Can I save any of these

[InspetorMFD]

Can I do anything to save these? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

http://www.railpictures.net/viewreje...d=534939&key=0
http://www.railpictures.net/viewreje...d=534935&key=0
http://www.railpictures.net/viewreje...&key=950504913

[JRMDC]

First: uninteresting going-away shot. Cannot be saved.

Second: all of the action is in the back of the shot. Cropping the bottom and right might do it. But the colors look bad, like a slide scan of an old slide. And it isn't level, I think.

Third: actually, to me it looks oversharpened. Reducing that might reduce what someone else sees as grain.

[ottergoose]

1. No save on that, the angle's bad and the light's in the wrong spot (rule of thumb: point your camera in the same direction as your shadow)

2. Again, bad light, and way too much empty space. If the light was good, I'd crop out the bottom, left, and right thirds.

3. Bad light again, and way too much extra space. The color's also pretty wacky.

Keep at it, try again when the sun's at your back.

[ddavies]

Remember rule of thirds when shooting, so you don't have to crop everything later. If possible with your camera, shoot with a grid display. That will help with composition. You just have to fight the urge to press the shutter when the train is in the middle of the frame.

[Carl Becker]

Originally Posted by ddavies

Remember rule of thirds when shooting, so you don't have to crop everything later.

If you're seriously meaning that, I don't agree that that advice should be given to newbies. I don't think I have an image in the database (if any, maybe one or two) that haven't been cropped at least slightly in some way or another.

If possible with your camera, shoot with a grid display. That will help with composition. You just have to fight the urge to press the shutter when the train is in the middle of the frame.

I agree completely with this. While I did just fine before using my camera's grid, I have been shooting much better since I turned it on. Cropping has been less difficult and I feel like the images are closer to being almost "ready to be resized" right out of the box. Still, I try to leave myself "breathing room" when shooting, to crop it exactly how I want it to be later and not restrict myself to one option that may possibly not even work for RP.

~Carl Becker

[Railfan Ohio]

Originally Posted by Carl Becker

If you're seriously meaning that, I don't agree that that advice should be given to newbies. I don't think I have an image in the database (if any, maybe one or two) that haven't been cropped at least slightly in some way or another.



I agree completely with this. While I did just fine before using my camera's grid, I have been shooting much better since I turned it on. Cropping has been less difficult and I feel like the images are closer to being almost "ready to be resized" right out of the box. Still, I try to leave myself "breathing room" when shooting, to crop it exactly how I want it to be later and not restrict myself to one option that may possibly not even work for RP.

~Carl Becker

Sorry Carl, but I have to disagree with the first part. One should almost always use rule of thirds when taking pictures as it makes the composition better. I too crop nearly every picture, but like you it is that "breathing room" I leave just in case.

[Joe the Photog]

I actually try to shoot everyshot as if I will not have to crop. Sometimes that's just not possible, but I still abide b the Rule of Thirds.

Not Cropped --

PhotoID: Photograph ©

Cropped heavily --

PhotoID: Photograph ©

Cropped on all four sides so I could get in closer without actaully getting in closer. Wanted to illustrate the heat waves more.

My advice would be to NOT tell newbies to shoot to crop.


Joe

[Joe the Photog]

Originally Posted by Joe the Photog

Crap. I just noticed that shot was ruined by an open dor. It just looks dumb now. I think I'll have it removed.


Joe

[Andrew Blaszczyk (2)]

Oooh, oooh, I like when posts take on a certain topic. This week's topic...cropping in camera or during post-processing?

We have heard from a few people so far but I would like to give my views even though some people will disagree and maybe even be critical of my reasoning. I always give breathing room and more often than not a lot more than necessary so I can make a few photos from one. RP has set dimensions as a basis while my personal site does not which means I may have to crop an image to 1024x683 here but can make it a panaromic for my own collection or even as a print. If I had cropped the hypothetical photo to RP standards in the field I may not have had the opportunity to crop the way I would have liked to. This is also true for images where there is both an interesting sky (nice puffy clouds) and an interesting foreground (a creek or something) and I don't feel like deciding with the train barreling into the scene I can put the train in the middle and decide what to take out later.

On the contrary, if I automatically see my frame I will just leave 50-100 pixels around for rotation since I know I will be needing it.

It can go either way and I would only recommend the 'breathing room' method to those who have the cameras who will provide them with enough pixels to handle serious cropping.

[JimThias]

Originally Posted by Andrew Blaszczyk (2)

RP has set dimensions as a basis while my personal site does not which means I may have to crop an image to 1024x683 here but can make it a panaromic for my own collection or even as a print.

I'm not sure what camera you're using, but most DSLR's these days are 6:4 (or 4:6, however you look it) ratio, which equates to 1024x683...thus, no cropping necessary to get that perspective from the original shot.

[Switched out]

Hi Seth,

There are a few issues you will need to work on, none of them are really bad but together they would make it difficult to get an accepted photo on RP.

As others have stated composition of the image plays a very important part it's whats sets a decent photo apart from a bog standard record shot. With your second rejected I have cropped the image which has changed the composition of the image and brought it more in line with the rule of thirds that as been mentioned above.



Next on the list was adjustment of the color cast their was a pro dominate blue/green color cast throughout out the image and I also found the contrast levels set a bit to high for my eye balls.

The next problem and this is the biggie to much sharpening or unsharp mask as been applied. The give away here is the ballast has been turned into what looks like rather large grains of rice. The problem with over sharpening an image is it also highlights and enhances the noise that is produced by all image sensors and this will lead to an image noise rejection. It is recommended that you leave the sharpening process to the last step in your post processing before you re-size the image. After you re-size the image you may have to apply a very small amount of sharpening this depends on the software package you are using.

Originally Posted by Andrew Blaszczyk (2)

Oooh, oooh, I like when posts take on a certain topic. This week's topic...cropping in camera or during post-processing?

Coming from an age where the word post-processing had yet to be invented and also shooting positive film at the time all the cropping had to be done in camera this also included getting the damn verticals vertical. After scanning some of my shots into the computer I now wish I had left just a little more room around the edges of the shot so I could correct the verticals without cutting into the original composition to much.

So I guess that puts me into the breathing room basket though I still have to remind myself to leave a few spare pixels available for rotation if needed when I'm out shooting.


Well Seth I hope I haven't cheesed you off with all this mambo jumbo.

Cheers All,


Christine.

[InspetorMFD]

Christine

Thanks for the advise. One problem I have, and I'm curious if any other photographers have this problem, is I am color blind so determining color quality and correctness is often difficult. Does anyone else have this problem and how do you deal with it.

[Andrew Blaszczyk (2)]

Originally Posted by InspetorMFD

Christine

Thanks for the advise. One problem I have, and I'm curious if any other photographers have this problem, is I am color blind so determining color quality and correctness is often difficult. Does anyone else have this problem and how do you deal with it.

Guilty! I was taught how to read the histograms in a program like PhotoShop to determine when something is actually off. I was just going through some photos from 2006 that required some intense brightening (60%+) and I noticed the final image looked a litte funny. I checked the histograms and sure enough it was too green (I would have never figured that out) so I just slid the left scroll over 3 clicks and it looked much better.

[InspetorMFD]

How do you use the histogram to determine color accuracy.

[Switched out]

Originally Posted by InspetorMFD

Christine

Thanks for the advise. One problem I have, and I'm curious if any other photographers have this problem, is I am color blind so determining color quality and correctness is often difficult. Does anyone else have this problem and how do you deal with it.

Bummer.

I did a bit of research on color blindness and photography and was a little dismayed at the lack of any tools that would make life easier for a color blind person but I did find a few interesting web sites that may be of some help.

This site was the only one I found with a good example of color balancing an image by numbers. You use Photoshop or a suitable software package that allows you to adjust the Red, Green and blue channels independently of each other to correct the white balance.

But before you go there you should check this site that has a good article on understanding color histograms.

Visolve is an application that transforms colors of the computer display into the discriminable colors for various people including people with color vision deficiency, commonly called color blindness. I did not try this software but the web demo looked interesting.

eyePilot is another software package that is designed to help you distinguish different colors on a computer screen but I get the impression it's mainly aimed at business graphics.

I imagine you are already sick of people saying there's always Black and White but it might not be such a bad starting point if you are new to photography. By removing the color component and just concentrating on the composition and exposure of an image you can hone your skills in that aspect of photography without being dogged by images that are slightly off in color and then tackle color later on. Most of us that have a few miles under the belt all started in B&W and worked our way up to color back in the dim dark darkroom days. It's only a suggestion so please don't take it personally if I have upset the apple cart inadvertanly.

Cheers,

Christine.