UrbExploring Exterior Options…
Exploring different processing options with this shot….the first is processed in Lightroom 3……
This one processed in Photomatix and Lightroom….
And finally processed in Topaz Adjust with Lightroom…. The possibilities are endless these days!
So which do you prefer?
Return To UrbEx….
I do wish there were more places for this type of photography in my area. I’m planning to get to The Eastern State Penitentiary this summer but for now this will have to do. I’ve posted a few shots of the casino building on my blog before and managed to get this one of the interior over the past weekend.
The gates were set up for the annual Jersey Shore Marathon. A short time after this shot approximately 10000 runners would make there way through the casino building in route to the finish line.
On Reaching My Goals…
Back to some people shots after a long layoff of portraits. These are slightly OOF due to the limitations of my Canon XTI, but all in all not too bad in low light.
Thanks for all the views over the last week or so and love those comments!
Adult Activities….
…well not really!
The Casino building, located in Asbury Park, New Jersey, was built in 1929 and ironically did not house any gambling. In it’s heyday this structure offered 3 sections and housed amusements such as a indoor/outdoor roller rink, an ice skating rink, a carousel, skee ball and bumper cars.
For you movie buffs, the Casino complex was used as a setting in the movie “City By The Sea” starring Robert DeNiro and several scenes from one of my favorite TV series, “The Sopranos” was filmed just steps from here. Finally, for you video gamers, you might recognize this building from Grand Theft Auto IV. It was rendered as “The Alderney Casino”, an abandoned casino.
The Casino along with the nearby Palace amusements and The Convention Hall formed the core of Asbury Park’s historical amusement attractions. Sadly the complex has been allowed to deteriorate for decades and plans have been proposed to replace it with a similarly built structure, albeit without a skating rink, yet no construction has begun on a permanent replacement for the complex to date.
The photo on my home page was shot from inside this building. Have a great weekend!
Who Says You Have To See A Face….
….to tell a tale. I think these tight shots do give the viewer insight into the happenings of the day. They really show details of a musicians craft.
Just an update on my Google+ hangout from earlier this week. At it’s peak we had 8 participants over a 2 hour period. Let me tell you, that 2 hours went by in a flash. What was interesting is that one of the participants advocated the old school method of HDR through blending of exposures in Photoshop. We exchanged methods and photos and talked about different scenarios and the applications that would produce the most desired results. We also had a commerical photographer looking for insight into tonemapping methods for his work. All in all it was a great experience meeting people from around the world. I plan on hosting more of these in the future so stay tuned.
One of My Quests….
….this year is to shoot more people pictures in different environments. Also vowing to see more live music, I was psyched when I heard the Brian Kirk and the Jirks were playing at the Polar Plunge on new years day. What a better way to attack one of my resolutions for the year than by snapping a few shoots of the band.
In this first shot band leader Brian Kirk belts out one of their token covers…don’t remember which one but they all sound good.
I’m fairly pleased how my old Canon XTI handled the high iso settings necessary to stop the action. A shutter speed of 1/150 was the best I could do at f4…..I also knew that the noise reduction capabilities of Lightroom and Topaz could help in this situation. The overall clarity could be better but it’s not bad for the web.
In this next shot Brian’s got a hold of his trumpet player James Gibbs.
I really like how this shot turned out, pretty clear on James at f4 and 1/45 of a second shutter. My Canon 70-200mm L lens comes through with flying colors again at 200mm. I guess there’s something to be said for good glass. Do yourself a favor, if your going to stay with this crazy hobby, save up your $$$ and get some good glass as soon as possible. Don’t go with a lens of lower quality in the interim, when your not satisfied you’ll end up spending more $$$ and you’ll kick yourself like I did.
I have a few more of these that I will show you in the not to distant future so stay tuned…..
Beginnings: A Means To The End…
Well, you’ve got to start somewhere right? And why not start out on New Years Day.
One of my goals this year is to take more people shots and what better way to do that then at a charity, new years day, polar plunge. The entertainment was provided by the widely popular party band Brian Kirk and the Jirks and let me tell you they had the place rockin for 2+ hours. Taking shots of these great musicians was really fun and I hope to do more of this kind of photography during the year.
The shots in this post are presented to give you the viewer a sense of the atmosphere on this day….
Above is a shot of the band leader Brian Kirk readying for the 2nd set and below is the bass player Steve Johnson getting the crowd fired up…
Here is the drummer Tom Cottone beating the skins during one of the great tunes of the day…
And finally, guitar player David Pershan belting out a Zeppelin tune that was quite good…
The quality of these shots, when viewed at full size, is quite bad as my old Canon XTI had trouble handling the ISO 800 setting. Maybe it is time for a full framer:)
Stay tuned as I will bring you more up close and personal shots from the event.
FU…………..Huh?
Ah….now I get it. Wouldn’t want to follow too close behind the person riding this bike.
Shot settings and processing: Tamron 17-50mm at 35mm, f5.6, 1/45 sec and 100 iso. Applied split tone preset in Lightroom and boosted contrast.
For All The Winers Out There….
I know there are a few of us that worship the grape so I figured I’d post a shot of a store front for the wine connoisseur.
Shot Settings: Tamron 17-50mm at 25mm, f5.6, 1/90 sec, iso 100
Old…
Reminiscent of an old kings crown, the roof of the Casino Carousel House in Asbury Park is a landmark in this part of Jersey. It was designed and built in 1923(approx.) by Whitney Warren, whom also contributed to the design of Grand Central Station in NYC. It originally housed a beautiful carousel from the Philadelphia Toboggan Company. This building, as part of a revitalization project in Asbury is now a theater hosting such plays as Hair, and the Who’s, Tommy.
I decided to give this shot a Lightroom preset called Color Creative- Aged look. Then, at the last minute, I added a white out vignette.
Movement…
Someone apparently sensed a bit of urgency when coming across this sign while in Asbury. I sensed a photographic moment and snapped a few before I continued my exploration.
This is a single shot with a bleach bypass preset from Lightroom. On another note, I’m experimenting with the photo size for this new theme, this post is slightly smaller then the last two….is anyone having trouble with the posts being too big? Please let me know!
Kelby Photowalk….
I’m so glad I didn’t delete the originals of this HDR shot! Tonemapping really improved this rather boring (maybe it still is?) shot taken inside the structure in the last post. Southside Johnny and The Asbury Jukes became a national act soon after Bruce and even today, has a strong following here in Jersey.
Seaside….
I took part in the worldwide photowalk yesterday in Asbury Park, NJ. If you are a fan of “The Boss” (you know who that is?) you might remember his first studio album called Greetings from Asbury Park, well, this is where it all started for Bruce. Just up the street is the Stone Pony where Springsteen made his mark.
