Sunderland Point with Orton

Sunderland Point HDR with Orton, originally uploaded by Bay Photographic.

Thought I'd have another go at Orton. This was processed from a single RAw file into a pseudo hdr file then tonemapped with Photomatix. I then opened it in Photoshop, and created two duplicate layers, blended one as screen, then created another copy and added gaussian blur and blended this as multiply. I then sharpened the other layer with unsharp mask and merged the visible layers. I then sharpened the merged tiff a bit with smart sharpen. This is the 8 bit jpeg. I'm not sure about the image but I'm starting to get to grips with the Orton effect.

Whalley Viaduct

Whalley Railway Viaduct, originally uploaded by Bay Photographic.

Drove over to Whalley today, mostly because I felt like it, partly because I am moderately compelled to do so every summer at least once. I took the road over the Trough of Bowland, which, oddly, is spectacular but unphotogenic in equal measure and arrived just as the sun disappeared behind some high cloud.
While I can see the attractions of the high street, the church and the Cistercian Abbey, I have previously found the railway viaduct that passes over the Ribble Valley near the school where I taught in the late 70's to be the most visually striking aspect of the village.
So, after having photographed the Abbey Gatehouse I tried to capture something of the enormity and complexity of what is essentially a half mile long bridge made of bricks.
I shot this with a Nikon 10.5mm fisheye so I could include the river and the footbridge as well as the arches of the railway bridge.
I quite like the two vanishing points and the discordant composition that ignores every rule, and thought I would emphasize it by desaturating the image after turning it into a 'pseudo' HDR file with Photomatix.
I also sharpened it twice.
Very off message, but it may be my last opportunity for a while.

Skyline

'Skyline' at Lytham., originally uploaded by Bay Photographic.

While out photowandering (not quite as aimless as it sounds, but not really deliberate location photography either) I found this boat, possibly an ex ship's lifeboat, stranded on the shoreline near Lytham. The day was dull, overcast and there was rain in the air so I was frankly glad to find something to photograph before I was forced to give up and go to Tesco for a bit of EDRT.
That's Economic Downturn Retail Therapy, buying stuff like cheese and paracetomol that you need anyway as if its Harvey Nichols binge buying.

I know. But it works for me.

Back at home I did my usual Photomatixphotoshoptopaz processing, but then, for some reason thought I would try out Orton effect.
I used to use Orton in the old days (that's before digital or BD) by overlaying contact copies of slides, one of which was out of focus for a sort of 'glowing ethereal' look.

...and this is the finished image. I used layers in Photoshop to create a Gaussian Blur effect while retaining the detail.

There is a useful tutorial here:

http://pcin.net/update/2006/11/01/the-orton-effect-digital-photography-tip-of-the-week/

No, I'm not sure either.

Second Terrace, Sunderland

Second Terrace, Sunderland, originally uploaded by Bay Photographic.

The village of Sunderland, on the promontory that is usually referred to as Sunderland Point was once a prosperous and thriving port where goods from the West Indies and Baltic were transhipped to smaller vessels and lighters. Robert Lawson is credited with developing the port with warehouses, an anchor smithy, a blockmakers and a ropewalk to serve visiting vessels.
Sunderland's history is inextricably tied up with the slave trade and many of the ships that moored here were carrying slaves, some of whom settled locally.
Lawson went bankrupt in 1728 but Sunderland continued to prosper until the late 1780's when the neighbouring port of Glasson Dock opened. Soon afterwards Sunderland became known as 'Cape Famine'.
The village enjoyed a revival in the early 19th. century as a bathing resort, at which time there were two inns in the village, but its relative isolation and the vagaries of the tidal causeway drove most visitors to nearby Morecambe.

And as a photographic location, perhaps in spite of, or partly as a result of its past Sunderland Point is completely, absolutely and totally unbeatable.

St. Anne's Pier

St. Anne's Pier (at 70mm), originally uploaded by Bay Photographic.

There is something visually fascinating about St Anne's Pier. The disjointed pier and head are the result of a series of fires and demolitions that have left a short landward section and a disused landing stage out on the sands.
The pier was originally constructed of iron columns with lattice girder work, built to a length of 914ft (277m) at a cost of £18,000. Designed by A Mawson and commissioned by the Land and Building Company Ltd, St Annes Pier was opened by Lord Stanley on June 15th 1885.
In 1904 further, much more ornate, work was carried out with the construction of a 'Moorish' pavilion as well as various kiosks along the pier neck. The whole complex was finally completed in 1910 with the construction at the pier-head of the 'Floral Hall', which provided facilities for concerts, opera's and vaudeville acts.
1962 saw St Annes Pier purchased by the Amalgamated Investment and Property Company for the sum of £240,000 and renovation of large areas of the pier commenced. The work included the entrance buildings, the Floral Hall, a landing jetty and a children's area that had been damaged by fire in 1959.

Tragedy was to strike St Annes Pier in 1974 when a serious fire completely destroyed the recently refurbished 'Moorish' Pavilion and a building of considerable architectural merit was sadly lost. The fire also damaged the Floral Hall, jetty and pier substructure but an application to demolish the damaged seaward section was refused by Flyde District Council in 1975. The pier owners subsequently went into liquidation.
Successive owners carried out further restoration works but the bulk of the seaward end structure was finally destroyed in another blaze in July 1982. The Floral Hall was burnt down and St Annes Pier seaward end was so badly damaged that this time it had to be demolished, reducing the pier's length to a mere 600ft (182m).

I took this with my Sigma 70-300mm lens (at 70mm) in order to compress the distance between the two remaining parts of the pier and shot it at f8 to maximise the definition of the lens.

Sunderland (Point) Whammel.

Sunderland Whammel, originally uploaded by Bay Photographic.

Back to Sunderland (the village rather than the Point, which is a bit of a hike up the beach) to photograph the boats. The sun had been obscured by heavy grey clouds for several days so I did not have particularly high hopes for the day, but as I parked by the sea wall it made an appearance and bathed the scene in a gentle warm glow that was more like late evening than half past ten in the morning.
I heaved my bag and the large Velbon tripod that I use for multiple exposure shots out of the car and set up as quickly as possible, using my 12-24mm zoom and a PL filter.
Even though this was shot into the sun, the combination of the filter and Photomatix has allowed me to bring out the detail in the boat without blowing the highlights.
The relatively short shadow is the only giveaway that this was not shot in the 'Golden Hour', but if I had waited until later in the day I could have been marooned at Sunderland, cut off by the tide that floods the causeway at high water.
And while I might be prepared to make some sacrifices for my art, I draw the line at three things;
Getting up early, walking up mountains and hanging around in a village without a pub for six hours.