M/V Mae Etta Hines

As noted previously, the Mae Etta Hines was in the area Friday. I was able to grab a few photos before I had to start my day job. Here are a few.

I caught the boat on the Ohio side between Crown City and Miller right at sunrise there. I chose the Ohio side because I knew there would be no available shooing spots on the West Virginia side. All else being equal, I would have preferred to be in West Virginia so the sun could be at my back. Shooting into the sun is rarely fun. Thus the play between light and shadow in these first images. I processed three similar photos in three different ways for the different looks.

With the sun up, the boat approached the bend below Crown City,

This one was cropped from a cell phone image. The original didn't have good resolution, so don't look for detail by zooming in. It does provide a decent view of the boat in its natural habitat, however.

I thought I would try the sunrise image in black and white. It didn't work that well, but at least I tried.

As always, constructive feedback is welcome.

-- Jim Ross

Barges make good pictures, too

 

Friday morning, I started my day job a few minutes late (the boss got the time back later in the day) because the "new" M/V Mae Etta Hines was in the area. I say "new" because the boat is the former M/V Hoosier State of AEP. When it pushed coal up my way, it was a frequent guest on this blog.

Friday was the first time the boat was up my way (Greenup pool) since its name change and new color scheme. I'll have photos of it in my next entry. For this one, I wanted to show off a photo of the three barges at the head of its tow.

The photo started out something like this ...

... but I wasn't satisfied with it. The colors didn't grab me, and the image felt off. Thus, I tried it in black and white and it came out so much better. The muted colors didn't stand out from the dreary landscape of just after sunrise. In black and white, you get a better contrast of the three barges. From rear to front, an empty tank barge, a loaded tank barge and a loaded hopper barge. It's like a staircase. The ID numbers on the barges stand out more, and in the black and white version, the lines of the barges don't compete with their colors.

All in all, I like the black and white version much better. Although the year is young, it's one of my favorite river photos so far.