Christmas In May ----- HDR Stages

Let’s start with the “Christmas in May”.  So thinking about what to post tonight, I decided to go back to my photos from December 2011 and use a picture I took of the First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh.  I’ve had three people in the last week mention the picture I originally posted of this church back when I took it.  It occurred to me that I never really used any other pictures from that photo walk.  Therefore we have Christmas In May.   When I look at these pictures all I can think about is Christmas.

Here is the link of the original I posted over a year ago:   

Click Here

Don’t forget to look at the rest of the post below the picture.

HDR Stages:

So you’ve probably seen me comment in past blog posts about how many exposures I’ve taken and whether they were auto-brackets.  So of you might be wondering what the heck I am talking about.  I thought I would show you what it takes (in stages) to create my HDR photographs.

First, I take three photos or more of the same subject either manually or with an auto-bracket function on my camera.  Here is what they look like for tonight’s photo right out of the camera.  Notice, none of them look great, but the EV (Exposure Value 0 is what the camera thinks is the best picture and is what most camera will produce) 

EV 0 - this is the exposure the camera thinks is perfect.

EV 0 - this is the exposure the camera thinks is perfect.

EV -2 This is the under exposed picture.

EV -2  This is the under exposed picture.

EV +2 This is the over exposed picture.

EV +2   This is the over exposed picture.

Then I merge them using Photomatix Pro to create the HDR image.  If you are wondering what HDR is, see this earlier post that covers this topic by clicking

HERE

As you can see, the HDR picture doesn’t look great at this point and they normally don’t look good at this stage.

This is the HDR image right out of Photomatix Pro. Ugly right!!

This is the HDR image right out of Photomatix Pro.  Ugly right!!

Finally, I take the HDR image and all the original images into Photoshop CS6 to do some blending, cropping, color correction, etc…. some of which is my secret sauce.  But in the end, you get the final product.  On average, it takes me between 20 minutes to an hour per picture to get a final product I am happy with.  Which gets us back to the final image that I posted tonight.  

Final Photograph

Final Photograph

George Washington - Free Gifts (iPhone Wallpaper Pictures)

Tonight I have a FIVE FREE (yes I said 5 Free) gifts for everyone.  I formatted five of my recent photos to be used as wallpaper for Apple iPhones.  All you have to do is download them and put them on your phone.  Click HERE to get the wallpaper pictures.  They may work with other cell phone models, but I can’t guarantee that.  If you try them with a different cell phone model, let me know if they work or not.

NOTE:  In the near future, I will also post versions that work as wallpaper for your Apple iPad.  These will be free to you as well.  Please look for these soon.

George Washington:

I have a patriotic HDR photo for you in today’s post.  This is a picture of the George Washington statue on top of the Washington County Pennsylvania Court House.  This structure was built in 1900 and they just completed a two-year restoration of the interior.  The building is still an active (and only) courthouse for Washington County. 

This was a 7-exposure bracket merged into one HDR photo.    

Abandoned Glass Factory

MJ and I didn’t really do much this weekend.  After traveling the two prior weekends, we just didn’t feel like going anywhere.  I did manage to leave her on Mother’s Day to go take some pictures.  I would have taken her with me, but I think she wanted some quiet time. 

Anyway, I spent a couple of hours around town taking pictures of nothing special.  I did manage to capture this picture at an abandoned glass factory.  At least that’s what I’ve been told it was.  I think it has been abandoned for over 20 years. 

Photo Technique:

I used my Nikon D800 and Nikon 14-24mm lens on my tripod.  I set the camera to Aperture mode with it at f22, ISO 100 and took 7 auto-bracketed exposures.  Once I downloaded the images, I processed the HDR image using Photomatix Pro using my custom preset and finished it with some minor editing in Photoshop CS6.

HDRone.com Facebook Friday - Roberto POV

Two items tonight:

1.     If I remember correctly, HDRone.com has included one of my photos in their weekly Facebook Friday segment two other times in the past.  Well, tonight they selected another one of my pictures as the best of the week and included in this weekly segment. 

You can see my picture and the other four photos they selected at the top five of the week at this location:   HDRone.com Facebook Friday

Here is a picture of their website

Here is a picture of their website

Here is my picture they included as the top five for the week.

Here is my picture they included as the top five for the week.

2.     The second item tonight, is the photo of the night.  I decided to post this picture of the Roberto Clemente Bridge on the north shore of Pittsburgh.  This is a slightly different POV (point of view).  I took this picture about a month ago while walking along the river with my son.  We were enjoying the weather, talking, and just having a nice day.  I hope you like this photo.

P.S.  I hope all mothers have a great Mother's Day this Sunday.

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Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament - Sacramento

On my last trip to Sacramento California, I scouted this location in advance via Google Maps.  Once I found it, I knew I had to find time to visit this location on my trip.  I am a sucker for old churches.  Something about the architecture of old churches just pulls me in regardless of the type of religion.

This is the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, which is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento.  The facility is located in downtown Sacramento at the corner of 11th and K Street, about two blocks from the California Capital building.  The architectural style is Italian Renaissance on the exterior and Victorian on the interior.  Construction of this facility was started in 1887, during the California Gold Rush era.  I’m guessing some of that gold paid for this church.  Money well spent for this amazing building that has lasted over a 100 years.

New Graffiti - Old School

A couple of days ago I posted a picture of a funky statue on the north shore of Pittsburgh.  Tonight, I am just in a funk myself.  I don’t know why.  I had a great weekend with old friends, ran a half marathon, got to see the sun, etc…  Generally life is good, I just seemed to be undecided about which picture to post tonight, whether I even wanted to post a picture, etc…   Nothing serious, maybe I’m just feeling lazy tonight. 

Well whatever it is, I’ll post a picture for you anyway.  Tonight is a picture from within an abandoned school in the East Liberty area of Pittsburgh.  The building is falling apart, but has been repurposed as a homeless shelter and street artist gallery.   As you can see, the walls are falling apart, but this specific artist found some wall space for his work.

Funky Statue

I have no idea what this funky statue on the north shore of Pittsburgh is supposed to be or represent, but it caught my eye.  So you get the benefit of seeing it here tonight.

Side Note:

  Sorry I missed posting a picture last night.  We traveled to Indianapolis yesterday afternoon/evening.  We got here late, checked into our hotel and grabbed a late dinner.  Then I went right to bed, because this morning I got up early and ran the One America Indianapolis 500 Mini Marathon (13.1 mile half marathon) with a friend who is from the greater Chicago area.  We’ve run this race a number of years in a row together.  His son Adam also came in from California to run with us. 

This half marathon is the largest half marathon in the country with over 30,000 participates.  We survived, finished, didn’t get hurt, and finished with fairly good times.  We’ve done better in past years. 

I hope you had a great Saturday.

The Blackwater Falls

This is a 5-exposure set taken of the Blackwater Falls in Blackwater Falls State Park, West Virginia.  This is one of many waterfalls in this state park and this specific one is over 50 feet tall.  Over the winter, they had a landslide that destroyed the lower boardwalk, so while we where there you couldn’t get down to the lower viewing platform seen in the photo.  That was all right with me, because that might have been to close for photography anyway and people would have been in my shot. 

If you are interested in this location, you can see more about it at their website: 

http://www.blackwaterfalls.com/

If you want to see more of my landscape work, click HERE: 

Option A or B for St. Paul Cathedral

I completed a few pictures from my excursion to St. Paul Cathedral in the Oakland area of Pittsburgh recently and I didn’t like many of them using my normal HDR settings.  So I experimented with this photo a little and processed it in two different ways.  Which do you prefer?  Option A?  Or Option B?  Let me know what you think.

Here is a full version of Option A

Here is the full version of Option B

Blackwater Falls State Park

MJ and I had nothing planned today and it was a sunny, but a bit cool.  I mentioned to her in the past that I wanted to go to Blackwater Falls State Park in WV.  So this morning she suggested we pile in the car and go check it out.  We did some last minute packing (camera, maps, hiking boots, etc…) and away we went.  It took us a little over two hours to get there and we spent most of the day in the state park.  It doesn’t sounds like much, but we hiked about 6 miles in some very rough territory (some would call it mountainous).  We climbed all over the ravines, valleys, rivers, and trails.  All so I could take a few more photos.  Imagine that!!!.

Additional Note:

Today is my Uncle Jim’s birthday.  I hope he had a great day.

St. Paul Cathedral

About a week ago, I was in the Oakland area of Pittsburgh and had some time to kill.  Thankfully, I had my camera with me and I saw this giant church above all other buildings in the distance.  It was a beacon calling me in to check it out.  As I approached I was happy to see the church was open even though it was early in the morning, which also meant I had the place basically to myself.  I spent about an hour photographing the inside of this 107-year-old beautiful facility, which is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh

I have a ton of great photos from this location, but tonight I decided to post one with a rather unusually POV (Point Of View).  I hope you like it.

Old School Gym

Here is another picture from the abandoned school in East Liberty area of Pittsburgh.  Interestingly, this gym was on the 4th floor of the school.  Back in the day, I bet this was an amazing room for the school kids.  Now it is homeless heaven.  There was evidence throughout the building of homeless using the building.

Photo Technique:

I created this photo with a 7-exposure auto-bracket set.  I merged the images together with Photomatix Pro and edited it in Photoshop CS6.  

The picture below is of Brad and Dave from earlier in the day prior to us going to the abandoned school

Brad & Dave Truxell

Brad & Dave Truxell

CRANE FRONT - Fantasy Football Website

Tonight’s photo is the front view of an old semi-abandoned crane along the river in Pittsburgh.  I say semi-abandoned because they clearly haven’t used this crane in years and have no plans to use it again in the future.  But the concrete business is still active and they drive vehicles under this crane every day.  I took this photo while on a photo walk with Dave and Brad last weekend.

Fantasy Football Website – Fantasy Monkee

I know we are months and months away from any real meaningful football, but I thought I would share this website with you.  They featured/used one of my Robert Griffin III (RG3) photos on their website (look below).    How cool is that????

Abandoned St. Peter & St. Paul School in East Liberty

Today, Brad, Dave and I went on a photo walk around the Lawrenceville and East Liberty area of Pittsburgh.  We were basically on a mission to photograph anything interesting.  We all took the same basic photo of this classroom in the abandoned St. Peter and St. Paul School (same location, angle, POV, etc…) and I am looking forward to seeing how we all process the image.  Here is my version.  Hopefully, they’ll post their version soon.

You can see Brad’s work here: http://www.somethinghdr.com/

You can see Dave’s work here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/36007640@N07/

NCAA Hockey National Championship

MJ and I had the opportunity to attend the NCAA Frozen Four games this weekend in Pittsburgh.  Big thanks to Jeff, Nick, Jon, Janet and the rest of their co-workers for the tickets. 

Yale University was the surprise winner with Yale senior goaltender Jeff Malcolm stopping 36 shots helping Yale beat #1 ranked Quinnipiac 4 to 0.  Malcolm was honored with the Most Outstanding Player award for his work through out the tournament.  You can see my picture of him below along with a few others from the game.

Consol Energy Center - NCAA Hockey National Championship Game

Consol Energy Center - NCAA Hockey National Championship Game

Yale University attempting to score

Yale University attempting to score

Yale 4 - Qunnipiac 0

Yale 4 - Qunnipiac 0

One of my favorite things about hockey, no mater the outcome, both teams complete the line up at the end.

One of my favorite things about hockey, no mater the outcome, both teams complete the line up at the end.

Mexican Sunrise & the movie "42"

Tonight MJ and I went to see the new movie “42”, which is about Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier into MLB baseball.  There are some slow parts in the movie, but it was very well made, interesting, and kept my attention.   There are very few movies where the crowd claps at the end, but that’s what happened tonight.

Today’s Picture:

  This is a sunrise I captured with a 5 exposure set last August while MJ and I were on vacation in the Playa del Carmen area of Mexico.  We stayed at a great hotel.  I love this picture because it just seems to be such a peaceful image.  

Niagara Falls From Water Level

I have a late night post for you tonight.  This is a single exposure tone mapped image taken from the bow of the Maid Of The Mist boat.  If you haven’t experienced this tourist trap, it is worth the money.  We laughed, we saw, and we got soaked.

Syracuse vs. Pitt

In honor of the NCAA National Championship Men’s Basketball game tonight, I am posting one of my college basketball shots from earlier this season.  This is from the Syracuse vs. Pitt game at the Peterson Center in the Oakland area of Pittsburgh.  Pitt won this game, even though it appeared as if Syracuse was the better team that day. 

Both teams made the NCAA Tournament, with much different results.  Pitt lost in the first round, while the Orange Men lost in the Semi-Final game to my home state Wolverines. 

Neither team had the season ending they wanted, but both had what I would consider successful seasons.  So regardless of who you want to win, remember they are all winners and cheer for the Maize and Blue. 

Pittsburgh Panorama

As you know last weekend, we went to the National Aviary on the North Shore of Pittsburgh.  It is well worth a visit.  Anyway, between going to the Aviary and hitting a Speakeasy that night, I took a few photos. 

Here is a panorama from the north shore looking back at downtown Pittsburgh.  I’ve taken pictures from this spot many times.  It is a great location. 

Photo Technique:

Multiple HDR images are merged together to create this panorama.  I used a tripod, with my camera in vertical orientation.  I shot 5 sets of brackets (each bracket set included 7 exposures for a total of 35 images).  After shooting each set of brackets, I moved the camera to the right making sure part of my photo over lapped the previous spots.  By over lapping them, I can effectively merge them together later. 

After I download the images, I created the 5 HDR images (each one using 7 exposures) using Photomatix Pro.  The key here is to not change any of the settings so all five HDR images are processed the same.  Once I got that done, I used the Photoshop Automate Photomerge feature to put them all together for one panorama picture.  I finished by cropping and some minor editing.