Wrecked Barge

[ionian]

I took my daughter for a walk along the Thames earlier - for once I pointed the camera at something other than her. I was surprised to find this wreck, just off the bank. I must revisit it at low tide, and with the sun lower in the sky. This was taken without anything fancy, just the kit lens on the GX7 and then processed in LR.

[Geoff F]

Interesting scene. I wonder why they had a wire winch on the foredeck?

[Manfred M]

Great shot Simon! Shipwreck shots are among my favourite images and you've captured this old beat up wreck beautifully. I love the way she is still in good shape; it must be a fairly well protected spot

[Mike Buckley]

This deserves to be reviewed at its largest size. I really enjoy the combination of detail of the shipwreck and the lack of detail in the ocean spray.

[Wavelength]

Superb image and probably the bestest angle to shoot this; really well done!!!

[ionian]

Thanks for the positive comments. I tried to do a bit of research into the boat but couldn't find much on the Internet. I found an image from 2007 where the cabin was intact, but no details on the sort of boat or a name. It's in a small harbour and well protected from the currents.

I used a clarity brush on the boat and then painted the water with reduced clarity to really highlight the detail in the subject. I'm really impressed with the detail captured by the small m43 sensor and the more I use the camera the more I love the pics I can get from such a small package.

[bnnrcn]

It looks very nice in lightbox

[Shadowman]

Nicely captured.

[Manfred M]

Interesting scene. I wonder why they had a wire winch on the foredeck?

Tow cable - I've seen this type of winch on the bow of a lot of "retired" sailing ships. Often old schooners or other sailing ships were converted to barges and this is where the tow cables were attached to a more modern steam powered tug. Sometimes several would be tied together. In this part of the world coal, timber and other bulk materials were transported that way. Sometimes these were used as support vessel for salvage work as well.

What is a bit unusual, the mast is still in place, most of the ones I've been on (under water) the mast was removed. These barges had a small crew and even though they were not under power, they were steered.

[IzzieK]

It must have been a beautiful boat in its time, Simon...one of my most preferred image. 'Must go to Fiji this year to photograph one.

[Rebel]

This is great! I love all the different tones and textures.

[joebranko]

Great shot!

[Urbanflyer]

well done!

[xpatUSA]

Excellent.

Complementary reds and greens help the image along and it's quite a challenge figuring out what all the bits are for

[ionian]

Wow - many thanks to you all for the comments. It is a lovely feeling (and one I do not experience very often!) to produce a picture that I am happy with, and that other photographers appreciate as well. I'm genuinely delighted.

[ionian]

We walked the same way today and I couldn't resist taking a shot of this wreck again, especially as the tide was out. The light was a little harsh and I still prefer the original capture but it gives a slightly different view of the same subject. I really wanted to try capturing it from a different angle but it's very tricky - it's up against a harbour wall that you need to avoid, and I can't see a way to get down into the harbour when the tide is out (probably a good thing).

[wrench]

Really nice! I love the colors and the detail in the image.

[Astramael]

Thumbs up on the photo, lots of detail to appreciate here.

In the first image the water gives good isolation to the form. This actually could be a fantastic place to use a long exposure and isolate the ship form even more.

Them colors on the ship have great range and are truly interesting. Definitely a subject to explore further.

I'm really impressed with the detail captured by the small m43 sensor and the more I use the camera the more I love the pics I can get from such a small package.

When I finally took the leap into photography as a hobby, I bought this Olympus OM-D E-M5. There are certainly limitations with the system. Although now that the lens lineup has deepened considerably there are less hard stops than there used to be. When I started there was no telephoto prime, now we have the 300mm f/4 from Olympus.

The majority of the problems come from pure contrast detect AF and small/old sensor tech. MFT will become very strong if they can get a new state-of-the-art Sony sensor in there and augment contrast detect with phase detect pixels. Telephoto shots in low light will always be hard because of the small sensor and limited gain available. The carrying size is pretty good though, so it's all a tradeoff.

I'm glad you're enjoying your MFT camera and I recommend it as a great walk around system.

[ionian]

I feel awful loving my GX7 as much as I do - I'm still paying off my credit card from my dslr purchase and then I go and find something else that works for me in 95% of the situations I find myself wanting to use a camera. I know it's not the latest tech (not that that is important to me, but this format seems to move quite quickly) but the few compromises are totally worth it. Today I was out carrying my daughter's nappy bag, her snacks, and her, and I still had a camera and two lenses in my pocket.

[Astramael]

I feel awful loving my GX7 as much as I do...

Don't feel too bad! As somebody who only has MFT, I find myself wanting a DSLR pretty often. As you get better at photography you start bumping against the technical limitations of your system. I have practically given up on shooting birds in flight because getting the camera to focus correctly is way too hard. I'm not going to move until the MFT tech gets updated and see what comes along.

I think you have the perfect solution right now. A DSLR for when you want to be serious and a lighter, cheaper walk around camera so you never have to take pictures with your phone.