An Active Railroad

[SpiderBob]

As much as I like this picture, I'm having trouble putting a finger on what else it needs. My boss (my darling wife) says it's great as it is, but it's missing something, I'll take any help. To mention it was an overcast day as well.
Active track 2019-9124 by Robert Ruby, on Flickr

[Wavelength]

Thus is a wonderful image; the track is paralleled by by a strip of sky seen amidst treetops; how everything converges at the distance makes the image very interesting...

[xpatUSA]

As much as I like this picture, I'm having trouble putting a finger on what else it needs. My boss (my darling wife) says it's great as it is, but it's missing something, I'll take any help. To mention it was an overcast day as well.

I like the tunnel effect from the shadows at the far end of the track.

If the pic is only about the railroad track, I'd crop about 3/4 off the top, thereby getting rid of all that veiling flare near the sky. For the overcast lighting, it might help to up the saturation some and to add a bit of local contrast at this end of the track to increase the impression of depth.

For illustration only, not my image:

[Rufus]

I agree with Nandakumar. Can I suggest a global curves adjustment provides a greater depth of colour as a starting point:

[SpiderBob]

I like the tunnel effect from the shadows at the far end of the track.

If the pic is only about the railroad track, I'd crop about 3/4 off the top, thereby getting rid of all that veiling flare near the sky. For the overcast lighting, it might help to up the saturation some and to add a bit of local contrast at this end of the track to increase the impression of depth.

For illustration only, not my image:

OK, I had actually already taken one like that, I had just picked the first one. Here is my other shot.
Well I'll have to try again.
Moulton Falls Aug 2019-9125 by Robert Ruby, on Flickr

[DanK]

I think this is actually a hard shot to edit.

I agree with Ted: there is too much above the tracks. You have to decide where you want the viewer's eye to go. This has a long white gap between the trees that draws the eye away from the tracks. I would crop, but probably not as much as Ted.

The hard part is the tonality of the image. Look at the histogram:



You have a small amount that is very bright, but much of the image is in a somewhat restricted range. So, my inclination to start would be to tone down the brightest areas and then increase contrast. Here's what I did as a quick-and-dirty edit:



--I used a global levels adjustment to pull down (darken) the brightest areas.
--I used a curves adjustment to increase contrast. I show that one in the image because it is different from what David did. I used an S-shape curve, which is a way of increasing contrast. I couldn't do that without first darkening the lightest areas because it would have made them too bright.
--I burned (darkened) the gravel and tracks to bring out detail.

David mentioned increasing color. the original is somewhat low in saturation. However, if you increase contrast using the most common tools, including what I did, it will also increase saturation somewhat, making the colors more intense.

This isn't a good edit, but it might be enough to illustrate some possible directions.

[SpiderBob]

David, yes that did make a difference - thank you, thank you all for your help.Country Road 2019 3-9124 by Robert Ruby, on Flickr

[Shadowman]

Nicely captured.

[Tom Barry]

It is very nice as is. I think maybe it could use a little more vibrancy/saturation.

[Wavelength]

I feel removing the sky brings the image to a commonplace railtrack image; it is the combination of the rail track and the sky track that is the strength of this image. As Tom has suggested i too feel the need of adding a bit more vibrancy/saturation

[Manfred M]

Bob - I've been looking at these images and reading the comments.

The question I have is what are you trying to do with this image? I get the impression from your comments is that you have come to the conclusion that the image is not working as well as you would like and I have to agree with that assessment. You've used a very powerful compositional technique with the rails as leading lines, but the problem is that they don't really lead you anywhere.

From a technical standpoint, others have made some excellent recommendations, but in my view the flaw is essentially your inability to translate what you saw standing on those tracks and looking down them from that 3-D view into a 2-D view on your screen. I suspect it needs an anchor or point of interest at the point where the tracks lead us, and without that you do have "something missing". Without that something, the image will always be incomplete, I suspect.

[xpatUSA]

I found that the sky in the OP drew my eyes away from the track, rather than the sky leading the eye toward the track, hence my severe crop. Also I perceived brightening at each side of the sky (was it veiling flare?) which detracted from it's rendition as a linear feature.

But Manfred just now mentioned that "it needs an anchor or point of interest at the point where the tracks lead us". My inclination would be to darken that area (where the tracks lead) considerably to the extent of almost looking like a tunnel entrance. Indeed, had there been a cliché actual tunnel entrance, all would have been well without the sky, I reckon.

[SpiderBob]

Yes, Manfred hit is on the nail. That is exactly what it is. To bad I didn't stay there for the train, but I was being yelled at to get off the track. I don't feel adding a darker area at the end of the track will make up for what I was hoping. But thanks for giving me your idea Ted. I think this has gone as far as it is going to. I'll get onto something else now

Thank you all.

[Wavelength]

Giving a suitable caption cover up all concerns.... like "An endless journey", "an unknown destination"

[SpiderBob]

Wow, not bad, does change your image about it or at least mine

with your permission I change it to see if my mind looks at it differently