Tag: construction photography

Cranes As Far As I Can See….

Cranes As Far As I Can See....
Cranes As Far As I Can See….

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I like this image because it shows how many cranes are being used to build the Ohio River Bridges Project. There are cranes on barges in the river and further back on the horizon there are more cranes building Spaghetti Junction. I was on the Indiana approach looking south into Louisville; I composed the image to take advantage of all the vertical elements in the scene.

I used my standard three frame bracket set and NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 to create this HDR image. After merging them I returned it to Aperture 3 for color adjustments and sharpening.

Concrete Pour Equipment

Concrete Pump Boom
Concrete Pump Boom

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This image shows the concrete pump boom transferring concrete to a pier pour in the middle of the river. The concrete is first transferred from the delivery trucks to the concrete pump which is sitting on shore. The concrete pump then pushes the wet concrete through the large pipe on the boom to the concrete placement workers who direct it’s placement in the concrete form in the river.

I chose this composition to emphasize the length that the material must be transported in order to make the piers in the river. I shot a three frame bracket set of -2, o and +2 EV and then processed the final image by merging them in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2. After merging them and applying some basic tone-mapping adjustments I returned the image to Aperture 3 for final processing.

Concrete Vibrator Operator at Work During the Pier Pour.
Concrete Vibrator Operator at Work During the Pier Pour.

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In this image the vibrator operator is using a control box he is wearing around his waist to vibrate the wet concrete and eliminate any air pockets that may have formed as the concrete was placed in the form. The metal rebar that he is standing inside will connect the next pice of concrete to this base after additional forms are attached as the tower base rises out of the river. This particular concrete pour required 53 truck loads of concrete, 537 cubic yards of material, and took nearly an entire workday to complete.

This image is also a three frame bracket set processed with NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 and Aperture 3.

Lowering the Caisson into the Pier Casing

Lowering the Caisson into the Casing.
Lowering the Caisson into the Casing.

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This HDR image shows the 60 foot long caisson as it is being guided, by the Ironworkers and Carpenters, into place inside the pier casing. After placing the caisson the next step will be to fill the pier with concrete. The steel casing sits on the river bottom and then the caisson fits into a rock socket has been bored 30 feet below the casing into the bedrock of the river bottom. This makes the total length on the pier nearly 60 feet from the surface to the base. The iron cylinder is there to both guide the drill during drilling and to form a protective shell for the pier once the bridge is built.

This image is from a three frame bracket set using -2, 0 and +2 EV settings. I merged the bracket set in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 and because the workers were moving quite a bit I had to apply 80% anti-ghosting to isolate them and remove the ghosts of their arm movement. After merging and some mild tone-mapping in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 I returned the merged file to Aperture 3 where I completed my processing by adjusting contrast, alignment, sharpening and the individual color channels to achieve the look I wanted for the final image.

Rigging for the Caisson Pick

Rigging the Caisson For Lifting #1
Rigging the Caisson For the Pick #1

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These Ironworkers are setting the rigging to pick this caisson and right it so that it can be lowered into the casing for final placement. To lift it two cranes must coordinate their actions so that the main crane can upright the assembly and transfer it from the barge to the pier casing. Photo Tip: Having the men in the photo helps give scale to the size of the structure.

Once more this is a three bracket set of exposures using -2, 0 and +2 EV to capture the broad dynamic range between the sky and the foreground I encountered. This is one of the most important reasons to learn and use HDR techniques so that in a situation like this there is a reasonable chance that there will be enough data to create a good image after merging the exposures.

I used NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 and Aperture 3 to merge and process the image.

Rigging the Caisson For Lifting #2
Rigging the Caisson For the Pick #2

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This second image is not an HDR image. There was too much movement of the cables and hooks, between frames in the bracket set; for the anti ghosting to handle in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2. I decided to take the normal (0 EV) exposure into Topaz Clarity to see how well it would do with the wide dynamic range. All in all I am fairly pleased with the way that I was able to bring out some shadow detail and still hold the sky detail using a single exposure. I know some folks like to take the normal exposure and change the exposure value in subsequent copies for a faux HDR look but I don’t go that route since there isn’t any additional data captured as there is when a bracket set is used.

 

Cedric’s Shadow #3

Cedric #3
Cedric’s Shadow #3

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The position of the hook and the man’s shadow on the rust colored sheet pilings really drew my attention. I processed this image with Topaz Clarity and Aperture 3 to enhance the texture and colors while maintaining the warmth of the early morning sunlight on the scene.