Veterans' Glass City Skyway southbound

[Dennis Bishop]

I-280 connects I-75 and the Ohio Turnpike, skirting much of the city of Toledo, Ohio. Along the way, it crosses the Maumee River, which soon empties into Lake Erie. Originally, a bascule bridge (one that needs to be raised to allow passage of large boats) intermittently held up traffic on the interstate. In 2001, construction was started on a higher cable-stayed bridge. Six years and $237 million later, it was completed. We probably go over that span eight or ten times a year, and I almost always have my iPhone at the ready. The photos usually aren't worth processing, but I keep shooting them, anyway.


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iPhone 5s, probably no auxiliary lens, ISO 32, f/2.2, 1/1900 second (+1/3 exposure compensation), car speed was probably about 55 or 60 mph

processing highlights

The border was started by stamping the entire layer stack. The resulting layer was then blurred to within an inch of its life, inverted, converted with a black & white adjustment layer, and adjusted in tones (brighter highlights and darker midtones) with a Levels layer.
I liked the added energy from the tilted column and, besides, didn't want to lose anything by rotating to straighten it. The part of the dashboard and hood of the car that showed in the lower left corner were taken care of with content aware fill.
One of the problems often associated with shooting through a car window is reflections. The sky on the near side of the column was affected by reflections and it was darker than I wanted so I added a Belle Fleur texture in Lighten blend mode, which took care of both issues. I also added some yellow to the lighter area above the median barrier.
Topaz Simplify, Alien Skin Snap Art, and Fractalius were each used on three layers.
For the sake of color harmony, the near car was changed from orange to red.
In an attempt to add some depth, the right side was lightened, desaturated, and blurred. Some zoom blur was added behind the red car.

[Kerry Perkins]

Love the illustrative look and the geometrical design of the image. The edge treatment of your processing really gives the image a graphic look. I like the muted color set and the blurring of the car works well to add depth. Nicely done, I like this one a lot.

[Nancy Bell]

Love everything you did with this, and blended so seamlessly! And the tilt is a great surprise element. Just one car?? You must have been lucky. As always, I appreciate your detailed explanations, and as always, would love to be standing over your shoulder to watch the process.

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Dinnis,

Greetings. Very cool shot and signature look. Can almost imagine one hand on the steering wheel with the other holding the camera out the window. ;-) The lines work very well. The red bleeding on to the bridge not so much for me. Thanks for posting.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Diane Miller]

Very cool! Great lines and treatment, and I love the angle!

Guess one could use the selfie camera and shot over the shoulder. If I experiment it will be in my driveway, though...

[Anita Bower]

I love these cable-stayed bridges. I remember seeing them in picture books I read to my son over 20 years ago. As you say, they are challenging to photograph from the car.

Your processing is excellent! Your technique works beautifully for this bridge, emphasizing the lines of the structure. I like the soft colors, especially the graduated color of the sky. I also like seeing the cables large and far apart on the left side, and smaller and closer on the right side.

The angle bothers me a bit, making me feel a little sea sick. I'm getting used to it.

[gary ellwein]

A masterful job of post processing. I particularly like the strong repeating lines and the tilt of the road. I'm with Michael relative to the faint red shadow associated with the car.