Welcome to the Unofficial Screenshot Competition This is a fun and friendly alternative to the official Screenshot Competition run by DTG. Here you can share your weekly themed TSC screenshots using any 3rd party / post shot editing etc. creations which are not allowed in the official competition. Rules: TSC only shots allowed. Screenshot should be in some way (can be very tenuous) linked to the theme. Otherwise anything goes. You can enter up to 3 screenshots, posted as separate posts. You can delete and replace if you wish. 3rd party content / Reshades / Reskins etc. are welcomed but are not mandatory. Previous week's winner to decide winner (can't enter themselves). The winner chooses the new theme for next week (and becomes the new judge). The Judge of the week's decision is final. We strongly discourage any negative comment or criticism of another entry by a fellow contributor, this is a light hearted & fun contest! This is a major "we are all friendly" thread and we hope it will always remain so. Please keep chat to an absolute minimum. Entries will close at 9:00 PM BST on Friday, June 7th 2024 and will be judged by me - RWADAY AKA American Steam In the event of this weeks winner not responding by 5:00 PM BST Sunday, June 9th, a new thread will be created using the theme with the highest votes in this weeks poll. Theme for this week : "reflections " Feel free to interpret the theme however you wish. Good luck to all, but most importantly, remember to have fun.
Yard duties out in Jersey over at the Meadowlands Maintenance Complex in Kearney, NJ. Here we have lots of action, we have an NJT GP40PH-2B waiting for it's yard assignments, NJT MLV, Comet IV cab car and Comet IV trailers, along with TTX double stack freight transport en route to Port Newark Container Terminal
A pair of Geeps lead a loaded coal train along the Clinchfield Railroad Loco: GP7 Route: Clinchfield Railroad
The sun casts a reflective shadow off the Ribblehead viaduct as a Class 40 trundles by a with a short rake of Mk1's in tow. Route: Settle - Carlisle Train: Class 40 (AP)
Skarloey Railway BB Class 'Rheneas' ventures through the beautiful Sodor highlands on the Skarloey Railway with a short loaded slate train headed south for Crovans Gate seen passing over the gorgeous Mountain Lake Causeway with Sodor Castle seen on the left. The lake produces an awesome reflection of the train, castle and vegetation at this location on the fictional Island of Sodor located in the United Kingdom. Loco: Fletcher, Jennings & Co. BB Class Route: Island of Sodor Scenario: N/A [World Editor Set-Up] Enhancements: Armstrong Powerhouse Sky & Weather Enhancement Pack 2.0 + Armstrong Powerhouse Cloud Enhancement Pack, RW Enhancer 2, ReShade
Preserved Boston and Maine EMD E7As '3815' and '3802' with 5 matching coaches operates a rail tour train for the new division superintendent of the area surrounding Portland located in Maine, United States of America. It's seen heading north at almost midday during Summer on the Pan Am Mainline passing by an old dockyard with the train and old buildings reflected in the water. Loco: EMD E7A Route: Portland Terminal Scenario: Intro 3: Visiting South Portland Enhancements: Armstrong Powerhouse Sky & Weather Enhancement Pack 2.0 + Armstrong Powerhouse Cloud Enhancement Pack, RW Enhancer 2, ReShade
66102 with a rake of empty CDA hoppers on the return journey from Carne Point on the China Clay Route.
37272 was also photographed by a fisherman on his boat earlier that morning taking a set of wagons to Carne Point to be unloaded.
Conwy Castle reflected in the beautiful still waters of the Conwy Estuary. You can just make out 40 136 heading a rake of BR Mk1 carriages towards Chester. Loco:- AP Class 40 / with 10 x AP Mk1 Carriages Route:- North Wales Coastline (AP enhanced)
Reflecting on the old days of rail transport, A5 No.28 with a rake of Clerestory coaches approaches Arnside on the Cumbrian Coastline.. Loco:- CW A5 Route:- OTS Cumbrian Mainline.
The morning sun reflects off the side of 92025 Oscar Wilde as it heads south to Carlisle from Mossenend. DTG 92 with AP SP WCML North
A beautiful evening on the River Dart as a 1940s Railcar Twinset, with additional central coach, heads out of Kingswear past the Britannia Halt and the Dartmouth "Floating Bridge" Ferry. Loco:- DT 1940's Railcar. Route:- Riviera Line GWR era.
Thank you all for your entries. Good interpretations on this week's theme. First place goes to Blazin for his Boston And Main E7s in passenger service. One could almost mistake this for an oil painting. Good use of colors. It is a hot Summertime look. Nothing over saturated Good FOV. no over stretching. You get to run next weeks contest.
The second place goes to cscarpenter for his 2 way use of the reflections theme. One for to the past and the other for the reflections on the water. Good use of the low Autumn sunlight angle to light up the 1940s interurban train set. I would take this to be late afternoon. Again this one could almost be mistaken for a painting.
3rd place goes to craigie-c for 37272 leads a rake of covered 5 plank wagons. Again another good composition and good use of light on a bright Summers afternoon. Cragie-c must be in his blue period. Note a little heavy on the FOV, a little distortion on the locomotive.
A lot of the entries were too dark and hard to see detail. Use tools at hand to manipulate light to accentuate the detail you want to draw attention to. I use the Pause/Break and world view to move the camera in all directions. I also change the time of day and use the adjustments in the pause menu. Until next week I leave you with my rendition of Reflections.
Congratulations to the other winners and thank you very much for 1st place!! I will have the new thread up hopefully in the next few hours.
I thought people were just doing a scenario and taking screenshots along the way. Never realized some of them are setup and photoshopped.
There was a different wording of the rules where it was included. There was a member who posted lovely edits of their pictures - absent for a year or two now. Painting style. It's a bit hard to draw the line - what's the difference between Photoshop and AP / Reshade? You replace the skies, upgrade colours, intensify contrast, stuff like that. Usually the judges look past that and primarily choose based on more generic aspects (composition, concept, ...). 'Shopping is really just to treat everyone else (and ourselves). Like your comment about the default game being a tad bit dark.
Well done to the winners, brilliant entries! Just realised this part of the rules has been removed, I always tweak the levels just to make the colours/details pop, what I do out of TSC is only the same as what reshade would do on the fly in game.
Thanks for the 2nd place posting, much appreciated, again another great week of entries. Personally, all of my entries are never photoshopped. the only add-ons to the base game I use are the AP enhancement packs. Just goes to show how good this old game can look with just the minimal tweaks.
The rules for the unofficial contest is that anything goes really so people can edit their shots in photoshop if they wish. I don't do Photoshop but I do use graphics enhancements like ReShade which is practically Photoshop on the go and I take screenshots along the way playing scenarios with stuff like that. Anyway without further ado the new thread is up with the theme being based on rarity! (Of a type of locomotive, livery, train movement service, you name it!) https://forums.dovetailgames.com/threads/unofficial-screenshot-contest-week-24.82023/
If it helps, I just took this shot on the JT MML at Lincoln, literally just jumped out of the cab and snapped using the settings detailed in the second image, which seem to work for me.
In re reading the contest guidelines/rules I have made an error in being critical of some submissions. Apologies to those whom I might offended. In my enthusiasm to help, I made comments that some may have taken as a negative. My intentions were intended to be positive. I could have worded better as to provide a more positive approach. Mea culpa.
As far as I am concerned personally, I have no complaints how you have run this weeks comp. Your critiques have been spot on and combined with an excellent theme choice has resulted in yet another great week of submissions. Enthusiasm should always be encouraged and welcomed. Positive criticism for me is always good, it is a great way to nurture talent and encourage improvement.
Many thanks rwaday for the podium placing and congratulations to all for a great selection of screenshots. As for your apology post, firstly I personally don't feel it is required. Everybody sees an image completely differently. One man's masterpiece is another man's disaster shot. The whole terrific world of photography, whether real life or virtual, is all down to how the viewer perceives an image. I have in the past looked at a screenshot and thought it to be awful, next thing it is voted a winner because the judge for that week saw something I didn't, such is the fun of this comp. As judge of the week you have the outright choice of what you believe to be the best shots for that week. Some judges will go for wide landscapes, some will go for lighting and composition, others will go for subject matter and location. Whatever floats your boat is entirely down to you. Considering you are a reasonably new contributor I hope you will continue to support us and become a long standing member of this thread. Best wishes
All good mate I agree with the others, no apology necessary. I have never felt any negative feelings coming from your judgements as you are providing polite constructive criticsm so nothing wrong there at all!
