Marina Sunset | Morehead City, NC
On the first weekend in October, Morehead City hosts the North Carolina Seafood Festival. It is a huge event that attracts visitors from not only North Carolina, but all over the East Coast. On the day I visited, the crowds were enormous. It was hard to walk, let alone tote a camera, through the exhibit and food vendor areas. Toward the end of the evening, I found this quiet little area near the end of the Morehead City Waterfront to take a break. The sun was beginning to set over the line of sport fishing boats that are docked there and I thought this would be the perfect time to fire off some brackets. Due to the crowds and my laziness, I didn’t bring along my tripod. Luckily, there were many posts and fences to choose from to stabilize my camera!
The shot: 3 exposures, ISO-200, f/10. My standard HDR post processing: Merged in Photomatix Pro, Edited in Photoshop CS4 with Nik Color Efex and Viveza applied. Slight ‘Glamour Glow’ filter applied before saving to add realism and a calm feeling.
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Photo ©2011 Zach Frailey. Click on the ‘Licensing’ tab or shoot me a message about usage and licensing questions.
‘Armageddon Sunset’ | New Bern, North Carolina
This was shot in New Bern, NC just as the sun was setting and some spectacular storms were blowing in on September 28. It seemed as if a storm cell approaching from both sides of town collided right over top of me. After the sun went down, I was able to capture some lightning strikes over the river a short drive from this spot.
The shot: 3 exposure HDR. f/8, ISO-200, 18mm. Tonemapped in Photomatix Pro, finished in Photoshop CS4 with Nik Color Efex & Viveza plug-ins.
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First Light | Assateague Island, VA
After a few days’ hiatus, I’m finally getting back into the swing of things. I spend a long weekend at Chincoteague Island, VA with my family and wife as we celebrated our wedding anniversary. My family has been going on vacation to Chincoteague since I was too little to walk, so I never miss a chance to meet up with them on the island. This visit wasn’t as ‘eventful’ as last year’s (read the blog post here) and that made it just about perfect.
Before making the short four hour trip up the coast, I made a shot list of the things I wanted to photograph while on Chincoteague. Right up at the top was a sunrise. So, at 5:00am I set out across the island to the adjacent barrier island, Assateague, to get my shots. Much to my surprise, my mom and dad came along with me. It’s always nice to have company when out shooting photos, especially when it’s my parents who I rarely get to see. We shot the sun cresting up over the ocean and then we headed back down the road to this spot. Those of you familiar with the National Wildlife Refuge on the island will recognize this cluster of trees along the Wildlife Loop trail. I don’t know why, but these trees are synonymous with Assateague Island for me. I guess I’ve just seen them so many times that they have buried themselves in my mind.
The Shot: Nikon D90, shot at 18mm. This is a three exposure HDR, shot from a tripod and remote triggered. Merged in Photomatix Pro, finished in Photoshop CS4 with Nik Color efex Pro and Nik Viveza pro plug-ins. In post processing, I added a pretty pronounced blur to the water in the foreground at the very end. The heavy detail in the water seemed to take away from the serenity of the whole scene. Now, it all flows together.
©2011 Zach Frailey
Dome Sweet Dome |Pittsburgh’s Penn Station
I’ve been pretty busy since returning to North Carolina from my trip to Pittsburgh, so I’m just now getting around to posting this image to my blog. To those of you who have already seen it on Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, 500px and whatever other social media platforms I’m on now (there are so many, it’s easy to lose track), sorry for the repeated posts.
This rotunda is located at Penn Station (originally Union Station) in Pittsburgh, PA. The building was built from 1898-1903 by famed architect Daniel Burnham who also designed Washington DC’s Union Station. The rotunda originally served as a covered area for passengers to wait and for carriages to turn around. In 1912, the station was renamed Penn Station due to its service to the Pennsylvania Railroad.
After years of deterioration, Penn Station was restored in the 1980s. Today, the old railroad hotel is an apartment complex. The station still serves rail traffic via Amtrak as Pennsylvania’s westernmost stop on the Pennsylvanian Route. It remains one of the state’s busiest stations.
This image is a three exposure HDR, shot with a 10.5mm Nikon fisheye lens. Merged in Photomatix, finished in Photoshop and tweaked with Nik Color Efex and Viveza.
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©2011 Zach Frailey, please do not use image without permission.
’The House of Champ-yinz’ | Heinz Field, Pittsburgh PA
I apologize for being MIA for the past two weeks, I was visiting family in and around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and was able to grab a ton of new shots. I had the chance to spend an evening shooting dahntahn (pardon my Pittsburghese) with the very talented photographer Dave DiCello. We were treated to a great sunset over Heinz Field. After firing off several brackets from the Fort Duquesne Bridge, we continued to trek around town. Despite living in the area for 20+ years, this was the first time I really just walked around town. You’ll surely see more HDR images from our photowalk here soon, and I look forward to seeing what Dave shot as well!
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©2011 Zach Frailey, please do not use without permission.
