Max Burke, APSA  

Ft Stevens Washington Gun Emplacements by Max Burke, APSA

June 2018 - Ft Stevens Washington Gun Emplacements

About the Image(s)

This image was taken at Ft. Stevens Military Park in Northwest State of Washington, on the coast. This is just one small part of one of the big gun emplacements to protect the area at the mouth of the Columbia River. The original and current fort was active from the time of the Civil War to WWII. This is part of an Artillery Gun Emplacement. Taken on an overcast day in 2014. I used Photomatix Pro 6 to process a 3 photo HDR with a one stop difference with the central setting of 1/200th at f/13 with ISO of 800. Used a D600 Nikon with 24-120 f4 lens. I used a gradient tool of light blue and white to give the sky a slight color to sort of balance out that area. I choose not want to clone in clouds. Setting were emphasized to show the detail in what would be normally total dark rooms.

This round’s discussion is now closed!
6 comments posted

Rick Cloran   Rick Cloran
Very hard and stark. I think the rendition comes across as the type of grim place an abandoned military fort might be. Leaving the sky as you did makes sense to me. I don't think adding in storm clouds would strengthen the feeling of the place all that much more. I do find it difficult to pick a core point of interest to let the eye rest on. That my be partly because the lighting seems so flat that no one feature jumps out   Posted: 06/07/2018 20:33:42
Tom McCreary   Tom McCreary
(Groups 7 & 32 & 57)
That is an interesting old fort. I did visit it several years ago. Your capture and processing make for a good presentation of the old fort. You have good detail in both the dark interior areas and also the outer walls. Leaving the sky as is a good idea.   Posted: 06/10/2018 12:00:19
Brad Ashbrook   Brad Ashbrook
The processing does look natural and because of the lack of a center of interest, I would probably change it up a bit. I would probably crop just above the railing, open up the shadows a bit and add some structure to bring out more texture.   Posted: 06/19/2018 18:07:16
Lisa Cuchara   Lisa Cuchara
cool fort!

Three stops work, although a tag more detail in the shadows MAY help.

The image seems a little blue cast to me?

sky works, although other variations without the sky could work too.

I would pick up or clone out the human trash (three white things, one is a cup) -- I will often kick them out of the way or move them to a trashcan, train your eye to notice small icky things like that.   Posted: 06/21/2018 02:31:21
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Lisa Cuchara   Lisa Cuchara
pano?   Posted: 06/21/2018 02:31:36
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A touch on the blue side, but so what?
I haven't been to Ft. Stevens. 30 years ago, I went to Ft. Casey. Should have gone back. I love to prowl old structures, but find too many restrictions and people in the way at Parks.
If you can, go shoot this again on a stormy day when the sky has more attitude.
  Posted: 06/21/2018 09:15:26