Backsided

The Story
January 2009. About one month after my last visit to this place, I returned to this abandoned ship yard near the Quinta da Atalaia, Seixal (check Abandonado photo story for more details on this spot). This time, I went in a more proper hour, where I would have some more day light, and with the motivation of exploring even further. Each time I go there, I get more confident (read: less afraid to explore) and I explore a bit deeper into the ship yard.
In this mini photo trip, I took an additional accessory: a grad neutral density filter to darken the sky. The sky was great in that day: very cloudy as I like it.
I explored the same spots that I had explored in the previous trip but in more detail and discovered another interesting spots there. I took plenty of photos this time and stayed there for almost one hour. As in the last trip, I went there alone.
This photo was taken over some very muddy ground, almost in the bay, and it captured this ship, in the rails that would lead it back to water (that never happened, thou :)).

Equipment / Technical Info
Nikon D80
Sigma 10-20mm F4-5.6 EX DC
Hitech 85 ND 0.9 GRAD SE filter

Shutter Speed: 1/15 second
Aperture: F/5.6
Focal Length: 13 mm
ISO Speed: 200

Original Photo


Post Processing
This photo was one of my three choices from the ones I took that afternoon and it was published in the same day it was taken. The other two photos that I published were, one of them in black and white and the other trying to keep the original colors. In this one I decided to apply a different look.
I imported the NEF file into Lightroom, aligned and cropped it to my like. Then I applyied the Mike Lao's "300 V1" preset (you can find it here: http://inside-lightroom.com/?page_id=11) and simply reduced the Vignetting.
It was just that. I really liked the result and decided to don't change anything else.

Final Photo


Link to image
http://jpgmn.deviantart.com/art/Backsided-108437783

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Abandonado

The Story
December 2008. It has been over a month that I had discovered a very interesting spot. Near the Quinta da Atalaia, Seixal (where the PCP's Avante festival is held) there are a few abandoned ship yards in the Seixal bay. I discovered this spot almost by accident in a Portuguese photography forum's member site.
The first time I've been there, I was with my wife and I was simply scouting the place, finding how to get there, and having a feel of the area itself. These abandoned places are usually hangout places for homeless and junkies, so caution is advised. So that day I just looked at the outside of the place, took a couple pictures, and rescheduled a more detailed visit.
It happened in December of 2008 and this time I went alone. I parked the car near the bay and waited for the people that were there to left before I went in. I didn't know how abandoned this place really was so I went in with eyes on my back, listening to every possible noise that could alert me for some sort of danger.
There are quite a few abandoned ships (and buildings) in this place and I started taking some pictures of them. As the ships are abandoned in the bay, the ground is all muddy (and who knows what else) so there is an amount of risk involved. This ship wreck immediately caught my attention. The ship was broken in two pieces and the front piece is very small but with the wide angle it looks bigger. I took some shots of it and moved on to some other ship wrecks.
The evening was coming very fast and the light became too low. As I didn't took a tripod, the trip was over. "I will return another day", I was sure.

Equipment / Technical Info
Nikon D80
Sigma 10-20mm F4-5.6 EX DC

Shutter Speed: 1/15 second
Aperture: F/4.0
Focal Length: 10 mm
ISO Speed: 250

Original Photo


Post Processing
This photo was my only choice from the ones I took that late afternoon. The idea was to convert it to black and white or sepia.
I imported the NEF file into Lightroom, aligned and cropped it to my like. Then I increased the Blacks and the Saturation on the Reds, Greens, Yellows and Oranges. Added some Fill Light, reduced the Luminance on the Blues to darken the sky a little and adjusted the White Balance to make it look more warm. Finally, I corrected the Purple Fringing by increasing the Blue Chromatic Aberration.
In CS3 I've done some Shadows & Highlights (10%/50%), reduced the Saturation by 5%, and done Auto Tone, Auto Contrast and Auto Colors. Then I converted it to Black & White with an Action from Manyk "Manyk's B&W Conversion" (you can find it here: http://manyk.deviantart.com/art/Manyk-BW-Conversion-29977377) and then applied the "Warm (27)" action (you can find this and other actions to simulate the effect of Gradient filters here: http://www.thelightsrightstudio.com). Finally, I added some strong Vignetting.
The choice of the Vignetting was made to compensate for the fact that the sky was completely "naked" (i.e. without any clouds) and the Sun had set behind the ship wreck.

Final Photo


Link to image
http://jpgmn.deviantart.com/art/Abandonado-105150842

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