The Ghan Train, Australia

[CruznPA]

Hello,
Have joined the forum a couple months ago shortly after I bought my 20D. I have been reading and learning alot. I know I have much more to learn and am looking forward to it. So here is my first post. Constructive critism is very welcome.

The Ghan, just north of Alice Springs, Autralia.

http://www.cruisingpa.com/images/photos/theghan.jpg

Tim

[ofdphoto]

Hello,
Have joined the forum a couple months ago shortly after I bought my 20D. I have been reading and learning alot. I know I have much more to learn and am looking forward to it. So here is my first post. Constructive critism is very welcome.

The Ghan, just north of Alice Springs, Autralia.

Tim

A man after my own heart! (I live on a train line in Newcastle. Mostly coal trains, but the odd interesting one rattles through...)

This is a nice shot. It can be hard to release the trigger at the right moment with trains, but you've done well here. My only thoughts would be that perhaps a little more context on the left might make it a more interesting picture, and are you shooting with a polarising filter? My guess from where the shadows fall is that you weren't for this shot (you would have had a much darker sky) ... but with the sun as high as it is here (and the obvious limitation of train timetables!) you would benefit from the extra colour saturation and less haze that a polarizing filter would give you.

Keep up the good work! Try some different perspectives and see what you come up with. Depending on fences, etc. you might be able to get really close to these trains (if you're happy to take the risk ;-)), which can make for some great images.

And welcome to the forums :-) (not that you need welcoming after four months ;-))

[andydajo]

Welocome to the forum, great picture, yes a polariser would be better and a little more of where the train is headed.

[Harold_L]

I like this image, too. I presume that the cars belong to the passengers. Please remind of the route of The Ghan.

[CruznPA]

Thanks for the comments. A good polarizer is definitely on my wishlist as I have found shooting pictures here has been very challenging since it is rarely cloudy and the light is always very bright. The image above has been photoshopped some. Using a tripod I took a shot and underexposed it by one stop to make the sky a little darker then put the darker sky on the picture of the train. I could have gone darker but I wanted it to look natural.

For those who don't know about the Ghan. It's a passenger train that runs thru the center of Australia from Darwin to Adelaide. For a fee passengers can take their cars with them. The train makes a stop in Alice Springs for a few hours. Unfortunatley the train never leaves any later than 4:10. So I am unable to get the sun to be set more for better photos.

[PhotosGuy]

Great start! Keep at it!


And...
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