...to be young and carefree!
by Venom

Comment by Brad:
Yeah, these shots are cute now, but in 20-30 years time, they will be some of the most cherished moments imaginable.

...to be young and carefree!
by Venom

Comment by karmat:
the focus seems a bit soft, but i like the humor factor it invokes. makes me smile.

Everlasting Life
by Venom

Comment by onejumpjohnny:
good clarity, good light

...to be young and carefree!
by Venom

Comment by abranton:
A cute snapshot..nice expression. Those were the days. Good luck.

Anti-Gravity
by Venom

Comment by JeffDay:
This is a cool capture with good composition, the flags are a nice touch. What would make this a stronger image is more drama in the sky. The use of a polorizer would increase the color in the sky. Good job

...to be young and carefree!
by Venom

Comment by Dirt_Diver:
hahha cute.

...to be young and carefree!
by Venom

Comment by JeffDay:
cute picture and pose, would be better if foot wasn't cropped

...to be young and carefree!
by Venom

Comment by Judi:
Good fun capture but needs a levels boost.

Everlasting Life
by Venom

Comment by Tom:
Nice. It might have worked a little better if you used a larger aperture to get all the words in focus, but nice start!

Line of Travel
by Venom

Comment by PaulE:
Greetings from the Critique Club.

Hi Brandon,

Welcome to DPC. Congratulations on your first challenge submission.

Railway tracks were a fairly common choice of subject matter for this challenge - this makes it all the more difficult for you to make your submission stand-out from the crowd. It does however mean that one of the best ways you can learn from this challenge is to look at all the other rail shots, especially those that did well, and really consider what they did differently and what impact it had on the final product. What POV (point-of-view) did they use? What time of the day did they shoot? Where are the shadows? What post-processing did they do? I notice that the first four rail shots all chose a B&W duo-tone conversion to make the shots look out of a different era. They also used a change in the tonality to emphasise the vanishing point - often with the vanishing point itself a bit blown out.

On the positive side, your shot is technically sound, and represents a good starting point: it is in focus and well framed. I think you might want to start developing your post-processing skills so that with similar shots in future you will be better equiped to bring all that is good out of the exposure.

It is my hope that these insights are helpful and constructive. Please feel free to PM me if you have any questions regarding this critique. And please remember to mark it "Helpful" if you found it so. Good luck with future challenges.

Cheers
Paul