Tag: Waterfront Park

Swing Garden Spring

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Swing Garden
Swing Garden Spring

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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.

Black and White HDR

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Untitled
Untitled

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Sometimes simple is better….

I like using NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 for preparing black and white images. Using the bracketed exposures really helps intensify the textures and contrasts within an image. After merging the three exposures -2, 0, and +2 EV I returned the image to Aperture 3 where I applied a B&W setting with a blue filter. Some sharpening and contrast adjustments were applied and a slight vignette was used to finish the image.

U of L Women’s Rowing Team

Posted on by Nick Roberts
U of L Women's Rowing Team
U of L Women’s Rowing Team

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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.

Mighty Kindness Earth Day Hoot In Waterfront Park

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Earth Day Festivities
Earth Day Festivities

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Yesterday was a day of celebration in Waterfront Park. The sun was shining, birds were chirping, kids were running and jumping, music filled the air and a peaceful vibe hung over the amphitheater as young and old celebrated the Mighty Kindness Earth Day Hoot. There were all sorts of new age booths, handmade jewelry, artisan pottery, vegan foods, drum circles and live music on stage. Everyone seemed to be enjoying the event and taking advantage of another of Waterfront Park’s wonderful features.

Painted Ladies Basking in the Sun
Painted Ladies Basking in the Sun

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These girls seemed to be having a great time whooping and hollering in the spring sunshine.

Impromptu Poetry
Impromptu Poetry

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This was a sign that people were asked to express their feelings for the river on; as you can read there were all sorts of thoughts in the air.

Simple Pleasures of Springtime Joy
Simple Pleasures of Springtime Joy

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Out For an Evening Spin

Posted on by Nick Roberts

Kids Out For an Evening Spin

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Sunday evening I was down in Waterfront Park to shoot the sunset and the people out enjoying the park. As I was heading back to my truck I saw the children’s playground was getting a little attention too. It was well after sunset and the light was very low so I thought I would experiment with some long exposure brackets of the kids playing on the merry-go-round. They were all ages from toddler up to five or so and they were having a great time. I knew that the figures would be blurred by movement so I decided to capitalize on that.

One mother, whose two children were the smallest on the ride, stood nearly motionless as she watched over them. I hoped that she would show up in the shots and was well rewarded. Even though there were eight or ten kids on the ride and several more parents in the scene they all stayed in motion and appear as faint ghosts in the final image.

I merged the three frames in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 using a 100% setting for anti-ghosting. I also applied the Deep #1 preset and made some very slight adjustments to the tonality before returning the image to Aperture 3 for final adjustments. In Aperture 3 I adjusted each color channel separately in order to compliment the blue tone that the twilight sky cast over the scene. I was still bothered by the way the kids were being rendered as simply a blur though; I decided to add some mid-contrast and voila their small figures appeared inside the merry-go-round. A little sharpening and some further tweaks to the Exposure and Enhance sliders and this final image emerged.