The workshop of the world

[JonH27]

That was the historical title given to the city of Birmingham back in centuries when there was actually a manufacturing industry in the area. This image was taken in the city's Museum of the Jewellery Quarter which is a house-sized workshop typical of the Jewellery Quarter - a fascinating area of a square mile or so, pretty well totally dedicated to jewellery manufacture and still a national centre for this sort of work. Image mildly grunged using a Filter Forge plug-in.



Jon

[gwpriester]

Nostalgic. Lovely photo, Jon.

[masque]

It's a project in the making, recording the industrial heritage of Birmingham before it all disappears under glass skyscrapers and Starbucks franchises, or the buildings converted to flats (or apartments).
Interesting photo, plenty to look at, I particularly like the quality of colour you're getting.
Derek

[JonH27]

Thanks for feedback, Derek. With regard to the colour, I wish I could remember how I got to this point with this image (and indeed many others). The advantage of playing around with software in a relatively disorganised fashion is that you can end up with results that are spontaneous and unfettered; the disadvantage is that if you want to repeat the process, or share it with others, is that it can be well-nigh impossible. With this photo the colour results from playing with the lighting adjustment tool in ACDSee Pro 5 (a graphic equalizer approach) and then introducing some greyness and texture with Filter Forge Photo Effects (part of their free set) using the "grunge" setting and playing with the default settings.

Jon

[gdavidson]

Great to see some of these places still survive. I think there are so many skills being lost and images like these serve to remind us of our industrial heritage which sadly is being eroded away.