It's a close call, but I agree that this mono version has a slight edge over the colour version. I've loved all 4 of these recent photos. Number 2 was my definite favourite, but this one is close behind.

Hi there, I actually prefer the colour one!! I often try removing the colour if its not working and see how B+W turns out but I think you probably had lots of other images you were looking forward to working on??! You were probably right as some of your others of this old boat are fantastic.

Best one of the series in my mind. I like that it is the most true to your style.

My first thought was "Awww...what happened to the colour?"; having seen that version being worked on over the last few days.
The more I look at the B&W the more I like it.

But I prefered it in colour ;-)

I'm with you on the b/w. The wreck itself seems to work better within the toned image.

I prefer the BW too. My favourite is the first shot and this is the least favourite. I'm viewing it on my laptop at the moment and the image seems to slightly out of focus but it could just be my screen or the beer that is flowing into my brain.

The series is great though and I'm sure there are more angles to take pics from maybe next time we go I can show you some ;-)

Oh, I just remembered Dave, did you or did you not say you were not interested in taking pictures of boats that time we went out to morecombe. ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-)

Seriously, I like the shots a lot and good HDR usage as well.

This location has proved to be a treasure trove of excellent images. I love your interpretation of these wrecks/hulks. One of the great pleasures of photography is to see how different photographers interpret the same subject. I agree with the general feeling that in this case the mono image is preferable to the colour.

You recall the how confused I was by the condition of the last wreck we photographed. Well I dug out the shot I took back in January and posted it this evening (Disappearing hulk). No wonder I was confused. Back in January the wreck was considerably more intact than it was last Tuesday. The scrappers had obviously torched it again to get the remainder of the metal off it. Such a shame. Just shows you have to record these artifacts before they disappear altogether.

lovely contrast of images... agree with Alistair, this was a treasure.

I would have prefered at least one of the images to have been a close-up (for variation) but generally I like the series - more angles of the same thing leaves you with more knowledge of the site, something that I find very educational. The Google maps link was good too. To me information rules... :) gimme' gimme' - and it's Friday, so cheers everyone... :) PS: Your "remember info?" thingy doesn't work on my computer.

I loved the other 3, but I'm afraid this one does nothing for me. I think it's a little too HDR and has lost something - if that makes any sense! Mind you wish I could find such wonderful subject matter in Derby - the only old wreck round here is me ;-)

Hi Dave,

I'd rank the four images in this order: 1, 2, (color version of) 4, & 3. While I agree with JW on the default version of 4 appearing to be slightly less sharp, I like the color version best anyway and wonder if you decided on non-color as a way to more evenly "balance the mix" of the four. They're all nicely done.

The one real complaint I have about HDR processing, as well as images farther along in exaggeration (i.e. images that attempt to be more "painterly"), is the resulting mismatch between the apparent sharpness of the image foreground with the softness produced from cloudy skies. I suppose this is due to clouds having only rounded contours and no real edges for the software to find and accentuate. I notice this problem using other HDR-like plugins (where the goal is to produce an overall painterly effect).

While the skies in all four images of your set convey a good amount of mood and drama, they simply don't seem to feel like they "belong" with the crisp bits that have been processed in the foreground.

I'd be interested to hear if this is only my perception, or if you and others who have experimented in this genre might agree.

Cheers!

I must admit I'm over this series. Flogging a dead horse and so on... Do I note a tendency to post blocks of images now? Is this to tie in with the tutes? I used to love getting wildly different images every day. Now it's like the same for days at a time. Not that this boat series is bad or anything. I quite liked yesterdays. I just want something new and colourful.

Your post-processing skills are amazing, I really need to try and pick up a few tips so that's why I visit here so often. SO much to look at and learn from. :)

Hands down, we have a winner! ;-) Great series!

Actually, I think I like these shots in the order you posted them.. Great subjects.

Hi David

Another great shot. I prefer this one over the colour version and I guess out of the series, No 3 was my favourite.

A wonderful series of images which I've been drawn to every day to see what you have come up with......outstanding.

for me the best of the series has to be the 2nd shot :D
the angle was much more refreshing and as I'm not all that keen on the colour that HDR produces, I'm always going to go for a black and white or toned image ;)

I like the second shot of this series the most

Nice dreamy landscape and the wreck adds nicely to this for me.

The first thing I thought was "I like this."

Not saying I haven't liked the others, but this gave a more spontaneous reaction. I liked this and the first one best, but cannot decide which, as they are rather different in expression.

Thanks everyone.

John: don't remember saying that ;-)

Alistair: yep, it's a great place. Hopefully we can shoot it again another time.

[ PIXEL VIKING ]: hopefully tomorrow's shot goes some way towards showing the detail.

Bob: part of the reason the skies appear overly soft is that I've used Noise Ninja to remove the noise. Perhaps I need to think about toning this down a bit.

Geoff: no, it's not to do with the tutorials. To be honest, I'm getting to the stage where I'd much rather develop a set of shots on a theme than just post random stuff each day. I know that's not as good for you, but it's where I'm heading at the moment.

Maybe you're unsure about the boat because it doesn't look very 3D, being directly side-on? I'm not sure, because it doesn't look plastic to me; looks like another very nice shot.