Off Season in the Marina | New Bern, NC
I caught this scene at the sun set on February 13 from the Bridgepointe Hotel and Marina in New Bern. The marina is not so busy in these off-season month, but will surely start to ‘heat up’ as the weather likewise does. I liked how the yacht and sailboat to the right filled the negative space opposite of the clouds and reflections to balance this photo out. It really leads the eye across the frame, which I like.
I bracketed three exposures for this scene, but standing on a floating dock, things didn’t line up very well. I auto-aligned the frames with Nik’s HDR Efex Pro (a program I actually use very little) and then masked the reflection on the boat’s window, the water and some of the clouds back in from the original layers.
The shot: Nikon D90, 18-105mm Nikkor VR lens, tripod held (while bobbing up and down on a floating dock). Nik HDR Efex for merging of three exposures, original layers masked back in using Photoshop CS4. Nik Color Efex and Viveza for finishing.
The Keystone | Heinz Field; Pittsburgh, PA
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Before I get started, I just realized this is my fourth straight Pittsburgh related photo post. This wasn’t planned at all, in fact I really would have preferred to break it up a little. It just turns out that I had such a successful time shooting this trip that I have a ton of new material to share. Hopefully you can use these images to get an idea of how great the city is, if you’ve never been there. It’s an amazing place, really!
Today’s photo, like the previous few, was shot during a morning photowalk with Dave DiCello of HDR Exposed Photography and Ben Beard of Ben Beard Photography. We ventured around the North Shore between the stadiums and downtown getting some predawn shots of the city before heading back toward Heinz Field and our cars. As we reached the stadium, we had a brief moment of clear sky and I was able to shoot a few brackets with my wide angle lens before the grey skies returned.
With the Steelers (hopeful) run to the Super Bowl this year set to begin with a Wild Card Playoff game in Denver against the Broncos and Tim Tebow on Sunday, I thought this was a perfect photo to share. If you’ve followed me for any time, you’re well aware of my allegiance to the Pittsburgh Steelers. If you’re with me, join me in saying “Go Steelers!”
The Shot: 3 exposure HDR. Nikon D90, 8mm Rokinon lens (f/16, 1/250sec, ISO 100). Tripod held, remote fired. Improted into Lightroom 3 for tweaking and JPEG conversion, tonemapped in Photomatix Pro, masked with three original exposures in Photoshop. Finished with some area-specific tweaks with Nik Color Efex.
©2012 Zach Frailey, Do not use without permission.
Weathering Storms | near Stonewall, NC
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This is the latest installment of my on-going ‘Abandoned NC’ project in which I am documenting rural abandonment primarily in Eastern NC. I came across this old boathouse near Stonewall, North Carolina. It’s hard to say how many storms this old structure has weathered over the years. I had seen it before but never had a chance to stop by and shoot it. I set out with the plan to add it to my project, but on the way it donned on me that it may not even be there anymore being that it is located in an area that was heavily impacted by Hurricane Irene in the summer. But, as I turned the corner, there she was. Standing there the same as always. It is amazing to me that things can sometimes be discarded as ‘useless’ or ‘junk’ but survive long beyond anyone’s expectations. That’s the essence of what I’m hoping to capture in this series; before these structures actually do succumb to Mother Nature, as they are certain to do someday.
Check out the series so far at: http://uprootedphotographer.500px.com/abandonednc/
The shot: Nikon D90, 18-105 VR lens. f/16, ISO 200. 3 exposures, merged in Nik HDR Efex Pro and finished in Photoshop CS4.
Underbelly | Surf City, North Carolina
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I recently took a day trip to Wilmington, NC and back up the coast with a friend, Joe Sadlo of Silverstream Photography. We stopped off at a couple of beaches including this one, at Surf City. The Surf City Pier is one of the more narrow ocean piers that I’ve been to and judging by the broken off pillars sticking out of the sand, it’s been through a little hurricane damage over the years.
If you couldn’t tell by the amount of them I shoot, piers are one of my favorite things to shoot in HDR. I used my 8mm lens for this one and the extreme wide angle really makes this pier look like it goes on forever! The purple sunset sky was really nice on this cloudy evening and I wanted to really be sure not to screw up the sky. I did a lot of layer masking to retain the detail and realism there.
The Shot: Nikon D90, 8mm Rokinon lens. Tripod held, remote fired. 3 exposures, merged in Photomatix, tonemapped file masked with the 3 original exposures in Photoshop. A little touch of Nik Color Efex Pro and an Unsharp Mask to finish.
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‘Surf City Sunset’ | Surf City, North Carolina
This cloudy sunset was shot with the new 8mm lens (which if you haven’t picked up on yet, I love). The lens really makes the Surf City Pier elongate and appear to just fade off into the horizon. I think the real star of this shot though are the linear components. I love how the contrails in the sky almost perfectly run parallel with the pier and both they and the pier seem to disappear at the same point.
Also, I haven’t said much about it, but I’m currently (like, quite literally right now) working on my book, ‘Sky Chasing, vol. 1’ This image is going to be the cover! I really hope to have it finished within the next day or two. I’ll keep everyone posted though. Thanks for all the support and patience.
The shot: Nikon D90, Rokinon 8mm lens, tripod held and remote fired. 3 exposures, tonemapped in Photomatix and manually masked back with the 3 original exposures. Finished with Nik Viveza and a slight Glamour Glow filter in Nik Color Efex Pro.
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