A train photo - advice or critique please.

[Blooze]

I grabbed one of my photos from my D200 of the local steam engine to play with my Silver Efex Pro2 trial last night and came up with these two of the same shot. Tell me what you think could be done a little different in your opinion I was trying to go for a "dreamy" effect with the 2nd one, but not sure I got there. Looks a little goofy to me.

 

[Edcculus]

I really like the first one. I'm not sure the dreamy/soft effect really goes well with the subject. Crisp clean lines in B&W. You really want it to be as tack sharp as possible to show all of the detail in the train.

 

[Isaac]

The first one looks much better. The second one looks like that Glamour Shot effect

 

[MaxP]

I really like the first one. I'm not sure the dreamy/soft effect really goes well with the subject. Crisp clean lines in B&W. You really want it to be as tack sharp as possible to show all of the detail in the train.

Exactly

 

[fast14riot]

I like the first one. Too much detail for the soft effect.


-Xander

 

[Mr Bob]

I'm of the same opinion as everyone else. There is so much fantastic detail in the first one. Combined with the B&W and the angle you shot the photo at, everything just works very well.

The second dreamy photo appears too chaotic for me as all the detail in that train seems confusing with that soft/blurry focus.

If I may offer a suggestion: To my eyes, the white spots in the top and bottom right corners seem slightly out of place (moreso the bottom one. I'd probably crop a bit, or perhaps try to darken or clone those out. Overall though, that's an appealing photo.

 

[Haggises]

Bottom one good for Ghost Train if that's what you're going for....
Top is much nicer.

 

[Blooze]

Thanks everyone. I like the first one as well. The second photo IMO doesn't look good here in a smaller format. Several people at work chose the first one as well, till they saw the larger version of the 2nd. Here's a link to a larger photo of the soft one. I hate to take up B&B bandwidth on large photos.

http://www.rollinghillsimagery.com/Travel/Amarillo/23798254_MM3PDs#!i=2641611734&k=8ShPQgz&lb=1&s=XL

Mr. Bob, I see what you're saying about the white areas. I can definitely clone out the lower left one. The upper right I could probably tone down a bit. I'll maybe give that a try this evening.

 

[lister]

Hi Blooze... I much prefer the first photo (even in the larger format) because it is so crisp and clean and the line of the arms on the wheels really draws the eye to the detail of the train.

I think I understand where you are coming from on the second photo in terms of the effect but I wonder if a smaller depth of field might have achieved the effect you were looking for.

I know they have been done to death but I wonder if a tilt-shift running the angle of the arms might also be an interesting effect.

Possibly too late to do anything about it now (unless you've shot in RAW in which case you might be able to simulate it) but I wonder how a B&W HDR treatment might look?

Anyway, love the shot.

 

[Blooze]

Thanks lister. I much prefer the first as well. Really was just messing around with the software and thought it was an interesting effect. I went with a large depth of field on the original RAW shot as I wanted all the detail I could get for the entire length of the train. It's always horrible shooting conditions there as the train is on bright white concrete surrounded by bright white crushed rock and the gates open Sat. morning about 10am usually, so the morning sun is starting to beat down pretty good at that point. Oh, and you might be fighting to get a shot without people in it. At least it's local and I'll have plenty of chances to go back.

 

[Blooze]

Here's quick edit on the light spots in the corners I did at work this morning.

 

[celestino]

I really like the first one. I'm not sure the dreamy/soft effect really goes well with the subject. Crisp clean lines in B&W. You really want it to be as tack sharp as possible to show all of the detail in the train.

+1 If you had captured a different subject in the second one, it would have worked very well! Great pics!

 

[Blooze]

+1 If you had captured a different subject in the second one, it would have worked very well! Great pics!

Thanks. Yeah, I think the effect could work well in B&W with a kind of film noir look to it. You know, like a dark night shot of a corner building with a little fog or something where the details are ambiguous anyway.

 

[shm]

The first one is the best as all others mention , and the retouching took it up a notch - great job and great photo

 

[Alacrity59]

Nice retouching. The second photo made me reach for my glasses cleaner . . .then I thought my eyeballs were dirty. I love old mechanical things like this. Old steam traction engines, huge Victorian pumps that move water into reservoirs up mountains. Can I ask, where was this?

 

[Blooze]

Nice retouching. The second photo made me reach for my glasses cleaner . . .then I thought my eyeballs were dirty. I love old mechanical things like this. Old steam traction engines, huge Victorian pumps that move water into reservoirs up mountains. Can I ask, where was this?

Amarillo, TX for this one. The Madame Queen. I believe she is the 2nd largest steam locomotive model ever built.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Fe_5000