Alabama Morning
Click on the image to enlarge it in another window.
These images are from my trip down to Alabama a few weeks back. While exploring the countryside I came upon this old log building that has become a piece of Americana. The owner of the property is obviously into collecting old signs and old gas pumps. The sky was full of clouds that were remnants of a thunderstorm that went through the night before while off to the east the sun was breaking through and illuminating the cabin and the surrounding area. In the distance the sky and horizon were still dark and foreboding. The light was bright enough that I was able to handhold the shots and that allowed me to move quickly around the scene.
I processed this image using NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 for the merging of my three frame bracket set. My bracket set was -2, 0 and +2 EV. After I tone mapped the image I made some adjustments to vibrance and contrast in Aperture 3 and then I took the image into OnOne Perfect Effects 4 where I applied a vignette using the Big Softy preset.
Alabama Morning #3
Click on the image to enlarge it in another window.
This is another image from the same shoot. I loved the way the sun was lighting the buildings and the field around them while in the distance the horizon and sky were still dark. I followed the same basic procedure for processing this image as I did in the one above but I spent a little more time in OnOne Perfect Photo 7 playing around with Perfect Effects where I once again added the vignette using Big Softy preset as well as experimenting with some of the other adjustments that Perfect Effects has available.
Alabama Morning #4
Click on the image to enlarge it in another window.
In this image the sun went behind some clouds and it really softened the light. I shot a handheld three frame bracket at -2, 0 and +2 EV and merged them in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 before taking the merged image back into Aperture 3 for final processing. The change in the quality of the light creates an entirely different feel to the scene and I didn’t feel that Perfect Effects 4 would be of any benefit on this image so I finished it with Aperture 3.
