Tag: art

A Path Through The Woods

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Enchanted Wood
Enchanted Wood

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Today I am sharing an HDR image that has been processed with Aperture  3, NIK HDR Efex Pro 2, Adobe Camera Raw, Photoshop CS5, Topaz Clarity and OnOne Perfect Effects. I shot the scene along Floyds Fork in the new Parklands Park that is being developed in eastern Louisville. My bracket set was -2, 0 and +2 EV which gave me three versions to work with for my HDR merger and tone mapping.

I first took the three bracket set into NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 where I merged them and applied the Balanced Preset. After that I made some adjustments in Aperture 3 before opening the HDR image in Adobe Camera Raw where I adjusted color saturation and luminance and then saved it in Photoshop CS5 as a tiff file. I then used Topaz Clarity to add micro-contrast and further refine the colors in the image. After returning the image to Aperture 3 I adjusted the sharpening, definition and added a vignette. I then opened the image in OnOne Perfect Photo Suite 7 and used Perfect Effects where I first applied the Vecchio filter at approximately 75% opacity to warm the image even further. Next I added the Holga Filter to another layer in OnOne Perfect Effects before returning the image to Aperture 3 for final sharpening.

Topaz Labs Introduces It’s Latest Product “Clarity” Today

Posted on by Nick Roberts

Clarity_box_clear

As I noted in yesterday’s post there are currently a lot of new and exciting products coming out to help in post-processing our images. Topaz Labs released one such breakthrough product today with the release of Topaz Clarity.

I am especially interested in the ability of Topaz Clarity to minimize halos and the new masking feature. I’ll be working with it over the next few days and sharing my thoughts and results with you as I explore these features.

Here are some of the unique features introduced in Topaz Clarity:

1. Selective Contrast Control. With Clarity, Topaz Labs has developed a cutting edge process of selecting specific contrast variations in your original image, allowing you to quickly target and then increase or decrease the contrast and clarity in that specific variation.

2. Breakthrough Halo-Free Algorithm. Boost contrast and clarity without emphasizing transitions between light and dark areas, eliminating the common problem of halos, noise and artifacts.

3. Advanced Hue/Saturation/Luminance Technology. Using IntelliColor technology, you can easily enhance your image with the HSL filter, getting stronger, yet more natural HSL adjustments.

4. Re-Imagined Masking Workflow. The masking module, now attached to each adjustment tab contains a comprehensive set of tools including an edge-aware brush, gradient mask, smart feather tool, color aware tool and more.

5. User Interface Design. With Clarity, they have continued to develop a cleaner, more modern and efficient interface to improve usability, workflow and overall aesthetics.

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Clarity will retail for $49.99, but will be available at a special reduced price of $29.99 through May 31st with with this promo code: claritynew

Please use the Topaz link below when going to the Topaz Labs site. 

http://www.topazlabs.com/705.html

I’m an affiliate of Topaz Labs and earn a small commission on any sales made through my referral link which helps me offset the cost of producing SpeedDemon2. 

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Ohio River Sunset

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Ohio River Sunset
Ohio River Sunset

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This is a three exposure HDR using NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 for the merger and tonemapping as well as some exposure and structure adjustment. The three kayaks in the scene are from the middle value exposure which is the default frame for NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 when anti-ghosting is applied; I used a 60% setting which seems to work very well for preventing ghosts when objects in the scene are moving in one direction. The anti-ghosting also worked very well for the women walking along the landing at this 60% setting. After completing my NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 adjustments I returned the image to Aperture 3 where I adjusted the separate color channels to get the image I wanted.

Beautiful May Evening

Posted on by Nick Roberts
May Sunset on the Ohio River
May Sunset on the Ohio River

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This image is from a photo shoot I did last Thursday evening after shooting at the Pegasus Parade earlier in the afternoon. I wasn’t ready to go home yet so we headed down to Waterfront Park to explore it further and capture some images with Derby Festival goers using the park. We walked around the park for a couple of hours and wound up on my favorite place to shoot Waterfront Park from, the Big Four Bridge. I had been up there the prior afternoon and evening to photograph the Great Steamboat Race but I really wasn’t happy with a lot of the landscapes I shot after the race ended. I wanted to capture the dramatic sky that was visible Thursday so we hung out on the bridge waiting for sunset.

I shot my normal three frame bracket set of -2, 0 and +2 EV for this HDR image. Today I made a change in my processing and started my post processing in NIK Sharpener Pro 3. I allowed the program to determine the amount of RAW pre-sharpening to apply and then I opened the sharpened RAW files in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2. I merged the three frames in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 and kept the anti-ghosting set at 20%. I then applied the Deep #1 preset which I tweaked slightly to improve contrast and accent the highlights and shadows. Once that was finished I returned the HDR image to Aperture 3 where I spent some time adjusting the individual color channels as well as the vibrance and saturation of each one. Finally I applied my sharpening and a very light vignette to the image.

 

End of Tractor Week

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Kansas Tractor #2
Kansas Tractor #2

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Today’s post is the last one I want to share from my Kansas tractor series. Sometimes a detail is all that is needed to tell a story; I think that is the case with this image of an Allis-Chalmers grill shell and Allis-Chalmers emblem. The patina, the complex curves of the metal and the Allis-Chalmers emblem speak to an era long ago when industrial design was also concerned with aesthetics. The farm trucks in the background exist as metaphors for a time when America was struggling to survive the Great Depression and tractors such as this Allis-Chalmers were working to feed the world.

Because I was working with a single frame I used a preset in Topaz Adjust that I built especially for these images. I started with the Spicify preset that I dialed down to a level that emphasized texture and color; I then added a vignette and a border to the image as my finishing touches.