Sunday, May 20, 2012

Greenville Garden HDR

Greenville Garden at the Falls

Finally able to work on this image I took a few months ago. Here's another workflow... 

WorkFlow

  1. Photomatix Pro (Custom Setting)
  2. Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 Duplicated a layer
  3. Topaz DeNoise
  4. Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 Duplicated a layer
  5. Adjust 5 "Simple Pop"
  6. Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 Duplicated a layer
  7. Topaz Simplify "BuzSim" - Custom adjusted 
  8. Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 Duplicated a layer
  9. Color Efex Pro 3.0-Complete applied "Soft focus II" - Custom adjusted
  10. Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 Cropped the top of the image to get rid of buildings
  11. Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 Applied a blank a layer 
  12. Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 Watermark Bar
  13. Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 Watermark Signature 

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Local Propaganda Plug & Play

Robb Underwood -Local Propaganda
Got a chance to listen to a great band (Local Propaganda) play last night at the Fox's Lair in Augusta, Ga. Took this w/ my iPhone 4S. Check out Robb's Blog -The Unsung Songwriter where he's posting a new song every week! If you ever get a chance to see these guys play, do yourself a favor and go! 

Image WorkFlow
  1. iPhone 4S (Camera+ App) 
  2. Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 (PSE10) - Duplicate Layer
  3. Topaz DeNoise - Medium Jpeg -Apply
  4. PSE10 - Duplicate Layer
  5. Topaz Adjust 5 - (Detail Medium)
  6. PSE10 - Duplicate Layer
  7. Topaz BW Effects - Low Contrast I Vignette 
  8. PSE10 - Decreased BW Layer to 75% 
  9. PSE10 - Created a blank Layer for bar
  10. PSE10 - Created a blank Layer for Text
  11. PSE10 - Created a blank Layer for Watermark ~ On the Guitar :-)
  12. PSE10 - Saved as Max size Jpeg 10

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Greenville Falls

Greenville Falls
High Dynamic Range (HDR) image of downtown Greenville, SC. I don't often to afternoon HDR but the clouds and surroundings actually worked toward my advantage. Thanks for looking!
Workflow: 3 exposure (-2...0...+2) > Photomatix Pro (Custom set express not tone-mapped) > Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 > Topaz DeNoise(Jepg Strong) > Adjust 5

Aiken Train Depot & Welcome Center

Aiken Train Depot & Welcome Center
The Aiken Train Depot (Aiken, SC). Took this image while we taught an HDR class. This is an HDR image of the Train Depot as the sun began to peek over the tree tops.
Workflow: 3 exposure (-2...0...+2) > Photomatix Pro (Custom set express not tone-mapped) > Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 > Topaz DeNoise(Jepg Strong) > Adjust 5

Saturday, May 12, 2012

HDR Field Trip: Aiken Railroad Depot

Aiken Depot Railroad Cross (Express)
Aiken, SC Railroad Depot RR Crossing sign in HDR

Workflow: 3 exposure (-2...0...+2) > Photomatix Pro (Express Custom Setting NOT Tone-mapped) > Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 (created a layer) > Topaz DeNoise(Jepg Strong)> Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 (Watermarking & Saved as Jpg.)
While helping my father-in-law teach an High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography class, I was able to capture a few images myself. We decided to get to the Aiken Train Depot early to take advantage of the low light desired for HDR. As we were about to wrap up, I shot this image as the sun began peeking through the trees.

Note the "Rule of Thirds" in full effect here... as is a nice little sun burst through the tree limbs/leaves. I like the image so much initially after the HDR, I didn't do much post processing. The above image is how it came out of Photomatix Pro. Below, are the two of the same image that I took a little further in the post-processing just to see what I could get. I am pretty happy with all of them and wanted to share a little of my workflow on how they came to be. 


Aiken Depot Railroad Cross (BuzVersion)
Aiken, SC Railroad Depot RR Crossing sign in HDR
Workflow: 3 exposure (-2...0...+2) > Photomatix Pro (Express Custom Setting NOT Tone-mapped) > Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 (created a duplicate layer) > Topaz DeNoise(Jepg Strong) >Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 (Created duplicate layer) > Topaz Simplify 3 (BuzSim Custom) > Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 (Watermarking & Saved as Jpg.)

Aiken Depot Railroad Cross (NikVersion)
Aiken, SC Railroad Depot RR Crossing sign in HDR
Workflow: 3 exposure (-2...0...+2) > Photomatix Pro (Express Custom Setting NOT Tone-mapped) > Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 (created a duplicate layer) > Topaz DeNoise(Jepg Strong) >Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 (Created duplicate layer) > Nik Color Efex Pro 4 (Paper-toner) > Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 (Watermarking & Saved as Jpg.)

If you have any questions, feel free to ask or hit me up on Twitter @Batteman87
Thanks for looking!

Be Great,
Jimmy Batte

Monday, May 7, 2012

Photomatix Pro 4.2 Available

Photmatix Pro HDR on my John Deere D100

HDRsoft's great software Photomatix Pro has updated over the weekend. Below are a list of updates and a download link for both Mac and Windows. Don't forget to use my name JimmyBatte at checkout to save some $!  If you're looking to get into High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography... this is a staple!

Update log
30-Apr-12 - Updated in v4.2
Main new features in v4.2
-Display options for preset thumbnails: View at a larger size or in two columns, and filtering built-in presets by category.
-Simplified size options on Preview dialog: Size ratio mechanism replaced by magnifier icons for zooming in or out at 20% increments.
-"Finishing Touch" palette for post-processing a tonemapped or fused image: Options for increasing contrast, adjusting the saturation of individual colors, and sharpening.
-Addition of 20 built-in presets.
-New fusion method designed to produce natural-looking rendering of interiors with bright windows. This method is called Fusion/Realistic and is only accessible in batch mode. Note that Fusion/Realistic requires much longer processing times than the other methods.
-Transfer of all EXIF metadata in the source photos to the tonemapped or fused image.
Other updates in v4.2
-Option to import presets. The option is accessible from the Preset Category combo-box when the "My Presets" tab is selected.
-Changes in the Details Enhancer algorithm aimed at addressing the issue of difference between the preview and final image that may occur in some cases.
-Custom presets can now be organized in groups. Presets belonging to a group are listed under a sub-menu of the Preset combo-box list of the Setting Adjustments dialog, as well as on the Preset Category combo-box of the Preset Thumbnails panel when the "My Presets" tab is selected.
-Option in Batch of Bracketed Photos for reducing the size of the output files, and adding contrast and sharpening.
-Added support for Raw files from the Canon S100, 5D Mark III and G1 X, Nikon D4 and D800, Panasonic GX1, Fuji X10 and Sony NEX-7.
-Various small improvements to the dialog for entering EVs that is showing when the source photos do not contain exif metadata or when one or more exposures are the same. In the latter case, the dialog now lists the exposure information read from the EXIF metadata.
-Option in Batch Single Photos for adding a suffix to the output file name.
-In Naming Options of Batch Bracketed Photos, ability to only use the name of the first file in the bracketed set to compose the file name of the combined image.
-Added support of undo and redo keys (cmd+Z/cmd+shift+Z) to Setting Adjustments window as shortcut to the "Undo" and "Redo" buttons.
-File created in batch mode is automatically renamed if a file with the same file name already exists.
-Ability to open saved image in another application now also available when saving a 32-bit HDR file.
-Added detection of DNG files saved with Fast Load Data option, returning an error message when loading them instead of processing incorrectly.
-Option in Preferences to save EXR files without Mac OS X Image I/O framework in order to avoid normalizing the floating point values before writing them.
-Made watermark removal accessible to licensed users of Photomatix Essentials and Photomatix HDR Plug-In for Aperture.
-Bug fixed: Memory leak when the "Show intermediary 32-bit image" box is checked.
-Bug fixed: Clicking on the "Preview sample..." button of the White Balance setting section of the Preprocessing dialog prompted to a directory other than the directory of the loaded bracketed Raw files.
-Bug fixed: Histogram did not refresh when coming back to the tonemapped/fused preview image by unchecking the 'Preview' box.


 use coupon code
JimmyBatte 




Workflow for John Deere D100: 3 exposure HDR (-2...0...+2) > Photomatix Pro (Custom set) > Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 > Topaz DeNoise(Jepg Strong) > Topaz Simplify 3 (BuzSim).

Saturday, May 5, 2012

36 Week Maternity Shots

My beautiful wife Lauren 36 weeks pregnant with Millie Grace Batte
Photo taken at Redcliffe Plantation, (Beech Island) Aiken SC.
Went out to get a few more maternity shots before Millie Grace makes her appearance. The baby photos will be starting soon I'm sure.  Will post more as I get a chance to work on them. Also have an exciting project I'm working on that I hope I get a chance to announce soon. Thanks for looking!

Work Flow

  1. Opened image in Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 (PSE10)
  2. Duplicated layer in PSE10
  3. Ran Topaz DeNoise filter (Strong)
  4. Duplicated Layer in PSE10
  5. Ran Color Efex Pro 3.0-Complete (Custom Glamour Glow setting)
  6. Added a blank layer for custom water mark I created in PSE10