On Tracks

[AndrewMcD]

Minimal processing on this one. Some local clarity and sharpening. Slight highlight reduction/recovery. I was trying for mildly disorienting with some interesting texture detail. I've tried some crops and rotation but have left it in its original form; I'm particularly interested in comments in that regard.
Thanks,
Andrew

[Shadowman]

Slightly disorientating (the tilted angle) somewhat distracting (the sun flare and black foreground border).

[IzzieK]

A slight rotation up at the RHS might help...and the dark shadow in the foreground at the bottom LHS is a little bit distracting -- like it is a discontinued railroad or something like that (words failed me at the moment...)

[Stagecoach]

The steel and wood does it for me Andrew, love it.

[Mike Buckley]

The steel and wood does it for me

Same for me. To emphasize it, I would crop on the right to make an approximate square.

The flare doesn't work for me, mostly because of its position.

[John 2]

Yes some nice textures and I like the light. Might have been more comfortable had it leaned the other way. At the moment it feels like I'm being tipped out of the picture. But there again we don't always have to be comfortable.

[bnnrcn]

Black FG border is a bit distracting. Rotating the image anticlockwise might work and I also find Mike's crop suggestion interesting and it is worth trying

[AndrewMcD]

The black foreground has been reduced and a close to square crop. No other changes. As often happens it's now a different image; narrowed down to the wood and steel. Prior to posting the original I had tried cropping and rotating to various degrees that didn't quite express what I was seeing. This cropped version is a more forceful visual image yet still retains the elements that were important to me.

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions. The help provided here is priceless. It's a bit of a two edged sword because often I end up with a stronger image but kind of kick myself thinking "why didn't I see that?" But......this is how I learn.

Oh yes, regarding lens flare......it's a subject I need to read up on but while we're here.....any suggestions for controlling lens flare? I've had a couple of instances lately when I might have liked to minimize flare.

[Mike Buckley]

The way to eliminate flare is to place anything near the lens that prevents the direct light from entering the lens. If you're shooting handheld, it helps to have someone who can hold their hand or hat in the proper place but I've done it by myself. If you're shooting with a tripod, you can do it yourself very easily. There are also small, flexible arms that attach to the hot shoe on one end and have a clip on the other end that can hold a black card in the desired position.

In this image, the flare in the bottom of the frame can be eliminated by altering the green tone in post-processing. The flare in the upper right corner adds to the atmospheric mood, so I would leave it as is.

My version was done very quickly, too quickly. If you toggle back and forth in the Lytebox between your version and my version, you'll at least get an idea of what can be done. Your image is so nice that it deserves taking the time to properly attend to the flare.

[Mike Buckley]

I keep looking at this image and liking it more and more. If you could return to the same scene in similar light with a tripod, you could shoot at your camera's base ISO and a smaller aperture. I think the image would be ideal if everything from the foreground to just past the bright light reflected in the train track was sharply in focus, which would require a smaller aperture than you used.

By the way, you shot this at ISO 800 and a shutter of 1/3200. You could have used ISO 100 and a shutter of 1/400 to get the same exposure.

Regardless, you had a great eye to spot this image and concept.

[bnnrcn]

Crop looks better Andrew For the flare issue, if it is a small one I try cloning it in my images because I usually forget to put my hand near the lens to prevent the flare