Old Ionia Church
by James Howe on Jan.29, 2011, under Michigan
(Nikon D700, 70-300mm at 70mm, ISO 400, 7 exposure HDR @ f/8.0)
A couple of weeks ago I ventured over to the west side of MIchigan in search of something different to shoot. I found some interesting subjects and headed back home. I hadn’t had any lunch, so on the way home I decided to stop and get some food. The weather was kind of snowy and the roads were a bit of a mess so my intention was to get a quick lunch and head back on to the highway. I saw a sign for a fast food restaurant so I thought I would get off and grab a bite to eat. Normally these restaurants are right at the exit so you can get off, eat and get back on. However, when I got off at this particular exit, I found out that the restaurant was about 5 miles north of the highway. I debated for a bit about just getting back on and going to the next location, but finally decided to just put in the little extra time since I was already off the highway. On my way up the road I passed by this old church. I thought it had some interesting character so I decided after I had my lunch I would come back and take some shots.
The building was old and had some interesting texture so I figured I would take some brackets for an HDR image. I got out of my car, put the camera on the tripod and tried to shield things from the blowing wind and snow and took a few different angles, with about 7 exposures each. When I got home and did some initial HDR work, I wasn’t impressed so I moved on to some other images. Yesterday I was on Flickr and noticed that one of my contacts had posted a shot of this same church, but taken at a different time of year. This prompted me to go back to the shots I took to see if I might have a good one after all. In the end, I decided that I liked this shot, but I didn’t like the HDR version of it.
Processing of this image started with combining the 7 exposures into one HDR using Photomatix. I then used Silver Efex pro to convert to black & white. I started with one of their push processed presets to make the image whiter and brighter. I added some additional structure as well. I played around with adding some texture to the shot with PhotoTools, but in the end I decided I liked the cleaner black & white without the extra added texture.
Would love to know your thoughts. Thanks!
Copyright © 2011 James W. Howe – All rights reserved.
Ground Level
by James Howe on Jan.24, 2011, under Automotive
(Nikon D700, 15mm, ISO 640, Exposure 1/125 sec @ f/5.6)
This is another shot I took at the North American International Auto Show held in Detroit, Michigan. I was looking for something different than just a picture of a car. I had put on my Sigma 15mm fisheye lens and was looking for interesting angles to put it to use. I was walking through the Mercedes exhibit and decided to see what I could get if I took something while seated on the ground. I liked the curve I got in the floor and ceiling. When processing the image I felt that the distortion of the flooring created a sense of motion, almost as if I had moved the camera while taking the shot. I liked how the combination of the floor and ceiling almost create a vortex in the center of the image.
Processing once again occurred primarily in Silver Efex Pro. I used control points in the ceiling to brighten all the various pipes and conduit to add some additional interest. After the conversion I used a curves layer to darken the areas which weren’t ceiling or floor.
Comments?
Copyright © 2011 James W. Howe – All rights reserved.
R8
by James Howe on Jan.22, 2011, under Automobiles
(Nikon D700, 15mm, ISO 640, Exposure 1/500 sec @ f/5.6)
This image is a bit of an experiment. I shot this at the 2011 North American International Auto Show held at Cobo Hall in Detroit, Michigan. The show always has one day where photographers can get in early. This image was show in the Audi booth using my Sigma 15mm fisheye lens. The man in blue is one of many workers whose job it is to keep the cars clean. I was trying to get a shot without him in the picture, but I finally just went ahead and took a few shots since he wasn’t moving. When I was looking overmy images I selected this one because I liked the way the car fit under the white arc of the show booth.
For processing, I thought I would try a straight black and white image, but I thought that was too boring. I then experimented with some of the presets in Silver Efex Pro. Just for fun I selected Antique Plate II. This preset adds a sepia tone and a strong reverse vignette. I didn’t like the toning but I did like what the preset did to the ceiling. Classic composition would tell you to make the borders darker to draw the eye to the main subject, but I just liked the way the this looked so I went with it. Back in Photoshop I changed the layer setting from normal to luminosity. This brought back most of the color in the center of the image but left the edges mostly monotone. I did some merging with the original image to bring back the R8 in the foreground. I liked the deeper black of the floor and the Silver Efex Pro processed layer made that more gray than I liked. Overall I’m pleased with how this came out.
Click either image to see it in lightbox mode.
Comments?
Copyright © 2011 James W. Howe – All rights reserved.
“Oh Lord …”
by James Howe on Jan.19, 2011, under Michigan
(Nikon D700, 15mm, ISO 640, Exposure 1/250 sec @ f/5.6)
Every year Detroit hosts the North American International Auto Show, and in recent years there has been one day of the public show where they encourage photographers to come an hour before the show starts to take pictures. This is the third or fourth year that I’ve gone. It’s nice to be able to walk through the show when it isn’t very crowded. This shot was taken from the front of Cobo Hall looking across the street to the old Ponchatrain Hotel, now serving as a giant billboard for Mercedes Benz.
For processing I decided to go with a selective color on this shot. The weather was cold, rainy and foggy, which I thought looked good in black & white. I also felt that the colors of the cars in the street competed with the billboard. However, when the whole image was black & white the billboard sort of lost its impact. Adding the red back to the car made the billboard regain its emphasis.
Comments?
Copyright © 2011 James W. Howe – All rights reserved.
Coaling Tower
by James Howe on Jan.18, 2011, under Michigan
(Nikon D700, 16-35mm at 32mm, ISO 400, Exposure 1/2000 sec @ f/4.0)
Monday was a holiday so I took the opportunity to take a road trip to find some new subjects to shoot. I had this notion to head three hours west of where I live to visit Grand Haven, Michigan to see if I could get some interesting shots of the lighthouse located there. I knew there was a snowstorm coming in and I was thinking I might get lucky to see some big Lake Michigan waves pounding the lighthouse. When I got there the snow was definitely falling, but the visibility was so poor that I couldn’t even see the lighthouse. With the wind whipping snow and sand, I declined to walk through the snow to get closer to see if the visibility was any better. Instead, I looked for some other subjects. On the way out of town I passed this old railroad coaling tower. The structure peaked my interest so I pulled over and took a few shots.
For processing, I wanted to make sure the image conveyed the cold, windy day that I was experiencing. My first step, however, was to do some perspective correction. I shot this with my 16-35mm lens and I had to tilt the camera bit which caused the tower to tilt. I used a combination of skew and scale to remove the distortion. I then used Silver Efex pro to convert the image to black & white. I started with one of the antique plate settings which uses a reverse vignette to make the outside border brighter. The default configuration uses a sepia tone which I didn’t want. I removed the tone and tried to create a whiter image. I also used some increased structure to bring out additional detail in the coaling tower as well as bringing out some of the snow which was flying around.
Comments?
Copyright © 2010 James W. Howe – All rights reserved.