Pain in The Groyne

Hi Alf

Amazing perspective! All the curved lines following the central point of the photo  makes a wonderfull composition. I also like the b/w tones that you have been chosen. 7 all the way from me. Congratulations my friend.

Cosmin

Your reply to Michel is what I would say...5000 years ahead people will think hard to explain the purpose of those laying 100 meters below the sea level..BR,vf

Amazing details and the light management. In a class of its own. Exquisite presentation.
Best wishes to you. Warm Regards.

DONNA

Many thanks for your thoughts and positive feedback, much appreciated! Were your eyes hopping round independantly or in unison ?   : - ) Yeah you are quite right Liverpool from this position does show a lot of it's industrial activities, and there is a certain attraction for me to industrial scenes. The groynes are covered in barnacles and although it hides the bare concrete, there isn't much of an improvement aesthetically, apart from the rough textures of course. I love light houses, and you hit the nail right on the head with mentions of ghosts and silent magnificence, thats exactly the qualities that keep drawing me back to this one, and a few others.. Part the reason for B & W I have to admit was because the sky looked odd, it was a blue sky, but the city glow made it look kind of off colour at the horizon. So my pain your gain eh Donna, .......sounds about right  : - )

Cheers!

Alf

NEIL

Sincere thanks for your well considered thoughts and feedback,  much appreciated! You would know all about making sacrifices to get the best shots. I'm not sure the architects were thinking of access or indeed aesthetics when they designed the groynes : - )  but on the other hand, they definately did the job they were designed for, and retained the sand. ........The pain was but a temporary injury : - )

Cheers Neil!

Alf

FALAK

Many Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts and feedback, much appreciated!

Best Regards

Alf

TONY

Sincere thanks for your generous comments and posiitve feedback. I agree with you about people sharing thier knowledge and taking the time to explain it and indeed show us alternative possibilities, I personallly think it's to be applauded and encouraged. However I also know that certain people are sensitive to having thier work altered in any way, and although I don't go along with that view myself, I think it's one that should be respected. To this end I think it would be a good idea for PN to introduce a simple tag system that indicates if the photographer agrees to have thier work altered, perghaps activated by simply clicking a preference key when submitting for critique.  Thanks again Tony

Best Regards

Alf

HARRY

Many thanks for your interest and kind words, much appreciated. It was my attempt to get the lighthouse from a different angle, one of those times when you are standing in such a precarious position that you wonder what possesed you in the first place to get there : - )  Take Care Harry !

Best Regards

Alf

COSMIN

Sincere thanks for your encouraging words and positive feedback, much appreciated! It's difficult to be different when photographing something that is a local icon, but hoped I achieved it with his one.

Best Regards

Alf

VLADIMIR

Many thanks for your thoughts, and of course your right............The pyramids were one thing, and easilly explained, but these could prove to be quite a conundrem for our future archeologists.

Best Regards

Alf

KAUSHIK

Sincere Thanks for your encouraging comments and positive feedback, very much appreciated.

Best Wishes

Alf

Hi Alf, I just found this and you know my love of lighthouses so I'm delighted you posted this. I like the POV but would have liked you up closer to the lighthouse, I don't mean a crop, just physically closer. I think that would give the viewer more of the lighthouse and the city lights would have come closer also. This is just MHO and everything about the photo is as usual excellent technically speaking. Great title by the way. I'll have to thoroughly go through your portfolio for more shots of the lighthouse. Take care my friend.

Respectfully,

Holger

Hi Alf,

This is a wonderful seascape photo - a great perspective combined with a  wonderful night shot and an awesome b&w editing. The horizontal and vertical lines featured by the lighthouse and the buildings and their reflections at the horizon encounter the striking shapes of the wavebreakers in the foreground very beautifully. A great scene (by the way I "discovered" some tetrapods serving as wavebreakers at a pretty similar beach a few weeks ago...) and capture with harmonic proportions among all image elements. The wavebreakers form a vanishing line directly running towards the vanishing point established by the illuminated lighthouse. Gorgeous.

Bw, Volker

Coming in to the fray this late I have little to add to all the positive comments above.  Like Christal, I too have learned a new word and fully appreciate the play on words.  Especially true if one can imagine stepping over these protrusions.  To fully appreciate this one I have to turn off any ambient light in the room so I tend to agree also with Steve that, for me, a comfortable rendition lies somewhere between the two versions.  I love the perspective here though I can see Holger's position on the POV.  This is one situation where many different camera positions would have still rendered equally fine images though emphasizing different elements within.  Bottom line:  Keeper!  Best, LM.

Perfect composition, wonderful the B/W conversion!

I have scoured and reached the end of the Internet and I cannot find another photo taken from this vantage point. The photo itself is magnificent. The POV is brilliant. Great job!

Did you have to walk out there at low tide?

Cheers ~

Alberta

HOLGER

Many Thanks for your thoughts and positive feedback, much appreciated. I know what you mean about being a bit closer to the lighthouse, Its a reasonable suggestion, Ideally it would have been larger and closer, but after climbing to my precarious perch on top of the chosen groyne, I didn't fancy moving to another one : - ) Maybe next time I'll give it a try a bit closer. The very first image I posted on PN was of this lighthouse, and it's still one of my favourite subjects.

Cheers Holger

Alf

VOLKER

Many thanks for your thoughts and most encouraging feedback. I tried to follow the line of the river with the groynes (wavebreakers) with the lighthouse as the exclamation mark. I'd be very interested to see those "tetrapods" that you discovered, I'm sure you will produce a great photo with them featured as the main subject.

Best Regards

Alf

LEN

I learned a few new words that night too, but most of them were expletives that shouldn't be repeated : - ) Yeah I would agree with the lighting summary..somewhere in between seems good, though I still maintain the sky should remain fairly dark due to the time it was taken. Your summary of compositional elements is accurate too, closer to the lighthouse would have filled the frame with more lighthouse, but maybe would have lost some of the perspective and curve of the groynes that I wanted to show Many thanks for adding your thoughts and positive feedback Len, much appreciated.

Best Regards

Alf

MAURIZIO

Many Thanks for your kind words, much appreciated!

Best Regards

Alf

ALBERTA

Sincere thanks for your thoughts and positive feedback, much appreciated! There probably isn't anyone else quite foolish enough to attempt climbing on top of one of these things with a lot of expensive camera equipment : - ) The tide was out, but the groynes and lighthouse are only 5 minutes walk, the river is relatively narrow at this point, further down the estuary its very wide and it can take up to 30 minutes or more to walk to one of the islands, it can also be treacherous, the speed that the tide can come in is scary.

Cheers Alberta!

Alf

Many thanks for your interest and positive feedback, much appreciated.

Best Regards

Alf

Its a fantastic image with wonderful perspective, composition, tonality & details.

Sincere Regards.

This reminds me of a great pile of open-mouthed fish.  The sparkle of lights on the horizon is a nice touch.

SAGNIK

Many thanks for your interest and kind words, very much appreciated.

Best Regards

Alf

JEFF

It kind of smelled that way too : - ) But your not the first to point out the similarity Mike noticed that also.  I still chuckle at your comment from a recent Ruud Aber image where that dog is wearing a medicinal collar  "Like taking a lampshade for a walk"

Cheers Jeff!

Alf

Funny when one reads a comment like Jeff's 'open mouthed fish', it is such a visual, and seems so very obvious there, although it's also hard to ignore again afterwards :-)  I too really like your unusual perspective here, Alf..!  And I particularly like the way the curving movement of these groynes (or fish if you prefer :-) meet the white lighthouse at the far right beyond... Although I too think that a combination of both yours and Michel's B&W versions might give the ultimate best rendering of this photo... (& especially by increasing the white highlight of the lighthouse, as well as (although to a lesser degree) the sparkling light reflections on the horizon, imo. A beautiful, and interesting to look at photograph, Alf. Best regards to you, Marjolein

Curiose e insolite forme,per me,

la foto ha una bella prospettiva,se il faro fosse acceso,avrebbe aumentato il gioco !   Saluti e grazie per la condivisione,paul

I know exactly what you mean about the "fish" analogy, Michael Mancil noticed it first, and I have to concede after reading it, I will never look at them groynes in quite the same way ever again : - ) Michel has that "Dodge and Burn" technique off to a fine art, I can make some adjustments, but don't have his kind of skill levels in editing, I also sometimes feel like I'm manipulating the image too much, particularly if the change is too radical. But yes, a kind of combination would work I think. Sincere thanks for your thoughts and positive feedback, much appreciated.

Best Regards

Alf

PAUL

Grazie per il vostro interesse e commenti. Temo che la lampada non si accende.  ll faro e stato costruito nel 1830 e usata l'ultima volta nel 1954.

Saluti

Alf

Hello Alf,

I thought I had a pretty decent vocabulary but I just learned a new word.  The sad thing is that my memory is not as sharp as in previous years so I may not know it for long.  In any case, I love your photo.  Superb leading lines and tone.  Composition is perfect.  Lovely somber mood (the BW alters the fact that the sky was clear blue moments earlier).  One insignificant thought:  Did you consider cloning out the white in the water midway up the right side ?  It makes me wonder what it is and therefore distracts me a bit (IMO).

Love the shot...

Jerry

Don't worry if you forget the word, think of it as something you can learn all over again : - )

This one was bound for the recycle bin, the sky looked slightly blotchy from the light pollution in the city and I was rapidly losing my patience, I changed it to B & W and thought it had possibilities.......I'm not entirely sure if I've deleted the original RAW file though. Yes your right about the white bit, I shouold have cloned it out........I think I was too obssessed with getting the sky somewhere near to notice. I'm really pleased you liked it Jerry. My sincere thanks for your thoughts and positive feedback.

Cheers!

Alf

Impressive indeed.  I never thought that the B/Ws have such greet effect.  Thanks for your masterpiece.  Always apprecite your warm encouragement.  Best Regards,