Month: September 2012

Ironworker

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Jackie Alpha on the Big Four Bridge Project
Ironworker Jack Alpha

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This image was taken from a man lift inside the Big Four Bridge last week. The man in the photo is Jack Alpha he’s an Ironworker who let me use his safety harness to ride up into the upper structure of the Big Four Bridge as part of my continuing project to photograph the men who are doing the work to convert the Big Four Bridge from an abandoned railway bridge into a pedestrian bridge linking Louisville, Kentucky with Jeffersonville, Indiana. Jack is repairing the handrail that runs along the top of the bridge and in this photo he is anxiously waiting for me to get done with my photos so he can get back to work.

This is a straight photograph with minor adjustments to White Balance and Sharpening. I used Aperture 3 to edit it and the only thing I needed to do to get it right was to set the white balance by picking a neutral gray which was easy since the concrete deck has a full range of grays in it. I then chose a black point from the man lift and a white point from the arrow on the man lift. Using these three points nailed the colors in the image and all that was left to do do was sharpen it.

Joe Ley’s Garden of Delights

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Joe Ley’s Garden of Delights

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This is another image form the NuLu Photowalk on Saturday. This is a side yard at Joe Ley Antiques on Market Street here in Louisville. I processed it using Topaz Adjust and the Spicify preset. Some readers of this blog have asked me if I’m advertising for Topaz, NIK or OnOne so I just want to clear the air about that. The simple answer is no; I am sharing what tools and techniques I use to achieve the images that I see in my mind when I’m photographing or when I’m in my studio creating a new piece of art. I want those who view my art to know what I used, not to sell them on the tools, but to open their eyes to the possibilities that the plug-ins offer for artistic expression.

While I consider myself to be an accomplished photographer I do not feel bound or constrained to meet the expectations of other photographers. I am first and foremost a photographic artist; I try to impart my feeling for the subjects I photograph through the use of color, composition and texture. I am not concerned when someone feels the need to criticize my art and thinks that somehow I have broken some arbitrary norm that they think is sacrosanct. I don’t need validation from those who think they know what I should be doing or how I should do it.

Photography is my chosen art form and I’m content to put it out in the world and share it with anyone who enjoys it. I didn’t study art to copy other artists; in part I studied art to understand what others had done before me and draw inspiration from their works. I enjoy color, I like saturated colors, I like natural colors, I like the colors in a sunset or a thunderstorm. Sometimes I feel that I cannot improve on the scene before my lens and I strive to be as realistic as possible while at other times I want to overpower the colors and punch them up beyond what some folks consider natural.

Closed

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Closed
Closed

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This image is another one from the NuLu Photowalk with Jon Eland last Saturday. I was photographing the facade of the building at Gittings Bedding on Market Street when I noticed this fellow looking out the door. I started photographing him as he stood there for what seemed a very long time watching me. At some point he flipped the OPEN sign to CLOSED and I thought he would close the door but instead he continued to watch me. I continued to shoot until he stepped back inside and closed the door.

I processed this image in Topaz Adjust using Spicify as my initial preset. I dialed it down quite a bit in order to preserve a realistic sense to the image while still intensifying the contrast and colors in the photo. The sun was shining directly on the building but through using the detail slider and other adjustments I was able to show the texture of his shirt and the brick on the building.

Photowalk Discovery

Posted on by Nick Roberts
A Herd of Insects?

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The past Saturday I joined 25 other Louisville photographers for a photowalk with Jon Eland who was visiting Louisville for IdeaFestival. Jon is from Leeds, England which is a sister city with Louisville. As a rule I am not a group shooter, I prefer to go out alone when I do my photography, but after attending a lecture that Jon gave to the PhotoForum camera club here in Louisville last Wednesday I decided to join the group for Jon’s NuLu Fest photowalk. I’m glad I did because the interaction with other photographers led me to some interesting subject matter that I probably wouldn’t have seen such as these insects on the corner of a building on Market Street in the NuLu district of Louisville.

Deborah Brownstein, one of Louisville’s finest macro photographers, pointed these insects out to me as I was walking past Joe Ley Antiques. I was focused on the vast amount of stuff that was outside his shop and walked right past these guys. Deb showed me these insects and immediately I knew that I had to capture a few images of them. I liked the contrast of their red bodies on the green wall and the pattern that they made. I have no idea what they are but I am fascinated by the various stages of growth they appear to be in. Judging by the wings some have matured into full size while other smaller ones are just starting to grow their wings.

Yesterday I decided to start editing the images from the photowalk and the first one I went to was this image. I decided to use Topaz Adjust to enhance the color and detail in the shot. I used to use Topaz Adjust a lot but had drifted away in favor of the NIK collection of software. I decided to use Topaz Adjust 5 and the “Spicify” preset as my point of departure and tweaked several sliders in it to finish this image. I like the controls in Topaz Adjust when I’m editing because they allow me to complete my edit without returning the image to Aperture 3 for sharpening and final output. Everything I need is inside TopazAdjust including sharpening which is something I generally have to return images to Aperture 3 for when using the NIK software.