Newberry Hall aka Kelsey Museum of Archaeology (University of Michigan)
by James Howe on Jul.23, 2010, under Ann Arbor, Michigan
(Nikon D700, 16-35mm at 17mm, ISO 200, Exposure 1/60 sec @f/16)
The picture above shows Newberry Hall on the campus of the University of Michigan. The Richardsonian Romanesque building was originally built as a home for the Students Christian Association. It is one of the oldest buildings on the U of M campus, with construction beginning in 1888 and completion in 1891. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Currently the building houses the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology which recently added an addition on the back.
I took this shot on a sunny, late spring morning. I wanted to go try out my new Nikkor 16-35mm lens. Processing of the image involved a couple of different things. First, I did some perspective correction to straighten out the tilt of the building. From where I was standing, I had to tilt the camera up a bit to get the entire building in the shot which resulted in some image tilt. After correcting the distortion, I cropped the image to a square. I used the ‘Spicify’ preset in Topaz Adjust to bring out the color in the blocks. The bright morning sun washed out the colors to some extent. I reduced the opacity and used a layer mask to apply the effect only to the block and not the sky or trees. The original, out of camera image, is shown below:
Some day I need to rent a tilt-shift lens and go around campus and take pictures.
As always I’m interested in any feedback you may care to offer.
Copyright © 2010 James W. Howe – All rights reserved.
Dark Cutting Oil
by James Howe on Jul.09, 2010, under Mechanical
(Nikon D700, 70-300mm at 95mm, ISO 1600, Exposure 1/250 sec @f/5.6)
The image above was taken on a recent visit to Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. I went for the annual Motor Muster, but spent some time touring the various exhibits. I’ve previously posted images from the Machine Shop, and this is another one from the same shop. My goal in this shot was to try and capture the feeling of the machine, gritty and oily. You can see metal shavings from the cutter, but what I really liked was the can of oil. The title of the image comes from the writing on the can ‘Dark Cutting Oil’.
As you can see below, the raw image was in color, but I converted it to black & white in Lightroom. Along the way I added a bit of vignette and did some toning of the black & white image itself. I will say that I really like in the color version is the look of the oil can itself. I like the brown, oily patina on the can and I don’t think the black & white has the same feeling. I’m also debating about cropping some from the top to eliminate some of the bright window and focus the eye more on what I think is the subject of the image.
Interested in hearing what you think.
Copyright © 2010 James W. Howe – All rights reserved.
Watercolor
by James Howe on Jul.08, 2010, under Automobiles
(Nikon D700, 70-300mm at 112mm, ISO 250, Exposure 1/60 sec @f/11)
I like to take pictures of classic automobiles but dealing with lighting conditions that you can’t control, reflections of cars and people, etc. can make it difficult to get a nice final image. I like to focus on the details which make these cars so interesting and sometimes the reflections are really a distraction. In the image above, I actually liked the reflections. The picture shows a 1932 Packard Stationery Coupe on display at the Classic Car Club of America (CCCA) show held at the Gilmore Car Musuem near Kalamazoo, Michigan. I took the shot primarily because I liked the way the reflections looked in the curve of the spare tire holder and other places on the car.
There is much debate among photographers about whether to get the image right ‘in camera’ or ‘fix it later’. My feeling has always been that for many images getting it right ‘in camera’ simply means getting the composition and exposure that will allow you to develop the image in later steps, whether that be in a wet darkroom or a digital darkroom. In the case of this image, I knew that I liked the reflections and when I saw the image I imagined more of a painting than a photograph. I had a good idea of the processing that I would use on this. In this case, I chose the Topaz Simplify filter. I looked at some of the presets including BuzSim, Painting – Oil and Painting – Watercolor and decided that the Watercolor came closest to what I had in mind. I tweaked some of the settings and saved the image. The original image was a bit washed out and I wanted a bit more color so I then applied a curves layer to give the image some more color and contrast. If you compare the completed image above to the raw image below, I think you will see the difference it made.
Someday, of course, I really should learn how to paint and create a real watercolor, but for now this will do.
As always, comments are welcome and encouraged.
Copyright © 2010 James W. Howe – All rights reserved.
Scream!
by James Howe on Jul.06, 2010, under Detroit
(Olympus E-3 D700, 150-300mm at 190mm (2x crop factor), ISO 100, Exposure 1/640 sec @f/5.6)
It’s hot here in Michigan, and elsewhere throughout the US, so I thought it appropriate to post this image of a child cooling off in a fountain. The picture was taken in 2008 during Scott Kelby’s Worldwide Photowalk held in Detroit, Michigan. The fountain is located along the Detroit riverwalk, just behind the Renaissance Center.
As a point of reference, here is the image as it came out of the camera. I cropped to put more focus on the child and converted to black & white. Most operations were done using Adobe Lightroom.
Comments cheerfully accepted!
Copyright © 2008-2010 James W. Howe – All rights reserved.
Two Lads Winery – Traverse City, Michigan
by James Howe on Jul.05, 2010, under Architecture, Michigan
(Olympus E-3, 7-14mm at 7mm (2x crop factor), ISO 100, Exposure 1/250 sec @f/8.0)
The image above shows Two Lads Winery located on Old Mission Peninsula near Traverse City, Michigan. The tall glass area is the tasting room which has a wonderful view of the east arm of Grand Traverse Bay. The grounds around the building were rather plain and gave the image more of a snapshot look. Ideally I would have liked to take this shot just after sunset, but when you are on vacation you shoot what you can when you can.
For processing I did a couple of different things. First, I cropped the image to eliminate much of the grassy area below the building. I was using a very wide angle lens and I wanted to keep the camera level. As a result, I got more ground in the picture that I really wanted, but I figured I would crop it out later. I also made a minor curves correction to improve contrast. I then decided to try a technique that I like to use for certain shots which involves using the Topaz Simplify plugin. Basically I make whatever other corrections I want to make to the image and then I create a new layer and edit that layer with the plugin. I like to use the BuzSim preset which does a nice job on grass, stone and other similar surfaces. I then use a layer mask to apply the effect only to parts of the image, leaving the building alone. Sometimes I’ll reduce the opacity of the Simplify layer as well to get a blending of original and processed. You can see the difference the filter made by looking at out of camera version of the image below:
If you are ever in the Traverse City area and you enjoy good wine, I highly recommend you check out Two Lads (and other fine wineries in the area). Michigan wines have come a long way from many years ago and many win top medals and wine competitions. The Traverse City area in particular produces some high quality red and white wines. Check ’em out.
Comments?
Copyright © 2009-2010 James W. Howe – All rights reserved.