Holy cow! After a week fluctuating between 7.2 and 7.6, this is sitting at just a hair under 7.4 heading into rollover. Thank you all for the kind comments and high scores, this was completely unexpected.
I'm a total photography newbie, but I've been reading and studying quite a bit. After deciding that the composition in my photos generally stinks, I picked up Szarkowski's Looking at Photographs for inspiration. I threw everything I could think of at this entry: framing, leading lines, thirds, repeating patterns, wide tonal range, and high contrast.
Some people have commented on the processing. I'm certainly not a photoshop pro so it's pretty straightforward:
Raw conversion with
-white balance
-exposure
-convert to grayscale (custom)
-curves to increase contrast at low end
-split toning (sepia hue)
Curve adjustment layer with overlay blend mode
Crop
Save for web
Ammie Not posed, just got lucky. All 11 shots were taken within 3 minutes. Hardest part was the door kept opening and shutting automatically whenever I moved!
Elaine I noticed you also have a nice shot of train tracks entitled "Track to Nowhere". I swear I didn't rip you off!
GeneralE I hadn't heard of that short story, but I went and read it. It's pretty good, and I love that it's set in Boston where I grabbed this shot. Too bad my shot was the commuter rail train rather than the T (the subway). The story also reminds me of a song from the same time period called "Charlie on the MTA".
Updated post-finish...
Thanks again everyone, I'm flattered by the blue finish! I thought this might be a possibility when I saw the score holding. Congrats to the other winners and entries. The image is currently showing up really small for me too, I'm not sure it's anything I have any control over. I hadn't submitted an original until just now, and I have it submitted to be watermarked, so I don't know if either of those is the reason why.
Statistics
Place: 1 out of 52 Avg (all users): 7.4048 Avg (commenters): 8.3529 Avg (participants): 7.5000 Avg (non-participants): 7.3571 Views since voting: 4550 Views during voting: 192 Votes: 84 Comments: 30 Favorites: 1 (view)
Delightful story and a GRAND find.
Congratulations for seeing and appreciating it so well.
This one's going to stay on your front page for a looooong time.
I kept looking at this thinking "there's no way DPC voters would give a blue to such a small image"! LOL Can't wait til I can see it th4e correct size =)
Congrats!
I was thinking the same thing until I read the comments! lol. Well done and congrats on the blue!!
I kept looking at this thinking "there's no way DPC voters would give a blue to such a small image"! LOL Can't wait til I can see it th4e correct size =)
Congrats!
Track 9 to Nowhere
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