Along the Tracks

[garvinhunter]

I am new to the forum (aprox 10 mins old). I am an amateur/newbie in the photography world, but I am having the time of my life learning the art. Here is a pic I did a little while ago. I would love some feedback and comments on how I could have made it better.

Cheers,
Garvin

[Lorey]

Welcome! This is a really nice shot. It looks like it was early morning or evening and I like the lighting. Exposure and PP looks good to me. I've done similar shots of RR tracks too. The only thing I would have done different would be to put the rail off to the right side a little so it wouldn't be so centered. Not saying that would be better, just different. Overall a good pic. Looking forward to seeing more from you. Thanks for posting.

[Randitola]

Welcome aboard! I agree with Lorey. I do like the way the horizon looks as though it is balanced on the fulcrum. But in most cases, shifting the camera a bit...left or right will give an interesting perspective as well. Doing that will create lines that will lead viewers' eyes into the photo.
Looking forward to more....
Thanks for posting

[Randitola]

Welcome aboard! I agree with Lorey. I do like the way the horizon looks as though it is balanced on the fulcrum. But in most cases, shifting the camera a bit...left or right will give an interesting perspective as well. Doing that will create lines that will lead viewers' eyes into the photo.
Looking forward to more....
Thanks for posting

I think it would be neat if possible go back to this area and experiment with different angles....just make sure you don't get too caught up in the moment that you don't notice a train coming though!

[Iguanasan]

Welcome to the forum. We are a friendly bunch and I hope you enjoy your stay with us.

If you are truly looking for critique you should have put this image in the critique forum but since you are new I can understand the confusion. In the future I recommend you put it there for a more in depth critique from those who wish to provide it.

I'll chime in with my two cents here though.

From a technical standpoint I like the exposure and the composition is good. Maybe it's just me but the image appears to lean a little to the left so I don't believe you have a straight horizon which I always find disconcerting. The flares are likely caused by not having a lens hood on the lens and/or having a filter on the lens. If it's intentionally part of the image then I like flare as it can be used in an interesting way. In this case it appears to be an accident and I'd rather not see it. The main subject is the rail line that runs up the centre of the image but the rail on the left is brightly lit by the sun causing a bit of a distraction. If you had picked that one to line up on then you might have had only trees on the left (I'm guessing since I don't know where you took this) and would have avoided having a brightly lit distraction on the left hand side.

I hope you find this helpful.

Cheers!

[Marko]

Welcome to the forum! - Iggy gives a good critique here.
I just wanted to add that this works well for the vanishing perspective assignment that needs a few more posts
April 2013 - Vanishing point perspective

[garvinhunter]

Hello Everyone,

Thank you so much for all your comments as they are deeply appreciated. In response to Iggy I tried to straighten the horizon on Lightroom 4 but I agree with you I think it appears to be leaning toward the left. Needless to say I need to polish up on my LR skills.

Have a great day!!!

Cheers,
Garvin

[Runmonty]

Hi Garvin and welcome to the forum. I actually started writing this reposnse yesterday but got interrupted, so I saved what I had written. In the meantime I notice others have already mentioned the couple of points I was going to raise. Anyway here is what I wrote:

Really nice start here, I like this shot. This image would actually fit this month’s assignment "vanishing point perspective".

You have asked what could have been done differently. It may be an optical illusion, but it appears to be not quite level. I would consider levelling and then cropping approx. 1/8 off the top and right side. (keep the same aspect ratio but crop so the railway line meets the bottom left corner. (I don't think you need the power lines and lens flare). I would also play with a slight sharpening. Just my 2 cents worth. After all it is a very personal preference and ignore me if you don't agree. Let me know if you require clarification or would like me to show you my suggested crop.

I hope you enjoy your new found journey into photography, and hope you will share it with us at the forum and let us enjoy the ride with you :-)