Background Clutter

[transit383]

Hi all,

This shot got dinged for Background Clutter: http://www.railpictures.net/viewreje...03&key=6429776

I submitted this specifically to depict the clutter that is North Jersey. Any thoughts or comments welcome!

[Mberry]

Frankly it doesn't do much for me. The train being completely centered is of course the other part of the problem, and the other rejection you got. The fact that it's essentially a going away shot is a third strike for rp.

[KevinM]

Hi Gerald,

I'll side with the Screener on this one. Generally, in composition, one of the goals is to avoid significant "merges" with the main subject. In other words, you'd try to avoid a composition in which the main subject appears to touch other significant elements in the scene. Those "merges" are especially annoying when the touching elements dwarf the subject or are the same/similar color. In this case, you've got an angle on the subject that tends to minimize its profile (more or less head-on) and a massive merge with the bridge at perhaps the worst possible spot (one of the support pilings). Some may say that the locomotive appears to be supporting the bridge. You also have vegetation growing around the edges of your subject. While not a bad image from a purely technical standpoint, it's just not a great composition from an artistic perspective....and I am not an artsy-fartsy type at all.

I'd put this one on Flickr.

[Joe the Photog]

With better composition and maybe more than just the one unit, I doubt you'd have got background clutter. At least, the composition to me is 95% of the issue with this shot

[Joseph Cermak]

I agree with what has been said. If you have other frames with the loco in a different position you may be able to work on the composition by cropping those.