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This image is from the work barge where the ironworkers are constructing the reinforcement frameworks that will be placed inside the bridge piers before the concrete in poured. I processed it in Aperture 3 without any additional plug-ins.
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Ironworkers known as “Rod Busters” are seen here assembling a steel rebar caisson for the Ohio River Bridges Project in Louisville Kentucky. There is also a completed caisson in the background on the work barge. These caissons will be inserted into the steel cylinders that are in the right hand side of the image when those cylinders are placed in the river to build the piers for the new bridge. It was early in the morning and a fog bank was coming in from the east which diffused the light and lent an ethereal quality to the morning sunlight.
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One of the most iconic pieces of heavy equipment on any major construction project is the crane. These monsters are essential to the Ohio River Bridges Project. Wherever I see cranes I can be sure there is some heavy work being done. They are used to move the massive steel beams, heavy timbers, sheet piling, concrete forms and other large items on the ORB. The crane operators have to be able to move their loads into very precise positions in order for the people on the ground to perform their tasks. The hand eye coordination required is incredible especially when you consider that almost all communication with the crane operator is done via hand signals. The more I am around them the more respect I have for their skills moving items that weight in the tons safely and precisely.
The difficulty I face when shooting cranes is my desire to include their long booms in the composition. Unless there is something else in the sky they can become nothing more than tall vertical elements. When I shoot them I look for mornings when the sky is filled with clouds or the sun is rising behind them. In this image I was able to include the heavy clouds for a background. I used the cranes themselves as repeating forms that provide strong diagonal lines within the composition and convey the scale of the scene.
This image is a HDR created from my standard three frame bracket set of +2, 0 and -2 EV. I merged them in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 and did my initial tone mapping there. I then returned the file to Aperture 3 where I adjusted contrast, color channels, saturation and vibrance. Finally I applied my sharpening and added a small vignette to focus the viewer’s eyes within the frame.
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Yesterday morning the Ironworkers were loading more steel onto the barge they are building the caisson on. The caisson is the internal reinforcement for the bridge pier which will be lowered into the steel casing before the concrete is poured. The size and amount of steel that goes into one of these caissons is incredible. The horizontal elements in this caisson are at least two inches in diameter while the rings around it are close to one inch in diameter. Loading the steel onto the barge is a very controlled process that requires coordination among the ironworkers on the barge and the crane operator to accomplish safely and efficiently. The man in the photo is communicating with hand signals to the crane operator to lower the load onto the steel beams that will support it while it is on the barge deck.
I processed this image from a single frame using Topaz Clarity to reveal the colors in the scene and to show the river fog engulfing the Kennedy Bridge in the background. I find Topaz Clarity to be very good at allowing me to control the contrast and colors in an image while avoiding halos and artifacts that sometimes occur within these types of images. After applying the Topaz Clarity adjustment I returned the image to Aperture 3 where I adjusted the sharpening and applied a small vignette.
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Download a free trial of Topaz Clarity at the link below and give it a try; I think you will agree it is a great addition to any photographer’s workflow. Plug-ins like Clarity really speed and simplify my post processing and allow me to experiment with different approaches to my images in a timely way without spending hours looking for just the right combination of adjustments and enhancements in Photoshop CS5. With a project as large as this one where I’m shooting nearly every day Topaz plug-ins allow me to maintain a relatively fast paced post processing workflow while still creating photos that reflect my feelings for the subject matter.
http://www.topazlabs.com/705.html
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This is another shot from Tuesday morning. I liked the way the silhouette of the crane operator and the hook were showing on the sheet pilings. I used a single frame in Topaz Adjust to create the image. After Topaz Adjust I returned it to Aperture 3 where I boosted the color saturation and vibrance to reveal the early morning colors. Download a free trial of any or all the Topaz Products at the link below:
http://www.topazlabs.com/705.html
