I'm not sure with this shot. In my mind there's to less contrast between the grass and the wreck part. But nice structures :-)

Karl: that was my wife's opinion too (in addition to saying it was too dark), but I think I prefer it that way as you need to explore the image rather than just see it – if that makes sense.

I have to agree with Karl about the lack of contrast between the grass and the wreck. I think I know what you mean by having to explore the image. However, I still think that this is one of the bad things about B&W. Colours make it much easier to see what is going on. Maybe a little selective colouring would have been nice...

beautiful maritime blog, but, is your camera broken? it makes so unnatural pictures!

the lack of contrast, added to the multitude of structures and textures in the foreground point my eyes attention to the clouds. Something not entirely wished for, i suppose?

You have to work hard to view the detail.

I think the reason B&W looks more natural in HDR than colour is that the tone mapping makes the colouring too smooth. Too plasticy looking. In black and white photography this already happens naturally because of similar colours mapping to the same gray value.

I love your work, but I'm really craving something more creative lately.

Dave, do you have access to a Macintosh with the Safari browser? I am running such a setup here and the recent changes to the website are driving me slightly crazy. It's fine in IE running on XP (at work); but at home it looks nothing like the view I get at work. There is lots of whitespace and the menu system hard to drive as half of it keeps dissapearing. I haven't noticed comments from others so it might just be my setup, I hope you get chance to check it out.

Nah not the bloody cat I hate cats apart from the biggies like leopards etc. that type of cat I meant :D

Wow... I'm surprised at what a difference viewing the photo with the black theme makes. It much easier on the eyes, and it seems to bring out the texture in the grass more. I wasn't to thrilled about this one at first but after switching to the black background I actually really enjoy it... interesting.

another nice one! it's amazing how much you get from Blackpool itself! may I suggest you get something from the zoo - hope it's not too far off.

This picture is great. Monochrome HDRs accentuate more the tones and specific details of the pictures, beyond any eerie colors that it may create. Although I like the colors in most HDRs. I suppose I'm quite surrealist in that regard.

I don't recall any pictures looking best in the white theme.

I love the obscurity and chaos in the lower frame.

I feel this wreck is lost in the frame, if you intended to show it being absorbed by the surroundings then I would guess you've succeeded. For me though it has no real focal point, the tones are too similar and the wreckage just seems lost within the frame, perhaps this should have remained a colour image, as a B&W it fails...

The large nail/bolt in the immediate right foreground would make a wonderful close up study of texture and form.

I have really enjoyed these wrecks. personally i think that B&W HDR images work really well, as demonstrated here.
Future projects? I'm into the mundane, flotsam/jetsom and everyday detritus at the moment with the aim of catapulting it into some new aesthetic dimension ( boy that sounds pretentious) dont know if its working out yet.
looking forward to seeing what you create next.
cheers.

eek! comments window too narrow!
maybe colour HDRs work better slightly less saturated?

I'm having a hard time distinguishing between the wreck and the grassy areas in this one. I normally like monochome pics but I miss the color in this one. I'd like to see the pic in color, too.

You're right about the Balck theme David, looks great......

I've been really impressed with this series and particularly how good the coloured versions look. There are some I've seen which look so false, these are spectacular.

Am looking forward to the next series....

Gorgeous. I love how the wood connects the sky and the ground.

Thanks everyone.

It looks as if this boat was sailed towards the land at an enormous speed and got buried in the mud.

Do you know how long these boats have been stuck here?

Love the contrast, and look forward to your cat shots, i take plenty of mine but would like to know how to do it properly (the way you do it no doubt)

And don't listen to YETI, domestic cats are just as photographic as big cats :)