FED UP WITH RAILPICTURES.NET

That site only accepts perfect photos of trains at the perfect angle, in the perfect lighting, and the photo cropped to perfection....

You might find this thread particularly useful and entertaining.

Eric Kreszl wrote:The thing with rrpicturearchives.com is that right now they are being very selective with activating new accounts in order to keep it a free site. As they put it. My website is great but right now I can't update it because it has something to do with my account as it is on a mac site and it has to do with my Iphoto on my macintosh computer.

I guess I am not the only one that has a problem editing photos with a Mac on rrpicturearchives. Thank goodness I can still upload the photos and then edit them in the library.

I too, am very unhappy with Railpictures.net.
I post my photos here: http://naphotos.nerail.org/

I have 40 photos currently on the board. All you do is register (for free) and then start posting away. The only requirement, other than being of a railroad topic, is overall image size. As soon as you click the 'Upload' button the picture is on the website for all to enjoy.

Yes, there are some photos that shouldn't be there but the majority of what's posted is of excellent quality.

Try it....I think you'll like it! (and please check out my pics)

Joe Pica

i keep hearing about foamers, what the hell is a foamer?

Oh i had 2 more rejected tonight. retarded reasons too.

I was going to try Railpictures.net, however I heard you had to be in a certain clique based on other peoples horror stories, so I went with RR Picture Archives.

The subject of RailPictures.Net has also been scrutinised by those on an Australian Railroad forum I regularly frequent. Posting of a similar discussion on RailroadForums.com with a response from the owner (http://www.railroadforums.com/forum/sho ... #post62155) has continued discussion ever since.

The following is the response I made in that thread in June '05.

Mr Kilroy has been reasonable in his explanation, and although some here might be a little angst about having photographs rejected, I agree with him that getting photos on a privately operated and funded website isn't a God given right. For anyone here with a website (Even one of those FotoPic ones), if someone barraged you with 20 (Ordinary or even crap) photographs and demanded you put them on your site, how would you go about it? I'm not saying your photographs are of that, mainly asking to use abit of empathy.

In saying this, I've had a go at sending them a few of my great and unique photographs, and surprise surprise, all 8 of them have been rejected for various reasons I couldn't care less about. All 8 photographs that have been shown here and elsewhere, that have all received "ooohs" and "aaahs" acclaim, blatently rejected by these who are trying to dictate railway photography.

Photography is personal expression. Don't let some pack of purists discourage you from how you go about your photography. It's now become obvious to me that this mob don't like my low-pov tilted shots of locos, or low-depth detail shots of locos, or even star trails. Fine.

I won't shed a tear or lose sleep over it. I'll just exhibit my photographs on another website, like that my one.


P.S. Sorry to be so blunt about this. I'm generally not fussed about the quality of ones photograph and how others judge them, as we all approach these things different.

njt5140 wrote:however I heard you had to be in a certain clique....

That certainly doesn't apply to me.

Here is a spot, to dump your pix, for ease in sharing them wherever. No "cliques", or BS, just folks sharing photos.............

http://photobucket.com/

There are too many 'lines' to quote and discredit here so I'll just put my two cents in without picking any one particular person out. First of all, the common misconception about railpictures is that only photos in perfect light and at a 'perfect' angle get accepted. This is simply not true. They just don't accept crap from a cloudy day of something that can be shot with better scenery or in better conditions. Bad cropping means that the composition of the photo you submitted sucked and you need to learn how to look at it twice or a few more times before you come to the conclusion that your photo from the most over-shot hot-spot in the northeast is the GREATEST PHOTO EVER SEEN! Thats what people who complain tend to see which is never true otherwise it would have been accepted. Thats just common sense. I defend the site because I am not a "foamer", I am a railroad photographer. A foamer is one of those people who sits at the 'same ol' spot weekend after weekend shooting the same train in the same spot RARELY capturing any ounce of creativity in their photos. There is more to photography than just getting a roster shot of the power as it goes by you or shooting the crossing gate (probably blocking the trucks) and half a locomotive. Thats not art thats a grab shot and I completely agree that those photos should be rejected and rightfully for more than one reason. To get photos accepted you don't need to put the camera away until a sunny winter day when the light will be perfect all day. You just can't expect them to accept a cloudy shot of a widecab that are a dime a dozen when they have 2000+ shots of them in sun (which is rule #1 in photography). Trying creative angles, compostions, and exposures, SUBJECTS are rewarded with not only getting accepted but with awards and lots of WORLD WIDE EXPOSURE! Railpictures is not for people who just snap away and hope for something decent its for people who are serious about showing off their hard work, planning, and skill at combining trains and photography. Whats better getting 1000+ views and emails from corporations asking to use your photo for a brochure or 20+ views on rrpicturearchives.net and a comment from 'Steve'. It takes practice and good judgement to know what they will accept. No you don't need to shoto to their requirements just upload your best stuff not all 100 photos from Ridgefield Park at Noon. (OVERSHOT!) End rant.

I've had photos rejected for poor lighting when I thought the effect was rather pretty. And yet, I see photos accepted with the same low light as ones I've had rejected, such as this one:

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=129959

Do you think that's a bad shot?

"Low lighting" and "Bad Lighting" are different things.

I've found that comparing my rejected shots (however similar) to other accepted shots in the database doesn't get me anywhere.

I personally think that thats an excellent photo of the Amtrak Acela HST.


Eric

that picture isn't too bad.....but its a bit blurry if you asked me

while i agree with most of andrews post, i disagree with them not accepting widecabs on sunndays. Thats what i mostly see, and to be honest there are alot of pictures that aren't really "creative" other then someone set up a tripod and waited for the nearly 2 mile long coal train with a dash 9 or Ace leading. I dont try and take the same pictures that have been done before and i do look at my surroundings. But sometimes what are you going to do?

This one got rejected for poor cropping. I disagree, but im not going to cry about it.
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... ?id=468117

This one for to much sharpening.
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... ?id=347858

This one for bad lighting. My favorite shot too.
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... ?id=361283

Bad shadow, which is the only pic i agreed with. I thought it had a shot.
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... ?id=403270

I do have other pics where i thought its a nice pics lets see what happens. Also had alot of rejections when i first started doing more photography of trains end of last year.

I've wanted to write to the webmaster or whoever at the site and ask about why not have a section for best rejections? Have some good shots that just missed the cut and have the top 10 featured?

Its too bad that on that pic with the "too much sharpening", that you couldn't move your sideview mirror and get the rest of the consist in it - that would have been a cool shot!!