354 - This is something of a departure from my normal shots. First of all, it's a HDR processed combination of three shots, to reduce the strong shadows and bring out the detail in the structure. Second, it is in black and white - the first ever digital black and white shot that I've produced. I thought black and white helped to bring out the structure of the bridge. Third, it's a move away from the many historical shots I've taken of York, although I suppose it could be argued that since it's almost 50 years old it's now becoming historical.
A bridge over the river at Clifton was first agreed by the city council in October 1913, but the decision was reversed a month later. A bridge here was part of a scheme for a relief road avoiding the centre of York in the 1930s, and although parts of the road were built, no progress was made on the bridge and all work ceased with the start of World War II. In 1961 a temporary Bailey Bridge was erected by the army to cope with traffic when the wedding of the Duke of Kent and Katherine Worsley took place in York Minster. It was so effective that a permanent bridge was finally opened in October 1963, built using 4000 tonnes of concrete and 50 tonnes of reinforced steel.
A great image. And notice I didn't say a great HDR image. If an image says HDR as soon as you look at it, you know it is overdone. The B/W worked nicely as well, and the shadows are nicely rendered. Well done all round.
Good shot, good POV, and the usual great information about the subject. For me it's a little too flat and light. I personally would have made it darker, especially the sky. There's a lot of detail and depth within your image that's not showing.
Impressive technique there Ian. It brings out stonework and reflections very well. Maybe a slight tweak with stronger contrast could give it a tad more punch but I like it very much "as is".
As you say, it has the detail in the highlights and the shadows. It is a nice 'soft' image and as such it doesn't look as brutal as a concrete bridge might be expected.
Thank you all for your comments. I'd messed around for quite a while with this before posting it, and was reasonably happy with the result, but it wasn't quite what I wanted to achieve. Lee ( @gamelee ) and Steviepix ( @steviepix ) provided the solutions - the image was a little too light and the contrast needed a bit of a boost, so back to playing with the image again. Quite minor changes gave an improved result! The lesson was most useful for my Saturday shot!
I love the reflection and the processing! We started our unit on Europe this week and I showed a dvd on England. There was a section on York and I recognized some of the buildings from your shots! Very cool!
Thank you Caren for your kind comments on this shot - and I hope that you've enjoyed the extended tour of York that I've been posting in my project. If there is anything specific that you would like to see a shot of here in York, let me know and I'll see what I can do.
March 3rd, 2013
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Thank you Kd, glad you like it!
Thank you Caren for your kind comments on this shot - and I hope that you've enjoyed the extended tour of York that I've been posting in my project. If there is anything specific that you would like to see a shot of here in York, let me know and I'll see what I can do.