This was taken from the top of an extremely sheer cliff (Buttons Bluff). I literally crawled to the edge on my belly and held the camera out over the edge. As luck would have it, when I was just about to crawl back to my car I heard the rumbling of an oncoming train and was able to click away as it emerged from the tunnel and sped off in the distance.
I considered calling it "Daring & Ludicrous" for the fact that I was out there on that precipitous ledge (and the fact that I am severely acrophobic too).
PP was rather extensive:
crop
selective treatments to layers of train, everything but the train, river, sky, & mountains
contrast
curves
reduce backlighting
sepia filter for everything but train
blending brush to smooth layers and clear some debris in the river (and remove a few leaves in the foreground)
dodge & burn brush (to darken some washed out areas and create the smoke coming from the locomotive)
save for web
Statistics
Place: 22 out of 200 Avg (all users): 6.5119 Avg (commenters): 7.2222 Avg (participants): 6.1707 Avg (non-participants): 6.8372 Views since voting: 2906 Views during voting: 384 Votes: 252 Comments: 44 Favorites: 5 (view)
Hey Jimmy - it is Jonathan here - I am glad I finally got back to this website - I also realized I could post comments!!!! I think I mentioned to you before that I quite like this one of the train from above - I have put it in my "favorites" file...
great composition...the bridge and the train really lead you in. i would try it in black and white and then burn the corners. i think it might work well this way
Great shot! First, I am a fan of trains, so this scores right off the bat. BUT...it is such a great shot - the perspective is totally unique which gives it an element not found often; the curve of the tracks is classic and also not found often in pics - usually one turn, but not an S curve; the smoke in the distance where the train has left the shot is perfect - leaves you wondering if the shot is 'new' or 'old' and it is an old steam engine pulling the load. Maybe a little too much on the sharpening...not sure. A b/w version might be worth a try as well - the shot can hold up I am sure. Very well done!
This is a beautiful picture, the opportunity of the train well used. Composition is great, with the train waving through the picture. I like the colouring as well. I must say I scored it too low in the challenge (5), this definitely deserved better on second look!
Critique Club!!! What a great score and a great placing a highly deserving image --- congrats to you!
I agree with all of the below comments and I truly think that there is very little to be improved upon in this image. Composition and perspective are both spot on and everything seems just well thought out. The tone is great and fitting and this is just a thrill for the eyes from the water to the spout of smoke off in the distance. Truly brilliant work!
The only real problem that I have is that this seems deathly oversharpened or overcompressed, which can be avoided and changed, and I think that that makes the image a little bit aesthetically unpleasing.
Obviously, voters and myself easily saw through that minor problem and you ended up with a whopping 6.5!
I thought this shot should have been in the top 10 (if not top 5). I gave it a 10...and am amazed that it didn't do better. I love it - really just a great job.
nice shot and perspective. I like the way the different elements were processed to focus on the train instead of landscape. Must have been quite a perch up there!
very crisp. though alot of brownish hues, would have liked to see it with only 2 or 3 colors. really like the engine smoke in the distance. wish you made that the center of focus by giving it more room from the top, rather than the foreground
Great sense of flow through the frame here, and a good solid exposure. Your sharpening seems overdone on my screen - the leaves have turned into single pixels almost, but i think the voters generally like that so I can't blame you. It has interest photographically, almost verging on a sense of the model from your depth of field. Nice work.
Tonal range and composition is just wonderful. But there's something weird going on with the trees in the middle. They look like the result of a postprocessing mistake, like if you scale down without using any interpolation, or maybe low quality sharpening? 7 (would be a 10 without the artifacts)
I love the fact that you can see the smoke way off inthe distance. I'm not convinced that this was taken with the challenge in mind but it's a great image.
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