DSLR Photography Forum

On the River Severn in the west of England are the Purton Hulks, essentially a ship's graveyard of old collier boats and barges. They were beached in the last century. The tides around here are massive, some of the biggest ranges in the world, and the coastline is moving quickly. These barges became silted up by tides and storms, eventually overgrown, and they stand quite starkly out of the dunes against the width of the Severn Estuary.
I've rarely seen any decent pics of these, and I understand why: there is a big dynamic range what with the wide skies, the sand, the grass...so it is easy to either expose for the sky and block out the detail of the boats, or to expose for the boats and white-out the skies.
On top of this, the light the other day was flapping about all over the place, bright sunlight followed by dark clouds...and parts of the landscape having both; some of the compositions also had to be contre-jour, rendering the whole thing a bit of a challenge. With the 21mm lens being used, there was up to 6 stops of range in any one scene.
All of which begged the issue of How?...and I had no tripod, so was unable to do an HDR(actually I can never be bothered to take 2 or 3 shots then merge them, and I've never once done this): so, I used a range of techniques and exposures, somethimes exposing for sky, sometimes for foreground, converting at low-contrast, compressing the range with Power Retouche's compressor, burning, dodging, partially erasing layers...and just about every trick in my book.
Generally, I was aiming in my head before taking the shots at a pre-envisaged outcome( creativity plus discipline and knowledge of tools and media, folks ), having an idea of moody monochromes akin to a darkroom platinum print process. Have a look a Don McCullen's landscapes, and imagine not quite as dark...
Anyway, if anyone wishes a diagnostic of a particular shot, let me know and I'll gladly detail what I did.

It's worth noting that out of maybe 200 shots, there were only 20 keepers.

WOW! These are almost like a poetry! You captured so nice photographs, I can't say which one is best, they are all so impressive and beautiful.
Thank you dear Zig,

with my love,
nia

Very beautiful pictures of this place, Zig... The second one is beautiful... Interesting picture, and the colors are so beautiful...so pastel but at the same time so full of color and energy...

I like also what you did with the fence. I think it is a really nice picture.. I see you use the grass to frame, it looks beautiful because of the contras of colors and textures...

Thanks for sharing Zig...

Fascinating story and situation. Your photos really had me thinking about change and decay, and how impermanence is such a subjective thing. These boats were surely not in good shape when they were abandoned, but presumably could have been salvaged. Yet in a matter of months or years, I'm sure they were irreparable hulks. And yet here their remains are, a century later, still quite recognizable and intact.

It makes me think that all things are like this – after all, a tree that has died is still recognizable as a log on the forest floor long after its branches are gone. I've been told that a fallen tree can continue to support life in the forest for longer than its own lifespan, both as a food source and a habitat. I fancy that these boats may have had their photos taken as they floated proudly during the birth of photography, or maybe had their portraits painted even before that. And here they sit, having their photos taken even still.

A fine set Zig.

On another forum a couple of years ago someone posted a few photo's of the wrecks, (for want of a better word) and I gathered they were sunk, to shore up the coast to stop the River Severn overflowing into the canal.
So a little research came up with this link. :- http://www.mythornbury.co.uk/thornbury/l...rton_hulks

There are other links too, to be found.

Thanks folks.
NT, fascinating; thank you: makes good sense given that the canal is only yards away. I had thought they were just dumped there in an out of the way place, but their deliberate semi-interment seems most logical, as they form part of a raised bulwark of sand dunes. Thus I now think their visibility is due to erosion rather than being silted up...my, I've been here since '98 and don't know half the things on me doorstep.

Interesting processing techniques exhibited on these - particularly interesting in light of the technical description of the process that you used on the color photo in the other thread (that photo being very close processing-wise to #1 here, I think). My personal preference is for the B&Ws - I think that the unique processing style being demonstrated here works better in B&W - those images taking on an Ansel Adams zoneish vibe. The images look natural - like that is how they should look - even taking on a bit of an infrared look (particularly #3). I think that the B&Ws are a real tour de force.

I don't really have much more to offer on the subject of processing - you are doing a great job honing your individual look and style.

If I could offer a little unsolicited advice on the story (as this is the stories forum), I would like to see a more linear flow to the photos that illustrate the narrative. At the moment, the mix of dramatically-processed B&Ws and more natural color photos seems faintly arbitrary. One possible organization might be to start with the most recognizable hulk - so that you wouldn't have to describe so much to get your viewer *started*. Then maybe the flow could move in a thematic direction - say from least decayed to most most decayed - speaking eloquently to the process of decay and decomposition purely through organization. I wonder how it would read in this order: 5, 3, 1, 6. Anyway - just general comments that you can feel free to ignore as always.

Its a great series of shots that tell a fascinating story.

Less of the "faintly" please Rob completely arbitrary. I find the Showcase so swamped by stuff that fails to exemplify it, with the unfortunate consequence that I failed to think about sequencing the above sheaf of shots. I agree, you're right: a sequence and some movement/development might help the point,( if I could think what the point was :|) ..else I'm just using this section as a dumping-ground of my stuff. Heaven forbid.

Well processed, especially the black and white.

Thank you Don.