Sunday, December 20, 2009

Night Shooting

I recently joined the Twin Cities Photography and Photoshop Group, a MeetUp Group ( www.tcphotogroup). One of their recent MeetUps was night shooting along St. Paul's Smith Avenue Bridge. I was joined by around 12 other photographers for a fun 1 hour shoot. The weather was seasonal, in the high teens with little or no wind, so it was pretty comfortable. The only issue was cold feet, the result of wearing the wrong shoes.

Be sure to click on each image to enlarge it and see the detail.

The first view, taken from the middle traffic island, was a combination of 4 different files layered together.


Because it was next to impossible to get headlights and taillights streaking through the image at the same moment, I layered two separate images together (1 and 2 above). I took the taillight elements and part of the street and layered them onto the base image (4). I also layered in an exposure of the street lights (3) so they wouldn't look so blown out.


Finally, to give the image a twist, I processed it through OnOne's ® PhotoTools ® plug-in. I used a combination of the Moulin Rouge effect and a Watercolor overlay to give it a more romantic feeling.


The next image, a view taken from the side of the bridge, involved using 3 images, shot at 2 stops apart, and combined using Fusion in Photomatix Pro ®.


I used a combination of On One's ® PhotoTools® Watercolor and Crayon to add a more painterly effect to this image.


The following shot, of the St. Paul skyline, involved two processes. The first, HDR (High Dynamic Range), involved taking three different exposures, AEB (auto exposure bracketed) at 2 stops apart, with the camera set at ISO 400 and f/8. The base exposure was at 2 seconds, followed by 1/2 second, and the third at 8 seconds. A panoramic tripod head was used to shoot 4 separate views across the horizon for a total of 12 files used to complete the image.

Each set of 3 images was tonemapped using Photomatix Pro® and further enhanced using Nik Color Efex Pro 3.0®.



For more information,
  • www.stevesilvermanimaging.com

  • 4445 W. 77th St. #130
    Edina, MN 55435
    952-844-0119 c952-905-1197
    steve@stevesilvermanimaging.com

    1 comment:

    Unknown said...

    Very similar to something I did, however my shot also included the cathedral. The sky in yours looks much better though.