RPNet Reject - Suggestions

[Aleks]

Got this reject for horizon unlevel.
I double checked all 3 signal masts and the concrete bridge pier to the left side and they all appear pretty good. Also used the left side of a coach about 1/2 way back that was straight on and it was level.
The line here is down hill and on a pretty good curve so I know the unit appears to be leaning.
What would you guys suggest for an adjustment?
http://www.railpictures.net/viewreject. ... =891223581

[MagnumForce]

.25-.5 degrees to the left. It's leaning just barely right.

[A No.1]

In your note to the screener I would tell them what you are leveling off of. I think its good, Maybe could use what MF is suggesting. However, I think your next reject will be distracting shadow. That shadow on the front truck is kind of killing it.

Good luck.

[J T]

Do you have a frame before the locomotive got screwed by the shadow?

[trnwatcher]

Horizon not level? Are these guys kidding? Apparently they will dream up and excuse to reject a photograph. Even at sea....the horizon will appear to have a slight curve to it.....becasue the planet we live on is not flat! I guess I'll never get anything accepted from those clowns at RRNet as I tend to lean towards shots that are not typical 3/4 nose shots in perfect lighting. The skills of a real photogrpaher is how he captures the image as it exsists not what he would like it to be. That should be left to the painters of the world. I shoot what I am given. If it is overcast or rainy when the trains show up...oh well. Adjust the camera settings and shoot away. Ok...I'm stepping off my soap box....for now.

[Y@]

Horizon not level? Are these guys kidding? Apparently they will dream up and excuse to reject a photograph. Even at sea....the horizon will appear to have a slight curve to it.....becasue the planet we live on is not flat! I guess I'll never get anything accepted from those clowns at RRNet as I tend to lean towards shots that are not typical 3/4 nose shots in perfect lighting. The skills of a real photogrpaher is how he captures the image as it exsists not what he would like it to be. That should be left to the painters of the world. I shoot what I am given. If it is overcast or rainy when the trains show up...oh well. Adjust the camera settings and shoot away. Ok...I'm stepping off my soap box....for now.

Another whine about RP that makes little sense.

[conrailmike]

Horizon not level? Are these guys kidding? Apparently they will dream up and excuse to reject a photograph. Even at sea....the horizon will appear to have a slight curve to it.....becasue the planet we live on is not flat! I guess I'll never get anything accepted from those clowns at RRNet as I tend to lean towards shots that are not typical 3/4 nose shots in perfect lighting. The skills of a real photogrpaher is how he captures the image as it exsists not what he would like it to be. That should be left to the painters of the world. I shoot what I am given. If it is overcast or rainy when the trains show up...oh well. Adjust the camera settings and shoot away. Ok...I'm stepping off my soap box....for now.

Your horizons should be as level as possible, it's a perfectly good reason to reject a photo.

[J T]

Horizon not level? Are these guys kidding?

No, they are not kidding. If a shot is unlevel, it should be rejected. I can't stand unlevel shots and I'm glad they don't care for them either.

Even at sea....the horizon will appear to have a slight curve to it.....becasue the planet we live on is not flat!

Well, fortunately, trains don't use the sea to travel. But if they did, I'm sure photos wouldn't be rejected for a train being unlevel on a wave.

I guess I'll never get anything accepted from those clowns at RRNet as I tend to lean towards shots that are not typical 3/4 nose shots in perfect lighting.

Well, here's the best part...you don't HAVE to submit anything to them. No one is being forced to submit photos to that site, nor any other site that I know of.

The skills of a real photogrpaher is how he captures the image as it exsists not what he would like it to be. That should be left to the painters of the world. I shoot what I am given. If it is overcast or rainy when the trains show up...oh well.

Are you suggesting that RP doesn't accept shots taken on cloudy or rainy days? On the contrary, actually. And there are some skilled photographers who are on this site who have shots on RP that were taken on cloudy and/or rainy days. Our very own admin is one of them.

[Y@]

As am I...

[A No.1]

That is a sweet shot Y@, I had not seen that one. Nice.

[trnwatcher]

Are you suggesting that RP doesn't accept shots taken on cloudy or rainy days? On the contrary, actually. And there are some skilled photographers who are on this site who have shots on RP that were taken on cloudy and/or rainy days. Our very own admin is one of them.

No JT I was suggesting that the vast majority of pictures I see on RP are shot in almost perfect light condtions, no clouds, almost as if the shot was staged. That is usually not the conditions I get to shoot in. I've seen users from this site have pics rejected for what their admins say is bad lighting. How do they know that wasn't the effect the photographer was trying for?

As for horizons being level I guess I am at a loss to understand why .25-.5 of a degree would make any noticable difference in the picture in question. We'll have to have a beer some day so you can explain this one to me. In my humble opinion it's the shadow that is slightly distracting in this picture but other than that Aleks took a very nice picture.

[Aleks]

JT, to answer your question I don't have a frame just before that one other than more of a head on shot which I didn't like as much. For me it's a years old habit from my more conservative slide film days were you composed and took the shot you wanted and not take multiple of the train coming at you and pick the better one. Slide film and development costs what they were. I still tend to compose and take the one shot I'm going for or I may take a couple at different focal lengths and distances. I know I can just delete the ones I don't want but old habits die hard.
As for RPnet, since my son convinced me to join a couple of years ago now I can't complain as I have managed to now break the 20 page mark of photo's which is by far only a fraction of my total shots from both my slide film and now digital shots. I accept that they have a certain range of standards they are typically looking for and as you can see from this challange and from the previous one it's not that I don't have shots that meet that acceptance range.
I shoot on cloudy, rainy & snowy days but know that odds are these shots will not be worth submitting so I don't. I may chose to put my rejects onto Rail Picture Archives if I think they are still worthy enough but for me unfortunatley they allow too many sub par photos on that site. Just a minimal amout of editing from level to exposure levels etc could greatly enhance the quality of those shots. So you have one extreme to the other between those 2 sites.
My only reason for posting the rejects here was just to show some inconsistancy with regards to the "high sun" rejects when they accept one of a train shot in between the 2 rejects and I was looking for some other perspective on the unlevel shots as I always try to use what I can to determine what would or should be considered level.
Anyways thanks for any constructive comments and compliments. Everyones eyes and perspectives are different and thats why I post shots. When I get rejects it gets me to think outside my box and look at how the shot may look in other peoples eyes. If they don't like it that's fine as long as I do but that doesn't mean I can't learn from what they may say.

[conrailmike]

Aleks, are you on Flickr?

[Aleks]

No, I barely have time to edit the shots I'm submitting now without trying to do everything I have.

[J T]

No JT I was suggesting that the vast majority of pictures I see on RP are shot in almost perfect light condtions, no clouds, almost as if the shot was staged. That is usually not the conditions I get to shoot in. I've seen users from this site have pics rejected for what their admins say is bad lighting. How do they know that wasn't the effect the photographer was trying for?

You see a majority of them in perfect light conditions because that is primarily what they have set as a guideline to pictures being accepted. They set up some guidelines, people submit shots based on those guidelines, and everyone is happy. But those are THEIR guidelines, and not meant to be the end all be all of railroad photography (or photography in general). Sure, you can't control the lighting, but you CAN control where you shoot the train. I shoot in lighting conditions that are less than favorable as well, but most of the time I don't submit those shots to RP because I know they don't fall into the general guidelines. Occasionally I may capture an image that may not be in perfect light, but there is something else appealing about the image that allows the image to get past those guidelines.

Anyone can go out and shoot a wedgie in less-than-ideal lighting, and perhaps that's why they have set up the guidelines they have. If they weren't strict about what they want on their site, we'd see a buttload of boring wedgies on cloudy days. If I want to see that, I can go look through rrpicturearchives. And I'd rather look at a well-lit wedgie ANY day over a cloudy day wedgie.

As for horizons being level I guess I am at a loss to understand why .25-.5 of a degree would make any noticable difference in the picture in question. We'll have to have a beer some day so you can explain this one to me. In my humble opinion it's the shadow that is slightly distracting in this picture but other than that Aleks took a very nice picture.

Steven, I guess some of us just have really picky eyes when it comes to photos being unlevel. Kind of like when I see a picture on a wall that is slightly unlevel..it bugs the crap out of me! I think that also comes with training yours eyes to see those things. When I first started taking landscape images, I didn't notice the unlevel nature of them until people pointed them out to me (on other forums). Then I started to pay much closer attention, to the point of where I've become *slightly* obsessed with it.

.25-.5 is definitely noticeable to the eyes of some people, while it might not be to others. I could rephrase your sentence and say, "I'm at a loss to understand why .25-.5 of a degree would NOT make any noticeable difference in the picture in question."

And just because a photo is unlevel, it doesn't mean it's NOT a very nice picture. Being unlevel is just a small technical issue that has nothing to do with the subject or quality of the composition. It's merely just a distraction that 99% of the time can be fixed easily.

Anyway, I don't see the world unlevel, so when I see a photo unlevel, it bugs me.