Playing trains ... with a bit of HDR

The trip by train into Auckland City from the South passes through Westfield station, just a little north of Otahuhu station.  There's a marshalling yard and some railway workshops here and I've long thought it'd be a good place to get some photos.

Today, however, was a tad disappointing.  The weather wasn't the brightest, pretty gloomy really, the marshalling yards were almost empty and I can't say I was feeling the best.  Nevertheless I took a few shots and then played with them a little in Photomatix Pro.  I felt a bit of HDR might enhance the images ever so slightly.  Concrete and things industrial seem to come out quite nicely with HDR ... adds a bit of grit to the shots.  Anyway, take a look at the images and let me know what you think.

The last two photos in this post are five shot HDR images; the first two images are single shot.  I used single shot as there was some movement in the frame.  Locomotive 7010 was relocating some carriages, but I quite like the way it lined up with 4444 and 5016.  It was almost like the start of a race!

I've posted the third image in this post to flickr.  Looking at the image below things look very grey, which is pretty much what it was like today as it happens.  However, I added a little bit of warmth to the shot and posted this warmer version on flickr.  Please take a look and let me know which you prefer.

I suspect the images look better when seen larger.  However, I've restricted the max size to 1280 pixels along the longest edge.  To see this size just click on an image.  As always I'd be intrigued to know what you think.