Saturday, January 31, 2009

Coal Trestle

The Quincy coal trestle, in faux Holga mode.
Ye olde Quincy coal trestle

I can't believe I haven't posted this one before! This is the old coal trestle at the Quincy No. 5 boiler (which, as I have learned, has nothing to do with the No. 5 shaft -- it was just a handy number).

I did this to try out an editing technique proposed by my fellow Copper Country enthusiast, Jay Balliet: the Faux Holga, based on an old, light-leaking camera which vignetted a lot. I like the effect, but Jay has some nicer ones (in color). Check them out!

6 comments:

Summer said...

It took me a solid three previews of this photo before I actually saw the shape behind the trestle. Is that the moon?

So, to be absolutely eloquent... Wow. Cool. :)

DC said...

Hmmm... hope I'm not killing some of the magic of the photo when I say... what shape behind the trestle?

The trick in the photo is the vignetting (the darkened corners) and the desaturation and high contrast -- that's the "faux holga" effect.

Belinda Marie said...

You've got some really great shots here! I'm a fellow Yooper, just starting to really get into this photography thing...addicting, isn't it? :) Who knows...maybe we'll cross paths camping this summer.

DC said...

Belinda -- thanks so much! I'm from the Keweenaw, and rare is the weekend you wouldn't find me out in the woods. Enjoy the camping!

BTW, how did you find my site?

Summer said...

Maybe it's because I'm looking at it from a Cinema display; the clarity on this screen is so awesome. There is a clearly defined very wide circle behind the trestle with a little bit of surface effect to it.

But I'll shove aside your practical reality and pretend it's a moonrise anyway! :-D

DC said...

Yup, that's one giant moon!

I think it must be the false vignetting that's making that shape appear (plus clouds in the background). However, now I'm going to go find a large photo of the moon and drop it into the background, just to confuse you!