Category: Landscape

Jack Alpha On Top Of Big Four Bridge

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Jack Alpha the Ironworker

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This image is a single frame that I used NIK HDR EFex Pro 2 and Aperture 3 to process. By using NIK’s U-Point Technology feature I was able to enhance and fine tune the tonality of the oranges and blues of Jack’s welding jacket while maintaining the natural colors of the river and skyline in the background. I was in the man lift basket which allowed me to shoot him from a safe vantage point above the bridge. I am especially pleased with the way the arc of his welder has maintained it’s brilliance and the way the sparks are spraying to the right side of the frame.

This composition has several elements that make it strong. There is the angle of the bridge safety rail  in the foreground to the Kennedy bridge in the middle ground and the Clark Memorial Bridge beyond that. There are also the complementary colors of the jacket, safety harness and the river below all of which work in harmony to unify the composition. Finally there is the way the safety harness and Jack’s arm  create rhyme in the photograph along with the repetitive linearity of the bridges and handrail.

Waterfront Park Morning

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Waterfront Park Morning

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This image is one that I shot while in the man lift a few weeks back. We were 135 feet above the Big Four Bridge and the view was incredible. Fall was just beginning and a few of the trees were stating to turn adding just a bit of color to the park. This view of the Louisville skyline is one that I won’t be able to get again and I’m very grateful to the man lift operator, Tim Williams, for taking me up in the man lift. I also want to thank T&C Construction and Construction Solutions for allowing me to be a part of the project and giving me such unique perspectives of the city

I processed this image using Aperture 3 in an effort to create a realistic photo with a high dynamic range. The histogram for this image was an excellent exposure with no blocking up in the shadows or blown highlights. I am relying more and more on reading the histogram while shooting and using 1/3 stop EV adjustments to get as optimal an exposure as possible. I still shoot brackets, in most cases, but where possible I use only the best frame to create my image. This doesn’t mean I am abandoning  merging multiple exposures for HDR images though. There are still many times when the dynamic range of a scene can only be captured with bracketed exposures in order to open up the shadows or prevent blown highlights. I still love the richness and latitude that HDR processing affords me and will continue to use it but there is a great deal of satisfaction in capturing the full dynamic range, such as this image exhibits, in a single frame.

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.

Waterfront Park View #2

Posted on by Nick Roberts
We’ll Be Landing in Louisville

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This is another shot I took from high above the Big Four Bridge last month.  It was early and the sun was just rising when I captured this scene. The airplane in the sky adds interest to an otherwise empty sky. The river is so placid early in the morning almost as if it has been sleeping and is just waking to a new day. Waterfront Park is a treasure that many Louisvillians are unaware of; the park extends east of downtown for several miles and reinvigorates a former blighted area of Louisville. The park sits on land that at one time had nothing but scrap yards, asphalt terminals, barge docks and derelict structures all along the riverfront. The land has been reclaimed and decontaminated over the past twenty five years to create one of the most unique parks in America.

I processed this single frame HDR image in Aperture 3 and NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 to get just the right atmosphere.

Louisville Morning

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Louisville Morning
Louisville Morning

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Last week I decided to shoot a panorama of the Louisville Waterfront Park and the Ohio River from the vantage point of the Big Four Bridge. I set my tripod up and shot nine frames in a 180 degree arc from left to right. I wanted to capture the soft pinks and blues of the sky and the reflection of the Kennedy Bridge in the water. As an added benefit of this panoramic shooting technique the bridge is shown from two different viewpoints. I especially like the altered perspective that occurred with the left and right sides of the image where the Big Four Bridge is shown from different angles.

I merged the nine frames in Photoshop CS5 using the Automate/Photo Merge command. After merging the images I flattened it and cropped the edges slightly. I then returned it to Aperture 3 where I lightly adjusted the exposure and very slightly increased the vibrancy and definition sliders. I then applied a little sharpening before saving it for the web.