Please educate me

[baggydave]

What does RP mean by "poor image quality"?
http://www.railpictures.net/viewreje...32&key=1153069
This was rejected for not enough light
http://www.railpictures.net/viewreje...70&key=4015791
so I lightened everything up slightly and then got hit again.Help for my understanding would be gratefully received
Thanks in advance

[bigbassloyd]

bad lighting, noise, halos, blurry, color is off, etc.

The image looks like it took a drunken bender through the instagram filter file.

Loyd L.

[baggydave]

Good start. my processing is crap. This any better?

[KevinM]

Originally Posted by baggydave

What does RP mean by "poor image quality"?
http://www.railpictures.net/viewreje...32&key=1153069
This was rejected for not enough light
http://www.railpictures.net/viewreje...70&key=4015791
so I lightened everything up slightly and then got hit again.Help for my understanding would be gratefully received
Thanks in advance

Hi Dave,

I can't comment on poor image quality, as the lap-top I am on at the moment has a less than impressive screen.

I will say that the subject clearly does not have direct lighting and it appears as if significant editing was done to try and overcome that issue. That might be acceptable if the image were an old film shot, or if the subject were something special or unusual. For common power like this however, you're rolling the dice submitting this kind of shot. You might get lucky and find a screener who would make an exception to the "rules", but the odds are much better that it's going to get the hook. If you like it, that's great. Put it up on Flickr or SmugMug, or some personal site. Unfortunately, the screeners clearly don't like it (2 strikes so far), and with respect to RP, theirs is the only opinion that counts.

[troy12n]

Originally Posted by baggydave

What does RP mean by "poor image quality"?
http://www.railpictures.net/viewreje...32&key=1153069
This was rejected for not enough light
http://www.railpictures.net/viewreje...70&key=4015791
so I lightened everything up slightly and then got hit again.Help for my understanding would be gratefully received
Thanks in advance

Yeah, it looks really compressed, I see it too, also the foreground looks almost blurry, not in focus. Maybe it's the conversion to .jpg that's doing it (assuming you are shooting in raw)

[bigbassloyd]

Originally Posted by baggydave

Good start. my processing is crap. This any better?

We block internationally hosted content here at my place of employment, so I cannot see it yet. I'll check back in after the working day is done.

Loyd L.

[magicman_841]

The IQ seems good enough to me. The lighting is very poor and the composition is awkward. No amount of processing will save this one. Also, the chromatic aberration is brutal (look at the tank car).

Just let it go, Dave. Looking at your RP photos, I'm sure you have way better stuff to work on.

[Joseph Cermak]

This particular photo aside, I have been under the impression that the "poor image quality" primarily has to do with technical quality of the photo itself. Lie how a cell phone camera has poor image quality compared to a DSLR. There are specific rejections for things like lighting, grain/noise, and aesthetic qualities. Correct me if i'm wrong, but this is my understanding of that particular rejection.

[KevinM]

Hi Joseph,

Historically, "Poor Image Quality" (or PIQ) has been used by RP to describe a variety of conditions, including, but not limited to insufficient resolution, improper resizing, the presence of artifacts, excessive noise, excessive/inadequate sharpening, etc. Improper processing and/or excessive editing of low-resolution JPEGs often triggers this rejection. Yes, they do have separate rejection reasons for some of those conditions, but if the quality of the image just does not look good to the screener, they may not attempt to over-analyze and just pick PIQ.

Unless the photographer ends up discovering a gross processing error that can be corrected using a fresh copy of the original image, it usually is the kiss-of-death on RP.

[Joseph Cermak]

Originally Posted by KevinM

Hi Joseph,

Historically, "Poor Image Quality" (or PIQ) has been used by RP to describe a variety of conditions, including, but not limited to insufficient resolution, improper resizing, the presence of artifacts, excessive noise, excessive/inadequate sharpening, etc. Improper processing and/or excessive editing of low-resolution JPEGs often triggers this rejection. Yes, they do have separate rejection reasons for some of those conditions, but if the quality of the image just does not look good to the screener, they may not attempt to over-analyze and just pick PIQ.

Unless the photographer ends up discovering a gross processing error that can be corrected using a fresh copy of the original image, it usually is the kiss-of-death on RP.

Yeah that's more or less my understanding and you did a better job explaining it. I know in the past there was some confusion between PIQ and PAQ, where PIQ does not have anything to do with the aesthetics of a photo like composition.

[bigbassloyd]

After getting home to examine the redo. I don't see this one ever working out for RP.

Loyd L.

[baggydave]

Seems that the old adage of "you can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear" still holds true. It was very backlit but I happened to like the picture as I am a sucker for reflections. It's on flickr so that will do. I had wondered about poor image quality as it seemed to me as another variation to a PEQ. Let's dump this one and get no more hassle from the photographer. Many of you will maybe remember the problems I've had with screeners!!
As a tourist in the States it is very much take what you can get as you won't be back again for at least a year and when the sun or weather is against you the analogy of silk purse and sow's ear becomes very relevant. I was in Michigan last month and for the first time I caught a train running from Powers to Escanaba.( I had been along that line 3 times in the last three years and seen nothing). Three different shots taken



All give me great pleasure. Don't see them getting on here.
What I am trying to say is that you guys in the USA should count yourself very lucky. You have the chance to return and get the killer shot. I have to make do and mend. (Too many old wive's sayings I think.) Thanks for criticisms, they really help.

[JRMDC]

Originally Posted by baggydave

What I am trying to say is that you guys in the USA should count yourself very lucky. You have the chance to return and get the killer shot. I have to make do and mend.

Isn't the luck equal, in a bidirectional sense? I, living in the US, don't have the opportunity to return to Wolsztyn and get a killer shot. I have to settle for the mid-day high contrast stuff I got. For that matter the US is a big country and I don't have much opportunity to return to any of dozens of places I have been.

J

PhotoID: 445204 Photograph © Janusz Mrozek

[miningcamper1]

Originally Posted by baggydave

What I am trying to say is that you guys in the USA should count yourself very lucky.

Oh, I don't know. Preservationists seem to have been much more successful in the UK and Europe. You have many heritage railways, much better intercity passenger rail, castles, cities restored to their grand old appearance, etc., etc.
I'm sure the East Broad Top would be in full operation if only it were located in England.

[baggydave]

Ah but we don't have the killer scenery, the big skies, the deserts, mesas and all the things that I love about the States. Railways in the UK now seemed cramped after many visits across the Atlantic. Where I live there are very few vistas that take the breath away.
I remember going on a couple of trips with a friend of mine. One around the States west of Colorado and the other in California and Nevada. I asked him what he thought of California, he replied" It's lovely, you go wow every 30 minutes or so but in Colorado you go wow every 5 minutes". I can't think of anywhere in England to compare with that statement

[RobJor]

I know a little of OP's route and at least where he started there is little activity and certainly nothing like the noon train where you can plan ahead. I'd think tho on the the La Crosse photo there would be a shot there at a different time of the day but that depends on how much of a couple weeks only you want to spend at one spot.

Speaking of Yooper land this is one from a few years back of the L'Anse job but required a long drive, waiting for several hours, I had my Border Collie with and he got plenty of time to chase stuff. The colors were so unreal that this is actually de-saturated.

Bob Jordan

[miningcamper1]

Originally Posted by baggydave

Ah but we don't have the killer scenery, the big skies, the deserts, mesas and all the things that I love about the States. Railways in the UK now seemed cramped after many visits across the Atlantic. Where I live there are very few vistas that take the breath away.
I remember going on a couple of trips with a friend of mine. One around the States west of Colorado and the other in California and Nevada. I asked him what he thought of California, he replied" It's lovely, you go wow every 30 minutes or so but in Colorado you go wow every 5 minutes". I can't think of anywhere in England to compare with that statement

OK, but the Alps aren't that far away. Much as I love Colorado, the Alps are far more spectacular, IMO. The Rhätische Bahn is like an electrified Rio Grande Southern, with some features that outdo anything RGS had.

[troy12n]

Originally Posted by baggydave

Seems that the old adage of "you can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear" still holds true. It was very backlit but I happened to like the picture as I am a sucker for reflections. It's on flickr so that will do. I had wondered about poor image quality as it seemed to me as another variation to a PEQ. Let's dump this one and get no more hassle from the photographer. Many of you will maybe remember the problems I've had with screeners!!
As a tourist in the States it is very much take what you can get as you won't be back again for at least a year and when the sun or weather is against you the analogy of silk purse and sow's ear becomes very relevant. I was in Michigan last month and for the first time I caught a train running from Powers to Escanaba.( I had been along that line 3 times in the last three years and seen nothing). Three different shots taken



All give me great pleasure. Don't see them getting on here.
What I am trying to say is that you guys in the USA should count yourself very lucky. You have the chance to return and get the killer shot. I have to make do and mend. (Too many old wive's sayings I think.) Thanks for criticisms, they really help.

Dave, don't take this the wrong way, but those black and white conversions are pretty poor, I think if you worked on the conversion better they might have a chance. It's very "grayscale" and less black and white...

[baggydave]

No offence taken Troy. I just dashed them off to try and illustrate a point. I will attempt to alleviate the greyness and perhaps offer one up for sacrifice!!