Sunset at the Ballpark - A Poll

I'm entering a photo contest at a model railroad site I frequent, and I have chosen my photo of a real railway scene, and now I'm trying to narrow down my choice for the model railway scene. Only one entry is allowed per person. I'd love to get some insight from the board as to which of these is the best, and why. I'm not a good photographer (yet) so I'm trying to learn about angles, themes, lighting, etc... My theme here is "Sunset at the Ballpark" and of course trains are involved. Thanks!

1)
2)


3)



4)

5)

6)

They are ALL killer. But, I am a big picture kinda guy.

6 because it looks the most real. All of them very, very good. 6 looks like it was taken from a helicopter and if you told me it was a real place I would believe it.

I liked 5 the best.

5

5 is best. The net is less intrusive to the scene.

I originally voted #6 but I just noticed something.  You can see the shadows from the lamps on the wall in the lefthand corner.  So instead I'd go with #5.

Thanks everyone!

Mc666 - good observation...now that you mention it.


Toho - Great catch! I cropped it ever so slightly and was able to remove those shadows without losing anything else.

Very nice train setup by the way, it looks great.

5 for me as well.

#5 is the most realistic looking

I sent my parents a few of your pics because when I was growing up, they would roll out full-blown detailed model railroad setups every Christmas, complete with model homes, people, roads, etc.  And in a large gauge train scale like your's appear to be. 

Got a response from my dad today:

Quote :

Yep! That is pretty neat. Lots of detail including people.Train looks abt
same size as ours.

That's a great memory, Toho! That's what got me started, as well. Our Christmas setup wasn't very detailed, some fired-clay village buildings and old-timey cars that didn't match, but it was just for fun.

Your dad might know the scales/gauges - Mine in N-Scale or 1:160.

I like #5 the best.

I voted for #6, for what its worth.

scottmitchell74 wrote:

That's a great memory, Toho! That's what got me started, as well. Our Christmas setup wasn't very detailed, some fired-clay village buildings and old-timey cars that didn't match, but it was just for fun.

Your dad might know the scales/gauges - Mine in N-Scale or 1:160.

Our Christmas setup had lighted model homes, dirt roads made out of cinnamon and with small stones lined up along the sides, Matchbox cars and people all over the place.  We had a mountain tunnel that the outer train (a diesel-led train) ran through.  And an inner steam engine train that had a flatcar with barrels on it that if you parked the car on a certain part of the track and hit a button it would flip the barrels into the storage yard next to the track.  Real elaborate.  I think I was most fascinated when I peeked under the skirt that covered the boards it was set up on and saw the spiderweb maze of wires going everywhere. 

Still one of my fondest holiday memories.

I voted for 5, but 3 is also really strong as a composition.

Some really brief and cursory forays into graphic design taught me that you want the composition to have a sense of momentum. If things are too busy, the eye isn't drawn anywhere. The angle of the bleachers in the upper right of 5 pulls the eye in that direction, which is reinforced by the direction of the track.

Or, to make it less technical, it's a damn fine looking snapshot.

3 is solid as a composition, but it's less obvious that you're looking at a model rail set, so I don't think it gets the "point" across as well if I'm understanding what you're going for.

Runicen wrote:

I voted for 5, but 3 is also really strong as a composition.  

Some really brief and cursory forays into graphic design taught me that you want the composition to have a sense of momentum.  If things are too busy, the eye isn't drawn anywhere.  The angle of the bleachers in the upper right of 5 pulls the eye in that direction, which is reinforced by the direction of the track.

Or, to make it less technical, it's a damn fine looking snapshot.  

3 is solid as a composition, but it's less obvious that you're looking at a model rail set, so I don't think it gets the "point" across as well if I'm understanding what you're going for.

Thanks for the input. Interesting thought about the bleachers angle and track direction. I would like to take a photography class or course someday, as I'm just blindly doing things trial and error with a crappy camera these days.