Veteran's Glass City Skyway northbound

[Dennis Bishop]

This was taken on the return trip four days later with a much different sky and a different lens. The result was a whole different look.





iPhone 5s, ISO 32, 1/6000 second (+1/3 EV), iPro Super Wide Angle auxiliary lens, PureShot camera app, car speed about 55 or 60 mph (I wasn't driving!!!)

processing highlights

• An HDR was made by using Adobe Camera Raw to add exposures of plus and minus two EV to the single shot taken at this location.
• The wide angle lens caused some distortion and included a good bit of the dashboard in the field of view. When I used Warp mode to remove the distortion in the tower, it seemed like a good idea to increase the distortion along both vertical edges and to let the dashboard play a role (more curves for added interest and to guide the eye) in the image instead of removing it.
• Topaz Simplify, Alien Skin Snap Art, and Fractalius were all used in three layers with an orange Photo Filter adjustment layer somewhere among them to warm the image.
• The second and third layers of both Simplify and Snap Art were black lines on a white background in Multiply and Divide blend modes for black and white lines. The white ones were used in the sky and where the sun lit the tops of the lower cables.

[Judy Howle]

That is a very striking image! The distortion is very cool! (One of these days I'm getting a fisheye for my Oly E-M1.) Your filter work is outstanding, as always. Oh, and I love the clouds, they really make the image pop!

[Anita Bower]

Love this image! Beautiful processing as always. Crisp look. The distortion is excellent--works well with this subject.
What do you mean that an HDR was made in Adobe Raw? Did you take the same photo and create a darker and a lighter version and then blend them in HDR software?

[Nancy Bell]

This makes me feel like I'm on a roller-coaster with the tilted & distorted elements - great processing with such a visceral effect!

[Dennis Bishop]

. . . What do you mean that an HDR was made in Adobe Raw? Did you take the same photo and create a darker and a lighter version and then blend them in HDR software?

Exactly, Anita. Way back when, I first convinced myself it made sense (for me, at least) to do HDRs when I took a single image that looked okay, made a couple exposure variations in Adobe Camera Raw, and processed them in HDR software to get a better histogram. The difference after what, otherwise, was the same processing was greater than I'd expected. Now, I still use that method if I can only get a single shot for one reason or another (generally relative motion) or if I didn't extend my bracketing far enough in the camera.

[Mitch Carucci]

Dynamic image. Wonderful composition & flow! (Great effects as always).

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Dennis,

Greetings. Very cool. Love the dashboard and the reflections off the windshield. Only the curvy bit near the very top left with the bright bg is just less than optimal for me. That whispy lamppost is also very cool. Thanks for posting.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Dennis Bishop]

. . . Only the curvy bit near the very top left with the bright bg is just less than optimal for me. That whispy lamppost is also very cool. . . .

That's the part that bothered me the most. The sun was shining through there, so the whites were clipped and the cables weren't really visible. There was no fixing it by bracketed exposures in Adobe Camera Raw. I used the Patch tool with Content Aware to get this. It could be that I gave up too easily. I think I'll go back and try something different.

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Dennis, you could probably find something to clone along those cables.

Cheers,

-Michael-