Snow Shot

[hioo1]

Well I haven't submitted it yet but it is a shot I got today during the blizzard.

http://hioo1.smugmug.com/Trains/Hopewell-Trains/Hopewellblizard-train-1/785905943_iz8g2-L.jpg

here is the actual address incase you need to see it bigger

http://hioo1.smugmug.com/Trains/Hopewell-Trains/5272936_fiQxd#785905943_iz8g2

Its the best shot I got today and I was hoping to get one in, I don't have high hopes for it though, so if no one has any ideas I'll just retire it to my personal collection.

Thanks!

[Amtrakdavis22]

That's a very nice shot. And your crazy for being out there during a blizzard. Out here in the California Valley we don't know such a thing. But it is a nice image. Only thing I'm thinking though is it may not be RailPics "worthy". People talk about it a lot. The thing I'm thinking may be the problem is all the snow in front of the cab. I know it's a snow shot but they may not care. Also looks like the front of the engine is a little soft. Maybe sharpen that up a little. But put it on and tell us how it comes out.

[trainboysd40]

That's a very nice shot. And your crazy for being out there during a blizzard. Out here in the California Valley we don't know such a thing. But it is a nice image. Only thing I'm thinking though is it may not be RailPics "worthy". People talk about it a lot. The thing I'm thinking may be the problem is all the snow in front of the cab. I know it's a snow shot but they may not care. Also looks like the front of the engine is a little soft. Maybe sharpen that up a little. But put it on and tell us how it comes out.
Don't take advice from someone in California about snow ;)
Submit it, it's fine.

[yadkinrailfan91]

The thing I'm thinking may be the problem is all the snow in front of the cab. I know it's a snow shot but they may not care. Also looks like the front of the engine is a little soft. Maybe sharpen that up a little. But put it on and tell us how it comes out.




If you click on the link he provided it shows that its focused just fine. The downsizing for the forum insert just makes it look under sharpened. I like how a YN3 paint scheme locomotive was leading, it provides a backdrop to show just home much snow was falling. Very nice photo in my opinion I would def send it.
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[Chase55671]

William,

First off, welcome to Railpictures! You've got some nice stuff in the database and you seem to know how Railpictures works, or atleast, the basics of taking photographs (i.e. lighting, composition, etc.). With that being said, I think you'll fit in here at the forums.

I agree with others in that the image looks good. I'd submit it and see what happens.

Chase

[travsirocz]

sharpen it and maybe bring the levels or brightness up a small little bit.

[travsirocz]

Smugmug sharpens images when uploaded to their site unless you turn the option off.

[hioo1]

really? hmmm, did not know that. I was just trying to figure out why it was sharper on smugmug than on here, and it did get rejected for softness

http://www.railpictures.net/viewreject.php?id=780543&key=1282817074

I'm going to see what I can do about it.

[Railfan Ohio]

Hit it with some unsharp mask and that will solve the softness issue.

[hioo1]

Sadly, I tried it with the unsharp mask and it just made it look too over processed, so yeah giving up on this one for the site.

[LSRC Railfan]

Don't give up quite yet. Go back to the original file and start over. If you need help, you can let us help with the editing.

[milwman]

No data so what was your shutter speed and ISO on this photo. 1/500 or less maybe why its soft?
Unsharp mask settings to try

add Amount 85% + or -

Radius 0.6 pixels If you add more it go's to crap fast!

Threshold 0 levels Don't need

[JRMDC]

Don't give up quite yet. Go back to the original file and start over. If you need help, you can let us help with the editing.

Exactly. I started with the 5mb version available on the website - and why do you put full-size shots like that on the web, that is just asking for "borrowing"! - and it sharpened up fine, I adjusted the levels a bit also.

[WKUrailfan]

Looks to me like your AF focus locked on the falling snow between you and the train. Not sure if that's really case (haven't seen the full-res), but it sometimes happens in the snow.

[hioo1]

Alright, well i decided to do some reading up on sharpness, as well as upgrading to a power account on smug mug, but first a few questions.

1. So to make it so smug mug doesn't automatically sharpen my images, should I set all the settings (amount, radius, threshold and sigma) at 0?

2. I also realize that I should apply a lot of the sharpening after downsizing the photo to 1000 by whatever. Since I was looking at the full size file, I was just getting discouraged by it since when I sharpened it a little the close up would look like crap.

So I uploaded the smaller size one exactly how it will look here.

http://hioo1.smugmug.com/photos/787134801_SRCAz-O.jpg

http://hioo1.smugmug.com/Trains/Smaller-for-Railpictures/11224280_6aqyy#787134801_SRCAz

Too much? Too little? Just right? Damn it now I want some porridge... I know stupid joke

Thanks

[JimThias]

And you're crazy for being out there during a blizzard.

Why would he be crazy for taking pictures when it's snowing? :confused: (oh, and that's not a blizzard)


And Billy, do you have an other frames? Something not so close and in your face. To me, the train is filling up too much of the frame. It would be nice to be able to see a little more of the snowy surroundings.

[hioo1]

This actually is cropped a bit, I have just started cropping things rather close because I kept getting bad cropping rejections, so I guess I just thought they liked tight crops. I'll post a uncropped version when I get back from work.

[JRMDC]

This actually is cropped a bit, I have just started cropping things rather close because I kept getting bad cropping rejections, so I guess I just thought they liked tight crops. I'll post a uncropped version when I get back from work.

RP doesn't tend to like tight crops - look at the shots on the database. Bad cropping often means specific cropping problems, for example on one particular edge, or too much or too little in one of the four boundary areas (top or left or bottom or right) and not a general squeeze-all-four-sides-evenly issue.

[hioo1]

Alright, here it is, the cropping as shot, was edited and sharpened

http://hioo1.smugmug.com/photos/787585367_QFM74-O-1.jpg

http://hioo1.smugmug.com/Trains/Smaller-for-Railpictures/11224280_6aqyy#787585367_QFM74

I do agree I like this better, shows more, even a house far in the background.

Here is the one bigger than 1000 pixels http://hioo1.smugmug.com/Trains/Hopewell-Trains/5272936_fiQxd#787593455_X77qn

[JRMDC]

I like it better also, and I like it in all respects except it looks a bit oversharpened to me. Good luck! I've been looking for the shot all week! It will get on, sooner or later. :)

[WKUrailfan]

I believe, as a rule, its better to sharpen before downsizing. The more information/pixels you have to work with, the less noisy the sharpened product will appear.

[JRMDC]

I believe, as a rule, its better to sharpen before downsizing. The more information/pixels you have to work with, the less noisy the sharpened product will appear.

Interesting. We have had discussions on this here from time to time. Some people do at least some sharpening before downsizing, but I would say that most sharpen or also sharpen after downsizing, in part so they can exactly see the final effect on the image.

[dejv]

I believe, as a rule, its better to sharpen before downsizing. The more information/pixels you have to work with, the less noisy the sharpened product will appear.

Interesting. We have had discussions on this here from time to time. Some people do at least some sharpening before downsizing, but I would say that most sharpen or also sharpen after downsizing, in part so they can exactly see the final effect on the image.

I do both depending on picture. If the source is grainy, it isn't usually a good idea to sharpen before downsizing because the grain gets more pronounced in the process. OTOH, when there are lots of edges in the picture, sharpening before dowsizing helps reduce white halos.

[JimThias]

Interesting. We have had discussions on this here from time to time. Some people do at least some sharpening before downsizing, but I would say that most sharpen or also sharpen after downsizing, in part so they can exactly see the final effect on the image.

Sharpening is the final step in my processing. I have never sharpened before resizing.

[coborn35]

I always sharpen before resizing, and my pictures look fine... Personal preference?

[hioo1]

Interesting, this is weird because this photo looks sharp to me, are my eyes going or am i missing something?

http://www.railpictures.net/viewreject.php?id=781563&key=839648400

[JRMDC]

looks good to me

appeal? see what others say first, of course :)

[coborn35]

Front looks soft to me.

[hioo1]

Question for you guys, when sharpening a photo, which part of the train do you take as an indicator, I usually look at the number plate to adjust the sharpness. Is there a better way to do this?

[coborn35]

I look at the image overall.

[troy12n]

The focal point, which is usually the nose of the locomotive. It's natural for things to get less sharp the further back or closer you go.The entire FOV cannot be sharp. Current Optics dont allow it. You shot it at F9 which should (does) give you enough DOF, so that's not the issue.

[cblaz]

The focal point, which is usually the nose of the locomotive. It's natural for things to get less sharp the further back or closer you go.The entire FOV cannot be sharp. Current Optics dont allow it. You shot it at F9 which should (does) give you enough DOF, so that's not the issue.

Ummm, what?

[coborn35]

:shock: Thats news to me.

[coborn35]

Congrats!
[photoid=314305]

[hioo1]

WOOHOO!!! Thanks guys for the help!

[trainboysd40]

The focal point, which is usually the nose of the locomotive. It's natural for things to get less sharp the further back or closer you go.The entire FOV cannot be sharp. Current Optics dont allow it. You shot it at F9 which should (does) give you enough DOF, so that's not the issue.
Unless you're shooting 4x5 like me, stopping down to say f/36 can give plenty of depth of field so that the entire FOV can be sharp enough, unless you've got too much close foreground showing anyways.

[troy12n]

Unless you're shooting 4x5 like me, stopping down to say f/36 can give plenty of depth of field so that the entire FOV can be sharp enough, unless you've got too much close foreground showing anyways.

On a DSLR though, shooting above F11-F16 presents issues with diffraction that was not seen in film. Furthermore, shooting a moving target at these small aperatures is not conducive to capturing a sharp focal point (locomotive) due to the inherent motion blur that will occur shooting at the low shutter speeds necessary to properly expose a shot at those F stops. Background may be in focus and sharp, but the focal point wont be.

That's what I am saying.