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Shipwreck on the Ayrshire Coast
A recent trip to the Ayrshire coast provided the expected photographic subjects, such as the coastline itself, some moody skies and a liberal scattering of large boulders. But then I discovered something unexpected - the remains of a shipwreck on the beach. I spotted it way in the distance - but it was clear what it was. Walking along the beach toward it, I could barely contain my excitement; this is just the kind of thing I love to photograph. The beach was almost deserted so I had the shipwreck all to myself for more than an hour, during which time I photographed it from every conceivable angle.
The sky was moody but also fairly bright, so I had to use a graduated neutral density filter as I was photographing in the afternoon. I did return to the place later, toward sunset, hoping to capture the shipwreck in the fading light, when the contrast between the sky and the land would be much less - but at that time, it was impossible to get anywhere near the wreck as the tide had come in and it was almost entirely submerged beneath the water.
I know nothing of the history of the wreck - what the boat was called or how it ended up half submerged on that beach, or when it made the wet sands its' final resting place. But it certainly seems to have been there a long time, judging by the state of the timbers, which are very worn and encrusted in barnacles.
My objective was to achieve two shots - an image of the structure in its entirety, giving a feel of what the viewer would be looking at; and a more abstract shot, something a little more tenuous and mysterious. I used a 17-40mm lens, set at its widest setting - this allowed me to get very close to the wreck and to really fill the frame with it.
I also used my legs - walking around the wreck and trying to find the best angles from which to photograph. Having captured the images, I finally dragged myself away and went home.
Post-processing the images, I began by cropping the images and then 'spotting' them - removing any visible dust specks or other imperfections.
Then, I used various layers set at differing exposures, masking out portions of each to reveal the detail from the layers beneath.
After this, I worked on the vibrance of individual colours within the image, before burning in some of the shadows. Finally, some unsharp masking was applied to the flattened image.
This is a place I will return to again.
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