Overexposed, too bright

[Chris Z]

I was a little surprised at this since in the past some of my images were rejected for being too dark and had to make them overly bright to get then accepted.

http://www.railpictures.net/viewreje...68&key=9073350

Chris Z

[JRMDC]

Looks like you overexposed the entire thing to get the subject lit up, and you blew out the sky. Looks like a failed rescue on a cloudy common.

If accepted, it would be the worst image of your quality RP set, I suspect - solely because of the blown out sky. It's an engine not often seen on RP, but still I don't see it getting on. I suggest putting it aside.

[miningcamper1]

Originally Posted by JRMDC

...the blown out sky.

Looks more like one of those days with a featureless sky so there's nothing to blow out.

[Mgoldman]

The sky does look excessively bright - you could try "Select Color Range" and eyedrop the sky, or just magic wand the sky, fade edges slightly to avoid a halo and then darken that sky - either shadows and highlights or exposure or possibly curves /levels. Or better yet - do a second edit in RAW and process for the sky only. Then, layer that into your already processed image which looks exposed for the engine.

Maybe... you could go for a B&W. Sometimes a bland white sky is less an issue with B&W then with color.

Nice to see #1385! Looking forward to her return!

/Mitch

[miningcamper1]

Originally Posted by Mgoldman

The sky does look excessively bright - you could try "Select Color Range" and eyedrop the sky, or just magic wand the sky, fade edges slightly to avoid a halo and then darken that sky - either shadows and highlights or exposure or possibly curves /levels. Or better yet - do a second edit in RAW and process for the sky only. Then, layer that into your already processed image which looks exposed for the engine.

Maybe... you could go for a B&W. Sometimes a bland white sky is less an issue with B&W then with color.

Nice to see #1385! Looking forward to her return!

/Mitch

Hmmm. If you're going to do all that, why not just replace the whole sky?

[Mgoldman]

Originally Posted by miningcamper1

Hmmm. If you're going to do all that, why not just replace the whole sky?

Then it would not be real. Just offering a few techniques to bring back what may have been captured but not visible in processing. BTW - I didn't say do all that, just chose one technique you feel comfortable with.

/Mitch

[miningcamper1]

Originally Posted by Mgoldman

Then it would not be real.

I knew you would say that, hence, Mr. Twisted:

BTW, given that the photo date was 1991, would RAW files have any relevance here?

[Mgoldman]

Originally Posted by miningcamper1

I knew you would say that, hence, Mr. Twisted:

BTW, given that the photo date was 1991, would RAW files have any relevance here?

If so, I would imagine the resolution is very poor! If not, then perhaps a second scan exposed /processed for the sky. A pseudo HDR of sorts. But the detail may have carried over with the first scan.

/Mitch

[JRMDC]

Originally Posted by JRMDC

If accepted, it would be the worst image of your quality RP set, I suspect - solely because of the blown out sky. It's an engine not often seen on RP, but still I don't see it getting on. I suggest putting it aside.

My first sentence above was too harsh and anyway erroneous, sorry. I didn't notice the year, thought it was a tourist RR shot. What Mitch said.

[Chris Z]

It was an early morning shot and it was cloudy, but the sun started showing through, hence the gray sky. At least that's what I vaguely remember. Playing around with the original scan, I was able to get a darker sky in PS, but it's still gray. Unless, I make it blue, but I don't want to. So, I guess it stays on my hard drive for my own personal enjoyment.

Maybe someday #1385 will run again, and I then maybe I'll get a chance to get a better picture. And that's a lot of maybe's.

Chris Z

[Mgoldman]

Originally Posted by Chris Z

It was an early morning shot and it was cloudy, but the sun started showing through, hence the gray sky. At least that's what I vaguely remember. Playing around with the original scan, I was able to get a darker sky in PS, but it's still gray. Unless, I make it blue, but I don't want to. So, I guess it stays on my hard drive for my own personal enjoyment.

Chris Z

Chris - I say, go with the "still gray" sky. Gray is better then white and the biggest issue was not so much the color of the sky (I hope), but the brightness of the sky. It's a cool shot that nicely shows the lines and details of a well loved engine. An engine that may even benefit from some more exposure - seeing how it's back under restoration.

Best of luck!

/Mitch

[miningcamper1]

Originally Posted by Chris Z

So, I guess it stays on my hard drive for my own personal enjoyment.

Why? My recent way of doing things: every shot I submit here is already on Flickr. This reduces the "aggravation for the sake of views" tradeoff somewhat.

[Chris Z]

I do have a flickr account, but I don't have that much there, nor do I do anything to promote it. I have too many hobbies. Here is the link.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/roadjunkie/

Chris Z

[miningcamper1]

Originally Posted by Chris Z

I do have a flickr account, but I don't have that much there, nor do I do anything to promote it. I have too many hobbies. Here is the link.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/roadjunkie/

Chris Z

I took a quick look at your photos there. Lots to like (and fave)!

You can do a lot on Flickr in the time it takes to deal with serial subjective rejections here. I have about 50 new followers on Flickr recently, and I'm not even sure what I've done (if anything) to trigger that.

[Chris Z]

After perusing through more of Flickr, I find there are some really creative and fantastic photos on there.

Chris Z

[Sean Mathews]

I would appeal. Being that this was shot in 1991, pre digital age, there is little that can be done to salvage the sky, unlike with a RAW image. Kind of makes this image antique. What did we do before DSLRs? At any rate, I think the screeners may have thought this was a more recent photo. Hope it gets in. It's a neat engine. and a good historical reference photo.

[denvillerailfan]

Chris, have you tried different scans to see what detail can be converted?