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Greater legged yellow cranes

Posted by
Curly (South Shields, United Kingdom) on 11 December 2009 in Business & Industry and Portfolio.

My first attempt at what I'd like to think is a "sensible" HDR image, without the outlandish colour schemes that I've shown in recent weeks.

These cranes belong to the Port of Tyne Authority and work at Tyne Dock, South Shields, loading and unloading cargo from the River Tyne. Three RAW files tone mapped in Photomatix, then a small curves adjustment in Photoshop, and finally cleaned up with Noiseware. I arrived at Readhead's Landing just off Commercial Road in a bit of a hurry about thirty five minutes after the sun had set, it was a hurried decision as I was on my way somewhere else, so these frames were shot hand held without the tripod.

I'm pretty satisfied with the result and the colours are very close to authentic, I just hope that the maximum smoothing has brought out sufficient detail, the full resolution image (in my eyes) is a stunner. Tell me what you think.

I've been back into Photoshop and Topaz Adjust to make four or five different versions of this with differing tones and colours, shout up if you'd like me to show some of them.

PENTAX K100D 1 second F/5.6 ISO 800 55 mm

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Bigezbear from New Orleans, United States

There you go again, being all superlative and everything ... OMG, how'd you shoot this ... ?

11 Dec 2009 5:35am

Luis A. De Jesus R. from Mexico City, Mexico

Thanks for providing the work flow...will try myself. I certainly like the results: very balanced and visually striking.

11 Dec 2009 5:39am

Levi Cusio from West Vancouver, Canada

this is an awesome image curly. i love the processing on this. excellent job

11 Dec 2009 6:11am

zahra from shiraz, Iran

great,very cool.

11 Dec 2009 6:16am

Alun from cheshire, United Kingdom

very good mate, a good conrtol of the old HDR. good detail in the shadow area's, nice one

11 Dec 2009 6:35am

MrsAmber from West Wickham, United Kingdom

This is good work...I love the processing you have done. The colours really stand out.

11 Dec 2009 7:33am

Nigel from Avening, United Kingdom

Now that really is a great picture of the docks.

11 Dec 2009 8:14am

Zora Zoé from Berlin, Germany

I love the charm of harbours and this one looks fantastically! Light, sky, reflecting water - stunning capture - great! Greetings :-))

11 Dec 2009 8:51am

BARBARELLA from MONTE CARLO, Monaco

it is all about light and you caught the best of it here. stunning iamge

11 Dec 2009 9:29am

Sarito from Basingstoke, United Kingdom

This is a beautiful shot. Excellent use of HDR processing to bring out the details. nicely done.

11 Dec 2009 9:37am

Clang from Davao, Philippines

this is a great shot. the lights, colors, detail, everything is in harmony!

11 Dec 2009 10:35am

Anina from Auckland, New Zealand

WOW!!! This is one amazing capture. Fantastic colours and lighting. Great HDR processing. Very well done

11 Dec 2009 10:40am

Theys from Charleroi, Belgium

A superb composition and processing, magnificent!

11 Dec 2009 11:12am

Eric Cousineau from Sherwood Park, Canada

A rare find indeed Curly! LOL.... Nicely captured! ;-)))

11 Dec 2009 12:30pm

Ralph Jones from Detroit, United States

Very good industrial photo. Great HDR processing.

11 Dec 2009 12:51pm

Gildas from Montreuil-sous-Bois, France

Un paysage industriel magnifié par cette lumière.

11 Dec 2009 12:53pm

digitalCG from Manchester, United Kingdom

Curly - I think the restraint has paid dividends here. The central cranes in particular are beautifully exposed and detailed - I'd love to see an alternate crop with the leftmost bright lights removed and a touch less water.

11 Dec 2009 1:11pm

k@ from Paris, France

Magnificent lights & golden glittering cranes ! Like robots, giants, modern divinities of the crazy luminous world !

11 Dec 2009 1:11pm

JoeB from Brampton, Canada

We all tend to get carried away with HDR once in awhile, I prefer to do one shot and just tone map. What I like about this is the brilliance of colour and how everything gets enhanced, there is no one focus point it all gets your attention.

11 Dec 2009 1:13pm

Tamara from Aarschot, Belgium

I love harbours, they always have a huge amount of nice photographic spots. The HDR treatment you made here is beautiful, not too much, not too soft... really good imo. Great job Curly :)

11 Dec 2009 1:46pm

QUIM from Lisboa, Portugal

A great photo!

11 Dec 2009 2:00pm

Sof from Neuchâtel, Switzerland

Nice reflections and nice sky

11 Dec 2009 2:03pm

Iain from United Kingdom

Towering derricks of trepidation and diffidence vociferate the melancholy of the sequestered shipyards. Canny photo mind.

11 Dec 2009 2:24pm

@Iain: Iain your florid orations are entirely superfluous, but it was canny of you to comment. Can you please get in touch with me via the contact button at the foot of this page.

Shahryar from Isfahan, Iran

great shot ,well done :)

11 Dec 2009 2:28pm

BJ from Murfreesboro, United States

very interesting shot, I like the toned down HDR

11 Dec 2009 3:02pm

Julie from Easton, United States

I like this photo just the way it is, nice job!

11 Dec 2009 3:38pm

Michael from Shell Village, United Kingdom

This is good Curly, over cooking spoils the flavour.... but this shot is just perfect, very nice done my friend.

11 Dec 2009 3:53pm

DaveB from Exeter, United Kingdom

I agree with you that HDR's look alot better at full resolution. A tiny criticism, but you can tell it's handheld, the details on the cranes seem slightly out of whack. Did you consider using camera raw to make the three images? Its a bit of a cheat, but it means your images are guaranteed aligned. Also, the noise is slightly off-putting.

Sorry for the criticism, I do actually like this one, the framing and colours are really cool!

11 Dec 2009 4:07pm

@DaveB: Dave, this was made from three RAW files, as stated at the top, they were processed through Photomatix which automatically aligns the frames and the only signs of motion that I can see are from the swaying ropes from one of the cranes. The final result has been filtered through Noiseware to remove as much digital noise as is possible, a little bit of noise is one of the endearing charms of HDR.

Di from Winnipeg, Canada

A beautiful shot, composed, lighting...I love it!

11 Dec 2009 4:17pm

Amanda from Jersey City, United States

You've done an amazing job with this one! I drive past a very similar scene every day on my way to/from work.

11 Dec 2009 4:31pm

Mascha from Kootstertille, Netherlands

Just Beautiful!!
Have a nice weekend!!
Gr.mascha

11 Dec 2009 5:33pm

Yvonne Simons from Tilburg, Netherlands

Nice work, beautiful color, well done!

11 Dec 2009 6:42pm

M@ndy from London, United Kingdom

I'd be interested in seeing ur versions!

11 Dec 2009 6:46pm

alex centrella from California, United States

well caught curly .

11 Dec 2009 7:20pm

Ana Lúcia from Leiria, Portugal

The light works wonders on this shot.

11 Dec 2009 7:46pm

zOOm from Paris, France

Very impressive HDR and night shot, metallic structure is beautifully revealed here. Well done.

11 Dec 2009 7:47pm

john4jack from Corvallis, Oregon, United States

Excellent. Personally, I like this better.

11 Dec 2009 8:01pm

Steven from Chicagoland, United States

Nice capture of this broad, panoramic view of the port. Good lighting as well. I definitely would like to "shout up" and see what you produced in the other versions, particularly with the clouds.

11 Dec 2009 8:13pm

Garfield from Ancaster Ontario, Canada

The harbor, cranes look like gentle giants against the dramatic clouds/backgound.

11 Dec 2009 8:21pm

PeterFH from Gothenburg, Sweden

Beautiful night shot.
Great light.

11 Dec 2009 8:22pm

Ted from South Wales, United Kingdom

It's so easy to overdo HDR and I'm more guilty than anyone. I've also come round to the 'less is more when it comes to HDR.'
It wont surprise you then if I say this is my favourite shot of the day and an all time favourite from your work. I really like the subtlety of the PP, together with rich colours and a magnificent industrial skyline. Brilliant!

11 Dec 2009 9:08pm

sithenah from Greater Manchester/Cheshire, United Kingdom

This didn't strike me as HDR when I first looked at it (the sky looks a bit harsh) so for me I find it a wonderful image - love the reflection of the cranes in the water.

11 Dec 2009 9:16pm

thami from Morocco

Ces grues ressemblent à des sculptures de girafes ! Bon dosage de la lumière sur les différentes parties de l'image!
Bonne fin de semaine lumineuse!

11 Dec 2009 9:16pm

Marie from FRESNES, France

j'adore ce genre d'endroits, magnifiques couleurs !

11 Dec 2009 9:21pm

Je@n-M@rc from Nancy, France

Superbe image qui donne de la féerie à cette zone portuaire :)
Great !

11 Dec 2009 9:37pm

dabbler from Minneapolis, United States

This is a stunning photo at different levels: the size of the cranes, the super-complicated processes you explained (I'm a million miles from them yet) and mostly, all the wonderments you captured!!!

11 Dec 2009 9:59pm

Willem from Noord-Scharwoude, Netherlands

Great shot, nice light and detail

11 Dec 2009 9:59pm

Tyson Williams from Toronto, Canada

Love those industrial shot, well done!

11 Dec 2009 10:12pm

Shriram from Ithaca, United States

Wow - this is spectacular. Thanks for the commentary at the top.

11 Dec 2009 10:33pm

B. Thomas from Arlington, Texas, United States

I do like the more natural HDR look on this shot. Very nice.

11 Dec 2009 11:51pm

Steve Rice from Olympia, United States

An awesome shot! Love it!

12 Dec 2009 1:01am

Lambspun from Madison, Maine, United States

Amazing details of each ripple in the water and each line hanging from the cranes are awesome. Beautiful true to image colors! I love this!

12 Dec 2009 1:51am

shoti from Everywhere in the, Philippines

wow. great job you did here Curly. I love the colors and the tonemapping, quite realistic and dramatic. powerful image.

12 Dec 2009 2:09am

Tomix from landerneau, France

fantastic mood...a great shot! i like the tones!!

12 Dec 2009 8:04am

Ddo from Verdun, France

Splendid light. Great shot for this industrial landscape.

12 Dec 2009 9:42am

ghetu from Mumbai, India

i love this picture. thank you very much for the description. i wish i could make it my desktop background! will you allow?

12 Dec 2009 9:50am

@ghetu: Of course you can Ghetu, I will be honoured, (it's covered by the Creative Commons Licence)

Marie LC from Voiron, France

Fabuleux !

12 Dec 2009 1:27pm

madagasca from Singapore

very beautiful curly...!

12 Dec 2009 2:15pm

Earnest from Oklahoma, United States

It's excellent HDR work! --actually the way I think it should be done... I appreciate the whimsy in the title more than you think! :))

12 Dec 2009 2:24pm

daniela scharnowski from Berlin, Germany

beautiful colours and mood - and a very good hdr job!

12 Dec 2009 2:55pm

El pare from Barcelona, Spain

A great picture I love your composition,light and reflections. Well sight and done. Cheers.

12 Dec 2009 5:18pm

Satvik from Columbus, United States

Beautiful HDR image ! The colors look very original.

12 Dec 2009 8:52pm

Dulcie from Danville, CA, United States

I'm not found of HDR, so when you post an HDR image I probably won't comment, but this one is wonderful....
probably because it is, as you said, a 'sensible' HDR image. I really think these flying yellow cranes work beautifully, and they don't have the exaggerated tight texture and color I usually see with HDR images. I'm glad you took the time to snap them !!!

12 Dec 2009 10:21pm

David Nos from Barcelona, Spain

Beautiful HDR work!!

12 Dec 2009 11:00pm

Martine from Brest, France

Superbes lumières !

13 Dec 2009 4:22am

Japanalia from Yokohama, Japan

Well, you managed to make those cranes interesting, even attractive....not to say anything about the beautiful lights and reflections!

13 Dec 2009 11:32am

tambelina from tehran, Iran

I love the colors and reflections

13 Dec 2009 7:43pm

dj.tigersprout from New York City, United States

this is very lovely -- beautiful muted tones, but still vivid and wonderful!

14 Dec 2009 6:46pm

narcís from Girona, Catalunya, Spain

Una imatge molt bonica amb bons colors i bons reflexos!!! SALUT!!!

19 Dec 2009 11:52am

Twelvebit from Victoria, United States

Good application of hdr.

3 Jan 2010 10:55pm

ali from Iran

nice reflection and colors:)

30 Mar 2010 7:55pm

PENTAX K100D
1 second
F/5.6
ISO 800
55 mm

hdr
colour
cranes
river
tyne
south
shields