The Kentucky Cabinet
My first attempt with HDR. Need more practice.
My first attempt with HDR. Need more practice.
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Jan, 2014Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
While exploring an old Kentucky farm, I came across a tool shed that had items hanging in it for years. There were old bikes, horse bridles, hand tools, long saws, and even a couple of short cut railroad track rail being used for an anvil. Covered in age and dust, there was a picture in every direction just waiting for a proper composition.Time
The time was mid-day in the middle of September. It was hot, but the shed was hidden within a treeline and the light coming in was defused from the trees. No tripod needed.Lighting
When I was taking pictures, I didn't worry too much about the lighting. I shoot in RAW, so I knew I could compensate the images later.Equipment
I actually was using my daughter's Nikon D3000. It was on automatic with zoom telephoto lens.Inspiration
I just loved the fact that the shed was stressed and leaning back from decay, and that at some point a farmer found this cabinet and mounted it upright on the wall, even though the wall was leaning.Editing
This image was a hybrid HDR experiment. This is a single image shot in RAW. Not having bracketed the image while shooting, I decided that a RAW image should have enough detailed data to stress the image in a series of copied images that had their exposure adjusted. Using Photoshop, I moved the exposure two stops over and then saved a copy. I then moved the exposure one stop over and saved a copy. In the end, the original image was number 4 of a series of seven copied images. I then ran the images through Photoshop's HDR process and then played with individual color saturation settings until I got the colors I wanted to pop. This technique worked rather well. I've reproduced this technique for images where a exposure bracket in the camera is not possible. For example, if shooting leaves on a branch that is moving from wind. Being able to capture and "HDR" the image from a single frame removes ghosting anomalies very nicely.In my camera bag
I don't have a normal bag. I gave up on trying to keep camera equipment current. I have several friends, and a daughter, who are willing to loan me equipment when I ask. I occasionally will enhance these borrowed "bags" by renting specialty lenses as I need them. I give my benefactors a copy of any image they like from my photographic hunts.Feedback
I am an old navy photographers mate. I was trained during the pre-automatic anything days. When a battery went dead, the meter's needle would stop. There were no zoom lenses, and you bracketed when you could not be sure of a proper exposure (Kodachrome days!). Today, cameras are exceptional at doing all the guess work, and unlike the days of rolled film, you can shoot as much as you need to to get the shot. Post processing fixes just about everything. A great shooter now needs only to focus on composition and lighting. You learn by shooting, and in this day, you can do a lot of learning without carrying bricks of film and processing costs.
