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Adobe Black & White Chester County clouds Fields Nature Nik Software Pastures Photo Journal Photography Software Water West Chester

Stroud Preserve Springtime in B&W

Some images taken during a recent spring time walk around Stroud Preserve.

All images were shot in ‘traditional’ HDR bracket fashion, and processed into a ‘raw’ combined HDR file.

Normally, I use Adobe Photoshop to do my B&W conversion, but since the Google/Nik Software upgrade, I now had a chance to play with Silver Efex Pro 2.

Photoshop is great for doing a straight conversion via the native B&W menu, but to explore other options, quickly, and then build on them, Silver Efex Pro is the answer.

I still used Photoshop to tweak the final files, but I ended up in a different place than I originally envisioned.

So, what do you think?

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Black & White Chester County Downingtown Drawdown HDR Lakes Long Exposure Marsh Creek State Park Nature Photo Essay Photo Journal Tone Mapping Water Weather

South of the Boat Ramp (Day 5)

I parked in nearly in the same spot as I did some ten days ago, when I was exploring the northern side of the boating launch on that foggy morning.

Today, there is more activity and the temperature is finally starting to reflect that it is late December…

While gathering my gear, I saw several people walking, some dogs running, and once I was ready, I headed toward south-east, along the shoreline.

Swimming Hole 01
Swimming Hole 01

As I walk in the sand, I know, just to my right, there is a very well-worn path that I have walked countless times before, but today, it is difficult to even recognize the “beach” where I have been many times before.

Looking at Rental Complex (North-East)
Looking at Rental Complex (North-East)

It was one of my easier walks to the end of the blunted point, that almost points due south, where I was once again greeted with more wood pilings (Woodhenge) sticking out of the lake’s bed.

In the mouth of the Cove
In the mouth of the Cove

From there, I started into the cove, and I knew from previous walks along the dirt path, off to might right, that I was entering a heavy vegetation area, but once again, walking the shoreline made it look so different, and I did not expect it to drop off so quickly.

Deep in the Cove Looking East
Deep in the Cove Looking East

Finally, I reached the end of the cove, or at least as I was far as I was willing to go.

I was not having to have another mud adventure!

Empty Ramp
Empty Ramp

Walking back, I took this final capture, knowing I had to get back to the real world, and do some holiday shopping.

Tech Notes

  • Canon XTi  ISO100  f16-f22 with a ND 3.0 filter
  • HDR Capture with 3-4 captures between 15-120 seconds (raw)
  • HDR Processing – Lightroom 4.3 > Photoshop CS5 > HDR Efex Pro 2 > Viveza 2
  • B&W Processing – Photoshop CS5 > Lightroom 4.3

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Bands Black & White Music New York Photo Journal Photography

Warren Zevon at Ithaca College

Images taken of Warren Zevon during a concert at Ithaca College on October 2, 1982.

The images where originally photographed on Ilford HP-400 Black & White film, and then scanned into digital files.

If you are interested in an original signed custom print, please contact me for more details and pricing.

– Andrew
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