Tag: NIK HDR Efex Pro 2

Work On Southbound I-65 Bridges and Roadway Progresses

Posted on May 6, 2014 by Nick Roberts

Ironworker welding metal bridge decking supports on southern I-65 bridge over Main Street.

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The southbound I-65 work is progressing well as the Walsh Construction crews build the new bridges and roadway that will replace the old I-65 infrastructure. In this photo you can see the steel bridge decking being installed in the center of the image while an Ironworker welds the supporting angle iron in place. I chose this image because I like the way the figures are arranged from the foreground through the frame. I also like the way the welding arc is sparking and the way the welder is positioned in the image.

As in most of my work this too is a HDR image created from a three frame bracket set of +2, 0 and -2 EV exposures. I had to use an anti-ghosting setting of 100% in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 to address the many different poses the figures were in between frames. The ability to shoot handheld images of people movin

Ironworkers installing metal bridge decking on southern I-65 bridge over Main Street.

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This second image also shows the Ironworkers welding and placing the steel bridge decking. The decking will support the concrete during the pouring of the roadway after the Ironworkers place reinforcing rebar across the completed bridge deck prior to pouring of the concrete. Once again you can see the power of the NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 anti-ghosting feature, especially in the way it has rendered the woman’s leg as she kicks the steel decking into place. As in the previous image I had to use a setting of 100% anti-ghosting in order to freeze the action and avoid ghosting artifacts.

Concrete bridge beams for I-65 South over Slugger Field area approaching Main Street.

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I really liked the way the pre-stressed concrete bridge beams cast their shadows on the ground below them and the strong movement their placement gave to this image. This is also near Slugger Field where the new roadway is taking shape overhead. Once these bridges and roadways are completed traffic will be moved over onto this new roadway and demolition will begin on the old southbound I-65 infrastructure which will be replaced with new bridges and roadway. Once again I followed my normal HDR workflow of NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 and Aperture 3 processing.

Concrete bridge beams for I-65 South over Slugger Field area approaching Main Street. #2

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This final image in today’s post is once again from beneath the concrete bridge beams for the new southbound I-65. I shot this using my 12-24 mm Nikkor lens and decided to take it into Photoshop CS5 after merging the bracket set in order to correct the lens distortion inherent in such a wide angle shot. This too is a HDR image created from a three handheld frame bracket set merged in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 and finished in Aperture 3.

HDR Image of 127 Feet Tall Caisson

Posted on April 28, 2014 by Nick Roberts

This caisson is 127 feet tall and weighs over 170,000 pounds.

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Last Wednesday the Ironworkers placed a 12 foot diameter, 127 foot tall caisson in the pier near the Kentucky shore. It weighed over 170,000 pounds and was going in one of the deepest piers of the project. Watching them lift it from a horizontal position into a vertical position was amazing. It took two cranes to do it and the coordination required was incredible.

This HDR image is from a three frame handheld bracket set consisting of +2, 0 and -2 EV exposures. I took the three frames into NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 where I merged them and applied the Balanced preset. While there I set the Detail slider to accentuated and the Drama slider to deep. In order to suppress some serious halos that were showing up along the vertical elements in the sky I reduced the Method strength slider until the halos were gone. I then took the merged file back into Aperture 3 for final adjustments to colors, sharpening and contrast.

HDR Construction Images of a Morning in November 2013

Posted on April 26, 2014April 26, 2014 by Nick Roberts

Ironworkers from Local 70 preparing rigging on a caisson for the Ohio River Bridges Project in Louisville KY

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Today’s post is rather long on images yet short on words. I decided that what I wanted to show my readers was a series of several HDR construction images from a morning in November 2013. I thought sharing these HDR images from a single morning shoot would help my readers see how busy things are on the Ohio River Bridges Project.

I am always amazed at the skill and expertise that is required to do the work of Heavy Highway and Bridge Construction. Ironworkers, Carpenters and Operating Engineers must choreograph so many moves into placing the pieces of a single pier. The skill and commitment to safety that they use to get the massive components in place is a sign of their professionalism and dedication to their respective trades. Any miscalculation when handling these pieces could result in slowing or stopping construction or even worse the very real possibility of the loss of someone’s life. For that reason the attention paid to properly performing each element in the process is paramount to safely accomplishing the task at hand.

Ironworker Local 70 member Travis tying rebar on a caisson. #2 — Ironworker Local 70 member Travis attaching rigging to a caisson. #2

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Ironworker Local 70 member Travis tying rebar on a caisson. — Ironworkers Local 70 member Travis attaching rigging to the caisson.

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Crane booms in the sky — Crane booms in the sky.

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Ironworkers Sean and Travis rigging the caisson for the pick and placement in the pier casing. #2

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Ironworkers Sean and Travis rigging the caisson for the pick and placement in the pier casing.

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Starting the pick of the caisson as Travis and Sean stand by. — Starting the pick of the caisson as Travis stands by and Sean communicates with the crane operator through hand signs.

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Early morning on the Indiana Approach — Early morning on the Indiana Approach.

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Apprentice Carpenter Escarlett learning how to use a cutting torch. — Apprentice Carpenter, Escarlett, learning how to use a cutting torch.

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Placing a Caisson in the pier casing — Placing a Caisson in the pier casing on the Indiana approach of the downtown span.

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Placing a Caisson in the pier casing on the Indiana approach of the downtown span. #2

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Rigging the caisson for picking. — Sean and Travis rigging the caisson for picking.

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Sean and Travis rigging the caisson for picking. #2

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I hope these HDR construction images help reveal the size and scope of the Ohio River Bridges Project as well as the my admiration for the skilled tradesmen and tradeswomen who perform these critical tasks. I also hope that the next time you see a construction site or meet a construction worker you will see their contribution to our way of life and the valuable part they play in building the world. Maybe you’ll even have a little more understanding of the important role that organized labor plays in providing skilled professionals that construct safe and dependable infrastructure for our world.

One final note about these images. All of the images in this post were created from three exposure bracket sets of +2, 0 and -2 EV exposures. They were merged in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 and finished in Aperture 3. I use NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 because it does the best job I have found of reducing, and in most cases eliminating, ghosting when working with active subjects such as the men and women in these images. I finish the merged images in Aperture 3 because it allows me to control all the other variables such as color, contrast, sharpening etc in a non-destructive workflow.

View from the North Tower of the Downtown Span of the Ohio River Bridges Project

Posted on April 25, 2014 by Nick Roberts

View from the north tower of the downtown span — Looking out on the job site from the north tower of the Ohio River Bridges Project.

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Howdy everyone. It’s been weeks since I last posted about my ongoing project to chronicle the progress of the Ohio River Bridges Project here in Louisville. I’ve been quite busy with several other aspects of my personal project of photographing the bridge building process and the men and women who are building it. When I began this project I had no idea how truly monumental and time consuming it would be.

The last bridge/construction project I worked on was much smaller and didn’t fully prepare me for the scope of a major civil engineering project such as the Ohio River Bridges Project. When I photographed the Big Four Pedestrian Bridge and the men who did it I was working with a crew that numbered less than thirty people. In contrast the Ohio River Bridges Project involves not only the main span across the Ohio River but also a complete realignment and reconstruction of the area known as Spaghetti Junction. A project of this magnitude requires hundreds of people to accomplish and really expands my personal involvement. In Spaghetti Junction there are over fifty bridges and overpasses that will be needed to connect the new bridge to the Interstates that converge in Louisville. While the downtown span will carry northbound I-65 it must also join I-64 and I-71in Spaghetti Junction.

I have had to learn how to pace myself and how to best record the progress being made. In addition to the photography challenges I face there is the need to catalog, process and organize the thousands of photographs that I have already taken. Over this past winter I discovered that I needed to greatly expand my storage equipment to accommodate the massive amount of images I am recording. I had to upgrade several hard drives and take control of the photos or face utter chaos as the project grew. I thrive on challenges and this project has been the largest challenge I have faced as a professional photographer.

I lost the first two months of 2014 to personal health issues that prevented me from getting out to the job site as much as I wanted. I also had to contend with the extreme weather that gripped Louisville and slowed the construction. That is all past me now and I’m back to shooting regularly. I have upgraded my storage media and improved my workflow to allow me to capture the images I need to tell the story.

This week I was able to get out on the river and survey the progress that has been made getting the piers drilled and in place. The northern tower is progressing well and the tower crane is being assembled on it. The two towers that make up the northern tower are already taking shape and it was possible for me to climb up the western one and get the image that begins this post. In the weeks to come I will be climbing higher on these towers to shoot the Ironworkers and Carpenters as they build them.

Upcoming HDR Workshop: Using HDR Photography to Create Your Own Personal Style

Posted on March 31, 2014March 31, 2014 by Nick Roberts

Abandoned Gas Station in Northern Alabama. — HDR Image of an Abandoned Gas Station in Northern Alabama.

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Have you been curious about HDR (high dynamic range) photography but intimidated with all the mumbo jumbo that you’ve heard about it? Have you wondered how to create photos that show all the detail you saw when you tripped the shutter? Are you ready to take your photo processing to the next level?

If you answered yes to any of these questions then join me for this HDR workshop April 18-19, 2014 in Louisville, KY.

http://outdoorphotogear.ticketleap.com/hdr-photography/dates/Apr-18-2014_at_0700PM

By attending this HDR Workshop and applying what you learned you will soon be creating images that reveal your own personal vision through the use of High Dynamic Range Photography. After completing this workshop you will understand why HDR photography is so popular with many top tier photographers today and how you can use HDR to express your personal vision.

By attending this hands on workshop you will learn how and why to use High Dynamic Range Photography techniques in many situations, from low light to high contrast. You will learn what techniques and software work best for a given photographic subject. After completing this workshop you will be prepared to create images that allow you to share your personal vision for the photo as you experienced it when you tripped the shutter.

During the workshop we will cover the techniques and tools that are needed to center the fantastic world of High Dynamic Range photographs, and how to give those images your own personal style.

Workshop times are Friday April 11 from 7:00 – 9:00 PM and Saturday April 12 from 9:00am – 5:30 pm.

http://outdoorphotogear.ticketleap.com/hdr-photography/dates/Apr-18-2014_at_0700PM

Excavator Teeth in HDR #2

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I will be teaching workshop attendees how to use the powerful NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 software as well as other NIK plugins for Photoshop, Lightroom and Aperture 3 to create HDR images that range from Hyper Realistic and Super Saturated to pleasing realistic photos. This small group workshop will be extremely hands on, and each attendee will leave understanding the key elements of processing HDR images to create their own style.

Through the use of shared source images and their own photos, participants will be able to see firsthand “how” and “why” to use the vast power of HDR Efex Pro 2 to express their own unique vision for their photography.

Participants should have a basic understanding of their preferred post processing software (Photoshop, Lightroom or Aperture) and have it installed on their laptop. Bring your own laptop, DSLR and camera manual to each session.

If you have NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 make sure it is installed on your laptop. If you don’t have NIK HDR Efex Pro 2, no worries! You can download a free 30 day trial copy at the workshop.

Topics to be covered include:

• mechanics of shooting, importing, processing and displaying HDR images
• discussion of when and where HDR photography is appropriate
• situations where single images can be treated as HDR images
• using HDR with B&W photography to emphasize depth, texture and contrast
• using HDR to create your own style

Class size is limited to 15 people to optimize interaction and hands on training. Tickets must be purchased in advance. Coffee and water will be provided, as well as a refrigerator for your own beverages and food.

Reserve your seat now

http://outdoorphotogear.ticketleap.com/hdr-photography/dates/Apr-18-2014_at_7:00PM

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