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Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: D&L (Advanced Editing IV)
Collection: Places
Camera: Gateway DC-T50
Location: Buttons Bluff, VA (Botetourt County)
Date: Aug 28, 2005
Aperture: 1:5.6
ISO: 100
Shutter: 1/160 sec
Galleries: Rural, Transportation
Date Uploaded: Aug 28, 2005

 This was taken from the top of an extremely sheer cliff (Buttons Bluff). I literally crawled to the edge on my belly and held the camera out over the edge. As luck would have it, when I was just about to crawl back to my car I heard the rumbling of an oncoming train and was able to click away as it emerged from the tunnel and sped off in the distance.

I considered calling it "Daring & Ludicrous" for the fact that I was out there on that precipitous ledge (and the fact that I am severely acrophobic too).

PP was rather extensive:
crop
selective treatments to layers of train, everything but the train, river, sky, & mountains
contrast
curves
reduce backlighting
sepia filter for everything but train
blending brush to smooth layers and clear some debris in the river (and remove a few leaves in the foreground)
dodge & burn brush (to darken some washed out areas and create the smoke coming from the locomotive)
save for web

Statistics
Place: 22 out of 200
Avg (all users): 6.5119
Avg (commenters): 7.2222
Avg (participants): 6.1707
Avg (non-participants): 6.8372
Views since voting: 2653
Views during voting: 384
Votes: 252
Comments: 44
Favorites: 5 (view)

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AuthorThread
 02/25/2006 11:27:15 AM
This is an awesome angle. The train leading to the distant horizon is awesome!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/22/2006 12:03:14 PM
Hey Jimmy - it is Jonathan here - I am glad I finally got back to this website - I also realized I could post comments!!!! I think I mentioned to you before that I quite like this one of the train from above - I have put it in my "favorites" file...
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/01/2006 08:32:57 PM
great composition...the bridge and the train really lead you in. i would try it in black and white and then burn the corners. i think it might work well this way
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/27/2005 10:39:58 AM
I like this photo...its been given an old time feel. The first I looked at this I didn't notice the smoke coming from the engine. Great shot!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 10/11/2005 07:59:11 AM
Great shot! First, I am a fan of trains, so this scores right off the bat. BUT...it is such a great shot - the perspective is totally unique which gives it an element not found often; the curve of the tracks is classic and also not found often in pics - usually one turn, but not an S curve; the smoke in the distance where the train has left the shot is perfect - leaves you wondering if the shot is 'new' or 'old' and it is an old steam engine pulling the load. Maybe a little too much on the sharpening...not sure. A b/w version might be worth a try as well - the shot can hold up I am sure. Very well done!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/10/2005 03:40:31 PM
great vantage point. I love your lighting here and tone depth. If you didnt oversharpen it, you might of won !
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/10/2005 08:15:18 AM
This is a beautiful picture, the opportunity of the train well used. Composition is great, with the train waving through the picture. I like the colouring as well. I must say I scored it too low in the challenge (5), this definitely deserved better on second look!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/08/2005 11:59:21 AM
Congrats on a top 25 finish! AND such a high scoring photo! Good on ya.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/07/2005 10:09:03 PM
Critique Club!!!
What a great score and a great placing a highly deserving image --- congrats to you!

I agree with all of the below comments and I truly think that there is very little to be improved upon in this image. Composition and perspective are both spot on and everything seems just well thought out. The tone is great and fitting and this is just a thrill for the eyes from the water to the spout of smoke off in the distance. Truly brilliant work!

The only real problem that I have is that this seems deathly oversharpened or overcompressed, which can be avoided and changed, and I think that that makes the image a little bit aesthetically unpleasing.

Obviously, voters and myself easily saw through that minor problem and you ended up with a whopping 6.5!

Great stuff, keep it up!!!

Lee
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/06/2005 11:53:26 AM
congrat on your second best score! great shot that really stood out for me.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/05/2005 08:21:53 PM
I loved this. Great composition and tones;) Well done:))
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/05/2005 07:23:28 PM
I thought this shot should have been in the top 10 (if not top 5). I gave it a 10...and am amazed that it didn't do better. I love it - really just a great job.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/05/2005 08:32:15 AM
Nice score, congrats. I like the contrast & line of your shot, great job!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/05/2005 01:13:32 AM
Wow this was yours? My post editing was lousy but people found it interesting. This is quite some angle. I gave it an 8 in the challenge.

Good job.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/05/2005 12:18:50 AM
Great job! Love the line through this. It really takes you through the image.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
09/04/2005 11:42:30 PM
Gorgeous tones in this shot with selective desaturation used to good effect
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/04/2005 07:26:11 PM
Great angle and coloring.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/04/2005 07:00:15 PM
The coloration here is simply provacative and truly satisfying to enhance the mood. 8
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/04/2005 03:05:16 PM
I like it very much
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/04/2005 10:11:50 AM
nice shot and perspective. I like the way the different elements were processed to focus on the train instead of landscape. Must have been quite a perch up there!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/04/2005 08:57:32 AM
Aweseome composition and exposure. So well shot it looks almost like a model set. Great shot.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/02/2005 10:13:57 PM
very crisp. though alot of brownish hues, would have liked to see it with only 2 or 3 colors. really like the engine smoke in the distance. wish you made that the center of focus by giving it more room from the top, rather than the foreground
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/02/2005 08:35:24 PM
10. favorite. looks like a JJ (Beguin that is :)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/01/2005 11:09:49 PM
Leading lines part III?
I'm not a big fan of the sepia treatment
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/01/2005 01:15:26 PM
I like the tones and leading lines in this image a lot.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/31/2005 11:28:12 AM
I really like this, it fits the topic well, but it looks a bit over-sharpened to me
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/31/2005 08:54:40 AM
Although I'm not crazy about the muted tones, I really like the angle which seems to make the train extend forever.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/31/2005 04:55:53 AM
nice one, i really like it, amazing
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/30/2005 11:30:40 PM
This is just bloody brilliant. Looks like you played with the colors a bit to achieve those earth tones, and I'm loving it.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/30/2005 07:54:20 PM
Great sense of flow through the frame here, and a good solid exposure. Your sharpening seems overdone on my screen - the leaves have turned into single pixels almost, but i think the voters generally like that so I can't blame you. It has interest photographically, almost verging on a sense of the model from your depth of field. Nice work.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/30/2005 04:33:07 PM
I love this shot, however, I can see that USM was used to an extreme. Otherwise 10!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/30/2005 09:02:02 AM
Great leading line. I wonder what a high contrasting black and white would do for this to add a bit of interest. Just a thought.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/30/2005 04:31:10 AM
Great shape and nice hint of engine at the top.....well composed
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/30/2005 12:11:36 AM
This is an interesting composition (I love trains...)
It seems over-sharpened (the white flecks in the middle trees.)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/29/2005 11:29:54 PM
Nice photo, I love the lines. I would have liked to see a little more color and a little less sharpening though.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/29/2005 08:31:41 PM
Love the nice chocolate sepia and "flow" of this image...it almost looks like a scale model somehow...nice vintage quality.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/29/2005 06:43:53 PM
Very interesting, great angle, lovely tones 9
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/29/2005 06:26:36 PM
great tone. Love the leading line. Gave it a 10
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/29/2005 03:02:42 PM
i thought of this idea as well. I like it, but to me is way oversharpened. notice how everything has a white dotted shine. that means os.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/29/2005 01:16:49 PM
Tonal range and composition is just wonderful. But there's something weird going on with the trees in the middle. They look like the result of a postprocessing mistake, like if you scale down without using any interpolation, or maybe low quality sharpening? 7 (would be a 10 without the artifacts)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/29/2005 01:06:43 PM
I love the fact that you can see the smoke way off inthe distance. I'm not convinced that this was taken with the challenge in mind but it's a great image.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/29/2005 12:57:02 PM
Very nice shot. Gotta love trains! Nice reflections in the river. Sepia tones are wonderful. Great job! 9
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/29/2005 06:58:02 AM
You had the best position for this shot and it pays off a solid 10
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/29/2005 04:29:07 AM
the s curve is what wind=ns for me a very well taken image 7
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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