# The Hudson Line



## limr (Oct 29, 2015)

Hudson Line by limrodrigues, on Flickr

Thoughts about tonal range?


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## runnah (Oct 29, 2015)

all the tones are present!


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## snowbear (Oct 29, 2015)

Yep - I see black, white and a bunch in between.  Good contrast.


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## mmaria (Oct 30, 2015)

really nice Leo


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## Ysarex (Oct 30, 2015)

A very nice photo -- reaching a black point would improve it. There's no black in the photo as it is now.

Joe


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## limr (Oct 30, 2015)

Thanks, everyone! 

The straight scan was a bit dark so I remember bringing up the shadows. When I get home, I'll check the black point.


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## tirediron (Oct 30, 2015)

Loverly!!!


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## annamaria (Oct 30, 2015)

I like this!!


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## limr (Oct 30, 2015)

tirediron said:


> Loverly!!!



Danke!


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## tirediron (Oct 30, 2015)

Any more info on the line, power or consist?


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## limr (Oct 30, 2015)

annamaria said:


> I like this!!



Thanks 



tirediron said:


> Any more info on the line, power or consist?



Um...not sure? All I know is that is one of the commuter trains that come from Grand Central. The Hudson Line is the line that runs up the Hudson River all the way up to Montreal. The commuter trains obviously don't go that far  - they stop at Poughkeepsie. But the Amtrak runs that line from Penn Station up to Montreal. I've taken that ride (well, from Croton-Harmon station, since that's the stop close to me) and it is just stunningly gorgeous. And I'm also familiar with the commuter line. I took it every day for the several months I worked in Manhattan, and it's usually the line I take whenever I go for a day in the city. This photo was taken just north of the Cold Spring station, so it's a little more than halfway between the city and Poughkeepsie.


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## limr (Nov 3, 2015)

Okay, correct me if I'm wrong, but values of "0" means there IS a black point, yes?

What else can you tell from this information? (I really am curious. This kind of stuff confounds me.)


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## Ysarex (Nov 3, 2015)

limr said:


> Okay, correct me if I'm wrong, but values of "0" means there IS a black point, yes?
> 
> What else can you tell from this information? (I really am curious. This kind of stuff confounds me.)
> 
> View attachment 110955



Yes a value of zero is black. If you have some pixels in a photo with a zero value then you have a black point.

The dialog is a Levels adjustment dialog (Corel is being non-standard naughty and calling it a Histogram Adjustment). There are three sliders labeled Low, Gamma and High. Those sliders allow you to set values relative to the histogram you see in the box. The Low slider is set to the value 9. What that means is that you've brought zero up to nine or in other words any values in the photo that were nine will now become zero. The rest of the tonal data in the image shifts accordingly. If the photo does not contain any values as low as nine then all the photo data will remain brighter than black (0) but will shift down and the photo will get darker.

The High slider is set to 239 and it's an inverse of the Low slider. Values in the photo that were 239 and above are pulled up to 255 (white). The rest of the tonal data shifts accordingly. If the photo does not contain any values as high as 239 then all the photo data will remain darker than white (255) but will shift up and the photo will get lighter.

The Gamma slider is set at 1.01. 1.00 is the center point. As you move the Gamma slider to your left the values will increase beyond 1 and the image will get lighter and decrease in contrast (gamma is a fancy photo term for contrast). As you move the Gamma slider to your right the values will decrease below 1 and the image will get darker and increase in contrast.

The standard rule barring any special exemption or photographer's artistic license is for a normal contrast photo to reach black -- touch black -- and get as close to white as possible without actually touching it. So prior to the application of that artistic license we start with a photo of a normal scene containing values from zero to let's say 250.

Your photo here is a special exemption. The train headlight is a bright light source which is not a standard element in most average photos. That headlight should be at the full white 255 value.

Joe


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## yahgiggle (Jul 4, 2016)

The track is good at leading my eye to that train but i feel i just get stuck there with no lines to lead into the rest of the image maybe coping it would help


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## bulldurham (Jul 5, 2016)

Adding both lights and darks luminosity masks reveals much more sky than you are posting and a brighter headlight...cropping where the foliage ends on the right makes for a more visually stimulating composition..just my opinion.


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## Tim Tucker (Jul 5, 2016)

yahgiggle said:


> The track is good at leading my eye to that train but i feel i just get stuck there with no lines to lead into the rest of the image maybe coping it would help



It's an old thread but had to make this comment. If you look at the image purely in terms of lines and objects...

But images aren't just lines and objects but tones and textures as well, but what are lines but abrupt changes between tones and textures? There's also fast moving towards and slow moving away.

Some of limr's images are really compelling in a way I can't attach a logic to, (some aren't). But I'm always open to a different view rather than try to make the image conform to a logic I understand. The compelling images are telling me to shut up and listen, so I'm always looking to see something different, to learn something new. So I don't want this to conform to leading lines and 'thirds' (God forbid) but show me something different.


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## limr (Jul 6, 2016)

bulldurham said:


> Adding both lights and darks luminosity masks reveals much more sky than you are posting and a brighter headlight...cropping where the foliage ends on the right makes for a more visually stimulating composition..just my opinion.





Tim Tucker said:


> It's an old thread but had to make this comment. If you look at the image purely in terms of lines and objects...
> 
> But images aren't just lines and objects but tones and textures as well, but what are lines but abrupt changes between tones and textures? There's also fast moving towards and slow moving away.
> 
> Some of limr's images are really compelling in a way I can't attach a logic to, (some aren't). But I'm always open to a different view rather than try to make the image conform to a logic I understand. The compelling images are telling me to shut up and listen, so I'm always looking to see something different, to learn something new. So I don't want this to conform to leading lines and 'thirds' (God forbid) but show me something different.



Thank you both for your feedback. Things for me to chew on


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