although I too like this scene it had little or no impact. I did a little experimentation tightly cropped off the left side (empty tracks) flipped it horizontally so the rear of the train is on the left side near the bottom and heading across and up to the right. Did some lightroom enhancements dodge and burn to make the lighting more interesting did some sharpening and added texture to the train and silos. I find that lighting plays a major role for me when it comes to impact. Flipping the image seems to make for better use of the leading lines at least to me.

I was struck by the distinction between short-lived and long-lasting impact. I would suppose that images with the long-lasting kind of impact also had the short-lived type first, but maybe not.

Your original photo, for example, didn't strike me at first as having impact. Certainly not in the way that your subsequent edits have. However, there was something about the original that did intrigue me and it took me a while to figure out what it was. I ended up finding a "photo within the photo" in a part of the image that many of the preceding posters have cropped out.

So, I took the opportunity to explore the left side of the image a little more and came up with this.

So, I guess for me at least, your original did have impact.

Now, whether my version has impact or not, I really can't say.

(I hope it's OK for me to post this edit.)

I'm a bit late coming in here, and have not read all three pages, but at this point I believe there are degrees of impact. The addition of storm clouds has added a large degree of interest and, in general, a good monochrome adds more drama than does color. There have a good number of contributions that have elicited a WOW from my lips, but at this moment I could not tell you what they were. So, how much impact did they have on me? On the other hand, one photo by Graham and one photo by billyspad immediately burned themselves into my brain so I can visualize them whenever I think of them now, several years later. That is what I consider impact.

One of the many things I am attempting to learn about photography is to make my images impactful. I recently read an article in Landscape Photography Magazine by Rafael Rojas. Here is the link to the article if you would like to read the whole piece.

https://landscapephotographymagazine.com/2015/impact-in-photography/

Here is an excerpt from the beginning of his article:

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According to the Oxford English Dictionary, something has impact when it produces a strong effect on someone or something. Based on that definition, we may assume that impactful photography would be something which produces a memorable experience in the viewer, transmitting a strong message and leaving traces on their mind and soul. The reality is, however, quite different – in fact, most of the impactful images we see nowadays draw our attention for a millisecond before being relegated to oblivion immediately after.

The important nuance for photographers is not whether our images have impact or not, but rather whether that impact, whatever its immediate force might be, is short-lived or long-lasting.
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I realize that based on our own unique life experiences we are all not effected in the say way by the same things and I think there are degrees to which we will be impacted as well. This is not a Pulitzer prize winning photo but I would like to know:

1. Do you find the photo to be of some impact or is it just a nicely composed image?
2. Which has more impact, the color or monochrome?
3. What makes it or does not make it impactful to you?

Thanks and I am looking forward to your responses.

This is a great topic, Keni, and I applaud you for being bold enough to put one of your own images out there for focusing the discussion.

I enjoy shooting these kinds of industrial sites, so I'm drawn to the image for the interesting (to me) subject matter. You have good colors to work with, complementary blues and oranges, so there's color appeal. You have made good technical and compositional choices. Somehow it doesn't quite reach the level of "impact". That may be in large part due to the harsh mid-day light, rendering the shadows contrasty but not terribly engaging. Graham's and Salvage Diver's monochrome conversions are both nice: they put that contrast to use in a more helpful way. I agree that they've found a more impactful presentation. But it seems a shame to sacrifice the color, both in their versions and in the ones you and others have done with different color toning.

Some of the most impactful industrial images I've ever run across are right here on the UHH site, in Russell Borud's series Prairie Sentinels. Here's one of his threads. https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-462641-1.html. There are others. He often uses an artistic approach that many photographers would consider more digital art than photography, but you seem to enjoy working in both areas. I could not help myself, I had to play with your image with a quick experiment using my own photo-art rendering in kitchen-sink style. (PS I don't think my version has impact, but it was fun anyway!).