Archive for the ‘Michigan’ Category

« Older Entries
Aug
09
2011

Catamaran at Dusk

And the sea will grant each man new hope . . . his sleep brings dreams of home.

- Christopher Columbus
Catamaran at DuskCatamaran at Dusk

Learning to Sail

There is something very romantic about sailing. The graceful lines of the boat, the subtle murmur of the wake, man and nature in harmony. I had the good fortune of taking a cat-rigged scow out on a Northern Michigan lake a few weeks past.

It was great fun!

This photo is of a catamaran, not the boat I sailed, but beautiful nonetheless, the only question is, who would name a sailboat “Frantic”?

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Michigan | 4 Comments »

Jul
30
2011

Drawbridge at Midnight

Drawbridge at MidnightDrawbridge at Midnight – View in Gallery

None Shall Pass!

Stark, austere, industrial. This black and white photo of the St. Joseph bridge reminds me of a vintage 1950s picture.

I took this in the fall of 2010.

I don’t really remember how I got this photo without a ship in the shot as well. Normally they lower the bridge pretty quickly to avoid further disruptions to traffic flow, however since this was later at night, maybe the bridge operator was a bit slower at the switch.

This was of course originally taken in colour, but I thought that the black and white version provided a better feel.

Shades of Gray

One of my connections on twitter gave me some good feedback on my Drawbridge photo. I asked her if she wanted to see the colour version, and she said she did. So in addition to the “original” black and white version, I’ve added a colour version, and a sepia version.

Which do you like best?

Let me know in the comments section!

Drawbridge at Midnight (Sepia)Drawbridge at Midnight (Black & White)Drawbridge at Midnight (Color)

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in HDR, Michigan | 3 Comments »

Jul
24
2011

The Legend Lives On

The Legend Lives OnThe Legend Lives On

Harley-Davidson Motorcycles

I was journeying up to Northern Michigan a few days back, and came across this motorcycle at a scenic overlook.

Although I didn’t want to get beat up by a biker, I snapped a few shots.

You might notice the small sunbursts on the bike. I took this photo with my 80-200mm and it naturally creates these effects if the sun is bright enough and reflected off something shiny.

As a rule, I don’t photoshop in things that weren’t there.

Post-Processing

Of course that isn’t to say I don’t do post-processing.

This photo is a pseudo HDR, just one RAW image that has been tonemapped in Photomatix, as opposed to 3 or more.

I pulled the tonemapped file into photoshop and duplicated the original, full color layer.

I then applied a sepia filter on one of the duplicate layers and created a layer mask to bring back the blue highlights on the bike from the color-retained layer.

I’m happy with how it turned out and I think the processing makes the photo more interesting and Harley-Davidson “Legend-esque”.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Michigan | 6 Comments »

« Older Entries