Spofford sawmill

[Dennis Bishop]

Greenfield Village, part of the Henry Ford complex in Dearborn, Michigan, is the new home of many buildings that were moved from other parts of the country. The Spofford sawmill was operated in Georgetown, Massachusetts, in the late 1600s. Part of it was used to build this one with the same name that was erected in Greenfield Village in 1940. This view is from the first floor, which is open to the weather on one of its long sides. The bright sunshine gave welcome contrast to the piles of lumber when this series of shots was taken. I haven't, yet, been to the second floor. Next visit . . .





Nikon D3s, ISO 1250, f/16, nine-exposure HDR at 1 EV increments, zoom lens at 19 mm

processing highlights

• minor warping to make the posts vertical
• Topaz Simplify -- saved watercolor preset
• Alien Skin Snap Art -- saved watercolor wash preset, Hard Light blend mode
• Nik Silver Efex -- converted to black & white and reduced to 90% opacity (The reduced opacity was intended to provide a bit of toning, but -- as will soon become apparent -- I didn't stop there.)
• Belle Fleur -- blue texture, Pin Light, masked to darker regions
• Nik Color Efex -- Sunshine, masked to lighter regions
• Photo Filter adjustment layer -- Deep Yellow, also masked to lighter regions
• Fractalius -- three saved black-on-white presets; Multiply, Divide, Multiply
• Simplify and Snap Art -- saved black-on-white edges presets, Multiply
• Topaz Lens Effects -- a subtle zoom into the "tunnel" in the lower left
• Alien Skin Exposure -- black vignette (before processing the border)
• Photo Filter adjustment layer -- Cooling 80, masked to some darker regions

[Anita Bower]

Love the point of view you chose! Wonderful texture patterns on the boards. I like the contrast with the dark upper area, and the shadows created by the lumber, which makes the dark areas spread through the image. There are interesting details and shapes in the light and dark areas. The wide angle lens worked really well here--I like looking straight into the pile, and then seeing the boards spread out to left and right. I feel I'm there in person. I notice that Topaz Lens Effects was used also to create this effect. That is a filter I haven't tried. Interesting how you used both warm and cooling filters.
Marvelous processing. Perfect for this image. Wouldn't change a thing.

[Diane Miller]

I love the POV and wide-angle look here! I don't know Topaz Lens Effects -- did it enhance the wide-angle look? Wonderful choice of treatment for the lumber. And nicely-done HDR. Was that in-camera?

[Dennis Bishop]

Thanks, Anita and Diane, for your comments. And questions.

My real camera, which I used for this, doesn't do in-camera HDRs. Even if it did, I'd turn that feature off because I want to mold the result, myself, as much as possible. When I first realized that HDRs didn't have to look like the earlier exaggerated/grungy examples, I started with Photomatix. Some time after that, Google bought Nik and offered the entire suite at no cost to anyone with any of the products, so I acquired Nik HDR Effex and preferred it to Photomatix. For a very brief recent period, I tried Photoshop's HDR. It was nice to be able to quickly eliminate some of the bracketed shots and see the result, but I soon learned that HDR Effex worked better for me on some images, so I'm using it exclusively, again.

I was going to add something about Topaz Lens Effects, but the dinner bell just rang. I better run. I'll post the Lens Effects things later.

[Diane Miller]

Dinner rules! I've gone through exactly the same progression with HDR, and now Lightroom CC (don't know about LR 6 or the latest ACR) does it still a notch better! It is absolutely natural looking and you get a .dng (raw!) file back so you still have all the tonal overhead of the raw conversion!

I absolutely concur about this in-camera stuff. My Canon cameras also have the much-vaunted Art Vivid HDR, and it spits out an 8 bit JPEG, over which you have almost no good adjustment overhead. I can shoot the individual HDR frames as usual and assemble the HDR in LR (or if it isn't an extreme tonal range, just use the Shadow and Highlight sliders to adjust a middle exposure) and use the Vibrance slider to get the vivid part. Fully editable for tones and colors. So many of these things are just gimmicks.

[Dennis Bishop]

Here's something about Topaz Lens Effects and an illustration of its effect on this image. Lens Effects can do a wide variety of things related to lenses, filters, camera/lens combinations, and motion blurs; some other things, too. Although it has many capabilities, I mostly use it when I want motion blur. Photoshop has some of the nominally same motion effects but often without the ease of controlling and especially placing them. In this case, I wanted the zoom effect at a particular place. In Photoshop, it would've been trial-and-error until I got it right, but Lens Effects allowed me to place the zoom center exactly where I wanted it. I've been less than happy with the previews in some Topaz products but it seems right on in Lens Effects so far.

Here's a close-up of the image with (top) and without the zoom blur. I could've used Lens Effects to increase the wide angle effect with their fisheye feature but only wanted the zoom blur. I was close enough with a wide-angle zoom to get all the exaggeration I wanted. The amount of motion blur wasn't too great because I opted for that, and I limited its effect to the specific area with a mask.

[Anita Bower]

I'm not seeing the difference between the two. What I mostly notice is the change in colors.

[Dennis Bishop]

I'm not seeing the difference between the two. What I mostly notice is the change in colors.

It's definitely subtle and more easily seen by turning the Lens Effects layer off and on (which I realize doesn't help, here). I'd not have expected any difference in color except what happens locally because of the blurring. The effect is most noticeable deep into the tunnel near the vanishing point.

[Anita Bower]

It's definitely subtle and more easily seen by turning the Lens Effects layer off and on (which I realize doesn't help, here). I'd not have expected any difference in color except what happens locally because of the blurring. The effect is most noticeable deep into the tunnel near the vanishing point.

I do see more clearly into that tunnel in the second image.

[Wendy Kates]

I also love the perspective and tonal ranges of this image. The variations in textures of the boards are also fascinating and engrossing. I visited Greenfield Village when I was about 10 years old and remember being enchanted by it. I'd be interested in how much it has changed in the intervening 56 years!

[Cheryl Slechta]

Wonderful pov, Dennis. The zoom is very subtle but I can see it in the upper board which appears wider, longer and a little brighter. It's interesting how it subtly changed the brightness. Well done.

[Nancy Bell]

Somehow I missed this image. For me it brings back the wonderful smell of the lumber yard and walking with my Dad as he selected the boards for a project. Fantastic POV and I love the color differences between the new lumber and the very old lumber of the building! Now that you have posted the zoom details, I do see the subtle differences. Your attention to detail is amazing.