These are both great shots, but I had to choose one. Mike’s is the winner by a nose.
Both photos really show Summer at it’s best.
Mikes photo, both of you have very nice competition photos though!
Actually, I liked Erik’s BNSF 5184 shot–the one with the TOFC falling off the end of the photo; a bit hazy, but I love the portrayal of grade.
In Mike’s image I like the locomotive’s colors contrasting with the foliage, but am put off by the ‘advertising’ in the lower-right of the image.
Erik’s was very nice but seemed to lack “punch”.
I went with Erik’s photo, I love pictures of train meets.
~[8]~ TrainFreak409 ~[8]~
Just my [2c] here: If you really wanted a great picture head out to a steam railway in the mountains. You could win for shure with some shots of the Sumpter Valley line.
James[C):-)]
Sorry Erik, Mikes just had that little twist to it that made up my mind. One being clear and sharp. Then again Erik like Mike said if you showed the end of the tanker. Also if it was more clear. But hey theres’s always next week!!!
Dustin
Wow! You guys are good. It was a tough one this week,but Mike wins this week.The colors were brighter and almost jumped off the screen.Also I liked the fact that the engine crew was visible in the cab.
None of these images really moves me - the stuff at dusk is artzy at best. My question is - why shoot at that hour when regular daylight photos are much better?
The bottom line - those photos don’t talk to me. Mike’s photo was the best of the lot.
Difficult choice this time around. I like Erik’s new location; a real difference from the usual hill. The lash-up was pretty neat, too.
Mike’s had some great color contrast. Granted, it did look a lot like one of Erik’s earlier shots, with the hill and the head-on shot of the train. But I went with it anyway, maybe because of the sharper focus, but probably because I like WSOR’s colors more than BNSF.
I too was dismayed by Erik’s softness of his shot. If it wasn’t the atmospheric conditions it was the fact that his lens was wide open at f5.6. A couple of stops smaller and it may have looked sharper.
Paul
I liked Mike’s photo the best, for the same reasons others stated. I have to admit that I was a little worried when I saw that picture of the zoo train.
Sorry Erik, Mike’s photo was just more appealing. Great head-on shot!
Sorry, I have to go off on a rant here. Both of those pictures would have been rejected by www.railpictures.net because they are so darned picky. Erik’s photo would be rejected because of poor cropping and its “too dark”. Mike’s phot would be rejected because the train is in a shadow and its “too dark”. I should know. Those guys rejected my 5 best photos.
I don’t mean to discredit Erik or Mike. You photos are both awesome. I mean to discredit www.railpictures.net because they are overly picky about what they will post to their site.
Sorry for the off topic rant.
You voters have GOT to be kidding. I liked Mike’s. But I LOVED Erik’s.
i went with mikes, the entire picture is clear and crisp.
This was another tight one, but this time I went for something different than the typical pumpkin . . . so it’s help calm me down as BNSF gets rid of the red and silver on the Santa Fe units . . .
Enjoy all photos from both of you. Am not a photography expert, just know what I like when I see it and have liked all photos from both. Unless you both took photos of the same scene, to me, it would be hard to judge that one was better than the other. So keep up the good work and I will continue to enjoy them all. “Doodlebug”
Erik’s would have been better with the whole tank car shown. Mike’s looked good, and I like how well the conductor was illuminated.
Had to go with Mike this time. I guess the thing that does it is the human interest seeing the 2 crew members.
Larry