Chadwick Lead Works
Chadwick Lead Works 5-frame panorama
This building, in the heart of downtown Boston amidst very modern skyscrapers, was once the home of Chadwick Lead Works (obviously). Given that it was built in 1887 it was amazing (and rather charming) to see it standing in a modern downtown area.
This shot is a panoramic stitch of five frames taken from the sidewalk across the street. I would shoot one frame then move down the sidewalk a bit to take the next shot. Having been stitched from several frames you can zoom in and see quite a bit of detail (click the image to get to flickr where you can view the larger size).
St. John’s Chapel, Tower of London
St. John's Chapel, Tower of London
There’s something amazing about a building which is still standing after nearly 1000 years. This is St. John’s Chapel in the White Tower…in the Tower of London. This image is from 3 handheld exposures — part HDR, part composite. The dynamic range was extreme here with the dark shadows and the bright light streaming in the windows.
Seattle Skyline Snapshot
Moody Skies In Seattle 50mm, f/1.4, 1/4000s, ISO 200 – Click to view larger on Flickr
“If you own a house which faces west on an island in the Indian Ocean and your youngest sibling is left-handed and your primary vehicle is white, then subtract line 21 from line 13, multiply by 0.285, subtract your latitude and longitude and enter the result on line 85.” What’s that got to do with anything? I just did my income taxes and it seems like half the directions are as nonsensical as the one above. So, I’m just venting…our tax code is too complex and MESSED UP. It doesn’t matter what political party affiliation you claim, whether you think the system is fair or unfair, or you think the rich should pay more or less — I don’t see how anyone could disagree that it’s a mess. Solutions? I don’t get into those kinds of debates online 🙂
In a previous post I showed a bokeh panorama (or “bokehrama”) from the same place the above picture was taken. The one above was a quick snapshot as we packed up to get out of the rain. I hadn’t planned on doing much with it but as I continued to see it among my photos it grew on me — I like the overall gloomy mood contrasted with the random colors of the skyscraper windows for example. Having a bit of detail and drama in the clouds helps too and I don’t think I would like it as much if the skies had been a flat gray.
This image is from a single frame captured with a 50mm lens. You may note the odd settings used — not typical for a landscape shot. The fact of the matter is that I had just used roughly the same settings for the panorama I linked to above. For this skyline image I sped up the shutter one stop with a flick of the dial (didn’t need quite the length of exposure that I needed for my daughter’s dark skin) and snapped this quickly so we could get going. Something like f/8 would’ve been sharper, etc. but there was no time to worry about that stuff. I cropped to a more panoramic aspect ratio (and cropped out another visitor to the park who was in the left side of my frame) then processed mainly with a bunch of curves and masks to selectively adjust contrast. I tweaked the white balance a bit to move from a completely black and white cast toward having a wee bit of warmth.
Texas One And Indivisible
Texas One And Indivisible 17mm, f/14, ISO 200, 6 exp
Some of my friends are involved in “HDR Tennis” where one of them posts a set of bracketed shots and they all process them in their own way. Once the processed HDRs are posted the public can vote on their favorites. All that to say that when the latest HDR Tennis brackets were posted — from the interior of the Texas Capitol building — it reminded me of some bracketed shots I had yet to process.
On the same night I took these shots, I walked inside the Capitol and grabbed some shots inside. The building is beautiful and one could spend weeks taking a range of pictures from the standard rotunda images to abstracts of fancy railings, floors, windows, door knobs and hinges. I took a few bracketed sets that I hadn’t done before then had to run off to pick up my daughters nearby.
Both images were processed from 6 exposures in Nik HDR Efex Pro. Minor tweaks were done in Lightroom after that.
Texas Capitol Extension 17mm, f/8, ISO 100, 6 exp
A Mysterious Door
The Mysterious Door 10mm, f/3.5, 1/90s
There’s something mysterious behind that door. Through the translucent window it appears that someone is going to pop out at any moment. Or maybe there’s a crime being committed — it’s a perfect doorway in which to film a Hollywood crime scene.
This photo was taken last spring in Paris in the general area of Rue Cler (I can’t remember exactly where except that it was between Rue Cler and Champ de Mars). On every street there were very cool doorways like this and I could have filled an entire memory card with pics of them. Add a model to this scene and you could do an entire photoshoot. The architecture in Paris was absolutely amazing. Ranging from huge structures like the Louvre to “simple” doorways like this there is seemingly no end to these displays of design and craftsmanship. So cool.
Processing of this image was very simple — basic curves adjustment, slight vignette, clarity, and vibrance adjustment — all done in Lightroom.
Michael Tuuk Photography 