Exposure : Ron's Ramblings: The Train Series

A few years ago I created a photo illustration of a train:

(See Composite for more information on how the train illustration above was created.)

That image has been published several times over the years so I wanted to create some more.

I don’t have many train photos. I take them sporadically as I travel. The one below is from Toronto. It started out very plain. I tried to stylize it to add a bit of drama and interest.

CN Rail Illustration

The smoke was the hardest part. I created a custom brush and just played with multiple layers and blends until I got something I liked. This can be a time consuming process. The image can become quite complicated. Here is the Photoshop document with all layers:

I let this one sit for a while but finally sent it off to my agent at All Canada Photos. Then I started to look for more raw material to continue the series.

In 2013 Lori and I travelled to New Zealand for a 6 - week trip. It is a lovely country. We visited the Kingston Flyer, a steam engine train on the south island. The images are okay but I wanted to bring them closer to the style of my other train images. That was my intent. I ended up with something a little different.