The RailPictures.Net Challenge

[davefoxx]

Okay, with Ed K. getting his submission accepted, I've decided to take the challenge.  That is, I believe that I will commit myself to achieving the goal, before this year is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth... oops, I mean, before this year is out, I will get some photograph that I have taken accepted by RailPictures.Net.  Now, I haven't had the opportunity to do any real railfanning in some time, so I submitted two of my old photos.

For the first one, I went for uniqueness, in the hopes that will make up for the deficiencies in this photo.  This is Norfolk Southern 12N behind two brand-spankin'-new ES40DCs on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor at Charlestown, Maryland on December 30, 2007:


For the second one, I went with something a little more vivid.  This is CSX's Q703-08 approaching East Aiken on the Philly Sub on November 9, 2008.  I mean, c'mon, if a trash train worked for Ed, then...  :


We'll see.  I really don't expect these to get accepted and just want to get some of their feedback on these photos to give me an idea of what I need to do to improve my future contributions and, therefore, increase the odds of being accepted.

Dave Foxx

[Lenny53]

Your pics could definitely use some post processing to punch them up.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I think the first one is gonna get bounced for the wire through the train. I think they're also going to fail it on lighting too. They're sticklers for that.

I think the second one has a solid shot though. But I'm sure something weird will fail it.

This got rejected because of the cropping.

[Lenny53]

This got rejected because of the cropping.

What exactly is the issue with the cropping?

[Bob Bufkin]

Some of mine get bounced back due to being over maximum length.  Just how do you adjust length?  Sooner or later I'm gonna sneak one through.

[Lenny53]

Some of mine get bounced back due to being over maximum length.  Just how do you adjust length?  Sooner or later I'm gonna sneak one through.

It is quite easy in Photoshop, when you use the 'save for web' feature you can set dimension in pixels.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

What exactly is the issue with the cropping?

Who knows. That's all I got... I wish they had better comments in the rejections, so at least you could learn from them.

But I guess that's what makes it a challenge.

Also, because I forgot earlier, good luck Dave!

[davefoxx]

Thanks, guys.  I got rejected on both, as expected.  The reason on both: overexposed.  However, I think I know what the problem is.  I use "sport" mode when trying to capture moving trains, and the results, to me, seemed to be washed out pictures.  Now, keep in mind, I'm color-blind, so if there's something off on the color, well, I'm at a loss.

The good news is that overexposure was the only complaint, and I think I can experiment with the manual settings to correct that.  If anything, this camera was used on Lee's magazine cover shot in 2009, so I'm sure the camera is up to it.  The question is, "Am I?"

DFF

[tom mann]

On a sunny day, you can shoot at F4, ISO 100, with a 1/400 - 1/500 shutter speed and get nice low-noise clear shots.  Depending on how fast the train is moving and where you are in relation to it and the sun, you can probably go F4, ISO 200, 1/800.  Use that as a base and experiment from there.

Last October on a nice sunny day, I was shooting the juice trains' graffiti at St. Denis.  I had to use F4.5, ISO 400, 1/1250 because I was like 10 feet away and the train was moving at 30mph or so.   I have an older Sony that is noisy and I don't like going above ISO 200.

[davefoxx]

On a sunny day, you can shoot at F4, ISO 100, with a 1/400 - 1/500 shutter speed and get nice low-noise clear shots.  Depending on how fast the train is moving and where you are in relation to it and the sun, you can probably go F4, ISO 200, 1/800.  Use that as a base and experiment from there.

Last October on a nice sunny day, I was shooting the juice trains' graffiti at St. Denis.  I had to use F4.5, ISO 400, 1/1250 because I was like 10 feet away and the train was moving at 30mph or so.   I have an older Sony that is noisy and I don't like going above ISO 200.

Thanks, Tom.  That's very helpful, because, otherwise, I wouldn't know where to start.  I'll have to remember these settings the next time I go out railfanning.

DFF

[Lenny53]

Thanks, guys.  I got rejected on both, as expected.  The reason on both: overexposed.  However, I think I know what the problem is.  I use "sport" mode when trying to capture moving trains, and the results, to me, seemed to be washed out pictures.  Now, keep in mind, I'm color-blind, so if there's something off on the color, well, I'm at a loss.

The good news is that overexposure was the only complaint, and I think I can experiment with the manual settings to correct that.  If anything, this camera was used on Lee's magazine cover shot in 2009, so I'm sure the camera is up to it.  The question is, "Am I?"

DFF

Dave;

    If your camera has A, S and M modes you should practice using them.  Speaking of practice, do you mind if I try my hand on your pic?

Cheers,
Lenny  

[davefoxx]

This got rejected because of the cropping.

My guess on this picture, Ed, is that the locomotive is perfectly centered, so the boxcar throws off the balance to the right.  The boxcar is also in full view, except for about 25-30% of it being cutoff.  If I had the opportunity for this shot, I would cut more of the boxcar off and center on the locomotive OR, better yet, pan the camera right, so the center of the locomotive is shifted left, include all of the boxcar in the shot, and just barely include any of the third car, if any, in the picture.

That IS a pretty locomotive, though.  Thanks for sharing!

[davefoxx]

Dave;

    If your camera has A, S and M modes you should practice using them.  Speaking of practice, do you mind if I try my hand on your pic?

Cheers,
Lenny  

It does have A, S, and M, which I use when I'm messing around with my model photography.  I just never messed around with that yet outside where there's usually only one chance to get the shot.

Feel free to mess around with those pictures.

[Bob Bufkin]

Tried to send this one.  Bad cropping?

[Lenny53]

Tried to send this one.  Bad cropping?

The fence post in the lower right corner is a big distraction.  Cropping can be used to correct the composition of the photo.