22 images this time - Nice! Haven't seen that kind of participation in a long while.
Awesome job to all of you guys. Which of course, especially with all of the high-quality entries, really makes my job an interesting one this time. (I knew I was going to "pay" for that phony Ikea website thing...
haha)
So many new names - welcome to you all!
Again - Excellent job everyone with lots of similar-but-different takes on this. I'll try to get a few words on each - if I get super-critique-y here, it's because I had to be
really picky to narrow this awesome set of photos down.
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BigMackCam: glad you didn't enter those all of those100 different versions!
I really like your engine-focused blur job. Nice balance on the sky - not too dark to look dingy, but just enough to balance / echo the bottom of the frame. I love a nice tilt-shifty-esque pic, and this worked well.
JHfwp: another 100 bullets dodged
Yours is a very nice simple clean-up of the original. Yours is probably the best one of getting the original as-I-saw it scene. Good job of getting the wonky-twist out of those engines (yeah... try to level a rounded surface... all sorts of lines playing tricks with your eyes in this photo.)
awscreo: nice! this works really well in your B&W. Love the way the "fog" takes care of some of those distracting light poles. The one thing I wish is that maybe just the front & center engine portion was just a tad lighter - it gets a little lost in the rest of the dark foreground. Over all - really love the concept.
*D1N0: two from you (not another 100
) Both are really great. I like that you "zoomed in" on the engine. My fav of the two is the second one. I like the nice silvery-blue tones you got out of it. I also commend you for getting the most out of the background tanker cars. (Their shape is actually what caught my eye before that orange engine even rolled out! Whatever you did to sharpen up that overly soft picture really worked well. Holds up very well in the "big version." Very nice.
jcomely: Finally - someone really digging in and playing. Got a bit of the Van Gogh "Starry Night" sky going on. Good color pallete too. (But I'm a little worried about the train going down those wobbly tracks - ow! - don't know what program you're using and if you can control the "swirl" in different areas... could be interesting to play around with) Overall I do like the whole painter-conversion thing.
davidreilly3207: Another great take on the engine close-up. And going portrait too. Really, really digging the blue-ish tones in the sky. I think it was the only one to go that route and it really sets off the orange engine (classic color-theory, anyone?! Yes! ) Looks really, really good. I might of cropped a tad off the bottom for the photo, but you know what? it actually looks like it could be a "copy-ready" advert or book cover - cool!
mnhoj: Another great B&W. You did a super job of smoothing out the sky! Hooray noise-reduction! I really do prefer a natural, soft sky in most landscape settings. I know the whole pic was a bit on the soft-side, a touch of sharpenig back into the main engine area would have really made the photo. Overall, yes. Very nice.
*Glenn5995: There's a couple of regulars here that never let us down with a great picture - you're one of them. Very nice - another contender with some great sharpening especially at "forum size" Nice color tones, and you managed to get ominous definition in the clouds without going too "crunchy."
Tas: First one to submit this crop. It works great too! And getting those textures up in the high iso grainy yuk sky really does the trick to make it look great. (I'm a big fan of that technique too!) Hmmmm - you've got my head a bit messed up with something though - on one hand I'm thinking it's just a little bit dingy around the engine area. Takes a little bit away from the focal point - BUT on the other hand, I want to say, "hey" this is a really great job of making this look like a time-worn vintage photo! Dang it, I can't decide.
**** we now pause for a brief intermission - because there are so many pictures ! Everyone hum "The Girl From Ipanema" ****
elvbel: You took out the pole ! Thank you! (just one question - Where did you put it? I know there's not enough room in MY back yard....
) Ok, so I've been staring at the other pictures, got to yours and OMG it's PINK!. Hence, the above break. Now that my eyes have had a rest..... I actually LIKE that you went a completely different color direction. It's great to mix stuff up a bit. Great add on that light-leak-y-ish effect on the headlamp too. I love playing around with that stuff. And the right-centered crop is welcomed too. Great job.
nsrii: PNW too, cool! How about this 1-1/2 "almost dry" days we've had - whoo-hoo! That's awsome this one caught your eye.
Since you asked for it, I'll go a little further with the suggestions. Firstly - I really do like it
You got the ominous cloud thing down oh-so good. (how could you not, it's all we've seen the past few months! ) Great job of darkening them up without getting over-cooked. Very nice overall dark/light balance on the photo - you were able to cram of all that black into it, but still able to keep the engine light enough as the focal-point, and the remaining cars well-lit. Cropping out the pole took a little bit off the edge of the shack, makes for a slightly off cropping point (think cutting off limbs in portraiture) - I know
exactly why you did it - that pole was an issue. Maybe crop just a tad wider on that side to retain your great engine placement, and zap/healing brush that stupid pole out of there? I admit, this next one is super-picky - you got rid of the light, but a hint of desaturation on the leftover light-halo would have really topped things off. The other other thing I would do is bump up the sharpening in the engine area. I really do like your entry ! Nice job.
*todd: Two very nice entires. Love the super-zoom crop, and great overall light balance on that very clean, true-to-original photo B&W version. As usual, great job.
dlneubec: two more great entries. Sort of northern-lights evocative. Really cool! Another fun paint version. 2nd one - WOW - you were able to eek out so much in that super-zoom crop in my overly-noisy photo! Neato ! Now you got me needing to go back there with something considerably longer than my 15mm (as if those trains will ever line up like that again
)
noelcmn: well... the rocks are in the picture..the islands are just about 5 mi West of there! (Got S&G running in my head now. All good!) Another great dark version. I REALLY like they way you've got the shape of the vignetting. A little more top & bottom cropping and a tad of straightening, and you might have had the other guys worried.
*johnhilvert: Oh my! that texure you got there is really neat. Love it! Great choice, and really nice to see something so different from the rest. VERY nice job!
*iheiramo: Liking the square crop. (yeah, I'm an instagram junkie as well, haha) Very nice "clean" version with a fun color change. I like the Red trains.
*tuggie76: yes - I was really hoping that someone would turn day into night - THANK YOU!. Love it!
*imaspy: Glad we didn't have to call search on rescue on you for the last round
Lucky you in Europe - I'm jealous. I'm really liking your B&W too. You really nailed that fog in this one. Perfect amount of grain added to deal with that high iso, while at the same time getting some natural sharpening in the foreground. Foggy, yet clean. Excellent. Yours is my favorite B&W out of the bunch.
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Whew ! OK - I narrowed it down to a rather large pool of runners-up
(if your name had an asterisk, you're one of them.) Still a very tough choice. Looks like I was leaning to either really nice & clean, or super-creative. Loving them both.
Further culling: Can we have a tie? No. dang it. I keep coming back to look at
D1N0's second one - the cooler-toned crop, and
imaspy's beautiful B&W. I can't decide. Seriously. But lucky for us, I have my special vintage "coin" to toss in just such an occasion....
Looks like the 50/50 gods have chosen IMASPY ! Congrats!
PS: If you care to see the coin, I absolutely REFUSE to divulge who got arbitrarily assigned
*** which dog *** LOL.