Tag: vantage point

HDR at Night

Posted on by Nick Roberts

 

Big Four Bridge Ramp at Night
Big Four Bridge Ramp at Night

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This HDR image is a three frame bracket set +2,0 and -2 EV. I merged it in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 and finished it in Aperture 3. The flares around the lights are from the f8 aperture which adds a star burst to almost all artificial lights; the way around it is to shoot with as wide an aperture as possible which will reduce it greatly.

Louisville at Night
Louisville at Night

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This HDR image was created using the same procedure as the first. I was shooting from the Big Four Bridge looking  south west from a vantage point close to the Indiana side of the Ohio River.

The First Person to Reach The Bridge on Opening Day

Posted on by Nick Roberts
First Runner on the Big Four Bridge.
The First Runner on the Big Four Bridge.

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When the official ceremony was over I decided that I wanted to see who would be the first person to set foot on the Big Four Bridge yesterday. The officials running the opening had decided not to allow any media to go up on the bridge ahead of the general public so I had to think of another way to capture the first person to set foot on the bridge. Earlier in the morning I had scouted out a shooting spot on the ground under the ramp; as soon as the gate was opened I headed there. I had two women in my viewfinder, who were walking up the ramp ahead of the crowd, when this runner passed them just as they all three passed under the bridge.

I turned my attention to the runner and captured him as he reached the halfway point on the ramp. I was able to capture him in several frames until he reached the landing. After that he disappeared onto the bridge and I wasn’t able to see him any longer from my vantage point. This morning’s paper reported that the first person to reach the Indiana side was a woman bicyclist; she must have passed this runner on the bridge.

If anyone knows who he is I would like to have his name so that I can give him proper credit for being the first person to set foot on the bridge after the dedication. If you know him you can leave his name in the comments section of the blog and I will come back and give him the credit he is due.

I was shooting brackets for HDR yesterday too but I chose this single exposure to process. My only photo editor for this image was Aperture 3.

Big Four Bridge at Sunset

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Big Four Bridge at Sunset

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I’ve been taking a few days off from the blog to focus on my ongoing Big Four Bridge documentation project as the construction nears completion. I’ve been able to photograph the men as they are working and last week I was there as the first section of the final bridge deck was poured. Watching the crew at work is amazing as they go about floating the concrete, then hand finishing the edges and finally applying a broom finish to it. Tomorrow the pouring resumes and I’ll be there with my camera to capture the ballet that goes on as they place the concrete and finish it.

This image was captured last week after thunderstorms had moved through Louisville. I wanted to create an image that showed the Big Four Bridge from the eastern side. It is difficult to get a good vantage point to shoot west and include the Big Four Bridge. I have found that there is a vantage point on a small platform that is just east of the bridge that affords a pretty good view of the bridge.

I processed this image entirely in Aperture 3 without using any plugins or HDR software. I shot an entire bracket set but decided to only use one frame that showed a good histogram that didn’t indicate blown highlights and with just a little blocking up in the shadows. I’m really enjoying working with single frames as opposed to merging several frames in a HDR program as it challenges me to shoot for good exposures that have broad histograms.