Month: September 2013

Saturday’s Sunset on the Ohio River

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Saturday Sunset
Saturday Sunset

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This HDR image was taken from the Big Four Bridge in Waterfront Park Saturday evening just after sunset. I shot my usual three frame bracket set of +2, 0 and -2 EV which I merged in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 to create a HDR image. I started with the balanced preset and from there I built my own preset for this image as well as several other bracket sets that are from the same shoot. After merging the three images I adjusted contrast and exposure sliders. I then added a  -2 stop gradient filter to the sky to lower the brightness level there. I then returned the image to aperture 3 where I made a few small adjustments to contrast and adjusted the red, yellow, blue and magenta color channels. Finally I applied sharpening and cropped it to give it a more panoramic feeling.

HDR Image of the Ohio River in Black and White

Posted on by Nick Roberts
B&W HDR Image of the Downtown Span Construction Sites on the Ohio River in Louisville, KY.
B&W HDR Image of the Downtown Span Construction Sites on the Ohio River in Louisville, KY.

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This image was taken from the Big Four Bridge looking west over Waterfront Park and the Ohio River in Louisville Kentucky. It was a busy morning on the river, the construction tug was moving barges for the Ohio River Bridges Project, the Belle of Louisville was headed upriver and a tugboat was pushing the largest size tow downriver, five barges long and three barges wide, that can go through the McAlpine Locks at one time. The Ohio river carries more traffic than any river in America delivering cargo from Pennsylvania in the northeast to the Mississippi River in the west and vice versa.

I decided to make this image Black and White after merging it in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2. I first took it into Aperture 3 after merging my three frame bracket set where I applied some additional contrast and a vignette to the HDR image before opening it in Topaz B&W Effects 2.1 where I chose the Platinum preset. I adjusted the paper tone slightly as well as adding some additional contrast adjustments that the Topaz B&W version seemed to need.

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Don’t miss the 50% 0ff sale on Topaz Adjust  that is going on until September 30,2013. Topaz Adjust doesn’t go on sale very often and this is a great chance to save some money and get a true workhorse of a program. My entry into the world of plug-ins began with Topaz Adjust and I recommend that anyone wanting to explore that world take advantage of this opportunity.  Use the link below and the discount code septadjust when you order.

http://www.topazlabs.com/705.html

While there consider purchasing the entire Topaz Suite of programs. Topaz has done a lot of improving in the past few years and offers a very good line of software plug-ins that work well with Photoshop, Lightroom and Aperture 3.

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Robyn Again

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Carpenter Robyn Keith
Carpenter Robyn Keith

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Today I’m sharing the three images that I used to create this HDR image. I merged them in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 and applied the Balanced preset. After that I returned the image to Aperture 3 for final adjustments.

2 Stops Underexposed
2 Stops Underexposed

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Proper Exposure
Proper Exposure

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2 Stops Overexposed
2 Stops Overexposed

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As you can see each of the three images probably would not have produced such a broad dynamic range. Using HDR processing allows me to take a bracket set such as this and create a powerful and dynamic image.

 

 

This Is Why I Get Up Early Each Day

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Iron workers Placing Reinforcement Steel into Concrete Form For Pier Cap.
Iron workers Placing Reinforcement Steel into Concrete Form For Pier Cap.

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I get up every morning hoping to find a sky with this much texture and color. On this particular morning I was given a wonderful start to the day when I saw the colors start to intensify as the sun rose in the sky. The morning light and the wide range of light made this scene a natural for shooting it as a high dynamic range image. Even with such a wide range it was only necessary to use +2, 0 and -2 EV to capture the shadow details as well as the highlights and mid-tones. I try to keep the number of frames I use to a minimum to help combat the noise that inevitably occurs when underexposing the frame to capture the highlights and then merging them to create the HDR image.

The more I use HDR techniques and adjustments the more comfortable I become with them. In my book NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 is the leader for creating realistic HDR images with minimal halos and believable transitions across the tonal range. I want my images to convey a sense of the wonder I feel when I’m shooting them and the natural beauty in the scene. In this image I am very pleased with the balance of warm and cool light and the peaceful mood that accompanies sunrise on the river.

 

HDR of Robyn Keith at Work

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Robyn Keith #2
Robyn Keith #2

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The woman in this image is Robyn Keith. Robyn is a carpenter and I wanted to capture her at work with the rising sun behind her. The light was really rich the morning I shot this and the sparks flying from her cutting wheel also caught me eye. I also liked the way the morning sunlight was reflecting off the surface of the concrete form that she was working on and tying the sparks, the sunlit sky and the reflections together.

This HDR image was created in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 from my standard bracket set of +2, o and -2 EV. Because she was moving slightly while cutting off the rebar, I had to apply 80% anti-ghosting to eliminate some ghosting around her head. When applying anti-ghosting I always strive to use the smallest percentage possible to avoid creating other artifacts in the image. In this case 80% was the lowest amount I could use; anything less than that amount left ghosts of her head and hands. I could have dealt with that issue inside Photoshop but the anti-ghosting settings in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 usually are a much simpler approach and work very well in most cases.After merging the three frames I applied the Balanced preset to do my basic tone-mapping. I like to use that preset because it adds a small amount of contrast to the initial merger and sets the stage for me to adjust the shadows and highlights without adding too much of an over-processed HDR feel to the merged files. As usual I returned the merged files to Aperture 3 where I completed adjusting it and sharpened it.