NFL Wildcard Weekend!

I love this time of year! NFL playoffs are great! In a way it's kind of sad, too because now that the playoffs are here, that means the season is coming to a close. Then it's a long 6 months until football is back. But, the reason I write this is that when there are playoffs happening, it makes taking and processing pictures a little more difficult. Hence, the shot in today's post...

Astor Hotel

This is a shot of the Astor Hotel sign from the other side of Canal St in New Orleans.  It's a grand old hotel right in the French Quarter that has this timeless look to it.  I bet it's a great place to stay if you can.  There's a certain charm these old hotels have that you just don't get in a new Holiday Inn or some place similar.  Probably a certain price per room as well, but that's a subject for a different blog, hehe.

This photo was taken straight from the camera, converted into black and white with Nik Color Efex with negative control points on the red in the sign.  That isolated the red.  That's it.  A non-HDR shot.  I liked it this way because I think the silhouette of the three palms turned out nice in the black and white conversion.  Also, I took this shot while walking, handheld.  Makes it tough to do HDRs that way!