More holiday Nik Silver Efex Pro play. I took this shot during the brief stop in Portland, Oregon on the last leg of the 10,000 mile train trip. Obviously, the sun rays bursting out from behind the clouds caught my eye. The original camera image was decent considering the highly contrasting elements, but I prefer the effect of flipping it to black and white, letting the foreground elements drop out, and boosting the dynamic range of the sky.
Canon G11 overlooking a Portland skyline.
It’s a very rainy Christmas day here in the SF Bay Area–meaning no outdoor photo opportunities. So it’s back to the 10,000 mile collection. Here’s two I think work well in black and white (Ă la my new Nik Silver Efex Pro Photoshop plugin):
This was the Saskatoon station in the early morning on our way east. Like I said before, not all Canadian train stations are palatial.
And a couple of thousand miles up the tracks, this is different view from our first room at the Hotel Belley in Quebec City (it was obviously rainy, but I was looking out from our cozy, dry hotel room).
Canon G11 exhibiting the memory of an elephant.
During the 10,000 mile trip, I made a point of grabbing a shot through the train window whenever we made short stops at stations where continuing passengers couldn’t get off the train. This one is from somewhere in New Brunswick on the ride between Halifax and Charny. It’s an odd juxtaposition–the gray skies and dilapidated building, the neat line of discarded freezers, and the girl in a red jacket talking on a cell phone… kind of “mysterious.”
Canon G11 at a train stop somewhere in eastern Canada.
The end of our first leg of the journey was Seattle. We hadn’t been there in quite a few years so when we stepped off the train I had no idea what the glowing blue arch overhead was. I thought, “Wow, that’s cool…”, and pulled out the G11 to take a few shots. Turns out its Quest Field, but at the moment it was simply the unknown blue arch.
Canon G11 on the quest in Seattle.
While touring the Lunenburg, Nova Scotia area we stopped on the opposite side of the harbor to enjoy the view of the town. The sky was a very monotone gray (you get what you get when traveling), but still the town looked amazingly colorful. I snapped a few fully zoomed in hand held shots for the record. After looking carefully at the shots I realized I could “stitch” them together into a panorama. I did the stitching manually in Photoshop and was amazed how well the photos lined up. I guess I make a good human tripod! đ
This is the left most shot (the red structure is the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic).
View the full panorama (stretch your browser window to expand the image).
Canon G11 stitching a scene.