Weekly Competition #61 - Bridge(s) Competition

My bridge is gonna take some beating!

Well done to all entrants as there were no bad pictures in this week’s competition, and there are several that I would have been more than happy to take myself.
At the end of the day I could not separate many of the pictures on technical merit so in the end I have had to make a subjective choice on what I like rather objective criteria.
I will first give my thoughts on each picture then my 1,2,3 and highly commended.
Please also remember that these are just my thoughts which are not perfect.

PentaxAngel
Budapest (Hungary) Margaret-bridge, and island.And Parliament.
The panoramic crop suits the subject well, but detail has been lost in the deep shadows.
Possibly some detail could be recovered by dodging the dark areas, or multiple exposures blended together could have been used.

Ganners
Bridge off of Las Ramblas in Barcelona.
Given harsh sunlight this is good exposure showing detail of the stone work in the shadow areas and I like the way the delicate stone work at the top of the arched windows is silhouetted both against shadow and the sky

Johnriley
The eyes have it, but this is an image of a metal bridge at Worsley, Manchester.
A very interesting use of the shapes and textures of the bridge to generate a face – even the rivets remind me of eyelashes.
The curves seem to lead my eye around the picture but the symmetry never quite gives me a resting point in the image

Amoringello
Venice: Bridge of Sighs
This just goes to show that original images of mega tourist locations can still be taken – in this case you simply went back at a different time of day and have made excellent use of the light that was available. The long exposure has smoothed out the water making it look like no one ever goes here.
Have you considered a vertical crop using the width of the river at the bottom of the picture as the crop width? This would cut out the darker edges and enhance the leading lines of the river edges.

Ikillrocknroll
Oresund Bridge, largest road and rail bridge in Europe, connecting Copenhagen in Denmark to Malmo in Sweden.
Another good choice of exposure enough to bring out the night colours on the concrete but not long enough to bring out any background detail. If this had been placed centrally the image would have been less powerful – the off centre crop really makes it.

terje-l
The famous Storebelt Bridge in Denmark
This a is well composed landscape – foreground to anchor the picture, horizon 1/3 up and level, well exposed clouds and sky, main arch of bridge is 1/3 across; but the bridge is too small (in the photograph) to dominate.
I would try selecting from the horizon upwards and enlarging the bridge to make it dominate the landscape.

Gartmore
A good subject for black and white and there is just enough light on the edges of the 2 outer black sections to subtly retain their shape as they cross the upper black section.
The way the central pillar ends in shadow and doesn’t seem to ‘touch’ the upper part gives this sense of mystery which makes the picture.

Father Ted
Mersey Tunnel Overpass
Another good choice for black and white rather than colour with the shape of the X being outlined against the sky. I think you have done well to hold focus right from the front pillar to background.
I would have cloned out the light mark on the pillar and straightened it as both are distracting (to me) and the area of sky under the bridge on the right seems to have some unfinished cloning,

George Lazarette
Bridge in the Bois de Boulogne - November in Paris. Autumn leaves and a pretty pink bridge.
The pink bridge, the golden brown leaves and sunlight grass shout to have their picture taken. The leading lines of the bridge point to the sunlit area of grass nicely framed by the leaves but for me there is nothing at this focal point – the park keeper should definitely arrange to have a small statue or park bench there!
None the less a tricky exposure with strong colour saturation.

Lenscape
Bridge over the Atlantic
An interesting idea trying to frame a view through the circular ‘window’ created by bridge and reflection. For me it’s just a shame there wasn’t a point of interest on the far bank.

Prieni
Ting Kau Bridge, Hong Kong
Once again a long exposure has smoothed out the water and has produced dreamy reflections of the lights on bridge and far shore. I also like the way the bridge seems to disappear into the darkness on the far shore, and setting the bridge against the dark land mass has made the most of the lights on the bridge and has given the reflections on the support cables to show up.

Beakynet
Tower Bridge - HDR
The use of HDR has made the most of the sky, but has left the water looking dull and lifeless. The bridge itself show some detail which for me makes the image fail as a silhouette but its not enough detail to show the bridge itself. The outer parts of the bridge are also ‘absorbed’ into the river banks in the background.

Pnjmcc
Roseville Bridge
Excellent use of curves leading the eye through the picture complimented by the strong uprights of the pillars

PentaxDan
Coldstream
Good use of points of interest to lead though the picture – the gently curving river leading to the bridge, the foreground tree and the tower stop the eye escaping out of the left of the picture.
Unfortunately (for me) the grey area of rock in the lower centre of the picture needs to be covered up by another bush.

Bigcog
Tyne Bridge at night taken from the Sage
An instantly recognisable shape whether it’s in Sydney or over the Tyne. Taken against the night sky shape is only given by the reflected light on the girders. In general my personal taste is for colour rather than black and white but in this case I think the picture would be better in black and white as the coloured area at the bottom of the picture distracts from the bridge’s shape. Try desaturating the picture, burn the lighter street area at the bottom of the picture, and dodge the arch of the bridge and the upper part of the tower on the left. A picture with good potential which the post processing hasn’t quite brought out.

HowardJ
Tuscan Bridge
There’s a bridge like this over the River Wye at Symonds Yat (in south Wales in UK) which I remember being frightened to go across when I was on school camp some 40 years ago!
The leading lines of the edges of the bridge come together in a vanishing point which reflects the eye back down the picture and a pleasing composition. I think a crop removing the top and right of the picture would have strengthened the composition by removing distracting sky and railings.

Kockas
Liberty Hungary
Good use of silhouetted shapes against the sky – the shape of the tower intrigues me and your use of empty space in the picture seems to emphasise the strength of the bridge.

Clarky
Sydney Harbour Bridge
I like the way the roadway curves to the left connecting the bridge to the city. This was obviously a grabbed shot as the boat went under the bridge and which shows that you have an eye for landscape as well as macro. It a real shame that you could not have got one of your termites to eat through that flag pole as the flag spoils the picture for me. Of course the horizon needs a little straightening too.

DavidTrout
Bridge to the future
Strong diagonals divide up the picture, the black below balances the colour above, the varying angles of the building reflect colours not in the picture with intriguing distortions. Showing the reflections trough the bridge connects the picture together preventing it from being two pictures in one.

Josh
A Bridge to Baaa - Ogmore Castle. South Wales Coast.
This is a picture which made me smile.
The focal point is clearly supposed to be the sheep but it has moved a little too far forward allowing the leading lines of the bridge to jump my eye up to the hut in the background. I tried making a selection of the view through the arch down to the edge of the grass and applied a very slight blur which stopped this, a quick wipe over with the burn tool stopped the white building distracting too.

GlynM
Bridge in Decay
The road leads the eye nicely up to the bridge but the brick work just seems soft to me and a little sharpening would have improved this shot.

Beginner
Chollerford bridge over the Tyne!
I like the way the late afternoon winter sunlight has brought out the colour of the bridge’s stone work. You have used a small aperture (f19) to keep the whole scene in focus, by increasing the ISO to 400 you have reduced the speed to about 1/45 this may have been to allow you to hand hold but it has also kept the surface of the water below the weir rough making a good contrast with the smooth water and the reflection above the weir.

Galoot
Culloden Viaduct
A good choice of lens (fisheye) for this subject I really get that feel of the extreme height of the viaduct as it leaps out over the valley. The tree overhanging on the left covers part of the sky keeping the bridge as the strongest part of the image. I just wish that a step or too forward had eliminated the diagonal branch going from sky to grass.

GivingTree
Guitar Bridge
A good close up of a bridge of a different sort.
A small aperture has been used to keep the whole of the bridge in focus, but the lighting straight down onto the guitar has minimised any grain pattern and allowed the reflection of a window (?) to show. Lighting across the surface would have shown more the character of the wood and may have eliminated reflections too.

Keen2Learn
Bredwardine Bridge over River Wye
A peaceful scene and reflection in the river. But the shot is ordinary, there is nothing through the arches or happening (for me) in this picture.

R o b
Number 243 - A bridge on the canal just outside Oxford.
A good choice of angle which shows the shape of the bridge well. The touch of inspiration you had taking this picture was your choice of shutter speed - 1/2 second has blurred even the slow moving canal boat, it almost looks like a high speed train shooting along the canal.

Ericp
Don't burn your bridges
Very competently handled exposure with detail showing on the underside of the bridges while retaining some texture in the clouds however I find my self exploring the windows on the building on the right rather than the bridges.

First - Bridge to the Future - David Trout
Second - Number 243 - R o b
Third - Bridge of Sighs - amoringello

Highly Commended (in no particular order)
Oresund Bridge. - Ikillrocknroll
The Bridge - johnriley
Roseville Bridge - pnjmcc
Culloden Viaduct - Galoot

Over to you David...

Bob

I too loved the "Bridge to the Future", a very strong entry. Congrats David, Rob, and amoringello. I also very much liked IKRNR's Oresund Bridge - spooky and drew me forward into the picture.
Thanks for your comments, Bob, very good judging. I was wondering how my different sort of bridge would go over, will consider your thoughts on it if I reshoot. (yes, a window - going for natural light)

A worthy winner and a very high standard this week.

Thanks to Bob and his Pentax for his considered judging.

Very nice to see the judging return to the way it used to be

Thank you Bob, I'm gobsmacked to win. The entries were great so it's an honour. Now I've got to come up with this week's subject. Give me a couple of hours and I'll respond.

A worthy winner, well done. I thought all entries were excellent and the judging with all the comments much appreciated.
Cheers

Congratulations the Winner, and Thank You the Judge&competitions for Bob!!
Good luck next competitions!

Well done davidtrout, for an excellent picture, and Bob and his pentax for excellent judging. Well, I say excellent judging, but second for me? There are several pictures I would have thought deserved that more. However, I'm not complaining.

I must acknowledge the help of my other half in choosing which of the pictures I'd taken to submit. She liked the fact that the boat looked like a train too.

Robert.

Well done David and thanks for setting a difficult one this week

Thanks for the comments Bob. Don't know how I missed that bottom corner when I was doing it