The Rail Yard.......

Tejaswrangler

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I decided to drive over to the rail yard at Kirby, Texas and take a few pictures to use in a slide show that I am putting together.

I used my Sony NEX-6 camera and a vintage Sigma one touch 35-70mm F2.8 zoom lens. I participate in the photography hobby on a budget by using old, vintage lenses that I purchase on the Internet, garage sales, and etc.

Below are a few of the pictures that I took at the rail yard. I thought the train cars painted with graffiti were especially interesting and would look nice being displayed in the slide show.

This is my first Post and hopefully you will find it acceptable. Please have a great day! Tejaswrangler :)

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If this is just documentary, ok, I see it.
If this is meant to tell me something beyond the bare fact of the art on a car, tbh, not so much.
first, the shots are of someone else's art and second, there isn't much contribution from the photographer (that's you).
The pictures could have been taken by a robot camera triggered by the passage of a train.

Sorry,

L
 
The_Traveler...ouch! The "sting" of your criticism of the pictures will probably stay with me for a long time. I do respectfully thank you for viewing the pictures and taking the time to give your opinion of them. Please have a great day! Tejaswrangler :)
 
Tejas, I wouldn't worry about it too much, not everyone will be as enamoured with your subject matter as you are so take that into account. Some folks really dig trains, some, not so much.

From a strictly technical perspective the shots are pretty good overall, sharp, clear, not oversaturated so those are all positives.

I realize your trying to showcase some if the graffiti, but even so I would think about maybe some change in perspective from shot to shot. Since the were all shot from the same perspective and roughly the same distance it gets a bit repetitive. Maybe shoot from various angles, some closeups, several cars together in one shot from an angle, followed by a single car from a perpendicular as above, then maybe a close up or two, sort of change things up.

In the interest of full disclosure I'm not a train guy myself, but hopefully you'll find some of the above helpful

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
 
I hope you can accept that there was no animus involved in what I said.
I see the role of the photographer as being a bit more than just establishing the aperture and focus. There must be something extra that gives me a hint what you found interesting, unusual, exciting, puzzling enough to take teh picture and show it to the world at large.

You carefully include the entire car - and I can only assume that is somehow important.
Because, except for the locomotive, the graphics are not big enough really to see - and thus I can only assume that seeing them isn't important.
There seems to be no connection in meaning between the graphic and the cars - except for the flag on the locomotive.
I know nothing about what you are thinking or why you took the picture except what you show me and what you hint at with size and placement of the items in the frame.

If I had to find something to make the connection, I would have gotten up ahead of the locomotive as much as possible and then shoot at an angle so I see the front of the engine large and the side of the engine trailing away with the flag 'fluttering.'

Something like the image below where the perspective distortion of the train makes it seem like it's going and the flag is fluttering.

upload_2016-3-25_22-13-55.png
 
The_Traveler, my goodness! I heard you loud and clear the first time. This was my very first Post on this Forum and believe me it proved to be very educational for me.

I made mention that the pictures were to be used in the creation of a slide show, but I failed to make mention that the slide show was to be displayed in a digital picture frame hanging on the wall of my young grandson's bedroom. As such, I was not concerned about the composition of the pictures, only wanted colorful snapshot type pictures of the various rail cars and locomotives. I see now that I should not have posted these pictures on the Forum.

The_Traveler, not much more that I can say about the pictures, but they evidently do not meet the standards of this Forum, and as such, feel free to delete the Post and thread. Photography is all about having fun, but my very first Post has been far from being fun. Enough said on my part, I will say no more. Please have a great day! Tejaswrangler :)
 
For what they will be used for, I don't find issue with them, they are nice and sharp, good color and I think your grandson will be quite happy with them. Now if they were taken for artistic merit then I would also have issue with composition. By the way, I love trains and feel there really are no bad photos of trains. ;)
 
Hello Dagwood56, thanks for viewing the pictures and realizing that the pictures were for a simple slide show for my Grandson. Maybe if I had provided more information in the initial Post, I could have avoided being ripped apart like the Jack Rabbit caught out in the open by a coyote.

There is a broad mixture of pictures on the slide show, some mere colorful snapshots, others taken with in a more serious manner. Below are a few more taken for the slide show. This will be my last post on this subject, best putting it behind me, putting a smile on my face and moving forward in my quest of constantly striving to become a good photographer, and having fun at the same time. Please have a great day up there in Pennsylvania. Tejaswrangler :)

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I could have avoided being ripped apart like the Jack Rabbit caught out in the open by a coyote.

You didn't get ripped apart.
I told you how the pictures seemed to me.

...and then said I was sorry.

If you tell the viewers as much as possible about why you took the shots, the responses can be related to that.
But, if you really want to get better, you have to learn to listen and learn to accept adverse comments - and then not whine about them.
 
I could have avoided being ripped apart like the Jack Rabbit caught out in the open by a coyote.

You didn't get ripped apart.
I told you how the pictures seemed to me.

...and then said I was sorry.

If you tell the viewers as much as possible about why you took the shots, the responses can be related to that.
But, if you really want to get better, you have to learn to listen and learn to accept adverse comments - and then not whine about them.

The_Traveler, I have been respectful to you from the start, listened to your "stinging" criticism, I accepted responsibility for creating the situation that led to the criticism, and said that I was putting a smile on my face and moving forward in my quest of becoming a better photographer, and having fun at the same time. You consider this to be whining? Wow! I will take all that you have said under advisement. Respectfully...Tejaswrangler :)
 
I made mention that the pictures were to be used in the creation of a slide show, but I failed to make mention that the slide show was to be displayed in a digital picture frame hanging on the wall of my young grandson's bedroom. As such, I was not concerned about the composition of the pictures, only wanted colorful snapshot type pictures of the various rail cars and locomotives. I see now that I should not have posted these pictures on the Forum.
I see what you are doing here.

Without that explanation the members would naturally critique the photos as photos, and not necessarily as graphic slides.

Still, you could continue with the project by getting lots more photos of stuff. Either railroad cars, cars, buildings, whatever. By framing them in a similar manner, it produces a coherent body of work, although limited in scope.
 
I made mention that the pictures were to be used in the creation of a slide show, but I failed to make mention that the slide show was to be displayed in a digital picture frame hanging on the wall of my young grandson's bedroom. As such, I was not concerned about the composition of the pictures, only wanted colorful snapshot type pictures of the various rail cars and locomotives. I see now that I should not have posted these pictures on the Forum.
I see what you are doing here.

Without that explanation the members would naturally critique the photos as photos, and not necessarily as graphic slides.

Still, you could continue with the project by getting lots more photos of stuff. Either railroad cars, cars, buildings, whatever. By framing them in a similar manner, it produces a coherent body of work, although limited in scope.

Budget cruncher, you are correct in that I should have provided more information about the pictures and slide show which probably would have prevented the scope of the criticism that it did.

Yes, you are also correct in suggesting a broader variety of pictures...more train related buildings, bridges, maybe pictures of workers laying new railroad track ties, and etc.

Thanks for the suggestions, very helpful as this is my first slide show.

Please have a great day! Tejaswrangler :)
 
I hope you can accept that there was no animus involved in what I said.
I see the role of the photographer as being a bit more than just establishing the aperture and focus. There must be something extra that gives me a hint what you found interesting, unusual, exciting, puzzling enough to take teh picture and show it to the world at large.

You carefully include the entire car - and I can only assume that is somehow important.
Because, except for the locomotive, the graphics are not big enough really to see - and thus I can only assume that seeing them isn't important.
There seems to be no connection in meaning between the graphic and the cars - except for the flag on the locomotive.
I know nothing about what you are thinking or why you took the picture except what you show me and what you hint at with size and placement of the items in the frame.

If I had to find something to make the connection, I would have gotten up ahead of the locomotive as much as possible and then shoot at an angle so I see the front of the engine large and the side of the engine trailing away with the flag 'fluttering.'

Something like the image below where the perspective distortion of the train makes it seem like it's going and the flag is fluttering.

View attachment 118357

Isn't that the Back to the Future train.
 
Hello Dagwood56, thanks for viewing the pictures and realizing that the pictures were for a simple slide show for my Grandson. Maybe if I had provided more information in the initial Post, I could have avoided being ripped apart like the Jack Rabbit caught out in the open by a coyote.

There is a broad mixture of pictures on the slide show, some mere colorful snapshots, others taken with in a more serious manner. Below are a few more taken for the slide show. This will be my last post on this subject, best putting it behind me, putting a smile on my face and moving forward in my quest of constantly striving to become a good photographer, and having fun at the same time. Please have a great day up there in Pennsylvania. Tejaswrangler :)

View attachment 118379 View attachment 118380 View attachment 118381 View attachment 118382

I like these overall
On the 8345 train use a noise reduction tool, that in Lightroom if you have it.
On the iron bridge try to reduce the blown - out - ness of the clouds in the top left.
 
Hello Dagwood56, thanks for viewing the pictures and realizing that the pictures were for a simple slide show for my Grandson. Maybe if I had provided more information in the initial Post, I could have avoided being ripped apart like the Jack Rabbit caught out in the open by a coyote.

There is a broad mixture of pictures on the slide show, some mere colorful snapshots, others taken with in a more serious manner. Below are a few more taken for the slide show. This will be my last post on this subject, best putting it behind me, putting a smile on my face and moving forward in my quest of constantly striving to become a good photographer, and having fun at the same time. Please have a great day up there in Pennsylvania. Tejaswrangler :)

View attachment 118379 View attachment 118380 View attachment 118381 View attachment 118382

I like these overall
On the 8345 train use a noise reduction tool, that in Lightroom if you have it.
On the iron bridge try to reduce the blown - out - ness of the clouds in the top left.

I am using Corel PaintShop Pro X7 to edit pictures. It does have a noise reduction tool. I thank you for the suggestions and feel assured that I will give them a try. This is fun! Tejaswrangler :)
 

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