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Greetings,
Comments about some of the postings on SPORRS.
Mark Bailey's NKP #765 Steam. What a nice shot I like the color and the
composition al ot. I also like the brick building as a backdrop. It
gives the shot character. We discussed the flat bed scanner source of
the image and I I would've voted for this shot had the scan come out
clearer. "Scoring" these shots are a two part process; one I grade the
picture and then I grade the scan. Some so-so shots have been scanned
very nicely while other great shots have suffered from inadequate
scanning. I'd love to this Mark's shot scanned by Dave from the
negative so that we can see the difference in the two processes.
Dave's got some California stuff of mine scanned from print film
negs (200 and 400 speed print) that look better than some of the of the
images scanned from slides.
John Reay's CN308 Newtonville.
I've taken a real shine to the Newtonville location and think that
would be a neat area to stake out. I'd love to shot the area but it's
out of my normal travel patterns so the odds are low. Maybe a St. Louis
cheap airfare and a rental car are in order.
Anyway about the shot. There are some elements of the shot that I
like (but I'm biased about going away shot) but I like how the light
reflects off the box car door in the lower left corner. It helps frame
the shot. To me the scan image has a greenish cast to it that distracts
from the foggy -glint scene of the train wrapping around the curve. The
location looks intriguing if you caught a train coming at you (but into
the light).
Todd Novak Cumberland Mine:
A fair shot of an usual train that I'll likely never see in person.
I wish he had included some information on the equipment, film,
exposure. It's captioned for a rail fan and and leaves the photographer
viewer wanting. It's seems flat and with a greenish tinge. I suspect
Kodak film is what was loaded in the camera (not picking a fight here,
just a guess). It looks like an early spring shot but yet the that
doesn't account for the hue. It could be scan problem.
Todd Novak:
LTV F9 shot. Much better color than the last shot yet the gravel in the
foreground has a greenish cast. You might want to check out your
monitor or scanning process, or it could be a film thing. A slight typo
in the caption since you dated the shot for September 3 1998. Now
that's a fast shutter speed :^) I also think the gravel fore ground is
too excessive and should've been cropped out.
Novak's Conrail shot at True PA. An early spring shot with just a
hint of green. I'm often disappointed in my early spring shot because
the there's not enough "life" in the scene. Todd was this shot taken on
a hill side or from the shoulder of an overpass. I like the curve of
the track and would like to bring that out more by tightening the angle
of the shot, use a longer lens and move a bit to the left (can you float
in mid-air). I like the farm setting and wish more people would try to
bring those elements into their shots. I'm reminded of one of Don
Ball's shots with a train running in a little valley with farms and
houses. This shot needs a little longer lens and a dash of fall foliage
to make that farm really stand out and vring out the contrast in the
Conrail blue. I think the Conrail blue power looks best against a
neutral white/snowy background (cold stark look) or a backdrop with
brighter primary or secondary colors. This shot and other Conrail
entries look odd when seen against a pastle backdrop. The best Conrail
color photos I've seen were in a CTC Board article back in the early
90's shot in western Mass.
Please take these comments as constructive or objective
observations. Perhaps I'm missing something here. Last comments:
Todd do you have a longer lens? I notice that all your postings
seem to be shot at 50mm and I think you could rework these areas with
longer lens and get some entirely different images (not better or worse)
but just different. Thanks for sharing your images with the rest of us.
Greg Anderson
St. Louis, MO
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