Hey guys, I’m looking for a little help. About year ago I got my first DSLR and haven’t looked back ever sense. I really enjoy going out and taking photographs but want to know if the pictures that I am taking are “ok”, “nice”, or what I’m trying to get with every shot, “good enough to be published”.
Above is a link to my Flickr page where you can view some of my shots. Please don’t hold back, Tell me what you like, but more importantly, what your don’t like.
Well - if I am going to pick on something - the flower with a train out of focus in the background didn’t do anything for me. And it wasn’t clear why you included a portrait of a girl somewhere in there - not a bad picture, but no obvious connection to trains.
But the rest of the pictures seems of a quality that I would not have been surprised to see them in Trains Magazine.
I really like way you use curves to get both a frontal and a side view of the train, and the way you e.g. used photographed that UP engine crossing a bridge from below.
Mostly far better than I could do. So far I’ve only briefly reviewed pages 1 and 4, so here are my quick impressions:
You obviously like the head-on view with the lights prominent, and usually zoomed in. That can be very dramatic because it isolates the engine, but it loses the context of the rest of the train and the background. Consider more of the views where the train is on a curve - that way you can accomplish both.
I like the way you’ve arranged the composition of a couple of them - the train paralleling the electric towers - IMG-9589, and the unit behind and above a maze of yard tracks in the foreground - IMG-4997.
Some are darker than I’d prefer, but you may be at the mercy of lighting conditions that are beyond your control.
More caption information would help us appreciate the context and rationale for the photo - or at least what it is of. For example, the switcher (?) 348 cab window and controls shot - IMG-2486, and the Rio Grande unit - DSC09224 - and the Santa Fe warbonnet nose - Dsc07289.
IMG-1477 ‘‘Back to back ACe’s’’ - the billboard pole growing out of the lead unit is distracting, and the ad’s image is larger than the unit. Could you have waited until they moved to the left a little more
While I have never used a digital SLR, I like your pictures. For roughly 30 years I have been shooting with a Nikon 35 m. FE, and am kind of a Nikon purist. Can I ask you what you are shooting with??
There’s a long-standing rule-of-thumb in photography (dating to film days) that you can expect to get one good picture out of any given roll of film. So it is with digital, as well - about 1 shot in 40 is going to be a real “keeper.” Not that the others aren’t good, but you’ll only get that one true standout. And that’s not a bad thing.
If you’re not pressing the shutter release until the picture is ‘just so’ you’re losing a lot of opportunities. Sometimes that grab shot is the one that holds the magic.
That said, your composition is good - nicely balanced against my favorite photo guideline “the rule of thirds.” That you seem to have an eye for good composition bodes well for you. Keep up the good work.
One of my uncles - now deceased about 18 years, unfortunately - was a professional photographer, first for the U.S. Army Signal Corps and later as a private business. He used to say that the main reason he was able to get good photos was that he took so many of them.
A really great image is the result of a happy confluence of several factors, not the least of which is that it was entirely spontaneous and opportune (…istic). Knowing one’s tools, knowing the subject, knowing the location, and generally understanding what comes together to generate a pleasing image all need to be in place.
I have only ever used the zoom lens on my (wife’s) Canon Powershot, and I have no such experience on a DSLR, nor with a specific telephoto type lens. I would think that to be a whole 'nuther class after learning the camera.
I do agree, being a budding photog of model trains, that depth of field is very important so that the viewer can appreciate all the scene had to offer the Mark I eyeball. In the computer age, we can enlarge certain image files of a size and really get a good look at background details. In that respect, depth of field would/should be an important artefact of an image…in my opinion.
I enjoyed your portfolio. Like Larry said, one can usually expect about 1/roll. It took awhile to realize this a few decades ago. It was like “why arent there more good shots in this roll.”
You use lighting quite well. The soft light produces spectacular results. You are receiving comments from groups wanting to use your shots…that should tell you quite a bit. Have you attempted posting these on railpictures?
Update us when you drop another 20-30 shots in the site.
Wow…You have been busy. My opinion: Dramatic…Different…Beautiful night shots…Crispy sharp…Dramatic use of light sources…Capures the railroad activity, and railroad ambience in many of the shots. I’m an amateur, but I can see beauty.