Dominique #5 - Single Image HDR Test Series

Um, is anyone besides me thinking "Goldfinger"?  The next step in my HDR education is to apply the technique to a single image.  This processing is very tricky.   I like to start with extreme settings, then back off individual controls.  This is the output from a custom setting I created for processing flowers to make brown leaves glow. 

I got a surprise with the tone mapping when this Gauguin-ish picture emerged.  It is so extreme, I had to share.

One of the reasons to use HDR is to emphasize texture.  Applied to a figure, this means that pores, moles, wrinkles, scars, etc. become more prominent and can easily take over the picture.  This monochrome version was created from the red color version above, using Nik Silver Efex Pro to apply a Wratten #61 deep green filter to darken skin tones and apply its sepia/cyan split tone preset.

Camera: Nikon D700 

Lens: AF Micro-Nikkor 105mm f2.8 D

Exposure: ISO 200, f/5.6 @ 1/6s, tripod, tethered, RAW

Lighting: Two Calumet Quattro Fluorescent Beauty Lights 

Location: Grand Center Artist Loft Studios GPS

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

Backyard Landscape HDR Test

This is a view from our bedroom window I shot to test the "remove ghosts" feature in Photoshop CS5 HDR Pro.  There was a gentle breeze yesterday, so the leaves and grass were moving enough to smear a little at 1/5s.  I must say that there is little if any apparent movement.  I processed the shot in color, converted to monochrome in Nik Silver Efex Pro using a strong blue filter and titanium toner, then cropped for 11x14 and added the blue/sepia split tone in Lightroom.

Camera: Nikon D700 

Lens: AF Micro-Nikkor 105mm f2.8 D

Exposure: ISO 200, five one stop brackets around f/22 @ 1/5s, auto WB, RAW, tripod

Lighting: Full, strong daylight

Location: Home GPS

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

St. Louis in Silhouette

On most visits to the St. Louis Art Museum, I try to get a different take on this city landmark.  This shot is a compositional departure for me.  I usually frame for the golden ratio, but I worked this one out with triangles fitted to the golden mean.  I was shooting directly into the sun here, but the Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 G exhibits no lens flare or noticeable loss of contrast.  My only complaint is that auto-focus is sluggish and barrel distortion is very pronounced.

Camera: Nikon D700 

Lens: Nikkor AF-S 50mm f1.4 G

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

Lighting: Daylight 

Location: Grand Center Artist Loft Studios GPS

Processing: Lightroom 3, Nik Tools

Vase #2 - HDR Test

This vase currently sits on a table next to the stairwell leading our basement.  This is a five shot of +/- one stop brackets processed in HDR Pro and the Nik Suite of tools.

This monochrome version was processed in Nik Silver Efex Pro with the blue/sepia split tone applied in Lightroom 3.

Camera: Nikon D700 

Lens: AF Micro-Nikkor 105mm f2.8 D

Exposure: ISO 200, f/22 @ 1s, auto WB, RAW, tripod

Lighting: Bounced window daylight

Location: Home GPS

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

Hole #1

After thumbing through David Lynch's book, "Dark Spendor" I felt compelled to take a picture of a hole.

Camera: Nikon D700 

Lens: AF Micro-Nikkor 105mm f2.8 D

Exposure: ISO 200, f/6.3 @ 1/20s, auto WB, handheld, RAW

Lighting: Mixed window daylight and tungsten

Location: Home GPS

Processing: Lightroom 3 and Nik Silver Efex Pro 

Grid #14

The line of brick ruins the color composition, but I thought the jewel tones in the glass were interesting.

The monochrome eliminates the brick problem and makes a strong graphic.  It is created in Nik Silver Efex Pro from the color version above, then split toned as blue/sepia in Lightroom.

Camera: Nikon D700 

Lens: AF NIKKOR 180mm f/2.8D IF-ED

Exposure: ISO 200, f/4.0, 1/1000s, Auto WB, handheld

Lighting: Daylight

Location: Home studio GPS

Processing: Lightroom 3 and Silver Efex Pro

Grid #13

This is a building in Clayton, Missouri.  Playing photographer mash-up today, the processing approach here is sort of the abstraction of Ralph Gibson meets the sensuous tonality of Jeanloup Sieff.  

Camera: Nikon D700 

Lens: AF NIKKOR 180mm f/2.8D IF-ED

Exposure: ISO 200, f/2.8, 1/6400s, Auto WB, handheld

Lighting: Daylight

Location: Home studio GPS

Processing: Lightroom 3 and Silver Efex Pro

Dominique #12

I found one more picture to add to the Dominique series.  These were processed on my laptop during this evening's Project Runway, so I consider these more like beta versions.  

Taking another look at the processing, the color lends itself to a Fresson processing.  

Camera: Nikon D700 

Lens: AF Micro-Nikkor 105mm f2.8 D

Exposure: ISO 200, f/5.6 @ 1s, tripod, tethered, RAW

Lighting: Two Calumet Quattro Fluorescent Beauty Lights 

Location: Grand Center Artist Loft Studios GPS

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

Trumpeter Swan

Another image from Florida. Ray and I went to Lake Eola early one morning to shoot the beautiful birds that inhabit this small lake in the center of metropolitan Orlando. We had lots of opportunities to shoot Ibis, Cormorants, and several species of Swans. I should have packed the 180mm Nikkor but brought the 105mm instead, expecting to shoot only people on this trip. The 105mm f/2 is great portrait lens and it worked well for this shot.

Camera: Nikon D3

Lens: NIkkor 105mm f/2

Exposure: ISO 200, 1/640 @ f/2.8

Lighting: Daylight

Location: Orlando, Florida

Processing: Lightroom 3

Candle Holder HDR Test

This test shot turned into a poor man's Lazlo Moholy-Nagy homage.  The candle holder sat in a dark corner of the basement, reflecting bright window light, so HDR got a work-out.  I went on to make a monochrome solarization with a sepia/blue split tone.

Camera: Nikon D700 

Lens: AF Micro-Nikkor 105mm f2.8 D

Exposure: ISO 200, three around f/8 @ 1/20s, Auto WB, tripod w/Acratech GP ball head

Lighting: Window Daylight

Location: Home studio GPS

Processing: Lightroom 3, Photoshop CS5 HDR Pro, Nik Color Efex Pro