(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.

(Nikon D700, 16-35mm at 29mm, ISO 200, Exposure 1/500 sec @f/8.0)

This image shows the University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA) in Ann Arbor, Michigan. As you might be able to guess, the original photograph was ‘tweaked’ just a bit. My original plan was to do some perspective correction, minor cropping and curves adjustments to create a reasonable architectural image. One idea I had was to create both dark and light versions of the image and create a single image HDR just to see what it would look like. As I worked on creating the darker image I found that I liked the pattern that was being created by the tree on the main wall of the museum. I decided to see what things would look like if I really pushed the blacks. With some additional work in Lightroom, including cropping, I took the image to Photoshop where I painted over some light spots which existed in the black expanses of the building.

As a point of comparison to the finished image, the raw, out of camera version of this image is shown below.

While working with the image I played around with some additional options. One idea was to try a pure black and white. With a deep blue sky it was pretty easy to drive the sky either black or white. The white sky was interesting in how it played with the fins on the roof, but I didn’t like how the main side of the building lost its top. A black sky worked well with the roof line, but I didn’t like how it turned the tree into more of a blob. The image below is somewhat of a compromise where I turned the sky a darker grey. I think I still prefer the color version.

As always I’m interested in hearing your comments.

Copyright © 2010 James W. Howe – All rights reserved.

UMMA Interior

(Nikon D700, 14-24mm at 22mm, ISO 1600, Exposure 1/250 sec @f4.0)

This image shows one of the galleries in the new wing of the University of Michigan Museum of Art in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I really like the clean architecture of the new wing, very modernist. The new wing does a nice job of showcasing modern art.

Processing of this image was fairly simple. I used Lightroom to convert to black and white and I used a curves layer in Photoshop to add some toning. The image above shows the full crop, but I think there is also a nice square crop opportunity as well.

Other thoughts? Please leave a comment!

Copyright © 2010 James W. Howe – All rights reserved.

(Olympus E-3, 7-14mm at 10mm (2x crop factor), ISO 100, 5 exposures @ f/9.0)

This image shows Zingerman’s Deli in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The company I work for recently moved to a new office and we wanted some images from around town to adorn our walls. Since we all enjoy Zingerman’s food, we named one of our conference rooms “Zingerman’s”. A print of this picture now adorns the wall of that conference room.

The shot was taken with my Olympus E-3 with the 7-14mm wide angle lens. I processed the image using Photoshop and used the Topaz Adjust and Topaz Simplify filter to give the image a bit of a different look. I liked the effect the filters had on the stone work and reflections in the windows.

Comments and feedback welcome.

Image and text Copyright © 2009 James W. Howe – All rights reserved

This image can be purchased.

(Olympus E-3, 7-14mm at 40.0 mm (2x crop factor), ISO 100, Exposure 1/320 sec @f/5.6)

It’s been a rough couple of years for the University of Michigan football program, but one of the things which is headed in the right direction is completion of modifications to Michigan Stadium. While I still preferred the stadium when it had a lower profile, I’m getting used to the new look. This shot shows the entrance to ‘Champions Plaza’, which is the main entrance to Michigan Stadium. Each corner of the stadium has a special plaza with customized bricks which have been purchased by fans and alumni as part of a fund raising effort. These plazas were actually built before the current stadium expansion plan.

This particular shot of the stadium was taken in spring of 2008 in the evening. The sun was setting off to the west and it cast a nice glow on the lettering of the gates. I was looking through some images in Lightroom this morning and this one appeared in a collection where I wasn’t expecting it. However, I liked the look of it so here it is. Processing was actually fairly minimal. The sky was already pretty pale so I just enhanced that a bit. I tweaked the contrast a bit on the gates, desaturated the color a little and added a vignette.

Next year the stadium construction will be done. Hopefully the team reconstruction will also show significant progress as well. Go Blue!

Comments and feedback welcome.

Image and text Copyright © 2008, 2010 James W. Howe – All rights reserved

Please visit my Galleries at ImageKind for other images from Ann Arbor and elsewhere.

(Olympus E-3, 70-300mm at 81mm (2x crop factor), ISO 100, 5 exposures @ f/7.1)

My company recently moved to a new building and as part of the move we needed to come up with names for our conference rooms. We batted around several ideas, but finally settled on using names of some of our favorite local restaurants in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I was then tasked with the job of getting pictures of the various establishments so we could have pictures made and hung in each of the conference rooms. The image above shows Krazy Jim’s Blimpy Burger a great place to get a burger and fries (and other fried veggies as well) and highly recommended if you are ever in Ann Arbor. Krazy Jim’s was featured on an episode of the Food Network’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives with Guy Fieri

I took this shot in late evening. I wanted to make sure that the lights of the sign and the interior were visible. Given the time of day and the amount of contrast between light and dark, I shot 5 exposures from a tripod and created an HDR image using Photomatix. I then took the image into Photoshop and used the Topaz Labs Simplify filter to ‘simplify’ the image and create something that looks more like a painting. I then went over key elements in the shot (the signage and some other areas) and masked out the filter to let the original photograph show through.

Comments and feedback welcome.

Image and text Copyright © 2009 James W. Howe – All rights reserved

This image can be purchased.

(Olympus E-3, 14-54mm at 29mm (2x crop factor), ISO 100, 5 exposures @ f/9.0)

The Fleetwood Diner is an Ann Arbor institution. The diner opened in 1949 as the Dag-Wood and was built from a kit manufactured by the Dag-Wood Diner Company in Toledo, Ohio. The diner was renamed the Fleetwood Diner in 1971. The exterior was originally enamel, but was given a stainless steel exterior in 1998. For more history and interesting tidbits on the diner, visit The Fleetwood Diner page, hosted by a local Ann Arbor resident.

The image itself was produced from 5 different exposures ranging from -2 to +2. The images were processed using Photomatix, with additional processing in Photoshop CS4. Similar to my Acme Mercantile shot, I again used the Topaz Simplify filter from Topaz Labs to ‘simplify’ some of the features in the background.

Comments and feedback welcome.

Update: An alternative version of this image can be found on my Flickr account. Check it out and let me know which one you like better (if you have a preference)

Image and text Copyright © 2009 James W. Howe – All rights reserved

This image is available for purchase in my Color gallery at ImageKind. Contact me directly for other purchase options.

(Olympus E-3, 14-54mm at 14mm (2x crop factor), ISO 100, exposure 5 stop HDR @ f/9.0)

On Liberty Street in Ann Arbor, Michigan is a terrific little store with a variety of interesting merchandise. The store is Acme Mercantile. I took this shot of the storefront on a morning walk through town. For some reason I was in the mood to take storefronts that day. Most of the images I shot on my walk were taken with the potential to make an HDR image. I set my camera to shoot 5 bracketed exposures, 1 stop apart. I was doing this hand held and I set my camera to fast shooting and clicked off 5 quick shots at various exposures in an attempt to minimize movement. Of course, one problem was that it was windy that day, so any thing which could be affected by the wind (like leaves on a tree) created motion that I didn’t want.

I started processing by having Photomatix convert the 5 exposures into one HDR. From there I went in to Photoshop. I corrected some perspective distortion and then went on to some additional processing. I’ve been experimenting with selectively using a filter from Topaz Labs called Simplify and I used it on this image to minimize the problem with the moving leaves. I created a new layer and went into the Simplify filter and selected the ‘Buzz Sim’ preset. This creates an image which looks like it was painted. After saving the layer, I created a layer mask on that layer and selectively reduced the filter’s effect. I wanted to keep most of the store front sharp, but keep the stuff in the distance ‘simplified’. I also liked the way the filter made the reflection in the front window look, so I kept the filter effect there as well.

I always feel guilty when I use some sort of ‘creative’ filter on my images. I feel like I’m cheating somehow. However, at the same time I like the end result. I’m curious what others think, not only about this particular image, but about using ‘creative’ filters in the post processing stage.

Comments and feedback welcome.

Image and text Copyright © 2009 James W. Howe – All rights reserved

This image is available for purchase in my Color gallery on ImageKind. Please check it out!

(Olympus E-3, 7-14mm at 7mm (2x crop factor), ISO 500, exposure 1/400 sec @ f/10)

This shot shows the main entrance to the Law Quad at the University of Michigan Law School in Ann Arbor, Michigan. This particular building is known as the Lawyers Club, and is a dormitory for students attending the law school. The building was constructed in 1924 and was funded entirely by a gift from William Cook, a graduate of the UM Law School.

The picture was taken with an Olympus E-3 with a 7-14mm lens. The image was processed in Photoshop CS4 using the Topaz Adjust filter to bring out a bit more color in the stone and Topaz DeNoise to remove some minor noise. The image was cropped in from the side a bit to create better balance between building and sky.

Comments and feedback welcome.

Image and text Copyright © 2009 James W. Howe – All rights reserved

Visit my ImageKind Gallery for more University of Michigan images

(Olympus E-3, 70-300mm at 70mm (2x crop factor), ISO 100, exposure 1/40 sec @ f/10)

I was out running errands recently and managed to find a street parking space almost in front of the Arbor Brewing Company located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. As I was parking, the signs on the front of the building caught my eye. I’ve always liked the typography used on the signs and think that the tree in the logo is quite cool as well, very ‘arts & crafts’ looking. Anyway, I thought there was a good picture to be had so I took out my camera and took a few shots. This shot was my favorite of the set.

This image was created from a RAW color original. I played with the color image a bit but settled on black & white. I used Topaz Adjust to boost the color, since the original was somewhat flat (it was overcast when I took the shot). I then applied a black & white adjustment layer and adjusted the greens, yellows and reds to get the most out of the building and signs. I also used a few contrast adjustment layers as well. The image has had a slight tone applied to it, and that’s about it.

Comments and feedback welcome.

Image and text Copyright © 2009 James W. Howe – All rights reserved

This image is part of my signs gallery at ImageKind.