B&W winter photo

Please give me your feedback on this one
http://www.pixilis.com​/photos/3774

I like it, but it seems to lack some contrast and a subject. What am I looking at, exactly? What should I be seeing?

Thanks for your feedback!

Is it better now?
http://www.pixilis.com​/photos/7056

I added some contrast. Not sure I understand about the subject or what you should be seeing, I thought it was pretty obvious actually. I named this picture "Track", you think I should have named it "Track in winter", "Snowy track" or something else?

Dear Chris,

First, welcome to POTN. I know you will enjoy this forum.

I would probably have titled it "Tracks" rather than "Track. Big deal - but sometimes the title can count for or against you.

I'm a monochrome photographer by preference. So, I appreciate good monochrome work. Your image could probably benefit a little from a little contrast boost to give it a bit more punch and drama. Using PSCS2 Image->Adjustments->Levels I reset the white point slightly lower and raised the value of the mid-tones a bit, and that seems to help.

From the standpoint of composition, I like it, because of the strong converging lines of the rails, and the positioning of the rails and the horizon are both good.

Keep it up!
Bob (raised in Columbus, southern Indiana)

I like it a lot more with the added contrast. Good shot!

Thanks a lot for your comments! I renamed it "Tracks" then. I will try to keep it up !

By the way, do you know how to preserve the EXIF information in Photoshop CS2? I have edited my photo with PSCS2, I used "Save for web" and uploaded it on Pixilis. But I realized it lost the EXIF info. Can it be because I resized my photo to a smaller size as well? Do you know?

-Chris- wrote in post #2530797
Thanks a lot for your comments! I renamed it "Tracks" then. I will try to keep it up !

By the way, do you know how to preserve the EXIF information in Photoshop CS2? I have edited my photo with PSCS2, I used "Save for web" and uploaded it on Pixilis. But I realized it lost the EXIF info. Can it be because I resized my photo to a smaller size as well? Do you know?

Save for Web is the culprit - that drops the EXIF data.

To resize for posting here, just size your image to less than or equal 800 pixels in largest dimension and then when saving as JPG you have to keep squeezing until it says about 80 kB - then it will pass the 100 kB limit.

Nice composition however the whites are not white and the blacks are not black...it looks muddy...How did you convert to B&W? Channel mixer? Disaturation? It seems to have a magenta or bluish cast to it...did you convert to grayscale at the end of your conversion?

I think this in an interesting angle of view. I like the black and white, I like the snow, I like the lines. I agree that there is a lack of subject. BUT I think if I you were to go back to this area when a train was passing, and catching one on the tracks coming towards you that would be an incredible photograph. If I have a place like this I would certainly attempt that.

Robert_Lay wrote in post #2532429
Save for Web is the culprit - that drops the EXIF data.

To resize for posting here, just size your image to less than or equal 800 pixels in largest dimension and then when saving as JPG you have to keep squeezing until it says about 80 kB - then it will pass the 100 kB limit.

That's very useful to know. I don't think I've kept that in mind. Although, I think Photobucket automatically resizes for me so I just save and upload.