Trackside with Erik and Mike, Vol. 19: November 8, 2004

[Bergie]

In our online feature, Trackside with Erik and Mike, Trains.com staff members Erik Bergstrom and Mike Yuhas go trackside and share their photo results with you. In each installment, we’ll include let our users vote on who got the best shot. Read this week’s installment.

Please vote and then share your comments.

[Anonymous]

I went for Mike's shot today. That blue just jumps out at you.

As far as enhancing the photos go.....I think that would be alright as long as the original picture is posted with it's enhanced version.

Since I am alot higher up on the food chain this time around I am going to repeat an idea I had last time. How about a Trackside calendar from you guys at Kalmbach??



Things that might be included could be voting results, the descriptions from the guys about their photos, and maybe even Mike and Bergie could pick their favorite quote from the forum here for each set.

Yes, I realize they both have alot of work to do and this would add to it. This is too late for this year but how about next year???

[Bergie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Big_Girl_4005

I went for Mike's shot today. That blue just jumps out at you.

As far as enhancing the photos go.....I think that would be alright as long as the original picture is posted with it's enhanced version.

Since I am alot higher up on the food chain this time around I am going to repeat an idea I had last time. How about a Trackside calendar from you guys at Kalmbach??



Things that might be included could be voting results, the descriptions from the guys about their photos, and maybe even Mike and Bergie could pick their favorite quote from the forum here for each set.

Yes, I realize they both have alot of work to do and this would add to it. This is too late for this year but how about next year???

I love the idea (naturally), but if memory serves me, I think I saw the proofs of the 2006 calendar on a friend's desk a over a month ago. Yes, 2006! Welcome to the wide world of paper. [:D]

Bergie

[Anonymous]

This week I am going with Eriks photo. I like how you got it during sun rise, to me it seems like a photo that will be on the wall in a office, etc.

[Noah Hofrichter]

While I thought mikes was okay, it had just a little to much purpleish hue to it for my tastes. I thought Erik's was better though, as you can see the train comming up a grade, and the sun in your face really shows a railroad running in the morning, and that they run at all times of the day, not just in the middle of the afternoon or at midnight.

And I too like the idea of a Calender, you should look into for whatever year your in time for. I also think that a little editing is okay, namely rotateing, cropping and lightening, but beyond that I don't know. Maybe you should start a seperate poll for this and attach a link to the results story for people to vote about it.

Noah

[BruceGKoprucki]

I like Eric's shot into the sun. It has dramatic appeal. Re: retouching, I would support some if you identify what you retouched. Keep up the great work!

[Anonymous]

I went for Mike's photo. Seeing a fallen flag sitting idle with its "night lights" on was just enough for my vote.

Erik, you may want to stick with shots that won't blind you.

[Sterling1]

With all the fine color glancing off the side of the WC GP40 (MIke Yuhas), I should have picked that one. However I needed something to quell my stomach, and the sun in the background and Bergie did the trick. BTW: that CP train looked like it had a cluster of locomotives all on the front end; extremely strange unless it was a deadhead. Oh yes without a scanner you never know what's coming at you until you see it. In the area in upstate NY where I commonly visit, we have multiple grade crossings to the east, but few to the west and also we don't really know what may come off the West Shore Line ( west of Rochester, used to bypass Rochester itself.)

[Sterling1]

Yes a little retouching is good to show some details otherwise covered by shadows i.e. the NS train (Mike Yuhas) that was originally dark and lighting was added to bring out the colors. But you need not be so overzealous in adding all sorts of crazy touches.

[RudyRockvilleMD]

At first I thought the trailing unit in Mike Yuhas's photo of the CN (NS?) train was either an Alco or a steam locomotive. Seriously, the touched up version of the same photo shows what can be done with photo editing software, but it raises more important questions in the not too distant future for the railfan media. First, what kind of photo touch up should be allowed, and how much photo touch up should be allowed. Currently I imagine most of the photos in the railfan media are generated from slides. With slides what you see is what you get, and you can't use contrast and brightness tools to touch up the image on the slide although the publisher of the magazine could do that. But, as digital cameras become better and cheaper these questions will be very important.

[Anonymous]

While I am a huge fan of good night rail photography, something just pulled me to Erik's. I think that it was just the "feeling" of the shot. Mike's is a very cold picture with the dark blues and purples and Erik's is nice and warm. With the cold weather that is starting to show itself here in Colorado I just had to go with the warm one, I think that if these exact same photos had been posted in July or August, I probably would have gone the other way.

As for the retouching, I am still very supportive of striaght photography and "present them as you shoot them", however, as long as both the before and after shots were put up, then I think that it would be at least an interesting experiment.

[Anonymous]

I like the implied action of Eric's shot rather than the static mode of the WC unit.

A little manipulation is OK. You'd be amazed at the darkroom tricks performed by the likes of Stienheimer, Parker Lamb and many other B&W masters.

[railman]

I'd have to say no on major photo surgery...

[Anonymous]

Morning mood shot or superior night time pic...? The effort and know-how to set up and shoot the night pic makes the plus for Mike's.
One should do whatever is possible to get the shot and make it the Best. Who cares about a little lab work.

[Anonymous]

Like 'em both, but prefer the night shot. The sunrise shot's overly saturated with orange for me, and the auto focus had a bit of trouble getting a lock, resulting in a bit too much blur for me.

On manipulation, I agree with Chuckrail, in that in the B/W days, much "adjustment" was done in the darkroom. They probably bracketed many of their shots too, and picked what they felt came out the best. I mean, a real purist would just get out there with an 8X10 view camera and just live with one action shot per train, period. So as long as the frame is appealing, a bit of artistic license is OK by me.