Honest opinions please!

[Tyson Rayles]

Please answer the following 2 questions


1- Which version, color or b&w, do you like better and why?

2- Which is easier to tell it's a fake and why?


Thanks for your time, yes I am testing the waters for the next contest. What you tell me can and wiill be used against you!!!!!

 

[Vic]

Hi Tyson,

1. I have always prefered B&W photos. It seems to me that there is a greater depth of field in them and that I am able to see more details in them. Your pic was of course converted to monchrome from color but to me it added to it by doing so.

2. I may be wrong on this but I can seem to tell that the color photo is faked. The reason being is the tree line. It appears that there is some evidence of cloning in the trees. I don't seem to see it in the B&W photo. But then that could be Kudzu hanging in them

 

[Tyson Rayles]

Must be the kudzu Vic, I didn't do any cloning in the trees only in the grass around the wheels (very little actually).

 

[Ralph]

Hi Tyson,

I like them both but think the black and white looks more realistic. In the color shot there seems to be a more obvious contrast at the juncture of the buildings and the train. I wonder if more heavy weathering of the train would help soften these lines? Its not bad though, I can almost feel the warm summer day and hear that diesel rumble!
Ralph

 

[railohio]

1) I prefer the black and white version for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that I prefer B&W photography in general. I think that the B&W conveys the mood of the image a little better; it's a bit more somber and shows the grimness of the situation. I also think that the colors in the original are a bit too bright. It looks like a somewhat overcast day, but yet the trains look like they were photographed under full sun.

2)The color is easier to tell that it's fake because of how much, IMO, the trains stand out. Like I already said, they look like they were photographed on two different days. Two points to make that make both look a bit odd. First, the building on the right shows no left wall, but yet the end of the boxcar is visible, showing they're not perpendicular. Maybe the building isn't supposed to be square, but that's not always my first thought. Another point is that the shadows on the buildings point to a light source from above, but the shadows on the trains would appear to be caused by a light source from the left.

 

[alkcnw]

I don't know Tyson, except for a litte shine on the fuel tank I would swear it was a real picture of a real train! Goes to show what I know. Guess I shouldn't of said any thing though because now you will be pulling all kinds of tricks on me!

 

[Tyson Rayles]

Thanks for the feedback guys! Ralph I may try a little more weathering. Andy you are right about the shine on the fuel tank, I hadn't noticed it. Brian it was in full sun, there were clouds around but not in front of the sun when I took the pic. However I think you are on to something about the lighting/ shadows not quite matching. Not sure how to handle that though. The building on the right sits at an angle to the track and the left wall isn't visable from where I took the picture.

 

[t. alexander]

Tyson, to me, in the color version the loco and car seem to jump out more giving the photo a 3-d effect.
In the b&w version everything looks to be on the same plane. The loco & car appears to blend in and to me looks more natural.

I'm being way ticky on the color version as the 3-d thing is subtle.

Very good photo

t.

 

[Tyson Rayles]

Thanks t., good point.

 

[RI541]

I like both the photo's.
But if I had to stretch my neck out and possibly get it chopped off . I would say that if you look at the window in the building on the right you can see what looks like a window at the rear of the building. If this is a window it would be either brown like the box car or darker because of the shadow of the box car.
I'm no expert and thats my story.

 

[YakkoWarner]

I see only a color photo so I cannot compare. It looks like a real train to me. I like the composition of the photo as well. it looks like you were trying to find the camera and just barely got it in time to catch the train as it passed.

 

[RI541]

The B/W photo is in the "1985.. the last time the southern was in Bryson City." Thread

 

[rockislandmike]

I like the b&w version better: (a) I have a soft spot for black and whites; and (b) I think with black and whites it's more difficult to tell when a certain tone just doesn't seem to fit. With the color photo, I couldn't really tell you why I think it's a fake, but something just doesn't look quite right. When you convert it to b&w, it tends to eliminate that problem.

 

[rockislandmike]

I did a quick experiment, and, even with an obviously fake background photo being used, it definitely blends in better in the b&w photo..................

 

[sumpter250]

1: Color. The last time I saw a Long Island steam locomotive, I was too young to pay attention to the color. It was almost fifty years later that I finally saw a color photo. If I'm going to model it, I'd like to know what color it was.

2:It's easier to detect a fake in color, for all the previously mentioned reasons. Matching the light levels of the real, and model is difficult at best. Variances in gray tones are harder to "see".

I like the color version of this shot better than the b&w.
Pete

 

[Casey Feedwater]

As I said elsewhere...

I like the B&W better, Tyson. It reminds me of the "traditional" railfan photos of the past. It also has in indefinable "atmosphere" to it that seems to be missing in the color version.

But don't misunderstand: I like the color, just not as well as I like the B&W.

 

[Tyson Rayles]

Shane my friend I would never chop your neck off!!!! I hadn't noticed the window so when I went back to town I checked and sure enough your right and that is daylight coming thru. I should have cloned that out, thanks for noticing ! RIMike and Pete I agree B&W does tend to hide certain things like lighting varations etc. and therefore makes it harder to tell its a fake. Pete I normally am with you in that I prefer color so I can see with it looks like if I want to duplicate it in model form. I always have had a bone to pick with all the great real life photographers who continued to use B&W long after color was available and practical. Future generations will play hell trying to figure out what was what color (loco, depot, tank car, industry etc.) and it could have been solved had they took the "mood" B&W shots, but also THE COLOR SHOTS AS WELL. Having said that I agree that the B&W photos have a certain atmosphere or mood or historical quality to them that you don't get with color.


What really has opened my eyes so far is the one thing that I thought (1 of the first 3 I look for anyway) would give it away NOBODY seems to have even noticed. Hmmmmmmm.................
BTW the other 2 things that tell me a photo is fake are K-D trip pins and handlaid track.

 

[Vic]

New Ones

Hi Tyson, Guess What? I got new "spectacles" this AM and now I can see all the things you mentioned They even have killed the Kudzu in the trees LOL!

 

[Tyson Rayles]

After I missed cloning out the rear window in the back of the building on the right maybe I need new specs

 

[60103]

Tyson:
I looked at the photo again and I can't see the trip pins (behind the grass) and the track is too small to register.
Both photos look OK to me -- I prefer colour for diseasels but B&W for steam.
And it's all beter than I can do with my Brownie.