Ride the rails

I like the color treatment but I think you need a model in the shot - somewhere doing something; otherwise it just lacks a central point of interest.

The curving tracks are a good compositional element, but they need to lead somewhere other than that little grey switch building (or whatever it is). If you had a red caboose of a passing train down there it would have been much better. Normally,... bare trees, a set of tracks, and unremarkable lighting are not going to produce an interesting shot.

Thanks, yea I kept hoping a train would come but ran out of time, so went for the illusion of "riding the rails"...

Just a quick edit i did, 1st i did a tighter crop so that both rails enter the frame at the same point then
i made rail at bottom is paralleled to edge, i cloned out the switching building, i did a BW conversion with a slight orange ting and i added vigilant to draw you into the center of the frame, obiously its not perfect as i was working with a lower rez image and i did not spend to long on it.

hope you dont mind

LONDON808 wrote in post #13708554
Just a quick edit i did, 1st i did a tighter crop so that both rails enter the frame at the same point then
i made rail at bottom is paralleled to edge, i cloned out the switching building, i did a BW conversion with a slight orange ting and i added vigilant to draw you into the center of the frame, obiously its not perfect as i was working with a lower rez image and i did not spend to long on it.

hope you dont mind

I like it, nice job!

Taking your idea...

I have to say I like the edits better. It looks like the original might have been over-sharpened, but could be just me. I don't think there has to be a model (personally the model on train track thing feels old and cliché to me now) but the original colour treatment was quite yellow. Keep playing around - I like the composition!

emelvee wrote in post #13708831
I have to say I like the edits better. It looks like the original might have been over-sharpened, but could be just me. I don't think there has to be a model (personally the model on train track thing feels old and cliché to me now) but the original colour treatment was quite yellow. Keep playing around - I like the composition!

I understand where you're coming from, but curving train tracks themselves are, if anything, a cliche. A person, dog, cat, bird, stuffed animal, UFO, or anything would provide a point of interest here.

Qbx wrote in post #13711062
I understand where you're coming from, but curving train tracks themselves are, if anything, a cliche. A person, dog, cat, bird, stuffed animal, UFO, or anything would provide a point of interest here.

Now a UFO would be interesting

I too, don't always think a scene needs a specific subject, the scene can be the subject IMO...

For example:

http://farm8.staticfli​ckr.com …61056443_0ac3a4​0c7e_b.jpg

tmoore323 wrote in post #13713719
Now a UFO would be interesting

I too, don't always think a scene needs a specific subject, the scene can be the subject IMO...

For example:

http://farm8.staticfli​ckr.com …61056443_0ac3a4​0c7e_b.jpg

Hardly an apples to apples comparison. But the photo in that link does have a central point of interest - the arrow and sign directly below it, it grabs your attention immediately - and it's hardly an overdone cliche type shot.

Here is an example of adding some interest - I know the patch is crude but it's just an example.

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even though the patch is crude, how does that add to the shot?

With some central point of interest you can imagine a story. It could have been a tramp walking down the tracks or a lone woman or a child or a dog. At least you have some animate object in which a story can be developed. Without that it's just more curved railroad tracks - a cliche as you said.

Qbx wrote in post #13717380
With some central point of interest you can imagine a story. It could have been a tramp walking down the tracks or a lone woman or a child or a dog. At least you have some animate object in which a story can be developed. Without that it's just more curved railroad tracks - a cliche as you said.

Well the story I was trying to potray is that you are riding the rails, not just curved tracks but you riding them...

tmoore323 wrote in post #13718265
Well the story I was trying to potray is that you are riding the rails, not just curved tracks but you riding them...

In that case you might want to add some motion blur; but it's still a stretch because riding the rails usually entails a locomotive and the view from a locomotive would not look like this unless YOU were strapped to the front of the engine.
I thought about it and I'm wrong. You could get that view if you were in the caboose looking backwards. OK, I get it.