I have another 11 shots from my trip to Barcelona, that I was going to continue posting, but Fleetwood Pier burned down last night so we went up there this afternoon to see what was left. The leftmost side of the pier (built of iron and concrete) seems to have mostly survived the blaze, but the main pier building has been totally destroyed.

The pier was opened to the public in 1911, and while it isn't the most photogenic in the area I have managed to get some decent shots over the last couple of years. I'll try and get some more later this week and will post any that are worth seeing.

A couple of days ago I mentioned that I'd been up to Fleetwood to shoot some HDR sequences, and that none of them had worked out, but I finally managed to sort out one of them. The reason I said that I didn't think that any of them would work is that I initially tried to process them using Photomatix Pro, but just couldn't get rid of the halos around the various struts and ironwork.

So, having failed with Photomatix, I thought I'd try a version using FDRTools and, as you can see, it's done a pretty good job. There were some HDR artefacts that needed correcting, and some minor haloing in some parts of the image, but on the whole I think it's done a pretty good job. There are still some minor areas of the image that I think could do with a bit more work, but I ran out of editing time today.

Anyway, this is a shot of the underside of Fleetwood Pier (as was this one). It was constructed from a seven shot sequence, all of which were taken at f/11.0 with a shutter speed range of 1/640s for the darkest shot to 1.6s for the lightest. To give you an idea of the dynamic range of the original scene, here's a straight conversion of the metered exposure:

.../archives/under_fleetwood_pier_2.php

As always, let me know what you think.

This is an HDR of the underside of Fleetwood pier, created using three bracketed exposures. Well, to be accurate, it's mostly an HDR, but I used the sky from the underexposed original image as I felt that the sky in the HDR image was too contrasty and noisy.

I had planned to shoot some more shots of the stranded ferry Riverdance today, but I was out of town for most of the afternoon and by the time I got back the weather was terrible, so I've posted another shot of Fleetwood pier, taken at the same time as this one.

The weather report is good for tomorrow, and low tide is at around 4pm, so I'll try and get some shots from the north of the ferry in the afternoon sun: providing the coast guard aren't being too zealous about excluding people from the beach.

My apologies for not posting anything last night but I was busy finishing off our latest tutorial, Digital workflow: part one.

As for this shot: it was taken on the same trip as the previous three that I've put up, and while it isn't quite as striking, or as unusual, I'm pleased with how it turned out. And in case you're wondering, the toning was done in LAB Color mode.

This is the second of the long exposures I mentioned yesterday, and of the three (maybe four) that I'm going to put up I think this is probably my favourite.

This one was taken about about 15 yards to the right and a minute before yesterday's. Again, it's an HDR constructed with Photomatix Pro using three bracketed exposures.

Let me know what you think of it.

Oh, and if you're interested we have 150 signed and numbered calendars for sale. Full details are available on our store page:

    http://www.chromasia.com/store.php

Update: I probably won't be posting any new material until Saturday or Sunday as I've run out of time to shoot anything new or raid the archives. I'm photographing a friends wedding on Friday though, so may get something up on Saturday, but if not I'll try and get something posted over the weekend.

At some point in the not too distant past Fleetwood pier was probably a thriving tourist destination. These days it's looking a little the worse for wear, as this shot and tomorrow's will testify.

First of all, thanks for all the comments on yesterday's shot, they were much appreciated.

As for this one, regrettably, it isn't quite as dynamic as the last three, but I'm reasonably pleased with how it turned out, not least because it was taken on my first outing with my new lens, the 24-70 f/2.8L. After buying the 5D I realised that the 17-40 wasn't going to be much use as an everyday zoom, so thought I'd get the 24-70 too. And so far, I'm really pleased with it. It seems quite a bit sharper than the 17-40 and the extra stop will probably come in handy.

Sometimes, the light is just right.

More archive raiding again this evening, but I thought I'd try something a bit different with this one. And if you're not entirely sure what you're looking at, I'll explain it later :-)

I did intend to be out and about today but woke up with either a stinking cold or hayfever or both and ended up falling asleep again just after lunch. By the time I woke up again the kids were getting home from school, Harmony needed fetching home from nursery, it was almost tea-time, the dog ate my homework, and so on.

Anyway, I didn't get out so it was back to the archives for this one.

To make things a bit more interesting though I thought I'd offer a free 9x6" print (of any of the shots on chromasia) to the first person who can:

a) identify what this is, AND;

b) either tell me exactly where it is and/or identify one of the two other shots on chromasia that (to a greater or lesser extent) contain the same object.

As usual John Washington is barred from entering as he was with me when this was taken ;-)

Update: Ains worked this one out about 15 minutes after I put it up. Clearly, next time, it will have to be much more difficult ;-)

First of all, thanks for all the comments on yesterday's shot, not least because it's unusual to end up with such a polarised discussion - from "I hate it", "it's the worst shot you've put up" to " I love it". Normally your response is a little more uniform; i.e. a greater or lesser number of you like it, but you don't normally split your opinion quite so dramatically. It was interesting to read your thoughts.

On a related matter: I'd just like to remind you all that chromasia isn't a gallery, it's a photoblog – a visual diary if you like – and as such the quality of the stuff I post, and the type of stuff I post, will vary. I know that most of you know this, and I'm not offering it as an excuse, but it does sometimes seem as though a small number of visitors miss this point. I guess that the bottom-line is that if I was only interested in putting up my best images for an audience I wouldn't do it this way, and there would probably be around 40 images on chromasia rather than almost 800. As I said though, I do realise that most of you know this already, and your input is much appreciated, even when you do tell me that my wife was right all along ;-)

Anyway, on with the show ...

Initially, I wasn't sure about this one, mostly because it ended up looking quite different to how I would normally approach this scene, but in the end I'm pleased with it – there's something about the flat dullness and pastel shades that quite appeals to me. I guess, that the difference between this shot and my usual style is that this one is post-processed sympathetically, rather than being shoe-horned into my expectations as to what the scene should have looked like.

Anyway, given that this is a bit of a departure from the norm, I'd definitely be interested to hear what you make of it (though suspect it's not likely to be overly popular).

Oh, and John put up a similar view of this scene yesterday.

My wife says that she hates this one, but it's definitely my favourite of the last three. I suspect she's probably exagerating, and she really means that she just doesn't like it, but either way, she much prefers yesterday's image. Anyway, while I think that it might have benefitted from a little more DoF in the foreground, I like everything else about it: the grains of sand, the colours, what might be a shadowy figure in the background, and so on.

As always, let me know what you think: despite the fact that I already know that when my wife and I disagree about a shot, she's normally right about how everyone else will react ;-)

First of all, thanks for all the great comments on chromasia's birthday shot yesterday – they're much appreciated :-)

On which note; on with year three ...

I went out with John for a couple of hours yesterday afternoon and came away with three shots that I'm reasonably happy with (there may be a fourth. I haven't decided yet), of which this is probably my least favourite. What I do like about this one are the two boys in the background. It wasn't my intention to photograph them – I was composing a rather minimalist shot of the iron pole and the pier when they ran into the shot – but I quite like the way it turned out.

As for the other two shots: I suspect that the one I'll put up on Wednesday is my favourite, but tomorrow's will probably generate more interest.

Update: I've got into a bad habit in recent weeks of feeling pressed for time, going out and getting a few good shots and a couple of not quite so good ones, and posting the weaker ones first – of which this is one. Anyway, lame excuses aside, I've done a different version of this shot – minus the pole and the odd angle, which I've posted here:

../archives/pole_dancing.php

Update #2: Ok, well I've been thinking about this one and have decided that it just doesn't work with the pole in the shot. So, I've switched them around and now have the minimal version as the main entry and have put the one with the pole here:

../archives/pole_dancing.php

Let me know how you think they compare.

First of all, thanks for all the great comments on yesterday's shot – as I write this it's my 11th most commented entry. Admittedly, loads of them were written by me, but it's still not bad ;-)

Anyway, here's the last in this short series and I really can't decide between this one and yesterday's. That said, if I had to choose one of them I guess it might be yesterday's. Oh, I don't know – you tell me.

One interesting point, that I nearly forgot about: the bright lines on the horizon (towards the left-edge of the image, and from the right edge to around a quarter of the way in) are boat trails; i.e. boats moving along the horizon during this eight minute exposure.

On a related note: I bought one of those little spirit levels that you attach to the flash hot-shoe of your camera the other day and I have to say that it was brilliant for night photography. Under normal circumstances getting the horizon level at night – i.e. when you probably can't see it – is a bit of a hit or miss affair. The spirit level, which was only a few pounds, has already saved me loads of time and effort and I definitely recommend you get one if you're going to do any night shooting.

At the risk of boring you all to death, here's the second of three night shots of Fleetwood pier, all of which have been processed rather differently.

One of the things I really love about night photography is the ability to turn darkness into light, and while last night wasn't pitch black – it's only a few days until the full moon – there didn't seem to be a great deal of light around. Another thing I enjoy is deciding on the colour balance of a shot. Out of the camera, at least if you don't set the white balance, most shots have an orange cast as a result of the light pollution from the sodium lamps used in most towns and cities. This shot (and yesterday's and tomorrow's) was much the same, a rather insipid orange/brown. So, rather than leave it that way, or go for a more 'natural' look (as with yesterday's shot), I thought I'd try something different with this one. And just for once, the argument that it's been Photoshopped is, IMO, irrelevant; i.e. when you can't really see the scene in the first place it's more difficult to argue that one interpretation is more appropriate than another ;-)

Oh, and I can't decide which is my favourite of the three, this one, or tomorrow's; so I'll be interested to hear your thoughts.

My apologies for this being a bit late, but I didn't have anything to put up this evening so went out night shooting. And, what with one thing and another, I'm rather behind schedule this evening.

As for this shot: it's yet another photograph of Fleetwood Pier, and while I'm not 100% happy with it, I did enjoy spending an hour or so on the beach and will probably go out again over the next few days if the weather holds out.

All being well this will be the last of the shots from my short trip to Fleetwood at the end of last week as a) I'm hoping to find a bit of spare time tomorrow, and b) don't have any other shots that I'm particularly pleased with. As with the other shots from the trip this is a reasonably accurate interpretation of the scene. Sure, I've added a vignette, and upped the contrast, but the colours and clarity were all there on the day. Since then the weather over here has been grey and drab and cold – not ideal picture taking weather – but I'll see what I can come up with.

I originally intended that this would be a full-colour shot but the colours in the remainder of the image detracted from the bouy – the intended focal point of the shot. So, given that the black and while version didn't work out either, I went for a selectively colourised version instead.