Scene on the Canal

[MrB]

Actually two scenes along the Grand Union Canal in Hertfordshire:

1. A narrow boat passing under a narrow bridge:



2. A boat about to leave the lock at the lower level:


Any comments gratefully received.
Cheers.
Philip

[Shadowman]

Nice captures, the tight crop makes the scene look more perilous.

[bnnrcn]

Nice shots Philip. I especially like the first image.Nice colors and reflections and the image has a tranquil mood

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Philip,

It looks like both were actually shot at a fairly low camera height (above 'ground'), but this shows to great advantage in the first. I really like that.

40mm lens on Pentax K5 II.


The only thing that spoils #1, in my opinion, are the two aerials - so much so that if mine, I'd create a version with them cloned out, it would then possibly make a good mono conversion, with suitable colour filtering to ensure good contrasts in the tones of greens and reds - which, if just desaturated, would otherwise be quite similar. There's still a risk that the greens of the boat will be too similar to the foliage and they'll tend to merge.

Cheers, Dave

[Mike Buckley]

Wonderful compositions, perspective and color. Definitely keepers!

[MrB]

Thank you for viewing and commenting John, Binnur, Dave, and Mike.

How about this one, Dave? -



Cheers.
Philip

[Wavelength]

Nice images.. such a narrow canal.... is that a regular passenger route ?

[Dave Humphries]

Yes, that works fairly well Philip.

It has achieved the required separation of boat from foliage, which I noticed you achieved by darkening the red channel (likely amongst others).

The only unfortunate side effect of that (as I see now, but didn't predict), is that the red framing of the door in the bow has disappeared in to the shadows, resulting in to something of a black hole.

This in turn made me think how I might 'cheat' that (for this image), then I wondered whether anyone has ever tried what I'm about to propose themselves?

I would consider having a duplicate layer and converting that to monochrome with a different set of colour gains, so that the red is enhanced - then reveal that layer in just the area of the image where this is needed - in this case; the forward cabin wall and door.

Cheers, Dave

[MrB]

Thank you, Dave.

I would consider having a duplicate layer and converting that to monochrome with a different set of colour gains, so that the red is enhanced - then reveal that layer in just the area of the image where this is needed - in this case; the forward cabin wall and door.
Cheers, Dave

That is very similar to the method I applied here - just another technique, not a 'cheat'!

I made three conversions, each using a different primary colour filter, red or green or blue. Different parts of the three were then combined using layers, as you describe. As you will have observed, there were also some other local and global adjustments. Incidentally, my photo software is PaintShop Pro X6.

It is so easy to miss things, even when they should be obvious, and I hadn't noticed the doors...damn! - But thank you for pointing it out, Dave.

Cheers.
Philip

[MrB]

Thank you for viewing and commenting, Nandakumar. The canal system here is now mainly used for leisure, but the Grand Union is one of the main routes of the system, running north-south. It can get quite busy with leisure boaters, particularly at weekends and holiday times.

Cheers.
Philip

[Dave Humphries]

~ .. such a narrow canal.... is that a regular passenger route ?

Hi Nandakumar,

That's because we've seen a lot of pictures of Canadian and European canals here at CiC recently - and to me, those seem so wide

Yes, this is typical the size of canals that is common here in UK, particularly away from the city and old industrial centres.

[Dave Humphries]

I made three conversions, each using a different primary colour filter, red or green or blue. Different parts of the three were then combined using layers, as you describe. As you will have observed, there were also some other local and global adjustments. Incidentally, my photo software is PaintShop Pro X6.

Hi Philip,

Thanks for the info - it shows I don't do monochrome much if that's only just occurred to me.

Cheers, Dave

[IzzieK]

I am late to this party but since you already got some good advice from Dave, I'd leave that one alone for you and him to sort out. I will just say, I like the first one better and the second one is just a continuation. Just to show my ignorance, I thought the wall is too close to the boat and wondered at first how that boat can even make a turn...? then I saw the water up the front of the boat and I just laughed at my old eyes not looking at the overall shot that started the wrong way...

[Manfred M]

That's because we've seen a lot of pictures of Canadian and European canals here at CiC recently - and to me, those seem so wide

Yes, this is typical the size of canals that is common here in UK, particularly away from the city and old industrial centres.

Interesting observation Dave. I've seen the English canals before and have wondered why they were so narrow when compared to the European (and North American) canals. In Continental Europe, I'm thinking of the old canals I've seen in the Netherlands, Germany and of course Venice.

The techie in me wonders about the cost / benefit side of things. I seem to remember that some of the canals were certainly wider than this one, so I suspect that the cost of building the canal was probably the main reason to go this narrow. Any insights?

The canals in North America were wider because they are products of the 19th and 20th century. The boats were larger and needed wider and deeper canals to operate in. Technology to dig deeper and wider canals had evolved as well. When I post images of the Rideau canal, they generally do not show the boats using it as they tend to be modern pleasure craft and they definitely take away from the 19th century look of the canal.

[Manfred M]

Philip - a couple of very nice shots. While the B&W version works, I find that it loses a lot of the context that you have in the colour image, although it does give it more of a historical look (if you ignore what the people are wearing).

It strikes me that the pace of life in some of these areas is still fairly slow; these boats look like they are not speed demons as the slowly move along the canals. The wide footprint of the paths along the canal suggest that horse-drawn barges were probably the way that goods moved along these canals in the past. Somehow the fast boats with swimming platforms we see on our canals seem somehow out of character when I look at these beautiful images.

[jcuknz]

Since the men who dug out these canals were called navigators and later went on to build the English railway system ... hence thee term 'Navies'. I remember my guardian talking me out one day and we spent time beside a canal in Derbyshire. As the first shot clearly shows the canals were not 'that' narrow and there were places for boats to pass each other.
The tunnels connecting open canals were low and it was normal for the bargie to 'walk' the boat through them lying on his back and feet walking along the ceiling.

I also spent a week on the Norfolk Boards and took this shot with my first camera ... a coronet cub ..... on one of the connecting waterways between the 'broads' ... we had a 21foot sail boat but had to quaint quite a lot of the time [ a pole which you pushed in the muddy bottom to propel the boat and hopefully didn't leave stuck in the mud with or without you hanging to it .. a humourous drawing in the ARTHER RANSOME'S 'Coot Club' books illustrates ]

'Summer 1949'

[MrB]

Izzie, Manfred and John, thank you for viewing and for your interesting contributions; and Manfred, I agree with your comments regarding the mono - I do like it but I prefer the colour version.

Cheers.
Philip

[Dave Humphries]

The techie in me wonders about the cost / benefit side of things. I seem to remember that some of the canals were certainly wider than this one, so I suspect that the cost of building the canal was probably the main reason to go this narrow. Any insights?

Well, I found, but have not read all, of these Wikipedia pages:

History of the British canal system
and
History of turnpikes and canals in the United States

The British canals are wider where industrial activity took place, but most I am familiar with are the kind where 'propulsion' was by a horse, on the adjacent tow path, pulling the barge (except in tunnels, where John has already stated how they were moved). This limited the size of the barge that was practical I suspect and hence the width of the canal that was required - to be hand dug by the 'navvies', especially for the long cross-country stretches.

Cheers, Dave