Tag: HDR Efex Pro

Keeneland Concours de’Elegance

Posted on by Nick Roberts
HDR Efex Pro 2 Packard image
Blue Packard

I took a trip down to Lexington, Kentucky this past weekend to the Keeneland Concours de’Elegance auto show. I have always been interested in automotive design and an event such as this one allows me to see firsthand the craftsmanship and beauty of our automotive heritage.

This Packard caught my eye with it’s massive headlights and brilliant grillwork. I decided to shoot this image as a bracketed series of images in order to overcome the wide range of light that the dark car and the brilliant chrome created. I knew that I was going to finish this image as an HDR image when I shot it. I monitored my histogram which showed me that I had the full range of tones in four exposures which would result in a good HDR image once merged and tone mapped.

Back home in the studio I merged the four exposures in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 and applied the Structurized 2 preset as my base image. I adjusted the structure, black point and white point sliders very slightly before saving the image back into Aperture 3. I had to place a control point on the building in the lower right side of the frame and increase the exposure on the stonework to keep it from being a dark distraction in the composition. Once the image was back in Aperture 3 I cleaned up some sensor spots that had been emphasized by the tone mapping and hdr conversion before adjusting the vibrancy and sharpening the image for final output.

The composition is a pretty straight forward rule of thirds and uses the repetition of form to unify it. That along with the complimentary color scheme of blue and gold makes this image work for me.

Thunderboomer

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Thunderboomer

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.

STOP!

Posted on by Nick Roberts
STOP!

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.

More Vintage Tin HDR

Posted on by Nick Roberts

 

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.

 

Another Louisville Sunset

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Sunset on the Ohio River at Louisville, KY

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.