Tag: Morning

Morning on the Big Four Bridge Project

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Morning sunrise on the Big Four Bridge jobsite.
Start of the Workday

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This image is a single frame that I did the RAW processing in Aperture 3 on before taking it into NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 where I used the Deep 2 preset as a starting point. I had to fiddle with many of the tonality sliders before I could get it where I wanted it. I had to be careful with the structure slider in particular because it was emphasizing the noise in the sky. I then brought the image back to Aperture 3 and performed a little cropping and noise reduction before saving this final version.

I feel really fortunate to be allowed up here to shoot this project. The men on the job are justifiably  proud of their work in rescuing the bridge and converting it from a former railroad bridge into a pedestrian bridge linking Louisville with Jeffersonville Indiana.

A Postcard From Louisville

Posted on by Nick Roberts
A Postcard From Louisville
A Postcard From Louisville

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I took this photo this morning from the Big Four Bridge looking southwest into Louisville. After cropping and adjusting the image in Aperture 3 I took it into NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 where I applied one of the Realistic presets, Deep 2. I adjusted the tonality as well as the black and white points before applying the Graduated Neutral Density filters. I dropped the sky approximately 1 stop and opened up the lower part of the image approximately 1/3 stop before adding the vignette to the final image.

Morning on the Ohio River

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Morning Rower
Morning Rower

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This image was taken this morning from the Big Four Bridge pedestrian ramp looking west toward Louisville. I spotted this rower and thought he made an interesting subject. The reflections on the river surface interested me too and I tried to frame the image in a way that would accentuate them.  I shot this image with my Nikkor 18-200 mm lens and a rented Nikon D90 and am a little concerned with the focus. I dropped this lens a couple of nights ago at the state fair and I’m worried that it may be slightly off in auto focus mode as the image looks a little soft to me. The past week I broke the cable release socket on my own D90 and had to send it in for service. As soon as it is back from the repair shop I think I’ll need to send the lens in for evaluation. I want to put it on my own camera first though to see if the rented camera may be the culprit.

I processed this as a single frame HDR using NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 using the Realistic preset. I dropped a couple of control points in the trees on the left to bring down the exposure there which was a little too wide due to the sunlight on the birch trees and the shadow being cast by the bridge. I them took the image back into Aperture 3 where I applied some noise reduction and adjusted the vibrancy slider before giving it a little sharpening.

Alabama Morning

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Alabama Morning

These Fords were in a wrecking yard in Alabama a couple of years ago. The cars I find in the southern states have a much different patina of rust on them than the cars out west of the Mississippi River do. The climate in the south is much more humid and therefore the rust is more agressive. The oxidation process creates a much rougher surface which in turn traps more moisture that then eats away at the metal more aggressively.

I liked the way the early morning sun was lighting the scene and how it really emphasized the texture on the 1949 Ford in the foreground. The contrast of the smooth chrome and glass in the headlights really caught my eye. The cars are framed to in a typical rule of thirds composition and the rust on the roof in the background draws the viewer’s eye back in the scene while reinforcing the colors of the cars.

There wasn’t much I needed to do in processing to get this image finished. I used a little of the Spicify preset in Topaz Adjust to punch up the texture and saturate the colors before returning the image to Aperture 3 for final sharpening and output.

Then and Now

Posted on by Nick Roberts

This image was taken at the 2010 NSRA Streetrod Nationals in Louisville, Kentucky. I titled it “Then and Now” because of the juxtaposition of the modern form of travel, the jetliner, with the Buick which would have been the way many people travelled in comfort and style in 1948.

I liked the big green Buick in the foreground and wanted to use it as the foreground anchor. The diagonal lines on the pavement serve to reinforce the angle the cars are parked as well as directing the viewer’s eye into the scene. I saw the jetliner making it’s approach to the airport and knew immediately that I wanted it in the photo. I shot several frames as it descended for landing and this one caught the airplane in the spot I liked best because it is framed by the clouds.

When I’m working at a car show the size of the Streetrod Nationals, over 10,000 cars typically, there is no way to shoot when the sun is low in the sky. The gates don’t open until well after sunrise and they are closed by early evening. Since I am shooting in some of the most unflattering light a photographer can get I must rely on subject matter and composition to get memorable shots.

I used Topaz Adjust on this image which helped bring detail back into the shadows while preserving the highlights. Topaz Adjust also does a fantastic job of accenting the texture in an image. In this image it enhanced the pavement texture as well as the clouds while punching up the colors of the entire image.