Texture Fun

I'm going to post this quickly before I change my mind...

I took this shot last weekend at Finn Slough (South Richmond). Originally processed as a fairly straight black & white but it was lacking something, and there were a few bits about the photo that I didn't like much. I've just spent a bunch more time working on it, with this result. I think I like it, but if I let it sit for a while I'll probably change my mind and then it won't get posted, so here it is, before that can happen.

There are multiple texture layers applied, along with some vignetting and a few other things. It started out just as a texture-application exercise but probably turned out a little better than just a workbook result. The textures are a little heavy-handed, but that's okay - the end result looks a lot like a pretty old, abused picture.

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Flat-decked Tug

When I was out at Steveston almost two weeks ago I spent a bit of time watching the activity on the river - there was quite an elaborate bit of business going on with bouyed pipes zig-zagging along the breakwater, leading up to but not quite reaching a large vessel/barge. While I watched, the crew pictured here appeared to complete the connection, though the 'plan' behind the odd pipe arrangement was still hard to figure out.

The barge-thingy (well out of picture to the right) was probably the base for a dredging operation, but alas it must have been the end of their working day (it was about 4:00) as once they had connected the last pipe they returned back to the barge and things started to shut down and get quieter, rather than noisier as one would expect if they were going to commence dredging operations.

There are quite a few things about this picture that I don't like:

• the composition is clumsy,
• only one of the crew of 4 (I think) is actually visible, and you can't really see how the tug operator is maneuvering the pipes into position. I'd moved around several times to try to get a better vantage point, but each time I moved so did the tug, and due to the distance involved I had to move quite a ways each time to make a noticable difference.
• It's also a little too tight, in hindsight I wish I had zoomed out a little to capture a bit more of the scene, although that would have meant loss of other detail in the tradeoff.

That said, here it is anyway

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Wreck in Fog #2

This is an alternative shot of the wreck on the Fraser: this time it was a longer exposure and flash was used to light up the fog rather than allowing it to be cancelled out by the long exposure. The vignetting was added in post-production.

This isn't the type of shot I have typically liked in that past - a year ago I wouldn't have considered posting it at all. I do, however, like it, so I guess you can chalk it up to changing tastes as I develop as a photographer.

Oh, and if you're wondering about the change to this blog, please see my previous post for a bit more information.

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Wreck in Fog

Quite some time ago I started looking at new templates for this blog. I wanted something clean and neat, something to feature the photography and clean out a lot of the other stuff on my site. Not that I didn't like the features provided by some of that stuff, but I did find much of it pretty distracting. And man, was I tired of the blue colours!

Welcome to my new blog design.

It took quite a while to get some parts of it to work properly on my test site, in fact I gave up on it twice. But now things are looking better so I decided it was time to port it over. I will probably still tweak it a bit, certainly the colours aren't quite right yet, but most of the extra clutter is probably gone for good. Hope you like the change.

As for this photo

It was taken on Christmas evening, in the very last of the day's light, when it was really foggy. It's the same wreck that I posted back in the summer, just different conditions. I didn't actually think I'd gotten anything that I liked from this mini shoot so I didn't get around to downloading the pictures from my camera until the other day. Turns out there were two shots that I liked - they're quite different - and, due to a lack of any other new material, the other shot just might get posted as well.

As regards the complete absence of any new material for such a phenomenally long time, all I can say is sometimes you hit a dry spell... Now that I've finally updated the blog layout and cleaned the old pictures off the camera maybe I'll get out a little bit more and get back to posting more regularly. Or not. We'll have to see how it goes. My timing sucks a bit since I have to work this coming weekend, so renewed motivation won't be much of a factor, but we can all hope.

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Two, On the Rocks

Nothing but rain in the forecast, so I thought I'd post this shot from last weekend to remind us just how nice it was.
Okay, so down by the water there was still a chill, but for the first day of November is was a pretty fine day, and there were still some sun-worshipping opportunities for those so inclined.

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Stacked for the season?

As you can see, I processed two versions of this shot but couldn't decide which I liked better. I suppose that I ought to prefer the full-colour version as it is much more faithful to what you'd have seen if you were there when I pressed the shutter button. However, there's something in the mixed black and white with colour version that draws me, even though it's a gimmicky effect.

Location of the shot was the Deas Rowing Club, located in Deas Regional Park, which is actually quite a nifty place.

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Fraser River Wreck

I've been on holiday for a little over 4 weeks now, so I figured that it was about time that I posted something!
I actually haven't taken all that many pictures thus far; I was sick for most of the first two weeks (still coughing), then out of town where I only took a total of 5 pictures (all of the same subject and all sucked). I've been a little busier with the camera for the past week but just not overly happy with much of what I've shot - I guess I'm a little out of practise.

Anyway, this was captured on Saturday afternoon, shortly after the start of our little thunderstorm. No captured lightning in this shot (or any of the others I took of the wreck), but you can certainly see the nasty clouds looking east-north-east. It was actually pretty gloomy most of the time I was there - the sun peaked out behind me just at then end of the shoot, producing this image.

This was processed as an HDR (high dynamic range) from a single RAW file using Photomatix Pro and tweaked in the process to bring out the clouds, with a little additional touch-up in photoshop. The regularly exposed shot isn't bad, but lacks the ominous sky present in this result.

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Too Blue

Just decided that 'what the heck, why not make this a twofer Sunday?' so here's another shot from last weekend. It has the same overdone blues as the image below (actually, all the colours are pumped) but I've decided not to let that stop me from posting it.

I'll probably regret it in the morning...

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Liftoff

I realized that it's been a couple of days since my last post and I hadn't intended to let things go so long between posts. Here's a shot from last weekend that I'm still not too sure about but posting anyway.

Every time you learn something new in Photoshop you want to apply it to every picture; part of the skill is knowing when to use it and when to skip it. Not exactly sure how that applies to this picture, as the treatments in LAB colour certainly yielded a much better result than I'd probably have been able to achieve without it, but this result has a bit more blue in it that probably actually existed. Or, perhaps it would be better to say that it's more than could be seen by the naked eye.

In spite of that, I do like the resulting image, just not sure how honest or faithful it is to the original.

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Old Tires on Aluminium Boat

I had two shots of this boat & dock (from different angles), both processed as black and white, which I quite liked, although compositionally they're quite different. I won't bore you by posting both, but thought I'd at least post one of them.

This was taken at Steveston on the same day as the last two pictures that I've posted, though obviously quite a bit earlier.

And in case you're all getting tired in general with the Steveston shots, I hope to get out and shoot something new this weekend.

I think I've not been going out that much lately partly because of the weather, but also partly because I miss having my long lens with me. I checked on the status today, apparently it's still sitting at the Canon repair shop in Calgary listed as "repair in progress" which probably means that they're waiting for some replacement part. It's been 7 weeks, and I guess it'll be a little longer yet.

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Steveston after Sunset

Just a quick post - thought I better get something up after having had a 4-day long weekend. Back to work in the morning and actually looking forward to it, I need the rest.

This was taken last evening at Steveston. I'm not sure just how it'll look on other monitors as my configuration has changed at home and I've spent most of my time the last couple of days trying to get things re-calibrated (a real up-hill battle). It didn't occur to me that changing my video card would mean so much work, fiddling, and on-line research for help.

Anyway, about this picture... it has been colour-corrected to remove the awful yellow from the bright sodium lights around the pier, with some extra work required on the posts in the foreground. Not sure about the 'truth' of the resulting colour, but true or not, I kind of like it (again, assuming that I've managed to get my monitor reasonably calibrated and what I'm seeing here is what others will see on their monitors...). I haven't tried to print anything yet - kind of afraid that my calibration will be off and prints will be horrible again.

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Yep. It's Winter.

Go over the turquoise coloured wooden bridge to Westham Island and take the first left and you'll find yourself on a very narrow strip of asphalt that runs for maybe ½ a kilometer before dead-ending at this place. This shot was taken about mid-way off the side of the road (which is on a dike) early on Saturday morning. The white stuff was, I think, a mixture of left-over snow from the previous weekend and ice. I was a little surprised to find this snow/ice: although it has been 'cold' (by local standards) for the past week or two I'd have thought that there'd be at least some salt content in the water here (thus preventing it from freezing) so close to where the Fraser mixes with the straight of Georgia.

One thing I noticed when I took a look at the full-resolution shot (not visible in this version) was that some of the homes across the water have docks/boats within feet of their front doors - talk about convenient. Wonder what they do in stormy weather though - some of them look to be extremely vulnerable to flooding.

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Sea Lion (and ½ Moon)

I guess we're continuing the 'view from the shore' theme that I seem to have started a couple of posts ago.
I spent some time down around the Maritime Museum this afternoon; it's one of the first times I've been there when the gate to the dock was open and I took advantage of it. I managed a couple of shots that might - maybe - be worth posting, starting with this one. I'll try to get something else up within the next day or two, but I started a project last week that I really need to get done so I might not have the time. All I can say is check-in from time-to-time to see if there's anything new...

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(Almost) Empty Dock

I'd had in mind to post a different shot next, but when I took another look I decided that I wasn't happy with the processing after all. I spent some more time working on it this evening, but I guess I'm not quite sure just what it is that I want out of it as I'm still not satisfied with the result. Oh well, I can always waste a little more time tomorrow...
In the meantime, here's another shot from Saturday. This one was taken a bit later in the day than the previous post (about 25 minutes before sunset) and to the west (McDonald Beach). I'd gone there to get a shot of something else that I've been thinking about for a while; I'll have to go back again though as the tide was in and I couldn't get the vantage that I wanted and the light really wasn't right either.

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Smoke and Mirrors

Well, fog and calm water, actually.

Probably the last of the shots from Steveston. Actually, I wasn't sure that I'd post this one, considering that the last two - which I thought were quite good - haven't received a single comment good or bad...

Is anybody out there???

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This Float Reserved

The second image from Steveston on Saturday. It was a real toss-up as to whether I'd go with this version or the black and white, but I think, in the end, I prefer this one, by a whisker.

I have perhaps one more shot from the set that I'll post, then it'll be dry for a while until I get out to shoot something new as I have to work this weekend - there'll be little chance to shoot anything.

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The Fog Approacheth

Here's a little break from the black & white series.

I quite like this one. It was taken at Steveston Dock late Saturday afternoon, where it was quite cold due to the fog. It never got as pea-soupy as I thought it might, which is kind of a bonus, because it's hard to photograph anything when you can't see six feet in front of you.

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Dingy and Dock

Thought I'd try to get some last-light-of-the-day pictures down at Vanier Park this evening. Unfortunately, due to traffic and failing to allow for the correct time of sunset, I didn't get there on time. It was also partly due to the low cloud over Georgia Straight which blocked out the best of the last part of the sun.
As I had nothing better planned for the evening I hung around and practiced my night-shooting. It was the first time I'd done any (reasonably) long exposures, something I'd been meaning to try out for a while. This one was 109 seconds, and while the sky is a little brighter than I'd prefer, I'm fairly happy with it for a number of reasons:
• It captures the light on the dock and small boats in the foreground very nicely,
• Almost everything is in focus and clear. The main exception is the large boat (the Sea Lion), which moved somewhat over the almost two minutes,
• I like the balance of the composition with the dock and boats in the foreground and the West End in the background.

Oh, and Corwin, if you look really closely at the stern of the dingy, you can just make out a blurry "something" standing on the transom. It's yet another Heron... And no, I'm not going to buy those double-headed sharpies so that you can draw this one :)

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