Michigan Central Depot
by James Howe on Mar.21, 2010, under Architecture, Detroit
(Nikon D700, 14-24mm, ISO 200, Exposure 1/250 sec @f/8.0)
I took a short trip into Detroit to try out my new camera and a rental lens. I decided to get some more shots of the abandoned Detroit Central Railway Station (or Depot). The building has been abandoned for several years, but the beauty of the structure remains. I certainly hope that something can be done to save a least a portion of this building.
I took this shot with a Nikkor 14-24 lens on my D700. I had taken a series of shots with the thought that I would create an HDR, but I didn’t have my tripod with me and the resultant HDR was a bit fuzzy for my tastes. Instead, I used Lightroom to create a dark version of a light version of the shot, and then I used Photomatix to create an HDR from these two images. Since they were the same image, there was no need to deal with shifts so the image is much sharper. Other than the HDR work, the only other main change was to do some perspective correction on the building. I had to take the shot with an upward tilt, so I removed the tilt to square things up. Someday I need to rent a tilt-shift lens for this sort of shot.
By way of comparison, here is a shot of the building in better times.
Comments?
Copyright © 2010 James W. Howe – All rights reserved.
Broken Fence
by James Howe on Mar.16, 2010, under Ann Arbor, black and white
(Nikon D700, 50mm, ISO 200, Exposure 1/160 sec @f/1.8)
I recently purchased a Nikon D700 camera to ultimately replace my Olympus E-3. I loved my E-3, but there were certain features that were lacking and Olympus seems more interested in developing their micro 4/3rds cameras than releasing newer pro level cameras so it seemed time to make a switch. I received the D700 yesterday and managed to find a little time to take a few shots with it. I still have a lot to learn about how I want to configure the camera and how to best make use of it, but I think I’ve got the basics.
This shot was taken in Bandemeer Park in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It was late in the day with the sun about to set. I saw this fence post and decided it might make for a nice shot. The color of the post blended well with the background. In a few weeks the background will be green, but for now it is a nice winter brown. Overall I like the way the picture came out, although if I were doing it again I might go for slightly more DOF. I think I would like more of the post itself to be sharp, not just a portion of it. The image was converted to black & white using Adobe Lightroom and then I added a bit of local contrast using Topaz Adjust in Photoshop CS4.
Other thoughts? Please leave a comment!
Copyright © 2010 James W Howe – All rights reserved
Solitary
by James Howe on Mar.12, 2010, under Ann Arbor, Architecture, University of Michigan
(Olympus E-3, 7-14mm at 10.0 mm (2x crop factor), ISO 400, Exposure 1/15 sec @f/4)
A few weeks ago my wife and I went to an exhibit at the University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA) called The Lens of Impressionism – Photography and Painting Along the Normandy Coast, 1850–1874. It was a great exhibition. Before the exhibit, I wandered around the museum. The museum consists of two wings, an old wing housed in a Beaux Arts style structure, and a new wing which was recently completed in a very modern style (seen here). My main focus was on the architecture and I took several interior shots. In general I’m not much of a ‘people’ photographer. I’ll wait until people are out of frame before taking pictures, particularly architecture. However, there are times when having the person in the right place makes the shot and I think this is one of those times.
The image itself started out as a vertical shot which emphasized the angles of the structure, but made the person very small. As I looked at it, I decided that I would crop it to make it a horizontal shot and place more emphasis on the person. I also felt that black & white was a better choice than color for this shot. Some other minor changes that I made included cloning out a bit of bench which protruded from the wall on the left side. I liked the clean line of the wall and the bench disturbed that line. Something I should have noticed when I was taking the picture. The other thing I did was to add a bit of film grain as well as a bit of toning.
Comments?
Le Sommet des Neiges
by James Howe on Mar.07, 2010, under Architecture
(Olympus E-3, 70-300mm at 300.0 mm (2x crop factor), ISO 320, Exposure 1/4000 sec @f/7.1)
Every year for the last few years my family and I go skiing at Mont Tremblant, a ski resort an hour or so north of Montreal, Canada. One year we stayed in a nearby condo, but we found that we preferred to stay in one of the hotels in the pedestrian village which is located at the base of the slopes. This year I made reservations a little later than usual and the place where we had stayed in the past was booked. I looked through some of the other hotels in the village and decided to try Le Sommet des Neiges, which is a big hotel right at the base of the slopes. Great location, although it was a bit more expensive. I was very pleased with the location. You could come off the slopes, go through some automatic doors and be right in the ski locker area of the hotel. Very convenient. We were also fortunate to have a room which overlooked the slopes.
The image you see above shows the cupola of the hotel. I took this shot later in the day as the sun was getting low in the sky. The sun was shining off of the dome and I really liked the look of the dome against the darkening blue sky. I took several shots of the dome, but this one was my favorite. I have this habit of taking very precise shots where I line things up, but for this shot I turned the camera just to get an image which was less static. I posted a black & white version of this on Flickr. If you look at that image, and compare it to the one above, you will see that there isn’t much difference in color between the two. The main difference is that this one has a bit more warmth from the sunlight. One thing I noticed when I was putting this post together was the fact that this shot was taken at ISO 320. Very odd considering that it wasn’t that dark as you can tell by the 1/4000 shutter speed. All I can figure is that I hadn’t reset my camera since I last used it when I was shooting in lower light. As such, this shot has a bit more noise and is less sharp that I would have liked it to be.
I like both the black & white as well as the color version. I think the black & white works highlights the lines and curves better, but I also like the hint of sunlight in this version.
What do you think? Comments are more than welcome!
1 Fine ’59
by James Howe on Feb.20, 2010, under Automotive
(Olympus E-3, 7-14mm at 40.0 mm (2x crop factor), ISO 100, Exposure 1/320 sec @f/5.6)
This shot shows the back end of a 1959 Buick Electra 225 which was on display at the 2009 Concours d’Elegance held at Meadowbrook Hall in Rochester Hills, Michigan. The Meadowbrook Concours is always a highlight of the summer for me, since I love to photograph classic cars and this show has them in abundance.
Processing for this shot involved removing blue from the shot, as I found it distracting. It was a sunny day and the blue sky was reflected in the chrome and trunk. I also adjusted the contrast a bit. I finished up by adding a little vignette using Lightroom.
Comments and feedback welcome.
Image and text Copyright © 2009, 2010 James W. Howe – All rights reserved
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