Ringgold Station

[Cazzie]

Temps are in the low 40s and all is melting. Shot during a one mile walk this morning.

This is one of the old railroad stations on the Virginia history ledger, simply because it was a stop for the train carrying the Confederate government to a temporary housing in Danville at the Sutherlin Mansion. The station was last used in 1958, the caboose is dated 1940. I did the gutters for the station 20 years ago, they have held up well for galvanized gutters. I also led a group of Dan River High School students one Summer in sanding and repainting the old caboose. It too has held up well, but there is some pealing.

Caz

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/cazmodel/ringgold_station.jpg

[luckydog]

Nice shot Caz !
Love old train stations..............I always end up taking tons of pics.

[Cazzie]

LD, this is the famed Richmond to Danville line, which was the major supply line for the Confederacy. It is the line mentioned in the song "The Night They Drove Ol' Dixie Down":

"Virgil Cain is my name
And I rode on the Danville train......."

The station was completed in 1856 and the line to Richmond opened in 1858, when a high rock trestle over Sandy Creek built by slaves, that still stands today, was completed. It is used as a major testing ground for rock climbers here.

Caz

[Cloud9Gal]

Caz~

There's just something about the green cabin & red caboose against the blue of that clear sky. The simplicity of the picture is what makes it so outstanding. I'm amazed at how the colors are so vivid and crisp. Awesome shot! http://freesmileyface.net/smiley/Happy/happy-049.gif (http://freesmileyface.net/Free-Happy-Smileys.html)

[luckydog]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GW3L8qon7hg

[Snuffy]

Nice shot of the Norfolk and Western caboose, sure do miss seeing them relics on the end of trains any more.

Very much aware of the Danville train Caz, I'm some what of an ACW buff and have reams of books on the subject. Douglas Southall Freeman wrote several volumns about the conflict and mentioned Ringgold several times.

One of the few places I've never been to in my relentless chasing historic places down. Maybe one day I'll make a trip.

:applause:

Thanks for sharing.

[CADFather]

From one famous Ringgold to another, impressive shot.

A few years they renovated the Depot here in this Ringgold in GA, that was made famous in the pursuit of the General and from the battle of Ringgold Gap. It's most recent claim to fame is housing the Friday night Bluegrass festival held year round and the train tunnel at Ringgold was featured in the video "Long Black Train" by Josh Turner.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyRZTAmcW7c

Living within rock throwing distance of the Chickamauga battlefield I too am bit of a buff on the War of Northern Aggression.

[demorier]

Tons of contrast...pretty good visual balance but.:running:

[EasyEd]

Hey All,

Nice pic Caz but it was screaming - just screaming - post process me please! So what could I do?

Here are two images the first being the image brought directly (no processing) into the $46 program I use. The second after some processing. Note especially the impact upon the histograms illustrated. The image as Caz presented it was mega high in contrast as the histogram shows (peaks at the edges). The processing I did moved the histogram more toward center. Notice some of the differences like the back door of the caboose, the station front, etc. I see some additional post processing I should have done but that's alright - see if anybody notices. Now which is better who knows - personal taste I guess. I guess the alternative is which is more faithful to what circumstances (light, shadow etc) Caz saw the day he took the picture. But does reality even matter at all?

One photographer told me once "it's the histogram stupid" I am steadily coming to realize that that histogram is an incredibly powerful tool.

-Ed-

[jmig]

That picture reminds me of some of the railway stations we saw in Alaska and Canada. Very appealing to the soul and senses.

[luckydog]

Hey All,

Nice pic Caz but it was screaming - just screaming - post process me please! So what could I do?

Here are two images the first being the image brought directly (no processing) into the $46 program I use. The second after some processing. Note especially the impact upon the histograms illustrated. The image as Caz presented it was mega high in contrast as the histogram shows (peaks at the edges). The processing I did moved the histogram more toward center. Notice some of the differences like the back door of the caboose, the station front, etc. I see some additional post processing I should have done but that's alright - see if anybody notices. Now which is better who knows - personal taste I guess. I guess the alternative is which is more faithful to what circumstances (light, shadow etc) Caz saw the day he took the picture. But does reality even matter at all?

One photographer told me once "it's the histogram stupid" I am steadily coming to realize that that histogram is an incredibly powerful tool.

-Ed-

Sorry, Ed, but in your post processing you lost the snow.
I much prefer the original.
Snow shots are tough !! There's always gonna be a ton of contrast........
no way around it !
Caz has good white, solid reds, blues and greens ( kinda reminds me of the old 35mm Fuji film).

Just my opinion,
LD

[Snuffy]

Sorry, Ed, but in your post processing you lost the snow.
I much prefer the original.
Snow shots are tough !! There's always gonna be a ton of contrast........
no way around it !
Caz has good white, solid reds, blues and greens ( kinda reminds me of the old 35mm Fuji film).

Just my opinion,
LD

+1 :ernae:

[Cazzie]

Ed,

Sometimes we make to much to-do over a simple photo shot with a pocket Olympus digital camera. :icon_lol:

I did post-process in Photoshop and cloned out a street light and some wires. Only the lighting and color were adjusted other than that. I do manual adjustment using the Levels tool and it has a histogram.

Far too many photos one sees in magazines and elsewhere are too post-processed, HDR'd, and false-colored. This is okay in some photo mediums, but for most, true color is requested. I know, I worked this medium for sometime in the 35-mm days. If you want to know the actual truth, lighting is by far the largest key in art photography. For a daylight shot of the old train station, if I wanted to do an art shot, I would shoot in very early morning or late evening sunlight, where lighting is less harsh and shadows play their game better. Or even better shoot under the light of a full moon. This produced one of the best photos I ever did, a shot of an old church in Sumter, SC replete with hanging moss. I sold the enlargement and I have no idea where I have the transparency now.

This was merely a composed snapshot done during a walk, preferred lighting would have been from the other side, but power lines and the perspective of the caboose negated that angle.

I have been looking into that program you linked though, some things can be done in that that I cannot do in photoshop and there are instances where I think I could use it.

Caz

[Cazzie]

From one famous Ringgold to another, impressive shot.

A few years they renovated the Depot here in this Ringgold in GA, that was made famous in the pursuit of the General and from the battle of Ringgold Gap. It's most recent claim to fame is housing the Friday night Bluegrass festival held year round and the train tunnel at Ringgold was featured in the video "Long Black Train" by Josh Turner.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyRZTAmcW7c

Living within rock throwing distance of the Chickamauga battlefield I too am bit of a buff on the War of Northern Aggression.

I went through your sister city in 2005 CAD. It's a wee bit larger than out Ringgold.

Funny how both of our little townships were named after a Yankee from Maryland! :icon_lol:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Ringgold_%28US_Army_officer%29

Caz