Tag: clouds

Ohio River Bridges Project Progressing Well

Posted on November 15, 2014 by Nick Roberts

The work on the Ohio River Bridges Project is proceeding well as can be seen in the accompanying photos from Indiana and Kentucky. The girders from Indiana are heading south and soon will be connected to the first section of the Downtown Span at Pier 5 where the first section of bridge road deck has begun to take shape.

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The weather on this particular morning was changing from clear skies to rain clouds and made for a dramatic backdrop to my photos of Brian Kirker. Brian is an Operating Engineer who came here from Las Vegas to work on this project. I wanted to capture the towers on Pier 5 as well as his excavator when he happened to move into a perfect place for that shot.

As a rule I don’t pose people when I’m shooting because I feel it will interfere with the work they are doing but in this case I did motion for Brian to hold still while I shot a couple of bracket sets. I knew that due to the strong backlight and broad dynamic range the best approach would be to shoot this scene for HDR processing.

Back in my studio I took the three frame bracket set of -2, 0 and +2 EV exposures into NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 and merged them. I then applied a custom preset of my own creation (one I had used several months ago) to get the look I felt best accented the image. After I had done that I took the resulting image into Adobe Camera Raw for some adjustments to the Brightness, Exposure, Fill Light and Blacks. I also added a little Vibrance to the image and then opened it in Photoshop CS5.

Once I had the image in Photoshop CS5 I added a new layer and made a Curves adjustment in order to get pure white and pure black. I then flattened the layers before adjusting the Sharpening using the Smart Sharpen command. Recently I have been using ACR and PS CS5 more in my processing workflow. I have discovered that doing so has allowed me to attain better results than I used to get from finishing the HDR process in Aperture 3. There is more vibrance in the colors and the whites are more pronounced.

Brian Kirker and David Preston are shown here as the drainage pipe is being installed on the Indiana approach to the Downtown Span.

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In this second image Brian is lifting a drainage pipe as David Preston, an Inspector with FIGG, verifies that it is being installed per the job specifications. Throughout the construction process outside entities like FIGG monitor the work being done to make certain that everything is properly installed.

I liked the way the composition worked and also the way the light played along the excavator bucket. Having David and the large concrete cylinder in the foreground with Brian and the excavator in the middle ground and the beautiful clouds in the background really makes this image work for me. I used the same post processing steps in this image as in the preceding image.

Early morning on Pier 5 after a short period of rain. The barge in the foreground is there to use as an assembly point for steel rebar and concrete form as the tower is extended up.

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The last two images in this post are from the barges alongside Pier 5 and give an idea of the scale of the work that is going on on the river. Near the center of the image workers can be seen near the tower base. The first section of bridge is in place and the deck panels are being installed. I liked the way the sky was reflected in the water puddles on the barges and the wetness of everything in contrast to the clearing sky.

Early morning shot of Pier 5 after a short period of rain. This view give a good overview of the progress being made on the bridge deck and towers.

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As with all the other images in this post I used HDR processing to bring out the details in both the highlights and the shadows while enhancing the colors in the scene. When shooting these infrastructure construction photos I find HDR techniques to be indispensable tools. I always shoot bracket sets with 2 stop intervals and most times I am able to use all of them in the final image. In the event that the subjects in the bracketed photos have moved too much for the software to accommodate I usually find I have one image that has a good enough exposure that it can be processed for an acceptable final image.

Was a Rainbow Over the Downtown Span of the Ohio River Bridges Project a Positive Omen?

Posted on November 12, 2014 by Nick Roberts

I try to capture something from the Ohio River Bridges Project nearly every workday. The rapid progress that is being made now is transforming the landscape all along the construction site. It isn’t always possible to be in just the right place every day but I really hope to provide a pretty complete view of how the Ohio River Bridges Project is progressing. I like to think that this rainbow is a positive omen for the project and for my own desire to show the world of heavy highway and bridge construction to the world though my images.

The other morning there were scattered showers moving in from the northwest and I was lucky enough to be in just the right place when the morning sunrise illuminated a gorgeous rainbow over the construction at Towers 4 and 5. I was on the Kentucky shore where the bridge will land in Louisville. I adjusted my vantage point in an effort to align the base of the rainbow with the eastern tower on pier 5. In doing so I was also able to include it’s intersection with the eastern tower at pier 4. In the upper right hand corner of the image is another faint rainbow that I discovered during processing.

Rainbow over the bridge towers for the Ohio River Bridges Project Downtown Span being built by Walsh Construction in Louisville, Kentucky, November 2014

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The images in this post were captured all around the Ohio River Bridges Project in Louisville Kentucky in the past 30 days. There are photos of individual tradesmen, progress on the Downtown Span and the reconfiguring of Spaghetti Junction. All this activity keeps me hopping as I try to capture the process as well as the progress of this massive Heavy Highway and Bridge Construction project.

In several of these photos I have taken the liberty of sharing different versions of the same scenes. I like to use HDR techniques and HDR software when capturing and processing my images. I often like to take those same HDR images into various Black and White processing apps. I am not married to any one B&W app and use many different plug-ins as well as the B&W conversion tools in Photoshop CS5 and Aperture 3. I like the variety of effects I can get by using Topaz B&W, onOne B&W Effects and NIK Silver Efex Pro 2.

Jimbo Clark ties rebar on the Ohio River Bridges Project

Storm clouds gather over the Indiana shore of the Ohio River and the Downtown Crossing construction for the Ohio River Bridges Project. #4 (B&W Version)

Ironworker from Ironworkers Local 70 gather their tools to start work on a section of steel girders being installed along I-71 in Louisville KY — Ironworkers from Ironworkers Local 70 gather their tools to start work on a section of steel girders being installed along I-71 in Louisville KY

Towers processed in Silver Efex Pro — Storm clouds gather over the Indiana shore of the Ohio River and the Downtown Crossing construction for the Ohio River Bridges Project. #3

Storm clouds gather over the Indiana shore of the Ohio River and the Downtown Crossing construction for the Ohio River Bridges Project. #5

Walsh construction crew pours the plinth and eastern tower base for Tower 3 of the Downtown Span on the Ohio River Bridges Project.

Storm clouds gather in a Purple Sky over the Indiana shore of the Ohio River and the Downtown Crossing construction for the Ohio River Bridges Project. — Storm clouds gather over the Indiana shore of the Ohio River and the Downtown Crossing construction for the Ohio River Bridges Project.

A foggy morning as the crew boat navigates alongside Pier Seven of the Downtown Span on the Ohio River Bridges Project in Louisville, Kentucky. (Processed with NIK Silver Efex Pro 2)

Early morning on the Ohio River Bridges Project Downtown Span construction site showing Towers 4 and 5 in front of the Kennedy Bridge in Louisville, Kentucky.

The Walsh Group towboat Kathleen Ohara picks up Pete Rimert at the start of the day.

Towboat Kathleen Ohara heads for Kentucky shore of Ohio River in Louisville, Kentucky, — Towboat Kathleen O’Hara heads for Kentucky shore of Ohio River in Louisville, Kentucky,

Alan Vanwinkle is one of the crew boat operators on the Ohio River Bridges Project in Louisville Kentucky.

A foggy morning as the crew boat navigates alongside Pier Seven of the Downtown Span on the Ohio River Bridges Project in Louisville, Kentucky.

A foggy start to the day as morning fog moves down river toward Tower Five and the structural steel that will carry the new Downtown Span bridge deck. (B&W Version)

Brian Kirker Operating Engineers Local 181.

Ironworkers taking their morning break before flying the first Edge Girder into place at Tower Five. (Antique Version)

Alan VanWinkle pilots the Walsh crew boat past the towboat Kathleen O'Hara and the Towers at Pier 5 of the Ohio River Bridges Project. — Alan VanWinkle pilots the Walsh crew boat past the towboat Kathleen O’Hara and the Towers at Pier 5 of the Ohio River Bridges Project. The reflection in his windshield is the Big Four Pedestrian Bridge in Waterfront Park.

Tower Five during construction of the Ohio River Bridges Project Downtown Span November 2014.

The Walsh Group towboat Wayne C delivers a barge to the worksite in the Ohio River.

Dramatic Clouds in HDR

Posted on September 18, 2014 by Nick Roberts

Last Saturday morning I went down to Waterfront Park for an event on the river. The sky was full of dramatic clouds that really captured my imagination. The weather was rather raw and the turnout was low so I decided to take advantage of the ominous looking clouds instead. I thought the clouds would be good candidates for HDR images so I shot three frame bracket sets of each scene.

I decided to process the bracket sets in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 first and then returned them to Aperture 3 for some contrast, straightening and color channel adjustments. I then took them into NIK Viveza and played around with some very minor tweaks to them. I liked the results and the way even minor adjustments in Viveza had great impact on the resulting images. I even took one version into Topaz B&W Effects where I applied an antique style effect that I created a few weeks ago for another series of images.

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