I would like to get some opinions from fellow forum members

[IIIIIREPOIIIII]

I do allot of railroad photography but dont show my work. My friends all say i have a good eye but i like to hear opinions from people that dont know me from a pop tart!

Comments please

[Chessie8638]

I'm not really an expert but I can tell you the sky is overexposed, unless it was a cloudy day out, in which case there still is some over exposure. If you're trying to get on RailPictures good luck, I have my issues with them that I won't post here about.

[IIIIIREPOIIIII]

I'm not really an expert but I can tell you the sky is overexposed, unless it was a cloudy day out, in which case there still is some over exposure. If you're trying to get on RailPictures good luck, I have my issues with them that I won't post here about.

Yea just checked Email they rejected this but i have plenty more

[Hawk]

FWIW - I have a rail photos section at my other site (link at the top of this forum) if y'all would like to add photos there.
I'm not near as picky as RailPictures.net

If you want to add some pics over there, I would prefer to add a bunch at once instead of one or two at a time. Remember, I do things manually 'round these parts. None of that fancy automation for me.

[Toripony]

That over-exposure can be taken care of in Lightroom or some similar photo-editor. Personally, I set my white balance at +1/3 to be sure I always get all the detail in every pic. Just be careful not to burnout the pic completely when shooting toward the sunlight.

Putting on my amateur critic's hat (I am not an expert about ANYTHING! lol)... the first thing I saw in your pic was not the train... it was that post in the foreground. It's too bad because I like your shooting angle. In addition to watching out for the trains, the snakes, the trespassing signs, and your footing, be sure that BEFORE the train gets there you look through your viewfinder. Look around in the frame and see what you see and adjust your location/position/zoom accordingly. Try to create a good picture before the train even gets in the frame. Of course, always try to find times/locations that are facing away from the sun when possible... of course, it seldom works out that way. Morning light is usually best.

Taking off my hat, I could crop and edit that photo make something out of it, so you've got a pretty good start. Shoot lots of frames; nothing helps improve your work like practice.

Tori

[styckx]

Always shoot with the light behind you! :) (if possible)..

Railpictures acceptance policy is more politics and how much money you pay them and less about actual quality and artistic acceptance. Don't worry about getting pictures accepted. This is one of my favorite all time personal photos.. It's pure beauty in my eyes, but they turned it down because the train side wasn't lit.. Yeah I got banned because I yelled at them: "Yes I know it's not lit you dummy if I was going for a train with the sun shining on it don't you think I would have stepped on the other side of the tracks??"

[JimM]

My gut says that you have a very good eye for composition and subject....those are necessary basics for any kind of photography. If you don't have those, you're sunk before you start. It seems that you either "have the eye" or you don't, and I'd say that you do. The CSX coming across the bridge is a really nice shot. But the person who said to always shoot with the sun behind you is correct, but as you increase in level, you'll find situations where you'd rather have a shadowed subject, or even a silhouette shot.....that comes with time and experience though.

You've definitely got the talent for it though...keep it up!

Jim

[IIIIIREPOIIIII]

Thanks for the input guys