Port of Rotterdam

kurzvorzwoelf

Shortly after christmas last year, we've been giving Rotterdam in the Netherlands a visit. Among the interesting architecture this city has to offer, the Rotterdam Harbour - which is considered the biggest port in the world - is a point of interest for every visitor. So, we hopped onto a tourist boat and made a tour on the Maas river to this impressive and very busy industrial port, serving some of the largest types of vessels. The weather was chilling around the freezing point and the sky was all overcast. And a very fine mist added to an overall grey-in-grey colourscape. The perfect setting for photographing such a surreal industrial complex from the top of the tourist's boat panoramic deck.

I have played around a little with color grading in post processing and also added some vignetting and grain to support the overall depressive mood. Please let me know what you think about it.

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sarasphotos

Hi @kurzvorzwoelf
interesting series. First of all a small request: when you post a series like this it would be nice if you numbered them - that makes it easier to comment.

I like the second shot but found the crane at the right to be slightly irritating. Would it work better if it were cropped out? My favorite composition is the 7th shot (the empty container ship heading towards the buildings) but for my taste the vignetting was a bit heavy-handed.

In general I found the vignetting to be a bit overboard. IMHO less is more - it's a matter of guiding the observer's eye, not forcing it, if you get what I mean. I'm also not sure if I'm a fan of the color treatment. I might have tried a couple of these in BW - playing with the color balance in BW brings interesting results. And then sometimes on a grey day like this one it's nice to let what color there is pop out, like the yellow water taxi next to the SS Rotterdam.

From what I see, you made to most of the "sauwetter" :-). I had much more luck with the weather when I was there in the 80's - it is indeed a very interesting tour!

kurzvorzwoelf

Sara, thanks a lot for your valuable feedback!

@sarasphotos said:
First of all a small request: when you post a series like this it would be nice if you numbered them - that makes it easier to comment.

Oops, seem to have forgot that - fixed and remembered for future posts.

I like the second shot but found the crane at the right to be slightly irritating. Would it work better if it were cropped out?

I guess you are right about the crane, and after looking again, I also found a pole on the far right of #8 that could be easily cropped away too - gonna try that as soon as I have some spare time.

My favorite composition is the 7th shot (the empty container ship heading towards the buildings) but for my taste the vignetting was a bit heavy-handed. In general I found the vignetting to be a bit overboard. IMHO less is more - it's a matter of guiding the observer's eye, not forcing it, if you get what I mean.

Yep, I was a little overdoing the vignetting as it seems on some of the shots, most notably on #7 and #8. Maybe my screen is too bright, hm. Or maybe I was having too less patience, which is a commonly seen personality trait at myself, sadly.

I'm also not sure if I'm a fan of the color treatment. I might have tried a couple of these in BW - playing with the color balance in BW brings interesting results. And then sometimes on a grey day like this one it's nice to let what color there is pop out, like the yellow water taxi next to the SS Rotterdam.

I already thought that this color grading would not be everyone's cup of coffee :-) I actually started off from a black&white processing, using a LUT layer and then decreased the opacity of this layer, as I wanted to create some "misty" and desaturated look, not exactly B&W but also not the full color scale. But thinking about it, I'm going to play around a little more with the thought of B&W when I'm reworking the vignetting. I'm usually a big fan of B&W, but somehow it didn't work out as I expected (or not working quick enough, considering my impatience).

From what I see, you made to most of the "sauwetter" :-). I had much more luck with the weather when I was there in the 80's - it is indeed a very interesting tour!

We had some more luck with the weather next day, but well - you can't chose what you get from mother nature, especially at this time of the year. Rotterdam was wonderful despite the constanly changing weather.

Again, thanks for your feedback and I'll post some updates during weekend!

Cheers,
Can