Observing From The Watch-Tower, a photo from Varna, East

Photographer's Note

Ok, boats, but only in background today my friends..;-))
I reviewed some of my older shots and tried to work hard on this one, as the way and time I took it (hard light at noon in summer and without a fill-in flash)resulted in quite a dark smeary something, hardly recognizable what exactly it was... I am posting the original pic as a WS so you can see what I mean...;-))

This is a shot I gladly dedicate to our fellow photographer from Turkey Mustafa Ismet, "mismet", who asked me a few days ago to post something from Varna port. Well, this is not quite a panoramic view from the port indeed, but I hope that the nice part of it in background will be good for now... hi Mustafa! :-)

Obviously this was the captain of the boat, positioned on that small platform on top, and was observing the gathering for the Street Art Fest that was taking place at that time at Varna Sea Station. There were a lot of youngsters with funky clothes and amazingly strange for him hair cuts, so I noticed his astonishment and full interest captured, making him almost as still as a statue - quite good for a not very skilled photographer, to have the opportunity to take a pic of a still but alive human figure..;-)))
For this type of sailors, dedicated their lives to sea, we still use the Greek word "barba", as the Greeks have a lot of influence on our (BG)culture and language, especially in our regions close to sea...and hi to you too, George/Aegean! :-)

So, hope you will enjoy him on the background of the ships..:-))

PP: used gamma correction instead of levels, because when using levels the pic comes too pale sometimes, especially the dark shades of colours; sharpened, clarified, increased contrast, saturated, resized. All comments for improvement are warmly welcomed!

Hanssie, Aegean, Kenny10pin, ChrisJ, RGatward, carper, nwoehnl, avigur_11, Rinie_Hoff, Spoony, bertolucci, Oldtree, supereira, Jeppe has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Hanssie (11022) 2004-11-10 7:17

And I like your picture with the barba indeed, a good bright light, the scene is full of details, great main-object but also a good background with all these cranes and of course, some boats...Nice shot, Maria.

Aegean (2571) 2004-11-10 7:23

A nice capture of the scene Maria! The guy on the boat's bridge adds a lot of interest and the framing is good. DOF is effective keeping the harbour view in the background in focus! Very well done!

clodreno (0) 2004-11-10 7:33

a lot of things I like in this shot Maria.
All the vertical lines are making this shot interesting.
Soft colors, interesting scene.
I like it. Very well done.

Kenny10pin (19301) 2004-11-10 8:22

great work here, I like the man posing it is really good daily life pic, very good work

oochappan (4880) 2004-11-10 12:05

Good tight frame over the front getting some vertical graphic where you see through to the ships. Very strong two level with two differant colorings as a contrast, clear to misty.
Nicely noticed and I am older then him !
Henk

RGatward (20108) 2004-11-10 12:32

Good candid shot, with an interesting, very sunnyesque, background.

carper (96) 2004-11-10 12:37

Maria with there boats,
I love them Maria, this shot is very good cropped, the lines are good and the depth is nice, very good work you did

nwoehnl (122) 2004-11-10 14:14

Ha - a sunnyesque motive and setting indeed ;-) Compared with the original, your post-work came out really good to salvage this photo. The posing of the captain on the roof is nicely caught, and the cranes and boats in the background make for a distinctive harbor feel and add some nice "vertical graphism". Well captured, Maria :)

Rinie_Hoff (9340) 2004-11-10 17:47

Hey Maria, you suddenly changed my idea about Varna harbour with this picture, no small botas this time, but a big one. And bigger ones in the background.
I like the shot, a lot of cranes with their beautiful lines in the background.
And, you did a marvellous job on the post-processing!
Thanks very much.

avigur_11 (22535) 2004-11-10 17:47

It really looks like you had a hard work on this one, judging by the quality of the original shot. But you did a great job on this photo, Maria. Bigger boats this time, but still BOATS. I like very much the proud "captain of this ship. Very well done.

ChrisJ (171252) 2004-11-11 4:36

Excellent photojournalistic overview shot of the docklands & port. There are some nice graphic elements in the shot.

Spoony (3539) 2004-11-11 4:41

A nice capture of the scene, no doubt! Colors and light are great here.
Well done and seen Maria.
Nicely noticed... ;)

manny (22032) 2004-11-11 6:26

Very nice Maria. A good composition and a great human element added. The many standing objects are repeated everywhere. They engage the eyes.

misha81 (332) 2004-11-11 7:55

i saw the originial photo..well done sunny, i would think about changing the direction of photo, i mean to take a shot from the back of capitain to show us wjere he is looking at ...

bertolucci (14052) 2004-11-11 10:16

Wow Maria, you post fast nowadays, hard to keep up ;-)) I love the way how you combined human and technical interest in this very nice capture. Y'r nice PP work really helped and delivers us a well balanced pic with leads our attention first to the barba on his tower and then to the industrious Varna harbour in the slight haze. Added to the outdoor type theme. Lovely job!

Oldtree (2457) 2004-11-11 11:13

Looking at the background it could easily be Hamburg. Nice shot with captain Ahab standing on the bridge ;-).
Good PP work, Maria. I like all the small details to spot in this shot. :-)

supereira (9576) 2004-11-12 6:32

Great work here,I like the colors and the contrast between them.Good light and sharpness.I like the composition and framing.Good POV and DOF.Well done!

Jeppe (18654) 2004-11-19 14:40

A nice background you got for this Captain in command :-) I like the composition giving us the harbour life Varna - Thanks Maria for this and the fine note to explain.