Today’s image is from a six frame bracket set that I shot on a drive to Shelbyville KY along US 60. I took the brackets into NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 where I merged and tone mapped them. I then returned the image to Aperture 3 where I straightened and cropped the image before applying a little noise reduction, sharpening and vibrance adjustment.
I shot this image last night just as a storm front was passing through Louisville. I shot seven brackets E.V. +2, +1, 0, -1, -2, -3, -4 in order to capture the full range of tonality in the scene. As I have said before I watch my histogram closely to be sure that I have no blown out highlights which for this scene required four stops underexposure.
I processed these frames in both NIK HDR Efex Pro and NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 and discovered that the later version, NIK HDR Efex Pro 2, is superior in it’s anti-ghosting capabilities as well as it’s tone mapping. I used the Realistic (Deep) preset and adjusted the tonality slider slightly while in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2. I then returned the image to Aperture 3 where I tweaked the vibrancy slider and then sharpened the image. After this morning’s experiment I am sold on the upgrade to NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 and recommend it for anyone wanting to process bracketed HDR images.
I found this car at a local car show. I have never seen a top that was chopped and then laced back together but the rat rod crowd does some interesting fabrication. I liked the way the rusted patina of the car contrasted with the slick finish of the yellow car reflected in the stop light. I thought the inclusion of the bullet holes in the rear deck lid helped add interest to the right hand side of the image.
I framed it in as a classic rule of thirds placing the red light at the intersection of the lower third section and the left third section. I processed this image using the NIK HDR Efex Pro plug-in and finished it in Aperture 3.
This image is another HDR shot from last year. It is a single image that was tone-mapped using NIK HDR Efex Pro which helped me accent the textures of the rust and the paint while keeping the detail in the headlight and light bulb.
The composition relies on complimentary colors, red and green, to give it harmony while the repetition of form in the round headlight, turn indicator, and the horn contrast nicely with the vertical elements on the right side of the frame.
Here’s another image taken at sunset from the Clark memorial Bridge. I can’t stop going downtown and shooting from the bridge. This particular evening the sun was just dropping below the horizon and the colors were amazing. I especially like the way the sunset is reflected in the Yum Center windows.
The composition relies on the balance of the building and roadway with the texture of the clouds. There is also a complimentary color harmony going on with the blues of the sky and the oranges in the sunset.
I processed this image using NIK HDR Efex Pro using the “Realistic Strong” preset and Aperture 3 for final sharpening.
