Long Exposure PAQ -- why?
 

Hey all,

I have put a good number of long exposures on RP. These 2, however got rejected. Ideas as to why? Be honest -- no need to equivocate.

http://www.railpictures.net/viewreje...10&key=4636224
http://www.railpictures.net/viewreje...93&key=1803392

TIA

The second one has some pretty severe purple fringe in the treeline, which is awful and i'm surprised it didn't get a PIQ rejection.

Honestly the shot is not compelling, it's a streak shot on a curve with not much compelling subject matter in the rest of the frame.

Don't think it will get on

Neither do much for me.

Yes, normally they are part of an overall scene, another train, cityscape etc., there is nothing else. Looking at your others, there was a lot more to the scene.

However, I thought it was a very good job the way you held the light over three tracks with three trains, rails illuminated, was a technical feat.
Something I would not know where to start.

The way the site was spammed today by a single photographer, duplicates and near repeats plus droned out I would not have minded at all if the first one was accepted.

Bob Jordan

Thanks for all your comments! Point taken on boring backdrop — I usually shoot the other direction towards a bridge of PLSs but tried to do something different this time. Guess signal porn helps lol.

In terms of the purple fringes, how does one fix it?

Thanks again!!!!

I agree with Troy. It used to be that relatively simple compositions with streaks of light were an easy acceptance here. However, the night niche has grown, expanded, and risen to higher levels over the last several years thanks to multiple photographers who took an interest in the dark, and now streaks without a compelling composition are kinda meh.

Loyd L.

Call me contrary but I kinda like the first one, though I think I'd like it a bit more with a tad cropped off the left and top (maintaining the aspect ratio) to put more emphasis on the patterns rather than the overall scene. Having said that it still probably wont fly here just because, well, it's here...

Interesting. I’ll try to spice things up a bit. I just was thinking shooting towards a curve would make the streaks more compelling.

Once again, thanks, and if any of you have more technical tips/tricks for long exposures, please please share!!

No sure how much "better" this is. Seems a couple sensor spots turned up? Not sure? and some noise to deal with and other artifacts but purple seems reduced, done in camera RAW sliders as a quick start. Added a little extra blur and dodged the trees.

Bob

You need to have other subject matter that is compelling other than just the streaks. A bunch of streaks going through a dark area isn't going to cut it

Yeah I got that. Usually I try to do something along those lines -- get a PLS or some interesting trackwork into the shot. That said, I find the streaks on a curve more interesting than those you get when the train is moving linearly, so wanted to try. I'm gonna try to find a place that has both curves and an interesting backdrop for the future.

http://www.railpictures.net/photo/600990/
http://www.railpictures.net/photo/597359/
http://www.railpictures.net/photo/628303/
http://www.railpictures.net/photo/602267/

Thanks again! It's also good to hear that some of these aren't total messes :) . I appreciate the feedback.