Outside of northern Topeka, Kansas, there is a huge Co-Op for feed, grain and such where trains load. We were passing over the bridge of the railroad when I snapped this photo getting an almost bird’s-eye infinity shot following the rail lines. Preston was driving and I was snapping the shutter from the advantage of an upper, moving perspective. You’ll notice the bridge section is a bit blurred in motion yet the rest of the photo clear. Even though deep in autumn, there was still some green evident. To the right of the photo, the power poles still have the old-time glass insulators. The now color photo seemed to call for an old-fashioned look.
In Corel Paint Shop Pro, I processed the photo in Time Machine of an old-time effect called Albumen. The Corel description for Albumen: Widely used from 1855 to the 1890s, this inexpensive photographic method produced paper-based photos. Negatives were captured on glass, and the print was then created on paper that used albumen from egg whites to bind the light-sensitive chemicals to the paper.
Copyright © 2009 by Anna Surface. All Rights Reserved.
Anna Surface
Preston Surface
4 Comments
I does look great with the filter, although the blue sky in the original is wonderful!
The train isn’t hauled by a steam locomotive, the railway signals are way too modern, but it takes a little thinking to discover these details and conclude that it’s an effect created in the post processing. I like the result – it’s very convincing but it doesn’t pretend to be as old as it may look. You “kept the balance” here.
The way I prefer to see it is that the effect is added to convey a mood and/or a thought; there is something timeless about railroads and this is both tasteful and fun.
I think the original looks somewhat ordinary but the albumen conversion introduces so much character into the image. Same image but its not. I really like it!
Bookbabie, thank you!
Staffan, indeed, too modern yet the effect throws back. Thank you for your insightful comment; I enjoyed it!
Ed, I agree that the albumen takes away the ordinary. Thank you!