Grain Bins – Dixonville, Alberta 1
Grain Bins – Dixonville, Alberta 2
Grain Truck Box – Manning, Alberta 1
Grain Truck Box – Manning, Alberta 2
Grain Truck Box – Manning, Alberta 3
Grain Truck Cab – Manning, Alberta 1
Grain Truck Cab – Manning, Alberta 2
Mercury Grain Truck – Manning, Alberta 1
Mercury Grain Truck – Manning, Alberta 2
Mercury Grain Truck – Manning, Alberta 3
Mercury Grain Truck Badge – Manning, Alberta 1
Mercury Grain Truck Badge – Manning, Alberta 2
Mercury Grain Truck Badge – Manning, Alberta 3
Mercury Grain Truck Badge – Manning, Alberta 4
Images this morning are from a farming community in the region that lies between Manning, Dixonville and Blue Sky, Alberta. Grain bins done in HDR with swirling, heavy clouds above and a set of HDR photos of an early fifties grain truck at the pioneer museum minutes north of Manning.
Listening to the Candid Frame – an interview of Niel and Susan Silverman, a husband and wife photographer duo who provide photography workshops around the world; also, Sheryl Crow’s ‘Riverwide,’ U2’s ‘Wire’ and ‘Promenade,’ Roxy Music’s ‘India’ and Christine by Siouxsie & the Banshees.
Quote to Inspire – “On the odd days Auto Tone gets it right I assume it’s using some kind of voodoo.” ― David duChemin, Vision & Voice: Refining Your Vision in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom
In My Back Pocket - Photography 
Looks like some mighty angry clouds out there.
Hey there, Maralee:
Swirling heavy clouds are being blown around towards downpour … not quite the tempest of a funnel cloud but you might wonder what’s next. In early July we drove through a Tornado watch zone between Grande Prairie and Valleyview, Alberta. For now, August cools the north and becomes more and more like the mountain weather of the Crow’s Nest Pass in Southern Alberta.
Thanks for looking in … 🙂
impressive! Can I ask what made you use HDR? Was it that this image just seemed to call for it? Do you just like it? (I’ve not used it before)
Hi LB (also noting Lumens Borealis has the same initials … interesting):
What made me use HDR?
Two influences promoted HDR use – first, as a Canon shooter, I had seen images and read through brief descriptions of HDR process in Britain’s PhotoPlus Magazine, a non-Canon, Canon user do-it-yourself magazine (the same publishing house has another magazine for Nikon); I had seen what could be done in HDR, there. The second influence and encouragement came from Maciek Sokulski in response to podcast discussion – Shutter Time with Sid and Mac podcast – and some e-mails to Mac. His encouragement got me started on the Photomatix HDR program. From there, Mac’s advice on ease of use led me to NiK Software and HDR Efex which I run through Adobe Lightroom.
HDR – images calling for it versus liking it. My workflow tends to be more about investigation or exploration within editing. I can tell what should produce a tolerably good HDR shot. I suppose the answer, here, is that I like images that are crisp and have depth. Out of the shots, here, the ones that I’m most liking for depth are the Mercury grill work.
Intended Use – High Dynamic Range is intended for use when a huge difference exists between darker and lighter parts of the image to be exposed. For instance, when you have a sunset that’s bright and your foreground becomes dark (almost in silhouette) HDR can help expose and add depth to the darker part of the image (it’s about seeing more of what the human eye sees); it’s the sort of thing that the first two images of the grain bins grab and allow you to have the darker, swirling clouds. HDR also allows textures and depth to stand out on the Mercury grill work because it allows you to show a little more of what’s within shadows. On the box of the grain truck, HDR allows me to expose the sun lit side and the shadow side – had I used a greater number of exposures for the HDR I could have picked up more detail on the shadowed side. Many photographers use HDR for sunset skies and cloud work to expose for detail and depth. It’s a technique that needs to be done from a tripod because you’re combining three or more images, successively taken at one stop down, regular and one stop up (automatic exposure bracketing).
‘Your’ photos are ones that are beautifully exposed and work; HDR can help you expose in high contrast situations or simply enhance depth within a photograph.
Some intentions I’d have here are to take workshops on HDR with any of Trey Ratcliff, Jay and Varina Patel or Maciek and Kasia Sokulski. Jay Patel did an extraordinary HDR sunset image of cumulus clouds reflected in a lake among Jasper’s mountains within the last month. Jay is someone who researches and plans location towards technical success – something I’d like to emulate (perhaps by way of a workshop with him). He’s done an excellent interview with Ibarionex Perello on the Candid Frame podcast (perhaps in July 2012 if you’re looking for it).
I hope you’re going to enjoy your Saturday.
Take care. 😉
Interesting about the draw to HDR, I’ve updated the software on my Canon now and am about to try it out on some landscape shots locally. Waiting for family too clear the area and get back to normal life. I like the truck bed pictures, but find the lamp distracting in your composition, the rust detail is really marked out and I think that makes the shot.
Those Mercury badges look great, my urge is to crop in really tight and just give an idea of car badge. Almost but not quite lost.
Jim
Hey Jim:
Glad to here that HDR may be on the horizon. I am totally with you regarding the lamp distraction – it’s the make-do element of farming in the region; the images holds true to the farmer, farming and what was observed … preserving quirky character. It reminds of Tragically Hip’s coining the phrase ‘as makeshift as we are’ – that’s some of what the photo’s about (beauty disrupted).
The Mercury badges – that’s totally about the badge and orientation upon the vehicle …. I’ll have a look through and see what can happen.
Take care … 😉