The Old Ford Truck
Near my home, I found this old abandoned Ford truck sitting forlornly by the road. It looked pretty sad with no headlights, bullet riddled windshield, and paint so oxidized it was barely still red.
Luckily, the light was literally spot-lighting it at that time, so I took 3 quick bracketed shots with my Nikon D7000 (2-EV spacing).
Later, in Lightroom, I found that the dynamic exposure range from the highlights to the shadows was too great and elected to combine the 3 images into an HDR using Nik HDR Efex Pro. Then, with another Nik program, Silver Efex Pro, I converted it to a black and white, tweaked the micro contrast and was done â – â well, except for some minor sharpening and noise reduction in Lightroom.
New Photo Software? Revisit Some Old Images
Got some new or updated photo software? Take another look at some of your old images – you might be surprised at the new possibilities and capabilities.
I was going through my images and came across this image of a huge approaching thunderstorm hovering just above and behind my home in Colorado. I had, of course, already done the basic editing by adjusting exposure, color, and contrast but felt it needed something more to really bring out the drama of the scene.
I decided to run it through Nik’s HDR Efex Pro even though I only had the single exposure. HDR Efex did a wonderful job of dramatically increasing the texture in the clouds to reveal the turmoil that was taking place a few thousand feet above us.
So, every once in a while it’s worth our time to take another look at our images and consider what some of the newer software might be able to do for us.
Astronaut Dreams – Last Space Shuttle Flight
This date marks the end of an era – the last flight of an American Space Shuttle.
After 30 years and 135 missions, todays launch was the last.
I remember when I was just a kid, watching those first flights into space and then the incredible first landing on the moon. Almost everyone would stop what they were doing to watch those exciting launches and then wait anxiously during the re-entry blackout, listening for that first crackle of a voice over the radio signifying a successful transition through one of the most dangerous parts of the mission. Oh man, those were exciting times!
Like many people, I dreamed of being an astronaut. I was an Air Force pilot and dreamed about becoming a test pilot and then getting into the space program. Unfortunately, those dreams were never realized but I did get a front row seat at a shuttle launch, one time.
A good friend got VIP tickets to the maiden voyage of Challenger. We got a tour of the launch facility and then close (closer than the public) seats to the actual launch pad, but even those seats were still a couple of miles away as I recall. Watching that launch was one of the most incredible experiences of my life – what a beautiful sight. It takes a huge amount of raw power to accelerate the space shuttle to a speed of about 17,000 mph to reach orbit, and even at a couple of miles you could literally feel the sound penetrate your body.
(Of course the Challenger tragically broke apart during the launch on its tenth mission, killing the entire crew.)
Happy 4th of July!
I wish everyone a very happy Independence Day here in the United States of America, the Land of the Free, and truly One Nation Under God.
I hope your day is filled with fun and family and appreciation – an awareness of our history and how it affects who we are as a nation.
We have much to be thankful for and much of that rests on the sacrifices made over the last couple hundred years by our men and women in the military. So be sure and tell one of them “thank you for your service to our country.”