Parker Days - Through the Eyes of a Photographer

When I was offered the opportunity to photograph Parker Days, I was a bit taken back by how much it has grown over the years. I remember when I was in high school back in the late 90s, it was a relatively small event which catered mostly to the citizens of Parker and fast forward to today, there are more than 150,000 people that partake in the various festivities that Parker Days has to offer. As a photographer, I knew that I needed to somehow get that quintessential shot that showed how much the festival has grown and more importantly, show that Parker still has that hometown feel.

Now in order to get the photograph I wanted, I needed to get a different perspective and preferably, get access to one of the buildings downtown. After working with the Parker Chamber of Commerce along with 20 Mile Central, I was given access to the rooftop where Vines Bistro is located which gave me the perfect view of O'Brien Park with Parker Days in the background. Once I got on the rooftop, I noticed that the evening sun began to dip below a few clouds which resulted in sun rays casting beautiful shadows across the sky. As the beautiful scene unfolded, I knew that I was going to need to take multiple exposures varying in brightness to ensure that I captured all the available light that was presented to me.

When I got my composition dialed in, I set my camera to take a total of (7) exposures ranging from very dark to very bright and in post processing, I merged all the exposures into one photo and processed it to what you see here. The photographic process that I used is known as HDR and it enables me to capture all the dynamic range of any given scene to truly represent what our eyes can see.

After getting the photograph I wanted, I set out to capture the various events and people throughout the course of the next few days. As a photographer, my job was to document the festival while at the same time, tell a story about it through my photographs. I hope you have enjoyed viewing my photo of Parker Days and if you are in town from June 10-12th, I strongly encourage that you bring out the family and attend the festival. It is a very good time and there is something for everyone regardless of age.

Photo of the Day - Fiery Skies over O'Brien Park

The past few mornings have been a bit of a bust for sunrise photos but the sunset today was pretty amazing. These skies are few and far between so I am thankful that I had some time this evening to go out and shoot.

I really love the beautiful tones in the sky and when I processed this, I really wanted to emphasize that.  Hope you all enjoy the skypr0n ;)(5) bracket HDR * f/8 * ISO 100 * 16mm — I really love the beautiful tones in the sky and when I processed this, I really wanted to emphasize that. Hope you all enjoy the skypr0n ;)
(5) bracket HDR * f/8 * ISO 100 * 16mm

Photo of the Day - Sunset at St Matthew's Episcopal Church

Trying out some new HDR software - Aurora HDR Pro.

It's not often you see new HDR tools come out but once I heard that Trey Ratcliff and Macphun designed a new HDR program, I was excited to try it out. Just released today, Aurora HDR Pro is an HDR tool that has a plethora of adjustments with a Lightroom-esque layout and the added capability of using layers. After using the software on the HDR you see today, I was impressed by the initial results.

Check out Aurora HDR Pro here: http://www.aurorahdr.com

Here is my first HDR processed in Aurora HDR shot at St Matthew's Episcopal Church in Parker Colorado this past October.  (7) bracket HDR * f/10 * ISO 200 *16mm — Here is my first HDR processed in Aurora HDR shot at St Matthew's Episcopal Church in Parker Colorado this past October.
(7) bracket HDR * f/10 * ISO 200 *16mm

Photo of the Day - Summer Stroll

HDR and Moving Elements...

As many of us know, cameras today (at least as of this post) can only capture so much dynamic range per exposure and we use various HDR techniques to get around this limitation to get as close as possible to what the human eye actually sees. HDR is meant for static scenes since the merge process relies heavily on the alignment of multiple exposures at the pixel level to give us the added dynamic range we want.

To that end, what happens when we get movement in between the exposure frames when we merge our files for HDR? We get what is known as "ghosting" in our HDR output and this issue can be eliminated in many different ways. Current HDR software out today such as Photomatix and HDR Efex Pro have "de-ghosting" tools that you can use to eliminate the ghosting in your HDR in the event that there is movement in between your frames. Another approach is to simply grab a frame from your bracketed set and in Photoshop, "mask out" any movement.

In the photo you see here, I decided to experiment a little bit and shoot my (7) bracket set from -3 to +3 since their was an incredible amount of dynamic range in the scene and wanted to ensure that I grabbed the detail from the shadows while preserving the highlights. After I had taken my bracketed set, I sat and waited for people to walk by and when people walked by, I took multiple shots with a shutter speed fast enough to freeze the movement. This was not a busy sidewalk by any means so it took me a bit before I had enough "walking shots".

When I came home and processed my HDR, I simply grabbed the frames that had people in them and just masked them into my HDR. It was a really simple process which in turn, made for an interesting photo.

I took quite a bit of photos after my bracketed set and masked in the people exactly were I wanted them. Quick Tip - Since I was shooting into the sun and wanted the people somewhat properly exposed, I dialed my exposure compensation to +1.5. Had I … — I took quite a bit of photos after my bracketed set and masked in the people exactly were I wanted them. Quick Tip - Since I was shooting into the sun and wanted the people somewhat properly exposed, I dialed my exposure compensation to +1.5. Had I not done that, the people would have been underexposed
(7) bracket HDR 14mm@f/6.3 ISO 100

Photo of the Day - Sunset on the Bridge

Just after the storm passed by...

If you are shooting into the sun and want to get a similar photo such as this, HDR is pretty much the way to go if you want to ensure that you capture the entire dynamic range of a scene. Given the amount of contrast in this particular case, one exposure would not have been enough as I would have had to either expose for the highlights while crushing the shadows or expose for the shadows and blowout my highlights.

I will admit that my HDR workflow is a bit convoluted and tedious but at the end of the day, I enjoy creating something that shows what I was able to see and feel in the photograph. In this HDR, I used a total of (3) HDR programs to create the photo you see here which to most, can be considered a bit overboard. My HDR workflow in a nutshell is to run my brackets through various HDR programs and the outputs are brought into photoshop where I mask each part of the photo I like from each output to get the final result. Now if I remember correctly, I used HDR Efex Pro for the sky since I really loved how the algorithm brought the blues and oranges in the clouds. I then used the 16 bit tonemapper in Photomatix to bring out the texture/detail in wood on the bridge and for everything else, I used the 32bit Photomatix plugin for Lightroom since I find that the greens with other HDR software can be a bit too "electric" for my tastes.

I think I will make a video tutorial using this HDR at some point so I can better explain my HDR workflow. Stay tuned....

I had set out to capture this bridge in hopes of catching the sun peek through the clouds and luckily I was able to catch it within the 5 minutes it was out. This was one of those instances where I was at the right spot at the right time and to me, … — I had set out to capture this bridge in hopes of catching the sun peek through the clouds and luckily I was able to catch it within the 5 minutes it was out. This was one of those instances where I was at the right spot at the right time and to me, I think it really paid off.
(5) bracket HDR at 16mm@f/8 ISO 100

Photo of the Day - Peaceful Abandonedment

Green but Empty

I am willing to bet that if you are looking at this photo, you are probably thinking that this is in a secluded place somewhere in the countryside and your probably wondering why somebody would leave such a beautiful place and go somewhere else. If that is the feeling you got then I have succeeded as this is the reason why I chose this particular composition.

In actuality, this is near a very busy street and only a few miles away from downtown. You would not know it by looking at this photo which is one of the reasons why I think composition is so important in photography. On the other hand, if the composition of a photograph is weak, then the photo as whole will be weak. Good composition is the base of a good photograph.

I think Ansel Adams said it best - "There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept"

I really like shooting landscapes in the spring since everything is so green and full of life.(7) bracket HDR f/10@16mm ISO 400 — I really like shooting landscapes in the spring since everything is so green and full of life.
(7) bracket HDR f/10@16mm ISO 400

Photo of the Day - Sunset on the Cherry Creek Trail

Didn't even get to see the sun today...

It's been raining here in Parker for the last two days now and its expected to clear up by Friday afternoon which is a good thing since It will at least give me the opportunity to possibly catch a sunset shot before my wife heads out on her weekend trip. As much as I love the warmth that late spring and summer provide, this cold and wet weather has brought fall, at least to me, a reality. Since it's pretty dreary outside, I think a warm feeling photo is in order