Colourful lobster pots and ropes at Whitby harbour.

I couldn't resist photographing these on my trip to Whitby in January this year - a lovely mix of patterns and colours!

Camera/lens settings: ISO 200, f/4, 1/100s, 22mm, hand held.

Ropes and a fishing boat at Seahouses harbour

Another one from Northumberland (August 2013) today. These ropes were piled on the harbour walls, next to the lobster pots. I crouched down to position the colourful fishing boat in the background, but chose an aperture that gave a shallow-ish depth of field to make sure the perspective remained.

When processing the photo I wondered whether I should have focused on the boat rather than the ropes. I suppose it depends which was my main subject - at the time I was more interested in the ropes than the boat. With hindsight, it would have been interesting to take 2 version of the photo and see which worked best. I think this version would win though - I think the ropes take up too high a percentage of the picture to be out of focus.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/10, 1/60s, 38mm, hand held.

Rope knotted around wooden boards on a boat

This is on one of the boats used for trips to the Farne Islands from Seahouses harbour. I took it on the way back from a visit to Longstone Island on our holiday there in August 2013. I think this rope was holding one of the life rings onto the side of the boat. This might be just me being odd, but the textures and shapes just appealed to me!

I increased contrast, reduced exposure slightly and converted to monochrome in Lightroom.

Lobster pots and boats at the harbour

This photo is from our last holiday to Seahouses, Northumberland, in August 2013. I was drawn to the colours and patterns of the lobster pots and ropes and framed the picture to include a couple of boats on the water. Although herring fishing is still done from the harbour, these particular boats have been converted to carry tourists out to the Farne Islands and Holy Island.

Post production I reduced highlights right down to take the glare off the water, reduced overall exposure very slightly and cropped the image to remove some cars parked behind the harbour wall.