Results tagged “Louisiana” from Photography, writing and observations of our world

I have been learning and playing with many of the new features of Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended edition.  I must say, even after being a student and teacher of the program for 17 years, the software is just plain fun sometimes.  The original image on the left was actually shot in five exposures, hand held, the morning of August 11th, 2008. I have generated an HDR image with Photomatix, tweaked in Photoshop CS4 (Noiseware Professional and Lens Correction adjustments) and finally into Lightroom 2.1 for final adjustment of colors and black/white balance.  Then I exported it again to Photoshop and created a 3D later and came up with the image on the right and modified detail on the left.
 



The doors can be particularly interesting with their normally rectilinear detail.

Lastly I revisited an image of my hand gripping a large bamboo shoot on Avery Island.  With some 3D effects, I think I like it a bit more as the grip was tight and the urge to get out was large.

Today, I have been working on images again, and this time from the city that has inspired a lot of novels in the past and present, New Orleans.  I pasted through New Orleans last August on a fast trip from Georgia to Texas.  I had one evening and one morning to take photographs.  The image on the left of the cigar shop is a hand held HDR composition of five images, 1 EV apart from 1/15th/sec. to 1/250/sec at f/7.1, ISO 200, EF24-105mm f/4 IS mounted on a Canon 1Ds Mark III.  Precisely at +29° 57' 29.73" N, -90° 3' 55.27" W, at 9:05 a.m. on August 11, 2008.  I could spend weeks in this city taking photographs.

The one on the right is obviously from seven images in the same area.  For the technically inclined these RAW images were all shot hand held, and aligned in Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended as a "smart object" in the "stack mode".  Then the maximum filter was applied to the stack mode.  I love the contrast of the fellow walking in his dress whites against the vivid colors of the street.  It is a great city and a fabulous place for photography, I hope she stays afloat.  So much history is written on the walls of every building.  Interpretation is an endless journey down each alley.  The best of the city however was a late night visit to Cafe du Monde.  Truly some things never change.

Via Louisiana, Avery Island to be specific.  Skip the hot pepper sauce tour, it's just a non-event.  The garden/nature drive ($6.50 per person) is also not really worth it.  I felt like it was just a way to have the public pay for the landscaping of the owner's ground's around their private homes.  I think I saw one of them saying "yahoooooooo" screaming down the bayou water skiing around the alligators.  I could not wait to get out of the place.  Here is my best shot.  My self portrait grip says it all.  Let me out.