I saw this jacket hanging in an open doorway to a small winery along the coast of Oregon on our trip. The worn and dirty look to the jacket spoke to me. Along the cooler coast – jackets are almost an everyday item – and this jacket had seen hours of use judging by the weathered look. And I liked the fact that a jean jacket was the ‘uniform.’ Nothing corporate about this winery – it was a small, personal operation and that jacket expressed that.
The light coming into the room from the open door was not as strong as the light coming through the skylights, so I knew I’d be better off doing three exposures to bring out all the details I wanted, planning to run it through an HDR process later. As a member of Team Nik, I’ve had access to the beta version their newest software app – HDR Efex Pro – and so I processed this series through that software. I’m very pleased with what it can do! I can’t divulge a lot of details about the program at this point, but the program is shaping up to be a very useful application. It uses NIK’s same user-friendly interface as all their other programs, and the possibilities for processing are very flexible and customizable. It’s going to be terrific when it’s released.
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Coats protect us from the elements, give us warmth, or serve as important identifiers in the military or worship (in the case of your black and white photo of the three ku klux klan looking coats on a rack). Nobody ever bothers photographing them off our bodies tho. Black and white, religion, ultra
clean and pure, no grey area for morals. Worn leather jacket, hard work, functional, barrels of wine like children growing and developing needing the years of hard work the wearer of the jacket put in. It’s original, Its beautiful, its mysterious, its thought provoking. You don’t stop there either, you give the coat personality elevating the photo to another level of genius. They’re complicated visual metaphors captured in a single frame that resonate. I still can’t figure out how you do it. I want to hug this coat is the best way I can describe how I feel.
Wow, Kalani – so very eloquently put into words here! I like that you want to ‘hug’ this coat. That says volumes just in that sentence. Thanks for visiting.
That is a wonderful image – your photos tend to be comfortable somehow, they’re done just right, the color and light perfectly balanced.
I use Photomatix for my HDR and I’m still learning, but I do like Nik software and will probably try it out. I like that you use it the way it’s intended, to enhance a photo realistically, as opposed to overcooking the image. Don’t get me wrong, I think enhancing a photo to some sort of surreal realm has it’s place, but it seems most people are using HDR software specifically for that, and much of the time it doesn’t work.
Wish I could come up to Telluride this weekend – but, other commitments…
Thanks,
John
I agree John – HDR’s surreal effect has it’s place, for sure and even I like to go there with an image that seems right for it. I think that’s the key – an image that seems to support the look…
thanks!
A wonderful image, Brenda. Excellently processed as well. Somehow there’s a comfortable atmosphere to the photo (can’t really explain it, but that’s how it feels). Obviously, the colors are perfectly matched. Love it. I’m really looking forward to trying out Nik’s HDR program when it is released next month.
Thanks, Marianne – I like that word, comfortable – yes, that’s what I was feeling – an old jacket is just that, too – comfortable, broken in by the wearer, taking on their form/shape, at times.
Very nice image Brenda! I’ve seen a lot of HDR that I don’t like. It may be “more real” but ends up looking very fake. Perhaps it is just we are accustomed to what we normally see in a traditional image, or perhaps the HDR software just messes with the image in an unfortunate way. I’m not sure the real answer.
Hi Walter – it takes a fine eye for details and the processor has to ask the question – does it look real to the brain/eye in order to get it just right. I find that if I am looking at a picture and saying ‘did they use HDR’ then the effect is perhaps a tiny bit too strong for a realistic effect. Surreal effects are another story – where you might want that illustrative look – but many nature/landscapes don’t work. It takes a certain subject, I believe.