Tag: United States

Funnel Cake Fourth

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Fourth of July Funnel Cakes
Funnel Cake Fourth

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This past week I attended the Fourth of July event in Louisville’s Waterfront Park to capture some fireworks images. While waiting for the fireworks show to begin I wandered around the park looking for images that spoke to the idea of festivals and the attendant support services that are needed whenever large groups of people gather for a celebration. The sky was leaden with the remnants of our unrelenting week of rain and thunderstorms so I went in search of some color to shoot.

As I strolled through the park I came upon the food vendors area and was immediately drawn to the scene you see here. I liked the graphic quality of the signage and the lights on and in the funnel cake vendor and decided to create a composition that incorporated it. I found a place behind the food wagons that also held some promise of a strong foreground element. I set my tripod up and shot this image because I enjoyed the strong diagonal lines and the contrast of colors between the booths and the park’s water feature. I also liked the way the stainless steel rails contrasted with the concrete and the angles that they created.

I shot a three frame bracket set using +2, 0 and -2 EV to be sure that I had a wide dynamic range to work with. Back at my computer I first took the three RAW frames into NIK Sharpener Pro and pre-sharpened them. I then opened the three images in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 where I merged them into a HDR image. I applied the Deep 2 preset and then adjusted the amount of tone mapping and contrast to suit my taste. After the initial tone mapping was completed I returned the HDR image to Aperture 3 where I adjusted the individual color channels to bring out the reds and yellows of the signage. I also added some additional adjustments to the contrast and sharpened the image before adding a small vignette to it.

Final Formation 2013

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Final Formation
Final Formation

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Today we honor those whole gave their lives in battle. The men and women buried here are for the most part young people who, in defense of America’s values, made the ultimate sacrifice. Whenever I am in Zachary Taylor National Cemetery I am moved by the sacrifice of these fallen Americans who did what had to be done to preserve liberty for all of us. I wish each one of them could have survived and returned home to their family and friends to enjoy a long and happy life but sadly that was not their fate.

Wars are waged by politicians, be they in defense or in agression, yet war is almost always fought by the young whose lives are forever changed by the act of participation. It would be wonderful if mankind could eliminate wars but unfortunately that does not seem to be our nature.

I salute all who occupy this sacred ground and hope that my images do them justice as they muster for their final formation. As the US Marines say Semper Fidelis. Rest in Peace you brave souls.

Final Formation #2
Final Formation #2

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For those who are interested in what processing I applied to these images; I used a single exposure and processed it exclusively in Aperture 3. The sepia version was also created in Aperture 3 from the color version with the simple addition of the Sepia adjustment in the Aperture 3 adjustment menu.

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Don’t forget the sale on Topaz Clarity ends on May 31st.

http://www.topazlabs.com/705.html

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End of Tractor Week

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Kansas Tractor #2
Kansas Tractor #2

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Today’s post is the last one I want to share from my Kansas tractor series. Sometimes a detail is all that is needed to tell a story; I think that is the case with this image of an Allis-Chalmers grill shell and Allis-Chalmers emblem. The patina, the complex curves of the metal and the Allis-Chalmers emblem speak to an era long ago when industrial design was also concerned with aesthetics. The farm trucks in the background exist as metaphors for a time when America was struggling to survive the Great Depression and tractors such as this Allis-Chalmers were working to feed the world.

Because I was working with a single frame I used a preset in Topaz Adjust that I built especially for these images. I started with the Spicify preset that I dialed down to a level that emphasized texture and color; I then added a vignette and a border to the image as my finishing touches.

Cawker, Kansas Tractor

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Kansas Tractor #3
Kansas Tractor #3

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Here’s another image from Cawker, Kansas. I chose this one because I like the composition with the wheel coming forward in the frame as if it is on the verge of entering the viewer’s space. I had a polarizer on my Nikkor 12-24 mm lens which really cut down on the glare and saturated the colors before any processing was done. The sun was almost directly overhead but by using Topaz Adjust with the Spicify preset I was able to bring out the texture and patina on this tractor.

One thing I currently strive for is to keep from overdoing the texture in these types of images. I like bold color but I try to avoid getting too much texture when applying the various filters to my Topaz work. I wasn’t always so restrained and when I go back to some of my earliest examples I wonder how I could have been so heavy handed with the software back then. I also credit Topaz Labs for refining their entire line of software and giving us the tools to take greater control of the various filters in it. As with many skills in photography the more one uses a given technique, or tool, the better one gets with it and they evolve into becoming a better photographer.

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Memo From the Department of Shameless Self Promotion

I am still accepting participants for my next HDR Workshop on May 17-18, 2013 here in Louisville. The last session was a great success; the participants all felt that it was time well spent and were applying the things they learned the next day. Here’s a link to the sign up page at Outdoor Photo Gear.

http://outdoorphotogear.ticketleap.com/using-hdr-photography/

Waterfront Park Spring Sunrise

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Waterfront Park Spring
Waterfront Park Spring Sunrise #1

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This is a three frame bracket set HDR image processed in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 with 60% anti-ghosting applied. It was very breezy when I shot the bracket set but the anti-ghosting did a respectable job of merging the three exposures. As is my usual work flow I finished the image in Aperture 3.