Kurilpa Bridge, take 2

[TonyW]

Some time ago, I posted a picture of this footbridge across the Brisbane River. This is another attempt. They are two images taken early one morning, facing east, from a ferry. The first one I think shows the general structure of the bridge which has elements of a tensegrity structure with its floating compression members. They are best seen by downloading the full resolution images from Flickr.

I would be very interested to know whether they work for you, especially the first one.

Kurilpa_Bridge by tonyw36, on Flickr


Kurilpa_Bridge2 by tonyw36, on Flickr

[Ken Curtis]

Hi Tony.

I am having trouble seeing on which side of the bridge each of the uprights and cables are, especially in the top photo. I think it is because the lighting is so uniform on those members and there are no shadows to help. It may also be due somewhat to the focal length of the lens you used.

I wonder if the details and depth may have showed a bit better if you had taken some shots when the boat was closer to the bridge and and at an angle, instead of head on.

[Stinky]

To me, it looks like you are shooting into the sun although overcast and is causing a silhouette effect.

[FrankMi]

Just seeing pieces of the bridge it looks a bit like a spider's web Tony.

Is there a shooting angle where more of the bridge can be seen? What about straight down the walkway?

[TonyW]

Thanks everybody for replying. I found this bridge to be extraordinarily difficult to capture overall. It is a complex looking and eccentric structure and from most angles there are things in the background that confuse the picture.

Ken, I was really quite close to the bridge when I took the picture. The lens was zoomed right out to 24mm. I did quite a lot of perspective transformation to straighten things up. I did not have a choice of the angle but the view straight down the river was probably the clearest. When I look at this at full screen and full resolution it looks reasonably clear to me, but then I am familiar with the physical thing.

Steve, I was shooting into the sun fairly early in the morning. I thought the silhouette effect was appropriate. I thought about making it proper black and white but I rather like the bits of colour. Perhaps I should try the same shot later in the afternoon. The atmospheric effect would be quite different.

Frank, the bridge is a very unconventional design, thoroughly disliked by many. I am sure the engineering design could not have been done without computer assistance. I tried many different angles, including down the walkway, but there was no way of getting the whole thing clearly.

[FrankMi]

Frank, the bridge is a very unconventional design, thoroughly disliked by many. I am sure the engineering design could not have been done without computer assistance. I tried many different angles, including down the walkway, but there was no way of getting the whole thing clearly.

Hmmmm, a real challenge then! You may just have the best shooting angle. If so, what about a tighter crop that doesn't show either side but possibly shows the near and far bridge and the folks walking across?

Perhaps there a building where you could shoot a bit more down from above? Just doing some 'what if' thinking......