Train between Heaven and Hell
Hope you’ve enjoyed this photograph, if you want you could give it a award. You could also give it a comment, just to say what you love about it, or to say wh...
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Hope you’ve enjoyed this photograph, if you want you could give it a award. You could also give it a comment, just to say what you love about it, or to say what you feel when you look at it.
Criticism is off course also welcome, but please keep it decent and polite.
Read less
Criticism is off course also welcome, but please keep it decent and polite.
Read less
Feb, 2015Views
1370
Likes
Awards
Member Selection Award
Superb Composition
Top Choice
Absolute Masterpiece
Outstanding Creativity
Magnificent Capture
All Star
Superior Skill
Peer Award
Emotions
Impressed
Top Ranks
Top 10 rankTop 10 rank week 1
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Flosno
February 27, 2015
Nice shot.....Good gapture of the rays finding their way through the clouds.....I believe in leaving a comment with any pic I give an award to
mdendekker
February 27, 2015
I did, and thanks a lot for the compliment. Its was just that kind of day, or better said moment that those rays got true. And luckily for me it was just on the moment a train passed by :)
Platinum
pegleg
March 01, 2015
fab sunset, i like the leading lines and the sunrays they are super. i also like the colours sometimes the blue sky cant look nasty you sky look real and is super good. i love your photo
Platinum
leckie45
March 01, 2015
A superb capture ... Beautiful golden light,the passing train and what looks like a freshly ploughed field ... All equates to the right place at the right time and a good eye to see it ... Well done ... Cheers, Trish
mdendekker
March 01, 2015
What a beautiful description Trish, And yes, it was just at the right time. Sometimes we have to be lucky to get the right shot :)
AnneDphotography
March 01, 2015
beautiful capture , awesome perspective and fantastic detail ... well done Marc ! :)
mdendekker
March 01, 2015
Thanks Annette, means a lot for me that this comes from you. After all you are a bit of mentor/guide here on VB :)
Platinum
KarenLejealPhotography
March 01, 2015
Wow! I love the drama of the sky and the leading lines. The colors are beautiful too! Nice shot!
mdendekker
March 02, 2015
Thank you very much Karen, indeed a bit of a drama if you look at the title I gave it ;)
Platinum
Bruz
March 02, 2015
What a gorgeous shot. the rays of the sun, the clouds, the color and the leading lines of the fence. Award winning in my book.
helenspurle
March 04, 2015
Wow, outstanding shot, there is peacefulness but also drama in this shot you have captured it all in one photo, well done
mdendekker
March 05, 2015
Thank you so much for the compliment Helen, and indeed some drama and peacefulness if you look at the title I gave it :)
mdendekker
March 06, 2015
Thanks Kathleen, I am happy you liked it. Really means a lot to me that people as yourself are enjoying it :)
mdendekker
March 07, 2015
I'm glad you enjoyed the shot Lily, and thanks for the cool compliments. The title is actually what I was thinking of when I was standing there :)
Platinum
mdendekker
March 14, 2015
Thanks for the great compliment Darla, I really appreciate it and like it that you've enjoyed it :)
PRO
andspran
March 21, 2015
I really like this shot. The transition from blue sky to white to grey to golden sunset in the clouds makes for some great drama in the photo. Well, maybe drama isn't the right word, but very nice!
mdendekker
March 25, 2015
Haha... I think Drama fits the description really well, just look at the title I gave it ;) Anyway, thanks for the great compliment. I am really happy you like
PRO+
mdendekker
March 25, 2015
Thanks for another comment Byron, it's much appreciated and I am really happy you enjoy my photographs :)
mdendekker
April 01, 2015
Wow, that's a big compliment Sherry. Thank you so much, I really appreciate it and am happy that you have enjoyed it :)
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Discover more photos See all
Behind The Lens
Location
This photograph was taken across the river of the city that I life in. There is a big variety of landscapes there.Time
It was taken at the end of the day during the golden hour. I just arrived home after a intense day and I needed to clear my head. I went out to walk and wander a bit. I crossed the bridge over the river and watched the clouds passing, There was a lot of wind. The clouds where moving fast. The view was gorgeous. As a couple of clouds moved across the sun a beautiful light beam was revealed. With an orange/yellow glow on the field and a clear blue colour above the clouds. I picked up my camera and tried capturing the scene. Sadly it wasn’t that impressive on photo as it was in real life. The photo in question was taken on my walk back. At the point that I almost reached the bridge. In my head I saw the composition I wished to photograph in my head; a train passing by with the farmland next to it and the yellow/orange sunset above it. So I picked up my camera again and waited for the train. The wind was blowing the clouds so fast that they broke open, and luckily for me that was the moment the train was coming. I only needed to click the shutter and nature did the rest.Lighting
The only thing I can say about lighting is that you can’t control what nature gives you, but you can position yourself and frame it in a way that it complements the photo. If you shoot only with available light your position relative to the light is critical. In this case the light was also reduced and defused by the clouds and they reflected the light as well.Equipment
In this case I had my Canon 550D (magic lantern firmware) with me and a the sigma 10-20mm f4-5.6 EX DC HSM. Settings that I used for this photograph where: ISO: 160 Shut: 1/125 Apt: F9.0 Focal: 10mmInspiration
The reason that I was there was to clear my head, but when I saw this composition I had the idea to capture the contrast between the blue and the yellow/orange. These colours are a natural contrast and often used in colour grading for big movies. So my idea/concept was the train was traveling between heaven and hell. Giving it two emotions.Editing
Yes, I actually almost do post-processing on all my photographs. Cause I am working in the audio/visual production world I’m used to shoot dynamically as flat as I can. So I have more freedom to get the colours that I saw with my own eyes instead of letting the camera decide. I like to work in this way cause I trust my eye more then the chip/sensor of the camera. The program that I almost always use is Lightroom from Adobe. It’s simple and gives me fast access to the basics I need for my workflow. When I firstly get a photograph into Lightroom I try to make it even more flat. I completely push the Highlights and the Whites away, so put them on -100. And do the same with the Shadows and the Blacks and place them on +100. After that I use gradients to get the different surfaces, in this case sky, clouds and land, closer to each other exposure wise. When the exposure looks steady, I add some clarity and contrast to the photo, just to make it pop a bit more. And after that I am adding the needed Vibrance and Saturation. After that I add some Shadows/Blacks and Highlights/Whites back into the photograph and there we got the finishing result. Every photograph is off course different, so every photo you will threat a bit different. But these are the basics steps of my workflow.In my camera bag
That totally depends of what I am doing or going to do. If I am not thinking of photographing but I have a bag with me cause I need it for other purposes I almost always have at least my Canon 550D or 600D with me often accompanied with the sigma 17-50mm 2.8 and sometimes the Chinon 50mm f1.9 manual lens. If I am in the mood and am going out to photograph it of course still depends what I am photographing. For landscapes I will take the Sigma 10-20mm f4-5.6. and the sigma 17-50mm 2.8. For Portraits I will bring the Chinon 50mm f1.9 manual lens (sometimes a AF 50mm 1.8) and often the Sigma 70-200mm 2.8 mk2. All tho I sometimes even use a 135mm f2.8 manual lens. For Cityscapes I use mostly the same lenses that I use for landscape photography.Feedback
Get an app for your smartphone that tells you when the Golden Hours will be in your location. Furthermore get a weather app where you see which way the clouds are moving and with what kind of speed. In landscape photography the same landscape can have a completely other feeling/vibe with different weather. So depending on what you’re looking for, be prepared. Besides that look for broken and fast moving clouds in combination with blue skies. In my opinion they give a flattering and dynamic feeling to your shot. Position yourself, or at least I like to do that most of the time, with the sun in a diagonal line towards you. There is a risk in taking a photograph this way, because the sun can fade your photograph, so sometimes it’s wiser to have the sun on your side or on a diagonal line in your back. And look for interesting things the audience can place there focus on. Show something dynamic in the landscape, so look not only for a background and a beautiful field, but also look for something in the foreground or on the side. The beautiful thing of a landscape is that it is, most of the time, wide. But you still want to guide the focus of the viewer on what you want to show.
