|
This gallery has been recreated from scratch. It got mislaid when I restructured my site a few months back. Rather than use the original pictures, I reprocessed the raw files from scratch using Capture One DSLR LE. The images are much better "second time around" with an improved converter and better Photoshop skills, although, unfortunately, there is the odd bit of posterisation in the sky caused by JPG compression. These are the notes that I wrote for the original gallery on 20 Nov '01: These images were all taken during a rail trip from Banff to Vancouver on 14-15 Aug '01. My wife and I went on the Rocky Mountaineer; it was a fabulous trip. We were "GoldLeaf" passengers, which meant we travelled in a double-decker domed carriage. The upper deck provided an almost unrestricted view of the beautiful scenery. Breakfast and lunch were silver-service affairs served on the lower deck by the excellent and friendly staff. I would recommend this trip to anyone, although, by all accounts, the loop to Jasper has even better views. I spent most of my time on the platform at the end of the car. This meant I could take pictures without interference from toughened glass, but I was filthy with diesel smuts at the end of the day - took four washes to get my hair properly clean! All images were taken with a Canon EOS D30 using a Sigma EX 28-70mm f/2.8 lens. The train, while slow-moving most of the time - around 30-35 mph - hardly ever stopped completely. I hadn't had the D30 very long, and I wasn't entirely sure what the effect the vibrations would have. So I used the Sigma, which is my fastest lens, set aperture-priority at f/2.8 and just fired away. Many of the images have a hazy skyline. This is because, somewhere in the Rocky Mountain National Park, there were controlled forest fires being burnt to reduce the undergrowth. The smoke travels a huge distance and the result is that aggravating haziness. Roger Cavanagh |