Terminal/Thoroughfares

I recently picked up a copy of Adobe Lightroom 3! I have, til now, been reticent to "shoot RAW", as the kids say, since I didn't have any photo editing software that could handle NEFs/Nikon RAW files, so all this time I've been shooting JPEG (also, a little proselytizing from Ken Rockwell had been swaying me for a while. But no more!). I'm really excited to learn how to use this tool and to see how I can expand my knowledge and abilities with it. There's another post forthcoming about how it (LR3, or the ability to edit RAW) has saved an entire, important shoot - Sharon's med school graduation. But for now, more New York pictures! 

I took my camera with me to work last week and made the short walk over to Grand Central Station. It turns out that it was a bit darker inside the Main Terminal than I'd anticipated, so it made for some slowish shuttered handheld shots; I'll have to remember to bring a tripod next time I go. I have been playing around with settings in Lightroom, and I was happy with how this one turned out. Still learning exactly what all the settings/controls are, but this is a start.

I've started taking shots of the subway stops; I may make a habit or a thing out of this, because I've enjoyed  both the shots of people looking for a train to show up and the strong lines and curves of the tracks. The first photo was from a RAW file edited in Lightroom; the second was from a JPG edited in Lightroom. 

I don't actually know if Sharon or I snapped this shot in the southeast corner of Central Park. It was a cold, windy day, and we had walked all the way from 96th Street on the Upper West Side down to the opposite corner, and I like the way the road opens up. I don't know if I can take credit for the composition, but I like it.