Images of .... KWVR

The Keighley and Worth Valley Railway (KWVR) Winter Steam Gala Weekend, 11-13 February 2011

 A hubbub on the platform at Keighley Station....

   

 An army of train enthusiasts and photographers.....

 Even the Station Master, positioned so that he can get a good view....

of Ian Riley's BR (Ex-LMS) "Black 5" No 44871, which has come a long way to be here....

 whereas BR Standard 4MT No 80002 is a regular on this line.

The Worth Valley line is owned, operated and maintained entirely by volunteers.  It was bought from British Rail (who had closed it in 1962) and reopened in 1968 after a local campaign and the formation of a Preservation Society.  It runs a regular daily passenger service of diesel trains, some steam-hauled tourist trains and frequent special events.  The line, over 4 miles long, runs from Keighley at the bottom of the Worth valley, up through some picturesque villages including Oakworth and Haworth and on to the terminus at Oxenhope.

For the Gala Weekend there was also a vintage bus service (run by the Keighley Bus Museum) to enable people to enjoy, understand and appreciate more of the lovely scenery of the Worth valley.

Images of ..... Haworth

The Parsonage, Haworth - home of Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë and their family from 1820 until their deaths.



The Apothecary (Drug Store) where Branwell Brontë purchased the opium that was eventually to kill him

Looking down Main Street (on a quiet day!)

Main Street again

Images of ..... Brontë country

Looking down towards Stanbury and New Laithe Reservoir


Lower Heights Farm

The ruin of Top Withens, believed to have inspired Emily Brontë's novel 'Wuthering Heights'

View from Top Withens


Stream near the Brontë Waterfalls

Course Notes 4 - Selective enhancement

Heather moorland above Haworth (view large)

I am intrigued by the difference you can make to an image by some careful selective enhancement, and I keep experimenting with this. The art seems to be in not going OTT - you need a good eye as well as an understanding of what Photoshop can do. In this image I selected in turn the sky, the foreground and the middle ground and tweaked levels, saturation and colour balance on different layers, until I liked what I saw. I've also been trying different blending modes and in this case I used 'Colour Dodge' at about 50% opacity, just on the heather in the foreground, which added quite a bit of 'zing' to it I think.

Judge for yourself - the original image is here, it suffered from trying to balance the bright sky and much darker moorland, so that it all looks a bit dull. Any comments? I'm learning.