Tag: illustration

Keep It Simple

Finishing the Deck
Finishing the Deck

Click on the image to open it in another window.

Sometimes a simple image has a lot to say. I was photographing the final finishing of the concrete when I saw this scene in the viewfinder. It has been processed in Aperture 3 with minimal enhancement to the vibrance and a little sharpening.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas

Click on the image to open it in a new window.

Best Wishes to you all. May this day be everything you hoped for. For me the day will be spent with our family, watching the joy in the children’s eyes, enjoying their company and feasting on my mother-in-law’s wonderful Italian cooking, spaghetti and meatballs.

This image is from a couple of years ago and was taken with my Nikon D50. The D50 didn’t do very well at high ISO and consequently there is some noise in the photo but I liked the composition and the colors. I was using Topaz Adjust a lot back then and processed it with Topaz Adjust and OnONe PhotoTune before finishing it in Aperture 3.

Peace To All…. Nick

 

 

Above the Big Four Bridge Again

Above the Big Four Bridge
Over the Bridge

Click on the image to open it at a larger size in another window.

This is another shot from above the Big Four Bridge. In the background is the Kennedy Bridge that carries Interstate 65 across the Ohio River.

Another iRobots Variation

iRobots #3

Once I got started with these composite images I couldn’t stop trying more versions. In this case there are eight frames combined into one image. The patterns created by merging these images create their own faces within faces as the stains on the floor join together.

 

iRobots

iRobots

I didn’t set out to make this image when I shot my brackets but once I was back in my studio at my computer the possibility of doing it came to me. I really liked the way the copper and stainless steel glowed under the industrial lights at Vendome Copper and Brass Works manufacturing facility here in Louisville. I thought the copper stills had characteristics that suggested that they were alien beings and I went with that idea. After merging the two versions I began to see various patterns in the image that further reinforced the concept.

The composition is symmetrical, something I usually avoid, but in this case it really works to give a sense of depth to the image. The composition also showcases the objects within the image and gives them new meanings. I especially like the many patterns that are formed in the space from the textures on the floor to the very back of the image.

The original image is another five exposure bracket set that was first merged in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 and then using the Realistic (Deep) setting I did my final tone mapping. I tried to not go too far in my tone mapping in order to retain a sense of reality in the colors and textures within the scene.

I saved the resulting image back to Aperture 3 before exporting it to Photoshop CS5 where I duplicated it as a mirror image. I created this image by flipping my original shot side to side in Photoshop CS5; this left me with two images that I then merged into one image using Photoshop CS5.