Railroads Cross

[ptlola]

This is one of the first shots I took with my first DSLR camera a few months in Toronto, Ontario. I am newbie in photography and seeking learning opportunities by trying to get more involved in online communities such as this.

Critiques would be strongly appreciated Thanks.

Sony SLT-A33
Shutter 1/100
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 55mm
Flash Off
ISO 250

[cyber3d]

Hmmm, what category would you put this into? Is it artistic? Is it photojournalism? Is it really landscape? Not to be too brutal.... but, without context most all photos are just snap shots. Mind you I've taken a lot of really nice "snap shots" in my time. So, I ask "what is your intention?" That will help with the critique.

[ptlola]

Well I can honestly say, this being one of my first shots, I almost had no purpose than to just snap away aimlessly. But looking back, I think I was attempting to capture the railroad lines converging and diverging. But thank you for mentioning that. The short answer, I originally had no intention.

[Doug Sundseth]

I like the shapes made by the tracks here. But I think the buildings that are framing the tracks don't help your image with the current crop. I don't know whether a wider field of view that shows more of the buildings or perhaps a narrower field of view that eliminates most or all of them would work better.

At any rate, I think you might have an interesting subject here, but I think you'll need to move around and change your framing to get it to have the impact you want.

[El Explorador]

Well for one thing, if you wanted to go artistic, you could always play with depth of field. I mean, the lines are interesting, but there's nothing that would "grab" someone if this was lined up next to all the other photos you've probably taken that are good for what they are but just don't stand out.

If you're going for converging and diverging, IMHO it would work best zoomed to the rails that are doing just that and cropping out the straight rails entirely, almost in an abstract way. When its lines that catch your eye, going abstract is often a good way to make what the image is 'about' come to the fore. (not to say that lines aren't great for stories too!)

[ptlola]

Thank you for all the critiques. Very helpful.