On vacation recently, we were about to start our long driving day to trek home. Our luck presented us with a train very early in our departure - it was our dog's first real experience with a train (loud and close) and he was a bit upset. As I sat there waiting for the train to pass, I grabbed the camera to see what we could capture. Here's the first photo of the railroad crossing on an cloudy day that might possibly promise rain soon. This is a simple photo of a railroad crossing - but doesn't have a lot of impact - what could this become?
Initially, a small crop to remove the little bit of blue sign at the bottom of this picture. Then a little straightening to make it more level (I shot this from the car window). Next, I took this photo into Nik Color Efex 4 and tried several of the various options available. Solarization appeared to be a good start as it made the photo look totally different! Next, back in lightroom, a little lightening of the railroad lights and now the photo has a totally different look.