Trackside with Erik and Mike, Vol. 47: February 13, 2006

[Bergie]

The latest installment of Trackside with Erik and Mike is now live within the Railroading section on the Trains.com home page. Please read this week's column first then vote for your favorite photo below. Click here to read Trackside with Erik and Mike Vol. 47.

[Anonymous]

I like Erik's. Mike's seemed to be a bit blurred. Also, I like the skyline in Erik's picture.

Good job, both of you.


Matt

[gemotor]

OK, if I gotta vote, it's Mike's shot, if only for the technical aspect. It isn't much of a photo, actually. Too bad more snow hadn't piled up on the front of the locomotive - that little tip of snow on the bottom of the plow pilot is a teaser. I like Erik's shot, but it needs serious cropping. Too much foreground and too much sky. The photo as seen in full blow-up is sharp and my screen crops it nicely. Cropping would work well without losing image quality. The cropped photo would have gotten my vote on the basis of composition with the interlocking on the left and the downtown skyline nicely framing the outbound commute, but alas, constraints of time and all that . . . Western Avenue, Erik?

[Chris Owens]

Way 2 go Mike great shot!!

[Anonymous]

I was so torn between the cool pacing shot, and the cool details in the Chicago scene.

[FThunder11]

Amtrak is awesome

[kicksvette]

Erik, You've been consuming too much of Milwaukee's most famous product if you are disappointed about the lack of snow here in the midwest. The barley pop has addled your mind. Those of us south of the cheddar curtain are not complaining about the lack of fluffy white stuff. And because of the lack of snow, your shot could have been just about duplicated today with just a bit of missing greenery on the background shrubbery. When I first saw your shot, I instantly recognized the Sears Tower. Heck, I see it just about every day from the office about 17 miles away. (I can look out the dock doors and see CP's B-17) And from home I can get there on Metra's UP West line or in the Vette on the interstate in a hurry if I want to. But the picture just didn't work for me. It's not a great shot of the Sears. It's not a great shot of the skyline, It's not even that great of a railroad shot. Your Volume 17 shot of the waiting switcher in the Amtrak yard was better. This just didn't seem to highlight any one thing.
Mike is definitely grabbing the latest technology with the new lens. Image stabilization is becoming common in digital camcorders and makes sense for handheld pics in certain situations. Grabbing a pacing shot is obviously good usage. You get a loco that still shows some detail even though it's moving at a shutter speed that gives the ground blur needed to show the movement. And in this case, UP's waving flag emblem adds to the look of movement.
Had to go with Mike's shot this time.

[Anonymous]

I had to go with Mike's since iy's only fair to vote for a pic' that at least he gave some'
effort to go and get.. I feel that last years pic's should have been voted on " last year " ;;

good effort ,
Dan E.

[CopCarSS]

Had to vote with Erik this week. Mike, it just seemed like "Ho Hum, Another Pace Shot," to me. I know the weather hasn't helped you, but the steel gray skies really killed the image. I think I would have liked to see a little more of the loco, too.

On the other hand, Erik, I like how you forced the verticality of perspective with your shot. Filling the frame with the foreground of the equipment of your train, and forcing the viewer to compare it to a well known landmark is visually interesting. The eye is naturally led into the frame and to the oncoming Metra train. It works. If you could've gotten a little more Depth of Field, it really would have been interesting, but that's pushing the limits of 35mm Digital (and since all three parts of the image aren't in the same plane, you really couldn't have achieved it, even with a LF or a TS lens) The Chicago skyline is easily discernible, even if it isn't as crisp as eveything else in the shot, so it's forgivable. It may even be the effect of distance, and a loss of crispness due to atmospheric phenomena. At any rate, it's not a huge deal.

As it is, the only thing I think that could have easily added to the shot is cropping out the building on the left side of the frame (or shooting more of it). As it is, with only a tiny bit of it, it doesn't add too much, though the framing with the light coming off of it does help somewhat.

Thanks for a great week again guys. As always, I look forward to this every week.

[trainboyH16-44]

I didn't especially like either, but I just don't think Mike's has enough colour in it, and it's not quite dreary enough to be a good mood shot, but Erik's doesn't show much train. But I'd have to say Erik's wins my vote. Barely.

[Anonymous]

Hey Eric

Great composition. I'd put a print of this on my train room wall.

Chuck Hinrichs
Checking the action on CSX's Henderson Sub

[blhanel]

A very hard choice, I'd love to have taken either of them. As it is, I gave the edge to Mike based on effort (were you driving, Mike?)[:O] and it being a more recent shot.

[Anonymous]

I wasn't particularly crazy with either photo myself, but I voted for Mike's because the combination of the new IS lens and the good exposure despite the overcast won me over. I agree with "easyrail1" that Erik's shot from last year should have been voted on last year.
[B)][alien]

[emddd40x]

I voted for Mike's picture this time because the busyiness of Erik's picture turned me off. My eye had to hunt around in Erik's picture to find the approaching Amtrak train. Yeah, each of the elements in the picture are good, on their own. But taken together, they add up to an overly busy picture where the eye isn't drawn towards any one thing. To me, Erik's picture is a case of the total picture not being as good as the sum of its parts.

[DICKK]

The oncoming train is blurred. I prefer power any time.