Today’s post is from the East Liberty area of Pittsburgh. The larger tower in the background is the amazing East Liberty Presbyterian Church. In the foreground are the new Fairfield Apartments. I liked the new/old contrast of the photo.
To view a larger version, click HERE
Don’t forget to check out my photo galleries. I recently updated them.
A few weeks ago, Brad and I conducted a photo walk around the Heinz Lofts. This complex is in the Troy Hill area of Pittsburgh. The Heinz Lofts consists of 5 H. J. Heinz Company buildings that were constructed from 1913 to 1927. The buildings were converted into apartments about a decade ago. Prior to the conversion, Heinz used them for the food processing plant.
To purchase a print or view the entire gallery, click the photo above.
The Pennsylvania Building was built in 1900 as the Pennsylvania Union Station Depot with 10,000 passengers per day passing through the station. Today it is an elegant apartment building with office spaces, spa, beauty shop, and other businesses. I haven’t been on the inside of this beautiful facility, but I can tell you it is amazing from the outside….as I think you can see. This HDR picture was taken about two weeks ago at around 8pm. Photo’s specs:
Nikon D800
7 Exposure brackets (0, +3, -3)
14-24mm 2.8f lens
Long exposures…some as long as 20 seconds.
HDR image created in Photomatix Pro and tweaked in Photoshop CS6
Visitors: MJ and I had a nice (sort of surprise) visit with Rodney and Angel M. last Saturday. They were going to be driving from Michigan to Virginia to pick up their son. They didn’t know if they would stop to see us and we were going to play it by ear because they were not sure of their schedule. In the end, they stopped by and we had a great visit catching up on family, travel, old friends and camera talk. We really enjoyed the visit and I appreciate the fact they drove out of their way to see us.
Pennsylvanian Building
Over the last two years, when discussing my photography with friends, family, coworkers and strangers a few questions seem to come up over and over. They usually want to know:
* What is HDR?
* Why I like HDR?
* How is HDR photography created?
So I thought I would answer these three questions via installments, starting with the question of, why do I like HDR?
I realize some people don’t like HDR photographs. Believe me, many people have told me this over time. Some people just hate it. Most of these people are polite about it, while others are more blunt, but there is a specific segment of the population who don’t like it. Their main reason for disliking it seems to be around the fact that they don’t look like traditional photographs. I get that and understand the appeal of traditional images. And frankly, some people just don’t like change.
The vast majority of the people who look at my photos give me very nice feedback. I think HDR photographs draw you in with their vivid colors, intense details, high contrast, and warm feel. There is just something about a great HDR photograph that catches my eye and draws me in that a normal photography of the same subject doesn’t typically do. Like all types of photography, there can be terrible HDR pictures and I’ve created my share of them. HDR photography like anything else takes practice before you get to a point where the pictures are consistently good. I don’t always create great HDR images, but I think I create pretty good pictures on a consistent basis.
Below you can see two “Before & After” pictures (and their final full HDR versions). The left side of each picture is the original photograph and the right side is the final processed HDR picture. In both examples, I think the HDR version is a much more interesting image with more detail in both the light and dark areas of the photographs. Of course, that is just my opinion. Some people love Black and White photography. They specialize in that form photography. Some photographers will focus on fashion photography. In the end, it comes down to the photographer’s personal style and what type of photography keeps them interested. For me, HDR, Underwater, and Sports photography keep me excited about the art of photography.
Baltimore Harbor - Before & After HDR Processing
Full HDR version of Baltimore Harbor
Roberto Clemente Bridge in Pittsburgh - Before & After HDR processing
Full HDR version of Roberto Clemente Bridge in Pittsburgh
