Eckley Miners' Village -- company houses

[Dennis Bishop]

The original town of Eckley was laid out by the coal company with a progression from the owners' houses on the west end to the houses of the second-class miners and slate pickers on the far eastern end. The houses rented to the miners were sided with native hemlock and were painted red with black or white trim because those were the cheapest pigments. Later houses (built after 1874) were apparently unpainted. This view is looking eastward near the poor end of town.





Nikon D3s, ISO 400, f/22, -1 exposure compensation, 9-exposure HDR at 1 EV intervals, zoom lens at 48mm

processing highlights

• Much to my surprise, I decided it looked better with the photos flipped horizontally.
• Especially in the shadows, there was a strong blue cast, so a Warming 85 Photo Filter adjustment layer was applied to everything but the sky.
• Topaz Simplify -- saved watercolor preset, masked
• Alien Skin Snap Art -- saved watercolor wash preset, Hard Light blend mode
• Field Blur was applied to the more distant parts of the scene.
• Silver Efex -- reduced opacity, masked or partially masked from the red houses
• Fractalius -- three saved black & white presets; Multiply, Divide, and Multiply; various opacities
• Simplify and Snap Art -- saved black & white line presets, Multiply, partially masked
• Color Efex -- Tonal Contrast and Film Efex Vintage, partially masked

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Dennis,

Greetings. The HDR really works well here. I particularly like the wood grain and detail in the wood structures throughout. The dark wood in the eaves and the doorknob show off the HDR. The trees on the right seem a bit too simplified for my taste. The dark blobs in the larger tree pull at my eye and seem out of place midst the finer detail of the wood structure just below. Thanks for posting.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Nancy Bell]

Your technique and processing produced wonderful results on the buildings with the textures and subtle shades of near neutral. The red boards add a dash of color and your story gives them meaning. I read Michael's comment about the trees. For me they are just background and maybe should even be less detailed and with less contrast, allowing the old buildings to steal the show. I very much like your view through the porch and down the street.

[Anita Bower]

I love the lines and angles and diagonals in this image--they repeat throughout the image, large and small, in nature and human structures. They begin with the strong porch roof and its shadow, and end with the line of the clapboards. Your processing accentuates the lines. Great subdued colors. Outstanding point of view. I feel myself standing on the porch looking out. In my view, the trees are fine as they are. What software do you use for HDR? I've never done HDR and I'm thinking of switching from Adobe Elements to CC, which has an HDR function.

[Dennis Bishop]

. . . What software do you use for HDR? I've never done HDR and I'm thinking of switching from Adobe Elements to CC, which has an HDR function.

When I started out some years ago using Photomatix, I was quite happy with it. Then, Google bought Nik Software and made all their products available at no additional cost to people who already had some of them. One of the ones I didn't have was HDR Efex Pro, but I've been using it ever since. The head of our local photo group uses the Photoshop CC HDR function, and he was so enthusiastic about it that I gave it a try. However, I like HDR Efex better. It's easier to use and gives me the results I want. If you do opt for Photoshop CC, I'd suggest giving trial versions of several pieces of HDR software a run on the same image and compare them with what the CC version does.

I tend to use HDR even if the dynamic range doesn't require it because my experience has convinced me that I get better images that way. At least part of that, though, is probably connected with the look I'm trying to achieve.

[Anita Bower]

When I started out some years ago using Photomatix, I was quite happy with it. Then, Google bought Nik Software and made all their products available at no additional cost to people who already had some of them. One of the ones I didn't have was HDR Efex Pro, but I've been using it ever since. The head of our local photo group uses the Photoshop CC HDR function, and he was so enthusiastic about it that I gave it a try. However, I like HDR Efex better. It's easier to use and gives me the results I want. If you do opt for Photoshop CC, I'd suggest giving trial versions of several pieces of HDR software a run on the same image and compare them with what the CC version does.

I tend to use HDR even if the dynamic range doesn't require it because my experience has convinced me that I get better images that way. At least part of that, though, is probably connected with the look I'm trying to achieve.

Thanks for the reply. I didn't realize that Nik had an HDR program. It seems that Lightroom does too.
A photography friend of mine also uses HDR on all his photos.