tower height is 65 feet.  The original light was a fourth order Fresnal with a signal visible to 13 miles.  The current lighthouse was in operation for 93 years until it was deactivated in 1963.
In the early 1990's, the entire location was renovated.  When we visited, the grounds and house were in excellent shape.
Getting back to the day trip, because this was taken at dusk.  We stopped at the lighthouse early in the morning and enjoyed the clear view and fresh lake air.  After our stop here, we headed up to Whitefish Point for a few hours.  From WFP, we were off to Tahquamenon Falls for a few hours.  (The days are long at this time of year.)  From the Falls, we headed back to the Soo.  While we were passing Point Iroquois for the second time of the day, we saw there were no other visitors and the sun was setting behind the house.  Excellent photo opportunity.
This is a three shot HDR image.  I've played with this scene over the years and from what I can see I always tried to 'over' HDR it.  This shot on its own stands up well.

ISO 400, f/5, (1/15, 1/60, 1/250 HDR), 24 mm

NIKON D90/18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6

HDR - Photomatix 6.1.1

No halos on the roof line.  There is a slight halo between the left chimney and tower, but not enough to really annoy me.  This is exactly what I want HDR to do for me these days, just balance the light.
But.
It is just another lighthouse photo.  There are lots of these on hundreds of post cards.
Dare to be different.

That's different.

#1225 In Ashley

At the end of the Northern Express run is the village of Ashley, MI.  The Express will stop in a position to allow the passengers to disembark over a concrete, solid road.  When all the passengers have left the cars, the train will (very) move back to clear the intersection.
While this is in progress, all the photographers tried to get close to the engine, only to be held back by 'security'.  I overheard one photographer say that this was the first time this policy was enforced this year.  But was fun time and a chance to chat with fellow shutter bugs.
While moving in a reverse direction at a slow pace, there was steam everywhere.  Great visual.  Not so much for image file.
Talk about flat light.

ISO 1000, f/5, 1/1250 sec, 20 mm

NIKON D500 Ver.1.15/18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6

First, stuff on the right has to go.  The branches and the objects just in the clearing steam.  I'll take whatever I can to get some definition in the flat parts.
I have some options.  I could go B&W?  Single image HDR to get definition?  Paint?
If I go B&W, my go to set of filters are NIK - when it was free.  I use the Silver EFX Pro 2 and the one that caught me was based on the Film Noir presets.  I still like another preset used on a model train - but I don't want to get caught in a rut.  These steam trains remind me of days gone past and so B&W is a fit.

That looks good to me.  Looks like what I'd imagine Detroit or Saginaw looked like in the late 40's and early 50's.
I tried a single image HDR and what I liked most was a B&W take.  This image took it in that category.
But now that we have a painting option, how would that look?  Again, due to the whole rut thingie wanted to try other options/looks.
What wound up as the paint option started as a sketch search.  Although there are very elaborate paint options, I still think for my purposes less is more.  The Carland Elevator Paint is probably more that what I originally wanted to do, but in that shot it worked.  All of that subject was cold to me.  And that effect worked there.  This is different, it needs to be more 'real'.
So I wanted to go with more of a drawing look.

That pretty much nails what I was looking for as an option when nothing else works.  I like that  one all day long.  Looks like it belongs as a story board for a Spaghetti Western.  That's a far way from Michigan.
A few years ago, I introduced HDR to the photo club of which I am a dues paying member.  Caused a lot of ruckus.  I can laugh at it now.  I stress dues paying, so they couldn't kick me out.  It all worked out.
In January's club meeting, I'll show this and the Carland image.  That'll be fun!

Carland Elevator - Paint

I really like the Carland Elevator image.  Problem is, as much as I like it, there is no zip, zang or whatever to make it stand out. The sky is way too bland and flat.  The subject, unless you like yellow, old machines and an optically challenged blue building it probably isn't for you.
I always liked doing something different with images.  Plenty of great photographers out there, I'm not going to compete.  But I've found my niche where I'm happy.  But this year, for the trains, planes and nature I've gone straight photograph.  And I'm real happy with it.  When I get more comfortable with these subjects, I may stray to the HDR/contrast look that I like.  Who knows the future?
Back to the present and the Carland Elevator.  This image wasn't just a 'snap'.  I saw the image in my head - and worked to get it.  It just didn't work out.  Stuff happens.  No participation trophy.
So usually when I get a shot I like, but can't do much with it - I'd go HDR.  See what happens.  And I did with this, but the sky was so flat - nothing came out.  Except the halos.
Where do you go when HDR doesn't work? - and you want to keep the shot.  Now I have another option.  Let's paint it.
And this is what I have:

How do you make an old, cold chunk of metal older and colder?  I'm not crazy about the trees on the right, but I can live with it.  The sky ain't pretty, but it ain't flat either.  In the end, I like how this was 'saved'.  It makes the screen saver list.

Rt 381 - A Different Look

I've always wanted to do a sketch effect on some of my images.  I seen some interesting combinations of PS layers and filters, but that doesn't do it for me for a few reasons.  First, in the end it doesn't look 'sketchy' and it way too much work.
In my search, I found this application that gives a 'paint' effect.  You like van Gogh - this will van Gogh your image.  You like the acrylic look - viola.
What I really like about this application is that it is not an overlay filter - it will reconstruct the image.  Fun to watch.
This is an image that I've used before of a section of road in PA, Rt 381 in fall.  I don't want to go overboard on this, just some difference.

I'm not in favor of the effect on definite subjects like trains, planes and automobiles.  Yet.  But for some landscapes - and some of the lighthouses, there are new possibilities.