# Iconic Ruins



## Fujidave (May 8, 2018)

The iconic ruins of the West pier in Brighton.


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## Jeff15 (May 8, 2018)

It beats me why they leave it like that.....?


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## Fujidave (May 9, 2018)

Jeff15 said:


> It beats me why they leave it like that.....?



They were going to spend many millions to repair it, but the fire ruined any chance of that.


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## terri (May 9, 2018)

*raises hand meekly*  May I have more white in the clouds, please?   I like the shot, and the clouds are lined up nicely here, but they are very blue.    (Disclaimer: I am looking at this from my phone atm.)


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## Fujidave (May 10, 2018)

terri said:


> *raises hand meekly*  May I have more white in the clouds, please?   I like the shot, and the clouds are lined up nicely here, but they are very blue.    (Disclaimer: I am looking at this from my phone atm.)



Thank you terri, you must have a faulty phone...lol


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## smoke665 (May 10, 2018)

Sorry Dave have to agree with Terri


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## Fujidave (May 10, 2018)

smoke665 said:


> Sorry Dave have to agree with Terri



Thank you for being truthful like terri, I think I messed up on the edit a bit... ooops


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## Braineack (May 10, 2018)

I'm in the too blue crowd.  image is over saturated.


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## Fujidave (May 10, 2018)

Braineack said:


> I'm in the too blue crowd.  image is over saturated.



Thank you, I will remember not to go too OTT on it next time.


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## otherprof (May 10, 2018)

terri said:


> *raises hand meekly*  May I have more white in the clouds, please?   I like the shot, and the clouds are lined up nicely here, but they are very blue.    (Disclaimer: I am looking at this from my phone atm.)


They look blue on my MacBook too.


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## Fujidave (May 10, 2018)

otherprof said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> > *raises hand meekly*  May I have more white in the clouds, please?   I like the shot, and the clouds are lined up nicely here, but they are very blue.    (Disclaimer: I am looking at this from my phone atm.)
> ...



One of my Topaz plugins is called Best Clarity HDR,  I do think now it was wrong to use that one on this shot.  It`s one of those ones that it might work on some but not for all.


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## BrentC (May 10, 2018)

Fujidave said:


> otherprof said:
> 
> 
> > terri said:
> ...



You could use it just have to adjust white balance after the fact.


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## Fujidave (May 10, 2018)

The beach is only just a small bus ride away from us here, so I will take the shot again.  Two things in town here that I always take a shot of, the old West pier and the I360.


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## terri (May 10, 2018)

Fujidave said:


> otherprof said:
> 
> 
> > terri said:
> ...


It's a nice shot.   I'd like to see it once you've had time to play again with your editing.


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## Fujidave (May 11, 2018)

Here is another, but from a better straight on angle.  I remember it was a hazy day, plus I got the exposure wrong.


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## Braineack (May 11, 2018)

that wind farm! at least all the dead birds will make a good lunch for the sharks.


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## smoke665 (May 11, 2018)

Fujidave said:


> Here is another, but from a better straight on angle.



You'll probably think I'm crazy but I prefer the first without the funky blue. Something I've been relying less on are prefabricated looks. In LR I have a ton of other presets, but rarely use them anymore. I mostly use my own presets to get an image close and finish it manually. Same with PS. I have actions that perform routine functions, but manually finish the image. Not knocking  presets or plugins, but I think every image is unique and requires a hands on approach to get it right, otherwise it's easier to just shoot SOOC and save it as a JPEG. Personally I'd like to see the first image before you edited it.

If by chance you were to shoot it again, I'd strive to do it when the light or weather could contribute to the mood. IE: Golden Hour, storm clouds, fog. 

Shoot it at a slow shutter to have the waves flowing like cotton candy around it. Do a 3 shot over/on/under HDR and combine post. That steel has some fantastic texture, that's waiting for you. Experiment, the possibilities are unlimited and I'm jealous of you for having something like this so close.


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## BrentC (May 11, 2018)

I have to agree with smoke that I prefer the first one but without the blue.   I would go back to the first one and keep the edit you already have but just change the white balance so you get white clouds.   I think it would look very good and much better than your second shot.


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## Fujidave (May 11, 2018)

Been very busy trying to get some old slides sorted for my mum.
Here is a Jpeg one only cropped, I had made a mistake by getting the exposure all wrong.


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## gk fotografie (May 11, 2018)

Fujidave said:


> The iconic ruins of the West pier in Brighton.
> View attachment 157561



Man, this is pure nostalgia...imagine that I walked over this Pier in 1973. At that time I had a super-8 movie camera with me, but I can't remember exactly all the things I filmed.
I went to the Pavillion, to Arundel Castle and to London for the first time in my life. Most of these super-8 movies have been lost over the years, unfortunately. Strange that something like a ruin can raise so many memories.

Gerard


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## Fujidave (May 11, 2018)

The other pier was in the film, Oh what a lovely war, but I love the old ruins of West pier.
My mistake, this pier was in the film Oh what a Lovely war.

Here is a link

West Pier - Wikipedia


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## smoke665 (May 11, 2018)

Fujidave said:


> Here is a Jpeg one only cropped, I had made a mistake by getting the exposure all wrong



How so? I pulled this one in to LR for a look see, the histogram was as expected for a bright day at the beach. When I let LR do it's auto button thing it adjusted the WB +2, the tint -11, and the exposure -.4, so the exposure was pretty close.




Any better? All the elements were there, no plug ins, no presets, just LR's auto button interpretation and a slight curve adjustment. I've had to force myself to resist the urge to snap away at the beach during the middle of the day, because the light is coming almost straight down, there's less diffusion, and image  appears flat.  Timing your shots for the right light or the weather effect could take this to a whole new level. Wish I lived closer, you've got a great eye and some super interesting locations.


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## Fujidave (May 11, 2018)

That is about how I saw it, thank you.  So I was not far off, just went OTT in Topaz.


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## smoke665 (May 11, 2018)

Fujidave said:


> So I was not far off, just went OTT in Topaz



Yup, sometimes we refuse to accept that we have a good image in hand and keep trying to improve when it isn't necessary or add to when it's better left as is. Been there done that myself, it's frustrating to say the least.


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## birdbonkers84 (May 12, 2018)

aye blue clouds, easily fixed though


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## Fujidave (May 13, 2018)

birdbonkers84 said:


> aye blue clouds, easily fixed though



I hope to get back to take some more this week.


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## smoke665 (May 13, 2018)

If only you could catch this on an offshore storm day. I played around with a composite overlay of a stormy sky and big waves from a beach shot taken in January. The effect with the skeletal steel was quite dramatic. Looking forward to your next shot, of such a great location.


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## Fujidave (May 13, 2018)

smoke665 said:


> If only you could catch this on an offshore storm day. I played around with a composite overlay of a stormy sky and big waves from a beach shot taken in January. The effect with the skeletal steel was quite dramatic. Looking forward to your next shot, of such a great location.



Got to go to town tomorrow, so will be taking the T20 with the 35mm on it so I think I will pop to the beach.


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