Spectacular photo Carl! The smoke, steam, colors, composition - everything combined to make a great railroad image.

I love how the locomotive is barely peeking out of the smoke and steam around it. Well seen and captured.

You might want to consider submitting it to RailPictures.net. I'm sure it would be accepted.

Nice job!

Lovely image, Steve! I really like the bright yellow of the trees and their reflections in the water. The green on the railroad bridge is especially nice. You've created a nice composition as well, with the river and the railroad tracks converging in the center, with the trees providing an effective frame and backdrop.

Of course, being a train lover, the scene would have been thoroughly complete with a train crossing the trestle and bridge!

A quick search of RailPictures.net found this picture of another railroad bridge over the Lewis River. No train though!

Well done, Steve!

I really like your treatment of this scene, Andy. Like you, I prefer the b/w version over the color scene.

The POV is very effective, with the boats in the foreground, looking back toward the city. Your b/w treatment offers some interesting paradoxes, at least to my eye. It almost has a cinematic feel to it, like we're looking at a scene from an old movie, but the boats with their outboard engines look thoroughly modern.

I like it!

- Bob

Nicely done, Martim! Your POV (point of view) allows you to capture the thousands of names and really maximizes the impact of what we're looking at.

The lighting is handled well also, and my favorite element is the inclusion of people in the image. Without the people, it wouldn't have been nearly as interesting.

Good composition as far as the people are concerned too. They're in the picture, but obviously not the subjects. The subjects are the names inscribed on the walls.

You've treated this memorial with taste and respect - well done!

Nice artistic capture of this conjunction Ted. I had noticed it as well coming home from dinner, but didn't think to photograph it. I just stood there in my driveway staring up at it.

Curious, did you nail it on the first try or make several attempts?

Well done!

Wow! Absolutely perfect timing, Siarhei! I love the expression on their faces too as the cork pops. In addition, you handled the exposure pretty well, too. It's always tough metering for a white dress and a black suit, but you maintained detail in most of her dress and all of his suit. Nice depth of field as well to focus our attention on the bride & groom. Bravo!

Hi Kelly,

Well, I would dare say that unless you have press credentials, you wouldn't get too many of the "money shots." LOL! That being said, I think you captured a winner here. The extra wide angle really conveys the sense of just how many people were in attendance, and placing the capitol at the center minimized its distortion.

Even the blown sky in the upper right adds to the photo, especially in the overall context. Without getting too political, your photo conveys a sense of optimism, hope and excitement.

Nicely done!

- Bob

Very colorful, and you're right about her dress and head covering standing out nicely against the wall. I also like the extreme vertical crop here, accenting the lines in her dress.

I'm not familiar with the Finepix S1000, but I think you might have gotten sharper results with a lower ISO value. You had it set to ISO 800 which, in bright sunlight, was way higher than it should have been. I would have gone with 100 to cut down on the noise level, which is especially evident in the woman's face. You mentioned that you did considerable sharpening, and - if oversharpened - could contribute to some JPEG artifacts. Especially for monitor viewing at the sizes allowed here on TL, a little sharpening goes a long way.

Make sure to re-size first, then sharpen using the unsharp mask filter. I usually go with values of 50/0.7/1.

On the other hand, the noise levels and less-than-pin-sharpness give the image the look of an older print.

In any case, well seen!

- Bob

Hi Carl,

Very unique and interesting POV here, and your timing is perfect of course. I like how the line of the train parallels the line of the shoreline, and how the eye is led from the train to the highway receding into the distance. A little too bright - at least on my monitor - but otherwise an excellent photo.

Check out RailPictures.net if you haven't already for some outstanding railroad photos.

Superb capture, Mr. Ainsworth! Of course, the most striking thing about your photo is the contrast between the bright red of the cardinal and the almost monochromatic background. Indeed, the feeder kind of blends into the background when contrasted with the red of the bird.

Aside from that, your composition is spot on. The verticals of the feeder and icicles are broken up nicely by the diagonal of the subject. Your DOF is perfect as well.

Bravo!

- Bob

P.S. I used to travel through Wapakoneta quite frequently when I lived in Ohio. Birthplace of John Glenn if I recall correctly. Indian Lake isn't too far away and provides some good photo opportunities.