Tag: Aperture 3

ImageBrief Submission

Posted on March 9, 2013 by Nick Roberts

Twin Engine Dragster Burnout

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I came across a site today that says it can get photographers some additional work. The name is ImageBrief and they list briefs from designers and other customers where they describe what sort of images they need along with a compensation amount. They take a 30% commission and the photographer receives 70%.

I submitted two images to a call for automobiles doing burnouts. I don’t know what will come of it but I thought about something Mike Moats said the other night in his talk at Outdoor Photo Gear about finding many small income streams to add to his annual earnings from his photography. I decided that submitting a couple of images that were sitting in my library made sense and might even be worth the effort.

Smokin' Burnout — Smokin’ Burnout

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Here’s a link to my work on ImageBrief:

http://www.imagebrief.com/photographers/nick

Old Taylor Images Revisited

Posted on March 3, 2013 by Nick Roberts

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

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Reflected Memories #2

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Reflected Memories

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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.

A Couple of B&W Images from Decatur, Alabama

Posted on March 1, 2013 by Nick Roberts

Inside King Cotto's Temple in Black and White #1 — Inside King Cotton’s Temple in Black and White #1

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This image was first created from a three frame bracket -2, 0, and +2 EV that I merged in NIK HDR Efex Pro to tone map before returning it to Aperture 3 where I converted it to Black and White and applied additional contrast and sharpening.

Inside King Cotton's Temple in Black and White #2 — Inside King Cotton’s Temple in Black and White #2

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This is simply a different crop on the first image in this post.

One final thing I want to share is this link to my HDR Workshop here in Louisville later this month.

http://outdoorphotogear.ticketleap.com/nick-roberts—hdr-photography/

I know it’s probably shameless self promotion but I really want to help other photographers and artists to develop their own HDR style.

King Cotton’s Abandoned Temple

Posted on February 28, 2013 by Nick Roberts

King Cotton's Temple — King Cotton’s Temple

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Tuesday I was down in Moulton, Alabama to attend my maternal Aunt Helen Parker’s funeral. She had a long life of 94 years and though it was sad to know she had passed on it was also reaffirming in the way the passing of a loved one draws a family together. Aunt Helen had started her life as the daughter of sharecroppers in the Alabama cotton fields but through hard work she and her family rose into a comfortable middle class farm life. She, as so many others in the south, had worked hard and risen above the tough times that almost all rural southerners endured especially through the Great Depression. Throughout her long life her faith and love for her family strengthened and supported her through the loss of two husbands and many others in her large family. Aunt Helen ended her life surrounded by her nieces and nephews who all loved her dearly. Her life was one of persistence and compassion and we will all miss her and remember fondly her lilting “I love you” which she always said when she hugged us as we were heading out her door after a visit.

On my way to Moulton I passed through Decatur Alabama and saw these large buildings alongside the railroad tracks on the west side of the city. I had never been down that particular street before and in all the times I had travelled down there I had not seen these unusual structures. I am always drawn to abandoned industrial sites and decided that on my way back home I needed to stop and photograph them. When I asked my cousins what they were they told me they had once been part of a large cotton oil and cotton meal manufacturing complex.

When I arrived there I found a business office in another building nearby and asked if I could go in and photograph the place. The receptionist said that they belonged to the city of Decatur and that she didn’t know any more about them. I decided that I would find an opening in the fence around them and see for myself what mysteries they held. The sky was heavy with cold gray clouds and a light mist was falling as I unpacked my cameras and scouted for and found an opening in the fence around the property. The wind was pretty strong and the metal on the buildings rattled and creaked; it was as if the buildings were speaking to me telling about their earlier days as productive structures now left to decay and eventually return to the earth.

I shot everything that day in a three frame bracket set of -2, 0, and +2 EV. I then merged them in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 before finishing them in Aperture 3. In some of the interior shots I went into OnOne Software’s Perfect Effects and played around with some of the many presets. The images below are from that experimentation and application within the Perfect Photo 6 Suite from OnOne after being merged and tone mapped in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2. I like the way that the two software programs complimented each other and allowed me to bring out the greens that the moisture inside these buildings had created by feeding mosses and molds on the corrugated steel. My final processing with all these images was in Aperture 3 where I used various adjustments and completed the sharpening prior to exporting the final images you see here.

Inside the Temple #1

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Inside the Temple #2

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Inside the Temple #3

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Snow in Waterfront Park

Posted on February 21, 2013 by Nick Roberts

Louisville Waterfront Park in the Snow

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No HDR here just a good exposure processed in Aperture 3. This image relies on composition as it’s strong suit. The repetition of curves in the ramp, ramp shadow and shoreline are set against the strong geometry of the bridge, concrete veranda and the skyline as well as the linear pattern of the trees in the swing garden.

Louisville Waterfront Park in the Snow #2

This image is also a single frame without any HDR processing applied. It was also processed exclusively in Aperture 3. Once again the composition is balanced between the strong linear elements of the concrete veranda and the rows of trees in the swing garden set against the curves of the shoreline, ramp and the ramp’s shadow.