A former princess Photo

Photographer’s Note

A former princess

Another classic ship today. The Sherakhan cruise ship was moored in Rijnhaven last October for maintenance, I captured her from metro station Rijnhaven in the early morning light and fog.
It’s the former Prinses Margriet, a training vessel of the Hogere Zeevaartschool (School for officers of the merchant navy). The dashingly elegant lines of the ‘50s design are still to be admired. And…..there are no “privatised balconies” (the most dominant feature of modern cruise ships) on the ship, there are only public decks. But the thing is that the ship can be categorized as totally privatized for it can be only chartered as a whole. And this will set you back 350.000 € for a private cruise of a week. The crew of 19 comes free of charge though ;-) Before I did some googling on the Sherakan I had never heard of this niche of the cruise market. The mind boggles……
In the background you can see some classic Rhine ships (rijnaken) and the warehouses (vemen) of Katendrecht.

After the crit of Henk I added a colour version in the WS as reference.

A newspaper article about the conversion of this ship is here.
The process: I balanced the cam on a barrier for stability and shot zoomed in along the hull to emphasise the 50s lines of the ship.
The tech: PCS3 work flow: I altered the saturation, contrast, curves and levels for the whole pic and some elements separately, using different layers, enhanced the edges, USM-ed (a 5 step method), added a frame and resized and did a gentle USM (1,3px, 15%) again.

exif data
Camera Manufacturer : Canon
Camera Model : Canon EOS 30D
Exposure time [s] : 1/15
F-Number : 9.0
ISO speed ratings : 320
Date taken : 2007:10:10 08:27:22
Exposure bias value : -2/3
Metering mode : Evaluative, Multi-segment (5)
Exposure mode : Av-priority
Focal length [mm] : 262 mm (135 mm equiv)
Colour space : sRGB
image width : 3504
image length : 2336

Floydian, carper, abulafia, jhm, feather, UlfE, Dpbours, syd1946, danos, celmaleite, alvaraalto, zmey has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Floydian (30970) 2007-12-18 8:18

Hey Bert,
Ik zat te denken hoe hij in kleur zou zijn maar met dit weer zou er kwa kleur niet veel inzitten denk ik. De setting hier langs het schip creeert veel diepte en maakt maakt door de zware contrasten er een imposant schip van. Het diepe zwart en heldere wit in de voorgrond vormen een mooi contrast het het meer grijs in de achtergrond...prima werk.
Groet, Henk

andante (7092) 2007-12-18 11:36

Classic presentation, Bert. The lighted background gives a great sense of depth to the image. It does a feel of classical. Cheers,
Enrique

abulafia (4802) 2007-12-18 20:23

Nice harbor mood captured here.
The B+W goes well with the old ship and the barges.
very nice
Harry

carper (66132) 2007-12-19 1:56

de zwart wit versie doet niet echt onder aan de kleuren versie,
maar eerlijkheid gebied te zeggen dat met zo'n klassiek schip een klassieke foto hoort met fraaie lijnen en mooie vlakken, goed fotowerk Bert.
groet Jaap

feather (50560) 2007-12-19 8:29

I don't normally go for B&W very much so I was pleased to see you added a colour version. Comparing the two though, I see you made the right choice, as the colour adds nothing to the image as a whole. In fact, if anything, on the colour version, the hazy background is a bit of a distraction. Now we can concentrate all our attention on the lines of this old lady.
Maybe we should all club together and hire the ship for a TE meeting ;D.
Kath

UlfE (9260) 2007-12-19 10:50

Hi Bert,

Excellent idea to transform it into a B& W photo. Comparing to the original colour photo this one is much better. A really fine habour shot. I love your composition and POV, and the inclusion of som e classic Rhine shot. Very nice also with the crane that is so typical for a busy habour. Have nice evening.

Cheers,

Ulf

Dpbours (220) 2007-12-19 12:43

Hoi Bert,

En ook ik ben blij dat je de kleuren-versie hebt toegevoegd. Dat is gewoon prachtig. Hij moet echt in kleur. De Sherakhan is op de kleuren versie echt een bron van warmte in de verder grauwe dag. Heel mooi. Kleur it is!! :-)

Groeten,
Dennis

PS: En een prima note. Dat stel ik altijd erg op prijs. Locatie, wat we zien, camera settings, post processing. Alles daar. Prachtig.

vascao (192) 2007-12-19 15:48

Hi, Bert
Fine conversion to a newspaper-like B&W. Superb composition, emphasizing the detail instead of the whole picture.
[]'s
Sergio

jhm (83786) 2007-12-20 3:24

Dag Bert,

Ook al ben ik geen zwart fan, hier bent ik onmiddellijk in de jaren 50, zonder dat ik tekst uw tekst had gelezen.
De oudere binnenschepen laten zoiets vermoeden, maar de contouren van het schip rechts, maakt wel wat indruk en duuwt de foto zeker de hoogte in, het is eens iets anders, van Bert mogen we steeds aan een verrassing denken.
Goed gedaan, bedankt voor uw bezoek.

Groeten uit een fris Vlaanderen met 0.6°C en helder hemel.
John.

syd1946 (17999) 2007-12-20 11:42

Geia sou Bert,
I admire how easy you find the right point to take the shot and give us the fine photographic result.This is one more example...with the great perspective,the form created by the lines and the part of the princess.All in a very well seen black and white treatment!
All the best my friend,
Thomas

Stepan (27175) 2007-12-21 11:02

Not convinced by the compo (especially the frame) but the old harbour mood is OK and that's what I like here. Thanks to the B&W choice...
Stéphane

danos (33730) 2007-12-22 5:01

Hello Bert,
nice your shot from this old classic ship of the former princess.The B/W format make the shot more interesting and the fog background more atmospheric.I like this composition with the mood scene.Informative your note too.

I wish you Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year,Danos

celmaleite (3040) 2007-12-22 18:19

Um belo trabalho em Preto&Branco. Perfeita nitidez. Parabéns!
Celma

alvaraalto (5305) 2007-12-28 15:04

Hallo Bert,

Ik heb hier een beetje moeite met je keuze voor zwart-wit. Gelukkig hebben we de ws-foto's nog, zoals Harm Edens zou zeggen. Het mooie zachte grijs van de kade, met dat ietsie-pietse blauw-groen erdoor.....Dus ik ben het niet met Henk eens, maar hij heeft dan ook de workshop gemist.

groet uit Haarlem en wees voorzichtig met vuurwerk.

zmey (7282) 2008-04-15 7:01

hello bert

one can almost hear the squeeking of the ship's metal parts looking at your picture. the scene looks very industrial mood wise in this black and white rendition. i like it. just not sure if that was your intent knowing thet the ship is actually a luxury private cruise boat. i still find the scene very fascinating :)

warm regards,
kristaps