Tag Archives: High Pass Filter

HDR – The Dog with A Lady on A Beautiful Morning

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I got this HDR image of The Dog with her Lady a year ago (Memorial Day 2012) in Washington, North Carolina. I had spotted her earlier in that town when the weather was much cooler,  But this time, as you can see, everything was beautiful. The weather was perfect.

Processing: Five exposures from -1.5 to .5 ev were loaded into Nik HDR Efex Pro where I enhanced the image by selectively adding structure to the lower part of the image while subtracting structure from the sky. The nice thing about Eastern North Carolina is that the natural colors always look great. I actually had to de-saturate the sky in this photo for a more realistic look.

To get a sharp but smooth look, I saved the image with Adobe Photoshop. After using the Adaptive Wide Angle tool to correct some extreme distortion from the 20mm focal length, I saved the image and reloaded it into Adobe Camera Raw. I increased the clarity a little and added sharpening and luminence for noise reduction. As with most of my recent images, I used my final process to create the printable version by enlarging, using high pass filter and then re-sizing to a 36 x 24 print size.

I created the monochrome version by loading the final color image into Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 and applying an Agfa film preset. I finished by applying a linear contrast curve in Photoshop for more tonal depth.

Equipment used: Nikon D700 with 20-35mm f/3.5-4.5 set at 20mm, f/16, ISO 200. Handheld.

HDR – Stevens Brick Block 1816

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This is my High Dynamic Range (HDR) image of the Stevens Brick Block building. It’s a row of four brick stores that were later converted to City Hall on Craven Street in New Bern, North Carolina.  I can’t find any history or older photos of this building except that it was built around 1816.  If you can supply additional information, I’d appreciate it. Would love to find a historic picture of this building for comparison. (Update: I got a response from Steve Walser on Facebook with this link about the Old City Hall.  Thanks Steve.)

Processing: Nine shots from -2 to +2 at .5 ev intervals loaded into Nik HDR Efex Pro for Tone Mapping. I did very few modifications since I wanted this image to be as realistic as possible.  In Adobe Photoshop CS6, I applied Shadows/Highlights for a smoother color/tonal blending and then did overall sharpening using High Pass filter.

Equipment used: Nikon D700 with 20-35mm f/3.5-4.5 lens set at 26mm, f/11, ISO 400.

HDR – Minimalist Boatism

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This HDR image may be a stretch for Minimalism but I like to think of it as an abstract expression of that genre in a kind of aquatic, artsy way. This boat is from “Little” Washington, North Carolina. And this was another beautiful day for photography. Just like a few prior posts from that day, I had the perfect weather from storms to sunshine.

Processing: Five shots were loaded into Nik HDR Efex Pro for tone mapping.  I added quite a bit of structure in the decking and water to get that texture along with the more pronounced details.  I used Curves and a slight bit of High Pass filter in Adobe Photoshop for the finishing touches.

Equipment used: Nikon D700 with 20-35mm f/3.5-4.5, set at 35mm, f/16, ISO 200. Handheld.

Monochromed and Mono-Toned

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Since a very strong breeze was blowing from the Atlantic, HDR imaging was out of the question for this shot. So, I did the next best thing: Loaded my -1 ev image into Adobe Photoshop and applied HDR toning. Then I used Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 for a monochrome conversion and a little toning for a nice warm effect. Back to Photoshop for finishing touches with some sky dodging/burning, Curves and High Pass filter.

Equipment used: Nikon D700 with 28-70mm f/2.8 lens, 28mm, f/13, ISO 400. Manfrotto 190XPROB with 486RC2 ball head.

HDR for Real – After The Rain

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The nice thing about the weather at the Inner Banks of North Carolina is that it’s always changing. And, for High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography, the changes are perfect. My last visit to Washington, NC was a real challenge since scenes like this were the norm. . .one minute clear skies with clouds in the distance and the next, rain.  Have you ever heard the term, Third time’s a charm?

This is one of those touristy photos. . .nice water, nice boats, a few nice people strolling around and lots of weather. A break in the storms gave me this photo opportunity. And what a fantastic chance to blend the bright day with those beautiful clouds.

Processing: Five shots were loaded into Nik HDR Efex Pro for tone mapping.  I added quite a bit of structure in the foreground to get that texture along with the more pronounced details. I left the sky/clouds alone to preserve as much realism as possible. The sky is really like that, yah!  I used Curves and a slight bit of High Pass filter in Adobe Photoshop for the finishing touches.

Equipment used: Nikon D700 with 20-35mm f/3.5-4.5, set at 31mm, f/16, ISO 200. Handheld.