Tag: Zachary Taylor National Cemetery

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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Memorial Day in Zachary Taylor National Cemetery

Posted on by Nick Roberts

Today is Memorial Day so I decided to go to Zachary Taylor National Cemetery and shoot the flags that are there to honor these men and women. Walking among them you are struck by how much many of them gave to preserve our freedom. Many of the graves are for those who died in combat and many more are those who only lived a short time after World War II. Interspersed with the headstones are many marble plaques that memorialize the crews of Army Air Corps Airmen that were lost and the Sailors whose ships were sunk throughout WW II. It is a very moving place to visit and I thank each and every person who has served our country.

These images are true HDR images comprised of multiple exposures that were merged and tone mapped in NIK HDR Efex Pro. I used the Realistic Photographic preset as a starting point and then adjusted some of the sliders to achieve the look I wanted. Once I had the first image adjusted to suit me I created my own preset which I then applied to subsequent images in the shoot. By making myself a preset I was able to get an image close to my vision for it and then only needed to adjust one or two sliders to get the final image. After using the NIK software I returned the images to Aperture 3 where I sharpened and straightened them for final output.

I shot in the last couple of hours of the day in an effort to accent the somber feeling that this cemetery gives me. The only difficulty with shooting there at sunset is that there are so many trees around the cemetery is is difficult to capture the sun’s fading rays on the headstones.