I have to agree with both of you. I find the shot at Los Pinos at the bottom to be too dark also, and sometimes others post photos too dark. Looking at the shot of the engine at the tank, you can see there is light on the tank and other things, but its really dull. A trip through Photoshop could easily brighten it up, and even saturate the colors a tad, sharpen if need be and then you have a great photo. I tend to lean toward making things brighter than leaving them dark, depending on the shot. If the sky is gray then its likely the shot is dark, so why not lighten it all, cause the sky is not blue to begin with. When you have nicer skies I think those images are harder to work with as far as lightening the subjects, without washing out the sky. Am talking about from color film not digital.
As time goes on I can see images and videos and always say, "Wow I wish I had that technology when I was shooting.........take your pick!!!
To me the most important things are Location, Composition, and sunlight. If you nail the exposure on those three things, you are likely going to have a good image of something. I can live with less quality on some subjects like my shot of 483 at Cresco from the Instamatic. The 1968 instamatic shots are the only color I have of freight ops. Before that I have B&W, from a box camera which is not great either. The point is there are times when watching a rare image is better than a newer one that is a great exposure or capture. An example would be watching Regular Service Steam in South Africa with great action shot on VHS, versus a fan trip in Europe that is shot on digital today!!! Both are good, but the content of the South Africa is going to be better to me!!! Personal preferences I guess.
Greg
