Computer Coloured Monochrome

[silverfox]

David
could you pm your contact details.Pic is ready at last!!!
PC went pear shaped and i have lost all my emails
Thanks

Ron

[Darwin4975]

Back to the subject of coloured black & white photographs.

Attractive semaphore signal gantries again, -two this time. Those at the south end of York station lasted into BR days but were gone by the very early 50s.
I’ve seen other pictures taken at this particular location but none where the gantries were so perfectly placed in the viewfinder –obviously deliberate on the part of this photographer.
The locomotive needs no introduction and the date is certainly pre-war, probably the mid 1930s. A pleasing human touch -always a matter of luck- with the driver oiling round and his mate drawing coal forward for the onward journey, possibly non-stop to Kings Cross. A lovely record of a famous engine.

The original negative is sharp but very grainy. Sharpness is all-important as the graininess can be overcome. The raw negative is seen along with the coloured version.

The digital software provides a grain reducing facility which smooths out grain at the cost of some loss in detail. If the original negative is sharp, the loss is bearable as the essential features still show up very well. The result is shown in the third picture.

[strang steel]

That is absolutely superb.

I must say though, I prefer the grainy finish on the second photo because to me it looks much more like a photo. The third image seems a little too perfect for my eyes and looks more like a painting. But nevertheless, it is something that I could look at time and time again.

[2002EarlMarischal]

A great photo in all the guises. As stated before, the colour really brings the shots to life.

Excellent! Keep them coming.

[Darwin4975]

A colour transparency ?
This picture was taken at Hornsey in 1962 by which time excellent colour positive film was readily available and so it could easily have been taken in colour. Artificially coloured monochrome is most useful for pictures which predate colour photography but these are difficult to come by, especially in the quality needed. The skills have therefore been learned for the most part on modern black and white images such as this. It helps to have one's own memories of what these places looked like in order to make the right colour and shade choices.

[strang steel]

Marvellous work.

Looking at that makes me feel as though I am on a real shed visit.

[manna]

G'Day Gents

That's how I remember Hornsey shed, excellent.

manna

[mick b]

4472 wouldnt have had a Green Footplate valance it would have been Black with Red lining otherwise a lovely picture.

[greenglade]

4472 wouldnt have had a Green Footplate valance it would have been Black with Red lining otherwise a lovely picture.

also of note the buffer heads should be black... granted they look red in the B&W photo but I think that's due to the light angle. Other photo's of that era clearly show black buffers... it's also interesting to note the marks on the buffers,,, guess the right hand side buffer had twisted recently before this picture was taken.

Fantastic picture Darwin... especially for me since I'm modelling 4472 in that era.....

very nice...

Pete

edit: sorry I meant the stocks not the heads...thanks Ron for pointing out my error...

[silverfox]

Peter, Pedant mode here!!

Do you mean the buffer stocks. IIRC correctly the heads were natural or highly burnished steel ( depending on the allocated driver ) see 60162 for perfection

Ron

Getting the new miller next week, cant wait to attack the con rods, see you back on the ME forum

[greenglade]

Peter, Pedant mode here!!

Do you mean the buffer stocks. IIRC correctly the heads were natural or highly burnished steel ( depending on the allocated driver ) see 60162 for perfection

Ron

Getting the new miller next week, cant wait to attack the con rods, see you back on the ME forum

Hi Ron.. yes sorry I meant the stocks... good news on the miller.. look forward to future updates

regards

Pete

[Darwin4975]

For the benefit of those who didn't get the 2014 Steam Days calendar, this A4 picture features on the back page. (Merlin on one of the Glasgow-Aberdeen 3 hr expresses at Gleneagles.) In examples like this, pixels in the sky make it necessary for each leaf / group of leaves of the background trees to be treated individually.

Regarding the black footplate valance and buffer shanks on 4472 it was easy to rectify the situation -took me all of two minutes. Thanks for the information. I had seen black buffer shanks in genuine 30's colour slides but did not know that a) the colour depicted was reliable or b) universally the case for A1s at that time. I am going into hospital for an operation this coming week and will be off the radar for a while.

[giner]

Thanks Darwin, another beaut! All the best with your op. Get well soon.

[2002EarlMarischal]

Yes superb again. Very good luck with the op! Looking forward to more of your art on your return.

[StevieG]

I am no expert on such matters Darwin, I cannot think that, without knowledge to the contrary, I would have suspected the Gleneagles shot to be anything other than a colour original : Wonderful.

Good luck from me too.