Tag: tone mapping

Perry and Thomas

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Perry and Thomas Cutting Rivets
Perry and Thomas Cutting Rivets

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While installing the handrails on the Big Four Bridge, Perry and Thomas had to cut some of the large rivets away to make room for the handrail base. The pneumatic chisel they are using is a handful and the job goes better when they work as a team.

I wanted to capture the movement as they cut the rivets so I used a slow shutter to allow their figures and the tool to blur while retaining the texture on the steel. I wasn’t sure how the images would turn out but once I loaded them into Aperture 3 I saw that I had captured the essence of the workers and the impact that the chisel makes as it hammers away at the stell.

I started by processing the image with Aperture 3 where I did some initial RAW adjusting and sharpening. I then took it into NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 where I applied a realistic preset and some tone mapping. After that it was back into Aperture 3 for final sharpening and some saturation and vibrancy adjustments.

Big Four Bridge Ramp at Sunset

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Big Four Bridge Ramp at Sunset
Big Four Bridge Ramp at Sunset

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I wanted to capture the beauty of the November sunset and include the access ramp architecture as well as the pattern of the parking lot. I used a single frame which I processed in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 and Aperture 3 to create this image.

Let There Be Light

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Let There Be Light
Let There Be Light

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This is another image processed in Aperture 3 and NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 from a single frame. The contrast between the artificial lights and the sunset really made for a compelling composition.

Jack Alpha On Top Of Big Four Bridge

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Jack Alpha the Ironworker

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This image is a single frame that I used NIK HDR EFex Pro 2 and Aperture 3 to process. By using NIK’s U-Point Technology feature I was able to enhance and fine tune the tonality of the oranges and blues of Jack’s welding jacket while maintaining the natural colors of the river and skyline in the background. I was in the man lift basket which allowed me to shoot him from a safe vantage point above the bridge. I am especially pleased with the way the arc of his welder has maintained it’s brilliance and the way the sparks are spraying to the right side of the frame.

This composition has several elements that make it strong. There is the angle of the bridge safety rail  in the foreground to the Kennedy bridge in the middle ground and the Clark Memorial Bridge beyond that. There are also the complementary colors of the jacket, safety harness and the river below all of which work in harmony to unify the composition. Finally there is the way the safety harness and Jack’s arm  create rhyme in the photograph along with the repetitive linearity of the bridges and handrail.

Stormy Morning in Louisville

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Stormy Morning

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This image is another HDR from a bracketed set of exposures. I was looking east from the Big Four Bridge around sunrise last week and found the sky to be very dramatic and foreboding. I really like the view from up on the bridge with the boat club on the left and the ramp up to the bridge on the right. In this composition I wanted to emphasize the many triangles that were formed by the channel on the left, the ramp and parking lot on the right and the clouds as they receded into the distance.

I merged the four exposures, +2, +1, 0, and  -1, in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 to begin the tone mapping. I initially used an anti-ghosting setting of 20% but when I viewed the merged image there were several issues with the way the clouds rendered. I returned the merged image to the merge panel and applied 100% anti-ghosting which solved the problem. Normally I try to keep the anti-ghosting setting relatively low to avoid an artificial appearance but I have discovered that dramatic cloud formations really need it boosted to 80% or 100%. I think it has a lot to do with the speed that the clouds are moving, which is usually pretty fast, when they are part of a storm front such as this one.

I then started trying the various NIK HDR EFex Pro 2 realistic presets but did not find one that matched my intent for the final image. As I sorted through the many presets I discovered one named “Sinister” which was very close to what I wanted for the final effect. The only difficulty I encountered when applying the preset was that the foreground and foliage went way too blue and gray to suit me. I then placed a control point in the foliage and increased the exposure slightly. This served to lift the greens in the trees out of the shadows. Using that same control point I then raised the saturation very slightly and adjusted the vibrancy. What I was trying for was to get the scene to appear in the photo as it had appeared to me when I was capturing the bracket set.

The more I use NIK HDR EFex Pro 2 the more ways I find to create images that reflect the image I have in my mind when I trip the shutter. As I have said here in the past, my intent with many of my images is to create something that evokes my feelings for the subject and not necessarily a documentary photograph. I know that some photographers take issue with that line of thinking but as the quote in the masthead of this blog says “Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” by Edgar Degas. I hope that my images evoke similar feelings in those who view my art.