Tag: whiskey

Old Taylor Images Revisited

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Reflected Memories #3
Reflected Memories #3

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This weekend I decided to return to some images I shot last summer at Old Taylor Distillery. I felt that I had grown greatly in my skills with NIK HDR eFex Pro 2 and wanted to see if I might improve on my earlier versions. I also wanted to make some corrections to the lens distortion with Photoshop CS5. I’m better satisfied with them after this round of processing and feel that I’ve learned a lot from going through this exercise. Just like using the camera requires constant practice to master it; using post processing software requires practice to become proficient. It all comes back to my manta “Practice, Practice, Practice” the more a photographer uses the tools of his/her craft the better he/she becomes.

Temple to the Whiskey Spirits
Temple to the Whiskey Spirits

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Reflected Memories #2
Reflected Memories #2

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Reflected Memories
Reflected Memories

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Temple to the Whiskey Spirits #1
Temple to the Whiskey Spirits #1

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One more shameless plug for my upcoming HDR workshop later this month here in Louisville. If you want to take your HDR processing to a new level this workshop is for you.

Nick Roberts – Using HDR Photography to Create Your Own Personal Style Tickets in Louisville, KY, United States.

Trompe l’oeil at Buffalo Trace Distillery

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Trompe l’oeil at Buffalo Trace Distillery

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This image was taken last Saturday morning at Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort Kentucky. The mural on the building is a trompe l’oeil painting. The term trompe l’oeil means “to fool the eye” and this mural does just that. As you walk past it the perspective seems to change and it appears that the wall in the back of the mural moves from side to side. It is quite a sight to see and to experience.

I shot a five exposure bracket set +2, +1, 0, -1, -2 which I then merged in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2. One problem I encountered after merging was with the clouds. I had the anti-ghosting set to 20% and the clouds were severely misaligned creating a very unnatural sky. I tried selecting a different reference image but the problem remained. I then boosted anti-ghosting to 60% but the problem was still there. My final attempt was to use the anti-ghosting at 100% which gave me an acceptable sky.

I applied a realistic preset in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 and tweaked the temperature, black point and highlight sliders very slightly before returning the image to Aperture 3 for cropping and sharpening then I exported it for the web.

Where the Bourbon Was Born

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Memories of Spirits Long Gone
Memories of Spirits Long Gone

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This image is a four exposure bracket set taken at ISO 200 without additional light added. One of the benefits of shooting for HDR is the ability to capture scenes such as this with the extended dynamic range that a bracket set encompasses.

By exposing at +2, +1, 0, and -1 EV I was able to capture the textures within the scene and then merge them using NIK HDR EFex Pro 2. I adjusted the exposure and details in NIK HDR EFex Pro 2 and then I took the resulting image into Nik Silver Efex Pro to create a montone image. As I experimented with the various presets I came upon the “Antique Plate 2” preset which allowed me to create an image that feels as if it were made in another time. I thought the preset fit the subject and gave it an aura of mystery that I was hoping for.

After completing the monotone image I returned it to Aperture 3 where I sharpened it slightly and made a few other minor adjustments.

Water Tower and Distilling Plant

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Water Tower #1

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This is the last set of brackets I was able to shoot when I was on the abandoned distillery this week. Right after these shots were taken the caretaker arrived and asked me to leave.

I shot four exposures of this scene and then merged them in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2. I’ve discovered that using the anti-ghosting at 100% is not necessary and can even cause serious halo issues with bright area such as the sky. I dialed it down to 20% and the results are much better. I really don’t have a lot more to say about this image.

Back to the Distillery Again

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Horizontal old taylor springhouse_Panorama1_HDR
The Old Spring Revisited

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I got up this morning and all I could think about was going back to the abandoned distillery I found last week. I had some ideas I wanted to try out using my 12-24 mm lens to shoot a panorama of this structure. I think I’m beginning to become obsessed with this place and the other unique buildings on the property but that may be coming to an end. Today I was discovered by one of the caretakers of the property who asked me to leave. Since I was trespassing I didn’t argue with him and to be fair he was very polite about the situation. He explained that a couple of weeks ago some vandals had set a fire in the road outside the property and the owners had instructed him to call the police and have anyone found there arrested. He said he wouldn’t do that today but he did let me know that I had been warned about trespassing and that he might not be so understanding if he found me in there again.

I shot this panorama as a four shot bracket set at five different camera angles horizontally. The 12-24 mm lens has a little too much distortion for this technique so if I ever get back in there again I think I’ll shoot it at 50 mm. I merged the five frames in Photoshop CS5 and then cropped the final image before taking it into NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 for tone mapping. I then took it back into Aperture 3 when I slightly reduced the saturation and boosted the vibrancy and structure before sharpening the final image.

I also rendered a copy in Black and White using an orange filter in aperture 3. Please take the time to comment and let me know which version you like best and why.

Horizontal old taylor springhouse_Panorama1_HDR - B&W Version 2

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