Posts in Category: Tall Ships
10/16/2010: Margret todd and the Caribbean princess
This is from my trip to Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park a few weeks ago. I have lots of photos of the Margret Todd, one of the more picturesque (by intention) boats using Bar Harbor. With its maroon sails, it does the scenic thing several times a day on Frenchman’s Bay, ending with a sunset dinner cruise every fair evening. The Caribbean Princes behind the Maggy Todd, on the other hand, is also typical of the boats that use the harbor…Bar Harbor is a regular stop for the cruise ships that work the eastern seaboard of the Americas from the Caribbean to to Newfoundland. They arrive in the night, ferry passengers ashore in the morning in an endless relay of shore boats, 30 folks at a time, and the passengers spend the day spending money at the throng of gifty and arty shops that line the streets of downtown Bar Harbor, spending money (via bus excursions, or even taxi) seeing the sights of Acadia National Park, or spending money visiting one of the tourist attractions that dot the island (museums, Oceanariums, etc., there is even a Maine Lumberjack show in Trenton across the mainland bridge).
What is of interest to me here, of course, is simply the size difference between the ships. Aboard the Maggy Todd you have the impression of being on a fair sized sloop indeed…but seen under the bows of an ocean going liner you get a different picture…it is not so much that the Maggy Todd is small, but that the liner is HUGE. How very tall it is! The Princess carries 3000 passengers when full and it not the biggest boat that drops anchor in Bar Harbor. That is totally amazing.
A closer view adds some human scale.
The Maggy Todd is actually as close as it looks here. It must have passed within 50 yards of the bow of the Caribbean Princess (and its mast tops were closer), giving the passengers of both boats a rare thrill.
Canon SX20IS, my normal processing in Lighroom, with some distortion correction in the top shot to bring the water back to level, and a crop for composition.
9/7/2010: Margret Todd at anchor
I have many shots of the Maggy Todd taken over the years I have been visiting Bar Harbor. We even went out on her one year, for a sunset cruise along the bay. Here she is contrasted a bit with her slip mate…the Tiger Shark, a lobsterman loading traps for the day.
Canon SX20IS at about 50mm equivalent @ f4.0 @ 1/400th @ ISO 80. Landscape program.
Adjusted for Blackpoint, Clarity, Vibrance, and Sharpened in Lightroom.
From Acadia 2010.
6/19/2010
Margret Todd at Anchor
This is a tourist boat: it makes daily excursions under full sail on Frenchman’s Bay and the surrounding waters for the delight of paying passengers, and does a very popular sunset dinner cruse as well. Always picturesque, this early evening shot sets it against the still waters of Bar Harbor and the backdrop of the Porcupine Islands. The ornamental railing at the foreground adds dimension to the composition. I cropped slightly from the bottom to eliminate the path in front of the railing.
It will repay a larger view.
Canon SX20IS at about 80mm equivalent for framing. F4.0 @ 1/500th @ ISO 80. Landscape program.
Recovery for the sky in Lightroom. A bit of Fill Light, Blackpoint just barely right. Added Clarity and more than usual Vibrance to try for a little blue in the water. Sharpen narrow edges preset.
From Acadia 2010.
And a second view. This time with more sky.
6/17/2009
Margret Todd under the Guns of Bar Harbor
Another view of the sloop Margret Todd. End of a day of rain, with the storm just breaking on the horizon behind the islands of Bar Harbor. The guns are in the park above the Harbor.
Sony DSC H50 at full wide. F5.6 @ 1/400th @ ISO 100. Programed auto.
I had to crop out the guy who walked into the right side of the frame (I did not have time to take another shot as my family was rapidly disappearing around the first bend in the Shore Path), but in the end I think it actually improved composition. Recovery in Lightroom for the sky. Added Clarity and Vibrance (though in the subdued light it barely matters), and Landscape sharpen preset.
6/14/2009
Marie Todd Emerging
A three masted schooner set up to carry tourists around Frenchman’s Bay, the Mary Todd here emerging from the morning fog.
Sony DSC H50 at about 70mm equivalent. F7.1 @ 1/2000th @ ISO 100. Programed Auto.
There was a lot of morning light caught in that fog, and it took all the Recovery I had available in Lightroom to pull it back to show the visual effect of the morning. Added Clarity and Vibrance, and Landscape sharpen preset.
From Bar Harbor 08.
4/4/2009
J S de Elcano in Galveston Harbor
To quote from a Lighthouse Depot description of a model of this ship: Four-Masted Schooner Model…An Impressive 44″ In Length The Juan Sebastian de Elcano is a training ship for the Royal Spanish Navy. At 370 feet long, it is the third largest Tall Ship in the world. Built in 1927 in Cadiz, it is named after a 16th century explorer and captain of Magellan’s global fleet. Steel hulled and steel masted, a marvel of gilt and teak, ropework and canvas, with a crew polished to within an inch of their lives, the J S de Elcano is an impressive sight to happen on in Galveston harbor, right next to the Off-Shore Oil Rig Museum.
This shot uses the full wide end of the zoom on the H50 and shows all the distortions of the lens, compounded by the upward tilt of the camera, which placed the ship across the axis of all most all of the distortions. Still. The distortions might even add to the impression of size and the majestic sweep of this elegant vessel.
The light was just about perfect for this detailed shot.
Sony DSC H50 at full wide (31mm equivalent). F5.6 @ 1/640 @ ISO 100. Programed Auto.
In Lightroom, some Recovery for the white highlights and the sky. Added Clarity and Vibrance in the Presence panel, and the Landscape sharpen preset.
From Galveston 2009.
Masthead Detail, J S de Elcano