Category: NSRA

Using OnOne Perfect Photo Suite 7.5 with HDR Images

Old School Hotrod
Old School Hotrod #1

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I took an HDR image that I created in NIK HDR Efex Pro and started experimenting with it in OnOne Perfect B&W to see what I could get from it. The OnOne Perfect Photo Suite is very powerful. It allows me to work in layers so that I can turn on and off each individual layer to see whether I like what it does in conjunction with other layers. For the first image here I applied the Ambrotype preset and then made several adjustments to the paper tone and silver tone, added an Emulsion border and adjusted the contrast and sharpening. Using the HDR image as a starting point helped render the interior details while still maintaining the surface textures on the car.

Old School Hotrod #2
Old School Hotrod #2

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This is the HDR image I started with. As you can see there is a lot of color in the image due to the patina of age. Most of the color in the glass and the wooden steering wheel was too muted for my taste until I adjusted the separate color channels in Aperture 3 after merging my bracket set in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2.

Old School Hotrod #3
Old School Hotrod #3

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For this last image I used the Perfect Effects application and applied a preset that changed the overall color of the image yet allowed me to emphasize the yellow and red in the window sticker. I can’t recall which preset I started with but I’m sure that I adjusted it’s effect to get the result I was looking for. I seldom stop with the base settings in these presets as I consider them to be starting points rather than end results.

The point of this post is to show that digital image processing opens the door to many options when creating art photography. It’s no longer necessary to spend hours in Photoshop building an image only to discover that it doesn’t convey your vision for the piece. By applying plug-in presets the artist is able to look at variations rapidly and decide what they want final result to be. Once a preset has been selected the artist can then make their own changes to it and emphasize the aspects of the image that are important for their vision of the image.

Avoid Cliches

Chevrolet
Chevrolet

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cliché or cliche (UK /ˈklʃ/ or US /klɪˈʃ/) is an expression, idea, or element of an artistic work which has become overused to the point of losing its original meaning, or effect, and even, to the point of being trite or irritating, especially when at some earlier time it was considered meaningful or novel.[1] (source Wikipedia)

Too often we photographers fall into the trap of shooting the same type of images that we have seen for years. With automobiles and car shows we will often shoot the entire car or some detail like a hood ornament, etc. I suggest you try moving beyond those cliched shots and approach the subject with an abstract approach that still speaks to the essence of the subject but isn’t so obvious.

In this image I fell in love with the bright yellow paint and the complimentary red and blue accents. I chose to use them as leading lines that reinforced the diagonal pattern of the clouds above the car. The blue sky is a direct compliment to the yellow color and also picks up on the blue pinstripes on the red louvers as it also provides background interest to the composition . While there is no question that the subject is an automobile the overall effect is to emphasize color and composition instead of being just another photo of a car.

I used my regular HDR brackets +2, 0 and -2 EV and processing with NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 which allowed me to capture and emphasize things such as the texture in the clouds and the reflections in the the door. I finished the image in Aperture 3 using some minor adjustments to the blue and yellow color channels, cropping and sharpening.

More Handheld HDR

Supercharger #1
Supercharger #1

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Yesterday I talked about shooting HDR brackets handheld; today’s image is another example of that technique. There are many occasions or situations where a tripod is out of the question. Often those same situations present difficulties due to the extremely broad dynamic range of the subject; that is when a bracket set can assure that the entire dynamic range is covered.

In this image the light on the polished metal was extreme and a single exposure would have left the sky overexposed while the shadows would have been underexposed. By shooting a three frame bracket at +2, 0 and -2 EV I was able to capture the clouds in the sky, the details under the carburetors, the reflected light on the black drive belt in the lower right of the frame and the reflections in the windshield. By combining the three exposures in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 I was able to bring the broad dynamic range under control.

One of the features of NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 that really helps with handheld images is the Align Images feature that can be applied at the initial merging of the brackets before any other processing takes place. I keep this feature checked for all my HDR work because even on a tripod there can be slight movement between frames; of course when shooting handheld there is bound to be some movement and this feature along with a 20% Ghost Reduction application usually solves that issue.

Finally I used the Balanced preset in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 as my starting point to tone map the image. A little tweaking there opened up the shadows and tamed the highlights while bringing the clouds out in the sky. I then returned the image to Aperture 3 for final adjustments to exposure and some enhancement of the red and yellow color channels to saturate the brown on the car. A little adjustment to the blue channel saturation and luminance further strengthened the contrast between the clouds and sky. Lastly I sharpened the image and then took it into Photoshop CS5 and used Content Aware fill to remove a small patch of white at the edge of the photo that was there from the corner of the event sticker in the windshield.

Happy St.Patrick’s Day

Greendrops Keep Fallin' On My Head
Greendrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head

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In the tradition of honoring my Irish roots I thought I’d post some green images today. For me green is the color of spring, hope, rebirth and my eyes. This first image is my favorite shade of green too. All these images come from the past several years of the NSRA Streetrod Nationals held here in Louisville, Kentucky.

Bullet Nose Beast
Bullet Nose Beast

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Bullet Nose Beast #2
Bullet Nose Beast #2

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REO Speed Wagon
REO Speed Wagon

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Emerald Buick
Emerald Buick

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1956 Chevy

1956 Chevy
1956 Chevy

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I had a tough time shooting this year at the Streetrod Nationals due to the weather and time constraints of my own. The opening morning there wasn’t a cloud in the sky so the light was very harsh which as most photographers know makes things difficult. The second morning it was raining almost the entire time I was there which left me pretty much consigned to shooting closeups and detail shots with waterdrops on everything. I threw in the towel by noon and wrote off the event for this year.

I di manage to get a few images that I liked and this is one of them. One of the toughest factors I face when photographing at this event is what I refer to as the “visual pollution” that is created with all the tents and popups that the participants erect. Due to the tents and the folding chairs that are everywhere; it is nearly impossible to isolate the cars from the clutter. Another problem arises when the owner decides to open the hood on the car to show the engine; this act usually destroys any hope of getting a decent shot of the car no matter how interesting the car is.

Today’s image is from the first morning I was there and even though the whole car was incredibly well done, the place where it was parked was so cluttered with tents and the attendent items such as BBQ grills, lawn chairs, coolers and stacks of “stuff” I could not cet a clean shot of the whole car. I opted to shoot the front end and framed it as well as I could to remove those distractions. I shot a five exposure bracket set that I then edited in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 and Aperture 3 to produce this image.