Some more images from my early morning walk on Sunday. I usually find something interesting when I walk the trails along the barge canal. This barge and tug were docked just beyond a gate into an access area for Utica, NY. I have noticed quite a lot of activity the past few weeks along the canal. I think there is an effort to dredge our section of the canal and keep it accessible.
Both of these images are three exposure brackets combined using Photomatix. I generally start with a simple tone mapped default and tweak the settings to achieve the image I want. I tend to keep the color saturation to a minimum and hopefully create a more realistic, natural image rather than an ‘over the top’ HDR image. Finally adjustments to the exposure and a slight gradient added in Lightroom.
Barge at Sunrise
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, (1/3, 1.3, 5s bracket), 19mm, f/16, ISO 100
Tug and Barge
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, (0.8, 3, 15s bracket), 70mm, f/16, ISO 100
MLCreations Photography 
Beautiful!!
Thanks!
These are really beautiful. I much prefer this kind of processing than those of HDR. I love HDR images but so many of them are over processed, well, to my liking.
I never used Photomatix, when I have different exposures of the same image I combine them in photoshop. I know that many people love Photomatix, maybe I should try it.
Wonderful photos Mike !
Thanks Jocelyne! I agree, too many times I think HDR is overdone. I don’t always succeed but these turned out like I wanted.
Jocelyne, if you are interested in trying Photomatix then you should download the trial version and then check out Captain Kimo’s website.(www.captainkimo.com). I learned how to best utilize the software from some of his videos and tutorials. He explains the various options and adjustments within the Photomatix software to get the image you want to create. Some of my first HDR images were over the top and I almost gave up on the technique until I found the Captain’s website.
Thank you so much Mike 🙂
I’ll do just that, I’ll download the free trial to see how it works . I didn’t know of Captain Kimo’s tutorials, I’ll check that either. Tutorials are so important, they help us so much. Recently I discovered Color Efex Pro 4 plug-in from Nik Software and I really love it !
Thanks for your help Mike !