St. Louis in Silhouette, Single Image HDR

I was curious about how much shadow detail HDR Toning could pull out of the single RAW image from an earlier post, "St. Louis in Silhouette".  While I can't say that I really like the resulting picture better than the original post, the shadow detail here is pretty amazing.

The monochrome conversion is from the just release 64-bit version of Silver Efex Pro.  There are no new features, but processing is noticeably faster.

For comparison, here is the capture straight out of the camera.

Camera: Nikon D700 

Lens: Nikkor AF-S 50mm f1.4 G

Exposure: ISO 200, f/11 @ 1/800s, handheld

Lighting: Daylight 

Location: St. Louis Art Museum GPS

Processing: Lightroom 3, Photoshop CS5, Nik Silver Efex Pro

The Birds #1

We have some uninvited guests in a mud nest above the archway on our front porch. The mess these little guys create on a human scale would equal a thorough hotel suite trashing by the Rolling Stones back when Keith Richards was still alive. This is a grab shot from my front door, lit by the porch light. Nikon D700, ISO 1,200, auto WB, Nikon 180mm f2.8 AF, f/8.0 @ 1/60s, built-in flash at -2.0 for fill, handheld. RAW file cropped to 4x5 in Lightroom 2.

Circus Flora, Before the Show

We took in Circus Flora for Father's Day. The set, lighting and costume design were a treat. Photography is not allowed during the show, so I snapped this just before it started. Nikon D700, ISO 3200, WB auto, Nikon 24-85mm f2.8-f4, 24mm @ f/3.3 @ 1/45s. RAW file processed in Lightroom 2. Pixel peeping shows the blacks are noise free. The auto WB did an amazing job with mixed tungsten and xenon. I pulled the tint down -11 to make the blue pop and used the adjustment brush to darken figures in the forground, but this is otherwise straight out of the camera.

Candle, Bailey's Chocolate Bar

Snapped during a late dinner at Bailey's Chocolate Bar in Lafayette Square. We were sitting outside, so the only light was from a few candles and a window looking into the restaurant.

Technical: Nikon D700, ISO 6400, +0.5 exp, Nikon 50mm f/1.8, f/2.8 @ 1/90s, auto white balance. RAW file processed in Lightroom 2 to crop and set Nikon Camera Landscape calibration.

The real story here is white balance and ISO performance. The auto white balance is perceptually spot on. I find that Nikon does a remarkable job with difficult white balance, but sometimes falls down on mundane conditions. The noise level in the blacks is remarkably low for the ISO. I recently made some pictures at ISO 3200 (see Tivoli Sign, Girlfriend Experience) and really don't see much difference in noise.

Tivoli Sign, The Girlfriend Experience

From my most recent trip to the Tivoli theater to see "The Girlfriend Experience", taken from the street.  Nikon D700, ISO 1600, Nikon 24-85mm f2.8 - f4.0, 50mm @ f/8.0 @ 1/250s, handheld.  There is some noise in the deep shadows and blacks, but I think the quality is very usable.  What's really impressive here is the highlight detail.  

St. Louis Study #8

Color version of the earlier sepia version.  For statues, I'm starting to favor muted colors and pumped up contrast over monochrome conversions.  The mood is more striking for some subjects.  Nikon D700, ISO 200, 50mm, f/8.0 @ 1/400s.  RAW processed in Lightroom 2.3 using Mike Lao's "300 v2" develop preset as a starting point.  I've been printing the series on Museo Silver Rag.

CRAWFORD'S Building Entrance

Which city is known as the Athens of the Midwest?  Why, that would be our own St. Louis.  Architecture students the world over come here to view our town's past glories.  The old Crawford's building is the new home to Art St. Louis.  This photo is a section of the wonderful dome over the entrance, taken in available darkness, lit by orange sodium vapor street light bouncing off the sidewalk.

Technical: Nikon D700, 50mm f1.8D, ISO 1600, f/2.0 @ 1/20s hand held.  RAW file processed in Lightroom 2, using Nikon Camera Neutral calibration and color temp adjustment to 2000K.  

St. Louis at Dusk

St. Louis, December 7th at about 5:00 PM.  Nikon D700, ISO 200, 50mm f/1.8D, f/5.6 @ 1/100s.  It was nearly dark.  The first few shots were over exposed by quite a bit, giving great detail on the statue, but bleached the sky and blew out the moon, so I did a -1.0 in camera exposure compensation.  I'm finding the D700 tends to expose for shadows.  Cropped in Lightroom 2 with some added post crop vignette.  The sky color is straight out of the camera.

St Louis Sepia - SLAM

Nikon D100, IS0 200, 24-85mm @ 32mm, f/8, 1/400s.  Sepia conversion in Lightroom 2.

Concrete Face 1

I stumbled upon this late today. Nikon D100, ISO 200, 50mm f/2.5, 1/640s. Lightroom 2 B&W High Contrast conversion.

Backyard Flood - 2008-09-14

A view from my deck - Fishpot Creek runs behind our subdivision, which has a 19 acre overflow basin. You can see in the upper third of the picture that the creek has overflowed its banks and water is rapidly coming toward the houses. The wind knocked over a potted tree and re-arranged lawn furniture. It is still raining as I write.

NiN Concert - End of Show

Cell phone shot from the end of the recent NiN concert. The moire pattern is due to the logo being displayed by an LED screen. In person it looked like a perfectly solid deep red, like the far right. A slower shutter speed would have smooted out the LEDs, but my cell phone has no controls at all :)

Infrared Lily Pad Study

Continuing with infrared experiments... Nikon D100, 105mm + Infrared filter, f/11, 1/5s. The saturated red image converted to albumin print color in Lightroom.

St. Louis Water Meter

Water meter cover outside the Contemporary Art Museum. I liked the colors. Nikon D100, ISO 200, 50mm, f/5.6, 1/400th, handheld.

Arch on a Gray Day

Not much greenery downtown this afternoon, but that's ok with black and white. Computer crashed or I would have tried to fix the perspective of the building on the left ... this was taken at 10 mm with Canon's 10-22 mm wide angle lens. Specs: ISO 100, f7.1, 1/125 sec. with a Canon Digital Rebel.

Grey Day at the St. Louis Art Museum

Early morning fog, ISO 400, 28mm, f/8.0, 1/125, hand held using Nikon D100 and Nikkor 24-85mm f/2.8-4. This is a great shot for revealing sensor dust :)

Planetarium Dome, Forest Park

Child Mummy, Science Center