Images and Notes » HDR

Help Eric – Please Paint Me

James Howe — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:17:08 +0000

(Nikon D700, 16-35mm @ 25mm, ISO 200, 7 exposure HDR)

I was going through some older images the other day when I ran across this one which I had taken a couple of years ago. I posted a different angle of the same building here. I decided that I liked this angle as well, especially because of the writing on the side of the building, so I thought I would work with the image to see if I could come up with something I liked. The subject is what I presume to be an old gas station in Saginaw, Michigan. I took the shot at the end of a day trip to Saginaw. Saginaw has been through rough times since the 70′s and it was actually pretty depressing to visit. I grew up near by and was disappointed to see how many buildings in the downtown area had been torn down.

This image was created from 7 exposures, blended in Photomatix and then further processed in Photoshop using primarily Photo Tools from OnOne Software and Silver Efex Pro2 from Nik. I used a variety of effects from PhotoTools, brushing them in where I thought the effect looked nice. I created a black and white version and then backed off on the opacity to bring some of the color back to the image. This version of the shot has a colder look to it than the one I posted previously. The other one is probably more ‘accurate’, given that the sun was low in the sky creating a warm tone, but I think the colder tone of this one works as well.

Comments and questions always appreciated!

Peninsula Paper Company – Ypsilanti, Mi

James Howe — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 19:03:59 +0000

(Nikon D700, 16-35mm @ 30mm, ISO 200, Exposure 1/125 @ f/11)

This shot shows the old generator building for the Peninsula Paper Company of Ypsilanti, Michigan. The company closed years ago and the factory was demolished to make way for some apartments. I shot this shot of the old hydroelectric generator building from the site of the old paper factory. It was late in the day and I tried to get to this location before the sun set. I used my Photographers Ephemeris application to check out the sun angle and I knew that it would be shining on the build and I thought the evening light might look good on the building. The one downside with this sun position and time of year is the reddish color of the building tends to make the building blend in with the trees. Later in the year the sun might not be in such a nice position, but the green of the trees would help separate the building from the background.

I went through several steps to create the final image. The image started out as a wide angle shot, but I decided I wanted to focus more on the building. I also shot this as a 7 shot HDR, but after I processed the brackets in Photomatix I wasn’t thrilled with the result. After some experimentation I decided to use just two of the exposures and ran them through Photomatix to blend them. I then took the image into Photoshop. The first thing I did was use Color Efex Pro 4 to bring out some additional details. I used a ‘recipe’ that I created which uses the Tonal Contrast, Detail Extractor and Reflect Efex filters. The net result created a somewhat glassy look to the calm water and more details everywhere.

I thought image at this point was too colorful. The sunlit portions of the image looked good, but the water had a funky blue tone which just didn’t look right. I thought I might experiment with a black and white conversion, so I used Silver Efex Pro 2 to create an image based on one of the ‘antique’ presets. I adjusted the preset to make the grain less obvious, removed the borders and made some other adjustments. It looked nice, but I decided I wanted to have a bit of color so I reduced the opacity to let some color flow through. The last thing I did was to apply a Topaz Simplify filter. This created a painterly look to the entire image. I blocked out the effect on the trees and building using a layer mask, and I reduced the effect on the water.

I could have stopped at this point but I still wasn’t happy with the color. The building had actually become a little greenish. I played with color balance but couldn’t get anything to look right. I decided to start over. I followed similar steps to create a second version, but I managed to come up with an image where the building looked better, but I didn’t like the look of the water as much. As a final step, I opened both images in Photoshop as layers and had Photoshop line them up. Since they were from the same image there wasn’t a problem getting things to line up. I then masked out the water in one image to let the water show through from the other. I also decided that I didn’t link the wide angle, so I created a square crop to focus more on the building itself.

Always interested in hearing your thoughts or questions. Feel free to leave them below. Thanks!

Michigan Central Station

James Howe — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 01:05:01 +0000

(Nikon D700, Sigma 15mm Fisheye, ISO 200, 5 Exposures @ f5.6)

I’ve been finding it difficult to get out and shoot new material for a variety of reasons, but today was such a nice day I decided to make an effort to get out and at least shoot something. I decided to take a short drive into Detroit to check out the progress on the Michigan Central Station. The owners are finally doing something to at least stabilize the building. Mostly this involves tightening security around the station to keep people out, removing the broken windows and putting in new windows, and working on the roof. Progress is slow, but they have definitely made some progress at least regarding the windows on the lower level. They haven’t actually replaced any that I could see, but they have removed the broken glass.

The shot was taken with my 15mm Sigma Fisheye. I’m not sure I really care for the bowed effect in this shot and debated about letting Lightroom do a lens correction, but I decided to keep it as shot. I took a series of 5 shots, hand held, and combined them using Photomatix to create an initial HDR image (seen below). I then took the HDR image into Photoshop and used OnOne Software’sPhotoTools to play with the image. I didn’t have any particular look in mind when I started, I was just trying out some filters, mostly from the HDR collection, to see what effect it had on various parts of the image. If I saw something I liked, I would alter the opacity and brush it in to the places where I thought it looked good, and removed it from places that it didn’t. I then used the PhotoFrame tool to add an ‘Acid Burn’ edge to the image. I finished the image off with Topaz Simplify which I used mostly on the sky and to a lesser extent the rest of the image.

Love to hear your comments on this one.

St. Peter’s Cathedral – Marquette, Michigan

James Howe — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 12:42:44 +0000

(Nikon D700, 17-35mm at 24mm, ISO 250, 5 exposures @ f/11)

One of the things which surprised me on my family’s visit to Marquette, Michigan was the interesting older architecture of many of the buildings. I was also surprised at the number and variety of churches for a town of approximately 20,000. It wasn’t too surprising to see a Catholic church, however, since the city was named after Father Jacques Marquette, a French Jesuit missionary. What I love about this church is all the detail work, especially the tile work on the domed towers. I took several pictures, both of the entire structure as well as some of the detail work.

The image was taken in the morning to capture the light on the face of the church. The church faces north and morning in the summer is the best time to capture the light on the front. The 5 exposures were done hand-held, but I was resting the camera on top of utility box to stabilize it. Processing started in Photomatix but I finished in Photoshop with some help of PhotoTools. I used a layer created from Silver Efex Pro2 in Luminosity mode to bring out more detail, particularly in the sky, but this also resulted it a lot of noise so I backed off on the opacity. The image still has more noise than I would like so I may try to process it again to see if I can avoid it.

Thoughts or comments?

Ore Dock

James Howe — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 12:24:20 +0000

(Nikon D700, 70-300mm at 300mm, ISO 250, 5 Exposures sec @ f/5.6)

The ore dock in Marquette, Michigan is a pretty imposing structure. It’s probably at least two freighters in length and is this lovely mass of repeating concrete and metal elements. I took several shots, some wide, and some close-up. For this image, I shot 5 exposures to use for an HDR image since I thought that the HDR might really bring out the character in the concrete and metal. When processing, I also worked on a black and white version which I might post either here or on my 500px page. I think black and white works really well with this shot to give it an industrial look, but I like the look and color of the rusty concrete in the color version.

As I mentioned above, the image was created from 5 exposures, using Photomatix as a base (seen below). After getting an initial tone-mapping in Photomatix, I used a handful of actions from PhotoTools to finish the image.

Private Coach

James Howe — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 12:22:26 +0000

(Nikon D700, 70-300mm at 70mm, ISO 200, 5 exposures @ f/8.0)

This is another shot of the abandoned (?) bus I found parked in a junkyard just outside of Defiance, Ohio. The image was created from 5 handheld exposures and which were merged together in Photomatix (see below) and then given additional processing using PhotoTools.

As always, would love to hear your thoughts on this one.

Challenger (outside Defiance)

James Howe — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 12:22:36 +0000

(Nikon D700, 70-300mm at 70mm, ISO 200, 5 exposures @ f/8.0

As I was driving to Defiance, Ohio, I saw a sign for ‘Independence Dam’. I thought that might be interesting so I took a short trip on a side road which ran along the Maumee (I think) river. I didn’t make it to the dam because it was in a state park and I didn’t want to pay an admission fee. However, along the way I noticed this junk/repair yard which had this bus sitting out front. I just had to stop and take some pictures.

This image started out from 5 hand held exposures processed initially in Photomatix (seen below). After Photomatix, I used PhotoTools to do some additional processing to come up with the finished image seen above.

I also played around with various black and white versions. My favorite is this toned image that was created from the HDR image, using Silver Efex Pro 2.

I like them both. Feel free to leave your opinion or any other comments below.

Abandoned Elevator – Defiance, Ohio

James Howe — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 11:57:28 +0000

(Nikon D700, 70-300mm at 85mm, ISO 200, 7 Exposures @ f/8.0)

In yesterday’s image, I showed an old railroad building in Defiance, Ohio. Just a short distance away was this abandoned grain elevator. I thought the elevator would make for a nice HDR, so I fired off 7 exposures in various locations, this one being my favorite. Even though this is an HDR image, most of the look comes from work I did with OnOne’s Photo Tools. I was trying for a grungy image which would highlight the textures of the building, so I used a variety of layers, mostly from the HDR section, to give the image some more life.

FYI, this, and other images are on display on my newly created site at 500px. Come by and check it out.

Michigan Bean Elevator – Henderson, Michigan

James Howe — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 12:03:59 +0000

(Nikon D700, 70-300mm at 82mm, ISO 200, 7 exposures sec @ f/8.0)

A couple of weeks ago Mike Olbinski, a photographer I follow, posted this shot of a grain elevator that he found while driving through Kansas. This got me in the mood to find some interesting elevators in Michigan, since Kansas is quite a ways away for me. I did some scouting on Flickr and managed to find a couple of good possibilities. One was a local elevator in Ypsilanti, Michigan which I posted last week. The other one was this old elevator in Henderson, Michigan. What I liked about this one was the decay and faded paint job. If you look carefully, you can see old signage for ‘Purina Chows’ and other products that were available at this location.

I took several shots of the elevator, mostly 7 exposures at a time, thinking I might want to create an HDR image. After running the shots through Photomatix, I wasn’t too thrilled with the color version but I tried some further adjustements in Photoshop using PhotoTools and other adjustment layers to see if I could get a color image that I liked. I didn’t come up with anything so I decided to take the image into Silver Efex Pro 2 and work on a black and white version. You can see the mostly raw HDR image below (I toned down the greens in Lightroom after the Photomatix processing) The one thing the HDR processing did for me was to bring out the clouds in the sky. Given the position of the sun at the time, if I got the exposure right for the building, the sky was too bright and vice versa. The HDR allowed me to get both. I might experiment with using just two of the images, using the sky from one and the building from another to see if I can get a better finished image. Even though I took this shot with my camera on a tripod, it was windy that day and there was just a bit of camera movement. The end result is that the image isn’t quite as sharp as I would have liked. Also, the HDR processing increased the noise level. It’s not terrible, and I’ll have to see what it looks like when printed, but using a two image blend would eliminate the noise issue.

Got feedback? Leave it below!

University of Michigan IM Building – Ann Arbor

James Howe — Mon, 16 May 2011 16:45:07 +0000

(Nikon D700, 16-35mm at 27mm, ISO 200, 5 bracketed exposures @f/8.0)

We had some nice weather last week and all around I saw trees flowering and leafing out. I decided to take a quick drive around the campus of the University of Michigan to see where there might be a good combination of architecture and flowering landscape. The shot above shows the Intramural Building with a nice line of flowering trees. Not sure what kind of trees they are, but they looked nice.

The building is hard to get in good light since it faces pretty much North. In winter the sun is typically behind it, and in summer trees obscure the sun until it is high in the sky which tends to leave the front of the building dark. I shot this image into the morning sun and took 5 exposures to produce and HDR image. I wasn’t paying enough attention and managed to get a large lens flare right in the main subject area of the image which I don’t particularly care for. After processing the 5 shots in Photomatix, I did some work on the color version in Photoshop, but I found the flare to be too annoying. I took the image into Silver Efex Pro 2 and came up with a nice vintage looking image which I think suits the age of the building. The sepia treatment also reduced the visibility of the flare to a point where it no longer bothers me.

Interested in hearing your feedback on this one. Feel free to leave comments and suggestions below.