Cypress Trees #2, Heron Pond, HDR Test

Among the tall cypress tress in Heron Pond are these short, conical stubs called knees that are part of the root system.  Their precise function is not understood according several sources.  This HDR picture is made from five one stop brackets processed in Nik HDR Efex, Nik Color Efex Pro and Photoshop CS5.

 The monochrome was made in Nik Silver Efex Pro using a green filter.  The blue/sepia split tone was applied in Lightroom 3.

Lens: Nikkor AF-S 50mm f1.4 G 

Camera: Nikon D700

Exposure: ISO 200, five brackets around f/11.0 @ 1/60s, Auto WB, tripod

Lighting: Daylight

Location: Cache River Natural Area, Heron Pond GPS

Dates: Capture - October 29, 2010, Processing - October 31, 2010

Processing: RAW file in Lightroom 3 and Nik HDR Efex

Treetops #1, HDR Test

This is the top of a cypress tree in Heron Pond and an experiment in monochrome HDR.  Starting with five one stop brackets processed in Nik HDR Efex using a presets I made for landscapes, I finished the picture in Lightroom 3 with a custom "Color Isolate Red" development preset.

Lens: Nikkor AF-S 50mm f1.4 G 

Camera: Nikon D700

Exposure: ISO 200, five brackets around f/11.0 @ 1/250s, Auto WB, tripod

Lighting: Daylight

Location: Cache River Natural Area, Heron Pond GPS

Dates: Capture - October 29, 2010, Processing - October 30, 2010

Processing: RAW file in Lightroom 3, Nik HDR Efex, Nik Silver Efex Pro

Cypress Trees #1, Heron Pond, HDR Test

Stepping onto the boardwalk trail over the Cypress pond in the Cache River State Natural Area is like entering an alien world.  According to the trail brochure, this stand of trees is about 1,000 years old.  I was a little disappointed at first that the swamp water was completely carpeted with fallen red cypress needles, but it was really quite a sight.  This HDR picture is from five one stop brackets processed in Nik HDR Efex using a custom landscape preset.

 
The monochrome was made from the color in Nik Silver Efex Pro using a red filter.  The sepia/blue split tone was applied in Lightroom 3.

Lens: Nikkor AF-S 50mm f1.4 G 

Camera: Nikon D700

Exposure: ISO 200, five brackets around f/11.0 @ 1/30s, Auto WB, tripod

Lighting: Daylight

Location: Cache River Natural Area, Heron Pond GPS

Dates: Capture - October 29, 2010, Processing - October 30, 2010

Processing: RAW file in Lightroom 3, Nik HDR Efex, Nik Silver Efex Pro

Cache River at Heron Pond, HDR Test

The water was glassy smooth in the Cache River near Heron Pond yesterday.  Something about the place seems frozen in time, which I guess is the point of a nature preservation area.  This picture is the result of processing five brackets in Nik HDR Efex, using the Landscape - Fine Detail preset as a starting point, with further processing in Photoshop CS5, Nik Vivenza and a final 11x14 crop in Lightroom 3.

Monochrome generated from the HDR image in Nik Silver Efex Pro using a custom preset I made to get that purple cast you got with Rapid Selenium Toner on Kodabromide paper.

Lens: Nikkor AF 24-85mm f2.8-4 IF 

Camera: Nikon D700

Exposure: ISO 200, five brackets around 52mm @ f/11.0 @ 1/200s, Auto WB, handheld, RAW

Lighting: Daylight

Location: Heron Pond GPS

Dates: Capture - October 29, 2010, Processing - October 30, 2010

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

Egyptian Abstract #2, HDR Redux

Most HDR pictures celebrate wide angle, deep focus, saturated color.  Some of my favorite photographic abstractions combine shadows, reflections and blurring.  As part of my HDR education, this picture of a shadow on a wall with a small Egyptian figurine in the foreground felt like an interesting anti-pattern to exercise with Nik HDR Efex.  This monochrome started with the color shot below, converted in Nik Silver Efex Pro using a preset I made for high structure and a sepia/blue split tone.  

This color version is the result of single image tone mapping in Nik HDR Efex.  I wound up creating a new preset for Nik HDR Efex that I call "Electric Cool Aid" pulls acidic colors out of neutral shades.  It reminds me of the old cross processing technique I first saw in the early '70s, where Ektachrome is used at a high ASA, like 32,000,  developed in a b&w developer like HC-100, then processed as a color negative in C-22.

Lens: Nikkor AF 24-85mm f2.8-4 IF 

Camera: Nikon D100

Exposure: ISO 1000, 85mm @ f/8.0 @ 1/200s, Auto WB, handheld, RAW

Lighting: Tungsten and daylight mix

Location: St. Louis Art Museum GPS

Dates: Capture - June 25, 2006, Processing - October 27, 2010

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

Lafayette Park Pond #1, Infrared HDR Test

The Lafayette Park pond and bridge is one of those little garden jewels, maintained by neighborhood volunteers.  I remember visiting it in the '50s when it was a public wading pool.  This picture is made from three one-stop brackets shot through a Cokin P007 filter and processed in Lightroom 3, Nik HDR Efex and Nik Silver Efex Pro.  

Lens: Nikkor AF 24-85mm f2.8-4 IF 

Camera: Nikon D100

Exposure: ISO 200, three 1-stop brackets, 50mm @ f/16 @ 0.8s, Cokin P007 filter, Auto WB, tripod, RAW

Lighting: Daylight filtered through trees

Location: Lafayette Park, St. Louis GPS

Dates: Capture - June 25, 2006, Processing - October 27, 2010

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

The Ruins #4, Infrared Single Image HDR Test

To round out the my first set of tests using Nik HDR Efex on infrared capture, I picked a fairly flat single image taken from approximately the same angle and time of day as Ruins #3, but I did not bracket for reasons that escape me.  Here is the workflow...

This is the image, straight out of the camera, nearly one stop under exposed and the light is very flat, direct sunlight.

Step #1 in Lightroom 3, I boosted exposure, contrast and brightness, then set a custom color balance using the eyedropper tool on the lightest piece of stone I could find. 

Step #2 in Nik HDR Efex, I used my "Realistic Light" custom preset to pull the detail out of the stone and the Lens 1 finish setting added some depth.

Step #3 in Photoshop CS5, I swapped the red and blue channels, made a small levels adjustment, then cropped for 11x14 back in Lightroom.  

Step #4 in Nik Silver Efex Pro, I used my "Structure w/Split Tone" custom preset with a red filter to make the final picture.

Using Nik HDR Efex for tone mapping on the single image really helped delineate detail in the stonework.  However, comparing this picture with HDR images made with bracketed shots clearly shows to me that multiple exposures are a must if at all possible.  

Lens: Nikkor AF 24-85mm f2.8-4 IF 

Camera: Nikon D100

Exposure: ISO 200, 30mm @ f/16 @ 0.8s, Cokin P007 filter, Auto WB, tripod, RAW

Lighting: Daylight

Location: Tower Grove Park, St. Louis GPS

Dates: Capture - October 5, 2008, Processing - October 23, 2010

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

The Ruins #3, Tower Grove Park, Infrared HDR Test

The Ruins fountain in Tower Grove Park is a favorite backdrop for many a portrait made in St. Louis.  This picture is made of only two shots, one stop apart, using a Cokin P007 Infrared filter.  I used as slightly different workflow that I think will become standard for me.  This final monochrome was made in Nik Silver Efex Pro using my "Leica I" preset, then toned in Lightroom 3.

This is the lighter of the two exposures, straight from the camera.  The processing change was to make the custom color adjustment on both images before HDR processing.

This is the output from Nik HDR Efex.  The color is about the same as the adjusted files going in, so the tone mapping was applied only to detail and exposure.

The next step comes in Photoshop CS5 to swap red and blue channels and tweak levels slightly.  This really looks like an Infrared Ektachrome slide.

I always take an unfiltered reference shot as part of the infrared workflow. 

Lens: Nikkor AF 24-85mm f2.8-4 IF 

Camera: Nikon D100

Exposure: ISO 200, two brackets around 50mm @ f/16 @ 0.5s, Cokin P007 filter, Auto WB, tripod, RAW

Lighting: Daylight

Location: Tower Grove Park, St. Louis GPS

Dates: Capture - October 5, 2008, Processing - October 23, 2010

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