2017 project 52 1st Quarter. Craigie

[Craigie]

My intention for this project, is to get out of my comfort zone (birds and wildlife) by doing landscapes, buildings and the one I feel most uncomfortable with, people.
The theme will be Railways in and around Perthshire.
So no better place to start than Perth Station.
Gear, Canon 1100D Canon 10-18mm
All C&C needed.

Perth Station f5.6 1/60sec ISO 100 FL 18mm.

[Shadowman]

Nice start to the challenge, I would consider cropping some of the bottom and right side to remove the utility pole.

[Craigie]

Nice start to the challenge, I would consider cropping some of the bottom and right side to remove the utility pole.

Thanks John for your comments and suggestion.
The cropped version certainly removes a very busy corner of the image.

2

[Urbanflyer]

Nice start to 2017. The cropped version also puts somewhat equal emphasis on the tracks on the left, which suggests a story..a more interesting photo, your additional pp has brightened it up. Good job!

[mknittle]

Looks great Gary.

[Craigie]

Nice start to 2017. The cropped version also puts somewhat equal emphasis on the tracks on the left, which suggests a story..a more interesting photo, your additional pp has brightened it up. Good job!

Thanks for your comments Judith, much appreciated.

[Craigie]

Looks great Gary.

Thank you Mark.

[madcrow]

First image good, second one better, I like them.

[Tony M]

Hi Gary.

A good start to the year. The second image is a big improvement over the first. You have reduced the number of elements in the photo and made it more attractive as a result. And by no coincidence, the train now conforms to the "rule of thirds" (to badly quote Pirates of the Caribbean: "it's not a rule, think of it more as a guide"). The curving rail track to its left balances the image nicely.

The next challenge (and one I always find a difficult one) is to conceive of this composition at the time the photo is taken.

Tony

[Craigie]

First image good, second one better, I like them.

Thanks Maurice for viewing and commenting.

[Craigie]

Hi Gary.

A good start to the year. The second image is a big improvement over the first. You have reduced the number of elements in the photo and made it more attractive as a result. And by no coincidence, the train now conforms to the "rule of thirds" (to badly quote Pirates of the Caribbean: "it's not a rule, think of it more as a guide"). The curving rail track to its left balances the image nicely.

The next challenge (and one I always find a difficult one) is to conceive of this composition at the time the photo is taken.

Tony

Many thanks Tony for your positive comments.
The challenge for me as you rightly say, is to conceive to get the composition right at the time when the photo is taken.

[Wavelength]

Very nice image

[Craigie]

Very nice image

Thanks Nandakumar, on a bit of a learning curve on this genre of photography.

[Craigie]

These images are my second week of project 2017.
They are from Dunkeld, a small station 14 miles north of Perth.
I worked for British Rail in the 1970s/1980s as a technician and Dunkeld station was part of my area.
So I was disappointed in the state the station building, dirty and damp, now completely closed to the public.
At least the signal box operators did there bit in painting the signal box, #4.
Better viewed in lightbox.
C&C welcome.

1 Station front. f11 0.4sec ISO 100 FL10mm tripod used.


2 Station rear. f11 0.4sec ISO 100 FL10mm tripod used.


3 Station canopy. f16 0.8sec ISO 200 FL 235mm tripod used.


3 Signal box f11 1/60sec ISO 500 FL 18mm hand held.

[Geoff F]

Basically OK, Gary, but circumstances were against you here; starting with some rather dull natural light.

You have extracted some good detail and colour from the scene in #1 but ideally I would have liked to see all of the left hand side but perhaps you had to exclude something or were physically restrained from moving back any more. Also a pity about that branch coming from the top right corner. Not much else that you could have done about it though.

With #2 you have also worked well to overcome the lighting difficulties but once again I would have liked to see all of the building. Or maybe zoom in a bit and just show some main areas?

#3 clearly caused some serious lighting issues which you have largely overcome. But I think I would have tried to selectively add a little more brightness during editing then selectively darken that bright area outside the canopy. Even with F16 the top right corner is going a fraction soft. Ideally I would have liked that to be sharp and to lose any softness in the far distance where it would have seemed more natural.

The last image is another difficult scene where you have managed to bring out the detail and colour. Maybe just a fraction on the tight side though?

[Cantab]

Gary, I enjoyed the photos. I was surprised once I noticed in #3 that there was colour detail in the canopy. Attention was obviously paid to detail when the station was originally built.

[Shadowman]

Agree with Geoff's comments about the sky, #3 set works a bit more than the others.

[Craigie]

Basically OK, Gary, but circumstances were against you here; starting with some rather dull natural light.

You have extracted some good detail and colour from the scene in #1 but ideally I would have liked to see all of the left hand side but perhaps you had to exclude something or were physically restrained from moving back any more. Also a pity about that branch coming from the top right corner. Not much else that you could have done about it though.

With #2 you have also worked well to overcome the lighting difficulties but once again I would have liked to see all of the building. Or maybe zoom in a bit and just show some main areas?

#3 clearly caused some serious lighting issues which you have largely overcome. But I think I would have tried to selectively add a little more brightness during editing then selectively darken that bright area outside the canopy. Even with F16 the top right corner is going a fraction soft. Ideally I would have liked that to be sharp and to lose any softness in the far distance where it would have seemed more natural.

The last image is another difficult scene where you have managed to bring out the detail and colour. Maybe just a fraction on the tight side though?

Thanks very much Geoff for your constructive critique, I do appreciate it.

With #1 I was constricted by the overhanging branches, if I moved back they would have covered most of the chimneys. I did clone out some of the branches in the original image, in retrospect I should have cloned out the rest of them.
Below is the image as shot.
1a

With #2 I liked the symmetry of the shot.


#3 took your advice and brightened under the canopy and darkened the area outside the canopy.
3a


With #4 I could not go any further back.
Below is the image as shot.

4a

[Craigie]

Gary, I enjoyed the photos. I was surprised once I noticed in #3 that there was colour detail in the canopy. Attention was obviously paid to detail when the station was originally built.

Thanks for viewing and commenting Bruce.
Only the Victorians would have designed such an ornate piece of ironworks for such a mundane thing as a bracket to hold up a canopy.
Below is a close up of the middle of the bracket.

[Craigie]

Agree with Geoff's comments about the sky, #3 set works a bit more than the others.

Thanks for viewing and commenting John.