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This image is from the Parklands shoot I did earlier this week. It is a HDR image from three exposures -2, 0, and +2 EV that were merged in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 using the balanced preset with some adjustments applied. I then returned it to Aperture 3 where it was given the final adjustments to color, vibrancy and sharpening.
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This is from a shoot I went on with a friend last week to the new Parklands park that is being created along Floyd’s Fork in eastern Louisville. We were there very early and I wanted to experiment with boosting the ISO and shooting in very dark conditions.
This image is from a three exposure bracket set taken well before sunrise. NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 did a good job of bringing out the colors and detail in the scene which was very heavily under exposed in the shadows. There is some noise in the deep shadows but all in all I’m pretty satisfied with the overall result. This park will take some getting used to and I hope that after a few trips out there I’ll have a better handle on what settings I’ll need to use to eliminate a lot of the noise in camera.
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I think one of my favorite parts of Louisville Waterfront Park is the Swing Garden. I like the peaceful feeling that it instills in me as I gently swing and watch the river or listen to the sounds of the city humming in the air. I especially like to be there in the morning when there aren’t many other people using it. The geometric design of the plantings and the landscape elements as well as the man made structures take on so many different aspects as the sun rises and shadows play across the garden.
As usual I shot a three frame bracket which I merged in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 and finished in Aperture 3. I used the Deep 1 preset which I dialed back slightly in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 before making some vibrance, contrast and sharpening adjustments in Aperture 3.
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Yesterday morning I was in Louisville Waterfront Park for some early morning shooting. I was trying to find fresh points to view the park and had been in the kid’s playground trying to see the park from their viewpoint. As I walked toward the river I caught sight of the U of L Women’s Rowing Team practicing. They were just downriver heading back upstream. Their support boat was with them as well but I didn’t want it in the shot so I waited until the scull just passed the observation deck and shot a three frame bracket set. A moment later the support boat entered the scene and I wound up with only three exposure of this scene.
I processed the three images in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 but I needed to deal with some ghosting that the boat’s movement was causing. I first applied 20% anti-ghosting but that didn’t fully eliminate the ghosts; I went through 40% and 60% settings but at 60% the trees in the foreground began to halo badly. I settled on 40% anti-ghosting which was all I needed. I also changed the reference image in several versions before settling on the 0 EV frame. The other frames exhibited more ghosting than the 0 EV exposure.
I find the anti-ghosting adjustment to be one I spend a great deal of time experimenting with whenever I am dealing with images that have a lot of movement between frames. The tendency is to only look at the section where the movement is the greatest and work to minimize that issue. What I am discovering is that it is also important to look at the objects that are static too and watch out for haloing around them as I balance how much anti-ghosting to apply.
I applied the Deep 1 preset and them nade some minor adjustments there to Tonality before returning the image to Aperture 3 for my final adjustments.
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Louisville is experiencing a revival of it’s East Market Street area now known as the NuLu District. NuLu is attracting tech startup ventures, galleries, restaurants, coffee shops, lofts and other uses that repurpose what had been vacant or poorly maintained buildings into vibrant new spaces. NuLu is close to the Louisville Waterfront Park, Main Street night spots, the new Yum Arena and Louisville Slugger Field. It is also attracting a diverse group of enthusiastic young professionals, artists and entrepreneurs who are brimming with ideas and ambition.
There is a lot of activity in this area such as the building on the left in this photo. The early morning sun really lit up the facade and that’s what drew my eye to the scene. I know some folks would pass by a scene such as this because the construction isn’t completed but for me that is an important element. I see the overall scene as one of renewal and reuse. Instead of continuing to expand the city’s footprint by developing outside the city core; projects such as this bring new vitality to what was once a rundown and under utilized section of Louisville. I like documenting these sorts of projects and attempting to create a piece of art that will tell future generations what our wonderful city was doing at the turn of the century.
From a technical point of view this is a three exposure bracket set using -2, 0, and +2 Exposure Values. It has been merged in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2. I used the Deep #1 preset where I made some adjustments to the tonality settings and dropped a control point in the street to darken it slightly. (There was a minor snowstorm through here a couple of weeks ago and the street still has a salt residue on it which left it very grey.) I then returned the merged files to Aperture 3 where I completed my adjustments and sharpening.
