Seattle Spirit Dinner Train

[FrankMi]

I don't think this train runs anymore but it did take guests to a winery north of Seattle with dinner on the way there and desert on the way back. My wife and I were treated by our youngest son who lives in Gig Harbor and his family. Nice evening.

[jeeperman]

You might be right Frank, about it not running but I think it still does. It has been a while since I last spent the evening on her. I live about 5 minutes from the turn-around. I will spend the weekend in Gig Harbor as my parents live there. Small world.

[Tygart]

Hey I have been to Renton, I lived near there, but haven't been on any the trains.

[Dizzy]

Nice shot Frank...

I've seen that train (and waited patiently while it passed) dozens of times, as I used to
live in Woodinville, and they stopped there at the St. Michelle Winery as part of their tour.

Unfortunately, they shut it down in 2007 due to operating costs:

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/10875191.html

Never did go on it, but I've heard from many that the chow was top-notch, and it was
a very pleasant ride.

Mike

[Donald]

For someone who is only an occassional visitor to the US and when having done so, has done two long-distance train routes (Tucson - Chicago - New York and San Francisco - Chicago [with a stop off in Salt Lake City] - Boston) this image evokes, for me, the spirit and atmosphere of American train travel. It beautifully captures a mood.

And that probably tells you much about that Ansel Adams quote about there being two people in each picture - the photographer and the viewer (I'm, trying to find who uses that on here).

If I hadn't done those train journeys, this image may not have meant the same to me. As it is, I did and this image sparks huge feelings of a time when life seemed more carefree.

Thanks Frank.

[FrankMi]

Thank you all for the feedback! This was the second attempt at learning the Topaz bundle I got as an early Christmas present.

My first attempt Lake Norman Dinner Cruise didn't fare as well but it was a very small (640x480) image. This one was much larger and easier to work with. I'm having a ball playing with the PP software. I gotta get out and get some fresh images!

[Kris V]

Thank you all for the feedback! This was the second attempt at learning the Topaz bundle I got as an early Christmas present.

My first attempt Lake Norman Dinner Cruise didn't fare as well but it was a very small (640x480) image. This one was much larger and easier to work with. I'm having a ball playing with the PP software. I gotta get out and get some fresh images!

Which of the Topaz Plugins did you use for this PP? It looks great!
BTW - You need to update your signature to reflect your new acquisition!

[FrankMi]

Which of the Topaz Plugins did you use for this PP?

Hi Kris! I didn't need to do very much with Topaz DeJpeg beyond verifying that I didn't have much in the way of JPEG artifacts that needed correction. Most of the color tone and contrast tweaking was done with Topaz Adjust. I also used DeNoise on just the sky. I could have achieved the same result, I suspect, with Photoshop alone, but it may have been prohibitively time consuming whereas in Adjust, it was fairly quick and easy. This was only my second attempt so I really have no clue as yet about how to get the most out of these plug-ins.