The photographer is looking for deeper feedback connected to their intent, creative direction, and specific questions.
Feedback Focus: Artistic + Technical
About This Image
This is the famous Jacobite Steam train on the Glenfinnan aqueduct in Scotland - typical Scottish weather with rain sun and clouds - all adding to the experience. Fortunately the rain let up whist the sun came through to capture this from a vantage point
Why This Image?
I went to Scotland to capture Autumn colors in the variable atmospheres there - the colors in themselves were disappointing - especially the reds - I guess I got spoilt by the exceptional New England colors here
What I’m Trying to Express or Explore
The Jacobite itself - do the crops suggest bringing it out better ? The original, does better describe the atmosphere there
Where Feedback Would Help Most
The rain does saturate the colors - too much ?
Contrast - a little heavy ? I do plan to print this for my camera club competition
Technical Details
The grand, as shot
Camera: NIKON Z 9
Lens: VR 24-70mm f/2.8E
Focal length: 52mm
Shutter speed: 1/640s
Aperture: f/8
ISO: 640
More personal
Camera: NIKON Z 9
Lens: VR 24-70mm f/2.8E
Focal length: 52mm
Shutter speed: 1/640s
Aperture: f/8
ISO: 640
Hi @Karl_Zuzarte
Lovely atmospheric shots. Like all critiques here this is just my opinion and please feel free to disagree.
The crops as always tell the story YOU want to tell, and sometimes you can’t tell it all with one crop.
This steam engine crossing a picturesque viaduct in a glorious Scottish Glen.
The close crop is about the engine and viaduct and reduces the location wow factor, the panorama just gives you more viaduct and proportionately slightly less train, and a similar very much reduced “mountain”. If you title the image “Jacobite Steam” one of these will probably be better scored than the original. If you title it Glenfinnan Viaduct (not aqueduct please ) the panorama is the most likely to be appreciated
My preferred one is the first - enough train , plenty of viaduct and magnificent mountains (I like trains but I’m not a train fanatic).
Saturation - again a personal opinion - Camera Clubs, and judges love oversaturated images - they want WoW, Shock and Awe! They are used to judging and selecting with a few seconds an image and they require bold over saturation to get the wow. Your choices of saturation are, to my eye not overdone .
My non camera-club-judging eye would desaturate as per image. I have also “corrected” the horizontal very slightly by a few degrees. Yours may well have been level but my eye was most comfortable with a few degrees clockwise rotation as provided with “auto horizontal” in LR
Karl, Image 1 - “The Grand” is my favorite. The passenger steam train making its way around the viaduct under the cloudy sky and fall color makes this a classic and even, romantic scene. I like the first image for the grand scene which suits the mood I described. I think any crop would have be tight to the train and show more of the viaduct height to add drama and a sense of wow, telling a different story about the steam engine and passenger train of a bygone era.
For my tastes, I would reduce the vibrance or saturation just a bit. But as Huw said, for a camera club competition your version might stand out better for competition. I joined a camera club and I only lasted a month, not my cup of tea.
Hi Karl— I think The Grand, as shot is my favorite as it feels the most balanced to my eye. You captured not only the main event of the train but was able to include the subtle foreground ground cover and bridge along with a bit of the sky. All this adds up to a more complete image. I’m usually all for closer in shots or panoramic but in this case I think more is more! Whether areas are over saturated I would leave that up to you as I have never been there. I think you’ve captured an amazing photograph!
Karl: I’ve had a love affair with trains since I was practically an infant and my father spent time in Scotland during WWII and spoke fondly about it so it’s been high on my bucket list. With that said I’ll take one of each please. These sooooo make me want to be there. Most excellent x 4. >=))>
I am favoring the “grand” view as well. I think it speaks to romantic nature of Scotland. I do think the saturation of the hillsides should lie between @Huw_Thomas idea and the original image.
I like the other crops because they tell different stories, but I’m still on for “grand”.
-P
Another vote for the grand, Karl. My first thought was “Hogwarts Express” from Harry Potter. Personally, I like the saturation as seen in the first image. With the yellow being saturated, my eye is drawn from the train.
) the panorama is the most likely to be appreciated
