Bad Color On Night Shot.

[Watain]

The yard where the train was working had awful lighting, so I had to fix a massive orange cast, I think I may have gotten it too blue, and cant get the color of the engine right. Any suggestions? I'll send the RAW file to anyone if they're willing to play with it.

Newest one, this time they decided to hit it for bad cropping.

http://www.railpictures.net/viewreje...24&key=8147380

Color.

http://www.railpictures.net/viewreje...85&key=2547964

Honestly I didn't think this one was that underexposed..

http://www.railpictures.net/viewreje...03&key=8006587

I have one of another train from last night with the same lighting, somehow the colors turned out better..

PhotoID: 424967 Photograph © Wayne Stumbo

[JimThias]

It's got the Joe Blues.

[Joe the Photog]

Originally Posted by JimThias

It's got the Joe Blues.

No. It's just got the blues. Look at the white on front of the Southern GEVO. Well, where the white is supposed to be as well as the numberboards. Both are clearly blue. The lighting is also harsh. No light on the plow and the black NS motor looks a little over exposed. Good luck getting this one in. I don't see it happening.

[bigbassloyd]

Very poor lighting, and those LED numberboards are just wretched.

I agree with Joe, I don't see it getting in.

Loyd L.

[Watain]

Yeah the number plates are terrible, even worse than the ACe heritage locos. Honestly I'm disappointed with how this turned out.. It's my favorite of the heritage schemes, and lord only knows when it'll be back through.

I had all my flash equipment with me, I should have used it... Oh well.

[Watain]

Well the guy standing next to me was successful.

PhotoID: 425271 Photograph © Greg Booher

[nikos1]

Probably did some HDR processing to get the number board detail back, those LED boards are a pain to shoot.

[JimThias]

Originally Posted by Watain

Well the guy standing next to me was successful.

[JRMDC]

At least, Wayne, you can look at Greg's shot and see how you can fix the color. He got it right, or at least much, much better.

[Watain]

Yeah I was talking to him on Facebook about how he processed it. I'll probably mess with it, then wait a week or two and try it again. I'm not calling him out about it eithr, he just did a much better job than I did.

[Mgoldman]

Your shot is centered - the train is right there not too high up, not too low - just right there in the middle - crop monster food.

As for the colors - you should try playing with temperature, color balance and finally selective processing of the scene (you can for instance, adjust only the color of the sky, the engine - the exposure of the part of the scene, ect.). If for no other reason to see what is possible and what the effects are and how you can best utilize them in the future.

As for the shot that got in - my best guess is that it was an HDR or layered image. You can shoot multiple images at different exposures and then make an HDR (some cameras now do this automatically) or you could simply expose for the LED numberboards in a separate exposure and layer them into the original image. I doubt one exposure could really cover the full range as the accepted image has.

Y'know... unless you turn the lights off early in the exposure!

/Mitch

[Watain]

Hows this guys?

The new Lightroom is freakin awesome. This was just messing around with it for 20 minutes.

[MagnumForce]

Numberboards are still horrendous

[coborn35]

But with LED numberboards commonplace now people are going to have to accept that in lieu of taking two different shots most numberboards are going to be blown out. Just a fact of life.

[Watain]

Originally Posted by coborn35

But with LED numberboards commonplace now people are going to have to accept that in lieu of taking two different shots most numberboards are going to be blown out. Just a fact of life.

Very true. Here's some more blown out numberboards.

PhotoID: 402842 Photograph © Wayne Stumbo

PhotoID: 418803 Photograph © Wayne Stumbo

I think the screeners know how much effort goes into shooting at night, so they may over look bright number plates, unless they are in your face.

[Joe the Photog]

Originally Posted by Watain

Well the guy standing next to me was successful.

Define successful. If you mean getting his shot on RP, then, yes, I guess he was successful. His shot might be as good as you xan get at that location, but the lighting is still bad. There's a partly fake HDR-look going on and I still see a blue tint on the nose of the 8099.

That will be my luck one day, to finally catch this unit (not at Foamstock) and have them put it in a terribly lighting situation. But if it makes you feel any better, the accepted shot shouldn't have been accepted either, IMHO.

[nikos1]

Everything else aside the reworked image looks alot sharper than the rejection links you provided. That to me was more of an issue than the color.

[Watain]

So the color is fixed, and now I suck at cropping. Any guesses?

First try. What you see with the sky is what you get, I have more of the concrete pad to work with.

http://www.railpictures.net/viewreje...38&key=9899552

Second try.

http://www.railpictures.net/viewreje...29&key=6697478

Third try. Soft, so I figured I sharpen it more and re-submit...

http://www.railpictures.net/viewreje...76&key=7307860

Fourth try, unlevel and bad cropping.

http://www.railpictures.net/viewreje...83&key=5292121

[Joe the Photog]

You really want this shot in the database. I guess I've been there. I don't see the big deal about this shot. It's basically a wedgie roster shot with bad lighting of an engine sitting in a yard.

I would have taken the shot, but it'd be Flickr all the way, Jim.

[Watain]

Originally Posted by Joe the Photog

You really want this shot in the database. I guess I've been there. I don't see the big deal about this shot. It's basically a wedgie roster shot with bad lighting of an engine sitting in a yard.

I would have taken the shot, but it'd be Flickr all the way, Jim.

I know its probably a boring shot to most, but it has meaning to me. Its the second NS heritage unit I've seen in person, and the Southern(along with the Interstate) are my favorite schemes. Also I nearly froze to death waiting on this train, and took countless photos of it trying to get a good shot. Ironically the best one of the night wasn't even the heritage unit.. I worked hard trying to shoot this thing, and you see the end result.

Also Joe, I don't want to sound rude either, and I get what you're saying but all of my night shots on here (except for one) are poorly lit. I even have one that I got on here, lit with a single flash unit. I am not bragging naturally but it seems they're more lenient with lighting on night shots.

[JimThias]

Originally Posted by Watain

Also I nearly froze to death waiting on this train, and took countless photos of it trying to get a good shot. Ironically the best one of the night wasn't even the heritage unit.. I worked hard trying to shoot this thing, and you see the end result.

You should have put that in your caption. The screeners are more likely to accept a shot if you explain how much you suffered to get it.

[Holloran Grade]

For what it is worth, I like the color and light in your image better than the accepted version.

[Watain]

Originally Posted by JimThias

You should have put that in your caption. The screeners are more likely to accept a shot if you explain how much you suffered to get it.

Hey it's actually worked a couple times before. I've also used the ''comments to screeners'' box with success before.

Originally Posted by Holloran Grade

For what it is worth, I like the color and light in your image better than the accepted version.

Thanks, I do too. But oh well.