Tag: surface textures

Mitchell South Dakota

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Mitchell South Dakota VFW
Mitchell South Dakota VFW

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I was in Mitchell South Dakota a couple of years ago and found myself walking around the business district early in the morning. I came upon the local VFW Post and really liked the way the morning sun was casting shadows on the wall. I liked the juxtaposition of the circular kitchen exhaust fan, and it’s shadow, with the rectangular windows, the plaster over door and the street sign’s shadow as well as the texture of the concrete blocks in the wall. I decided to process this image in Black and White to emphasize the texture and lend an air of nostalgia.

Pattern and Texture Closeups

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Closeup of Rusty Retaining Straps
Closeup of Rusty Retaining Straps

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Whenever I’m on a job site I keep my eye open for interesting patterns and textures to shoot as closeups or macro images. On this particular day I was on the job site to capture a large crane that had been brought in for a pick that night. I was scouting for good vantage points to capture the crane at work that evening when I came upon these retaining wall straps in the material storage area. I was intrigued by the surface texture and the undulating pattern that they revealed so I took a few bracket sets to work with later.

I almost always work in HDR and I decided to merge three frames in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 and experiment with them. For this first image I applied the Balanced Preset and then boosted the definition to enhance the texture of the oxidized steel and reinforce the pattern. I included the long shadow in the upper left of the frame and the short shadow in the lower right side to create a sense of depth and movement in the final composition. After returning the merged file to Aperture 3 I adjusted the mid-contrast and boosted the  saturation and luminance in the red and yellow color channels. I then applied sharpening and a small vignette to complete the image.

Retaining Straps Closeup
Retaining Straps Closeup

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I used a similar workflow for this image of the same straps that had been opened up and stacked for use. In this case I also worked in the blue color channel to contrast the blue and orange colors.

Closeup of Retaining Straps in Black and White
Closeup of Retaining Straps in Black and White

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The final image is a Black and White version I created using Topaz B&W Effects and a Platinum preset. I also applied a white vignette and a frame from the same software before returning it to Aperture 3 for final contrast and sharpness adjustments.

 

 

Abstract Images From Construction

Posted on by Nick Roberts
The Nuts and Bolts of Construction
The Nuts and Bolts of Construction

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The image above is of some construction fasteners used in the heavy construction concrete forms on the Ohio River Bridges Project that Walsh Construction is doing in Louisville KY. I liked the contrasts of the colors and textures and the randomness of the various items. I processed it using Topaz Clarity and Aperture 3.

Rock Drill Sediment Abstract
Rock Drill Sediment Abstract

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This image shows the sediment that settled on the rock drill being used to drill the piers for the Ohio River Bridges Project. I really liked the topographical feel that the sediment left on the metal surface as the water evaporated and dried while the tool was not in use. I shot it as a three frame bracket set and processed it using NIK HDR Eex Pro 2 and Aperture 3.

 

Using OnOne Perfect Photo Suite 7.5 with HDR Images

Posted on by Nick Roberts
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.