This photo shows the view from the promenade deck on the P&O liner Arcadia, right at the stern of the ship.
It was late afternoon and the sun was shining onto a deep azure sea in which our churning wake left a stark white trail, disappearing off to the horizon, while the sky overhead glowed a light pastel blue.
So why then, is this image in monochrome?
Well this composition is all about shapes and tonalities, and I wanted to place particular emphasis on the contrast between the white painted steel of the ship. the white wake and the darker sky and sea.
In colour this just didn't come across. Sure, the original colour photo was nice enough in a postcardy kind of way, but there was no punch, nothing to warrant a second glance.
However, when I converted the image to monochrome and played around with the tones and contrast, darkening the sea and sky primarily, the whole image came alive for me.
Some things just meant for black and white, and some for colour, and this was definately a monochrome composition.
Filename - ship arcadia deck 03.jpg
Camera - Nikon D3100
Lens - 18-55mm zoom @ 18mm
Exposure - 1/400sec @ f8, ISO100
Location - Somewhere in the Mediterranean sea
This image - 800x645px JPEG
Conversion - ACR & PS-CS2
Comments - Hand held exposure.
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