Last Sunday's visit to a farm not only presented critter photo ops, but older farm equipment opportunities as well. May not be as fast as aircraft, but the heavy machinery is very interesting to me. Still can't draw up in my head how a machine can scoop up a line of straw in one end and produce a squared off bale of hay out of the other. And that was before the newer models that sport shiny paint jobs. And seems to me that the first designed models were built to last as many can still be found. Maybe not working anymore, but they can be found maintaining the watch.
I was lucky enough to find two such 'retired' tractors. Both had completed their tour of duty and were retired to rightful places of honor. Which is to say not out in the middle of a field somewhere. These were both in a barn, somewhat protected from the elements.
And therein is the issue. One tractor is in a doorway, sunshine in the front and shadow in the back. And the second tractor is completely in the shadows, but has a small amount of light from a window on the front end. Both present challenges. And if you pass the challenge, you get a good shot. And as always, the finished product must be better than a phone photo. On reflection, I should have tried a phone shot. Even if only for comparison.
The first shot, the tractor in a doorway is a classic HDR setup. Big light differential. You could take a tripod and take 3 to 7 shots with different settings, depending on your style. Mine was always different speeds. Or you could fake HDR it. Take one shot, preferably in RAW, and expose it to different exposures and blend the results. I did that on some shots in the past, sometimes it works. Other times, meh. Or you can take one shot, exposed normally, and send it through Photomatix.
I am not a Photomatix sales rep, but I will say it was the best $45 ever spent. I think I've been using some form of it for over ten years. In all that time, I was charged only once for an upgrade. For me, the fastest way to solve difficult lighting situations. With some effort you can use it and the end production will not look like the typical HDR effort. The application has been improved over the years resulting in the ability to get an HDR file from one photo. Better chances for a better results if you use a RAW file. And that is the path I went on here.
I've started taking JPG shots for backup purposes, and I was doing so on Sunday. This is a Nikon JPG set to Landscape.
I assume a camera phone would do the same. I've tried to fake HDR with a JPG. Results are inconsistent, but usually not helpful. With a RAW file and some work outside the norm, this can be saved. The goal is keep the sunlight and really bring out the shadows - while keeping the shadows looking like shadows. I could spend a lot of time in Photoshop, but using Photomatix it was three minutes tops to help bring out the shadows. I can add the final work with PS and a shot of Clear. I think this looks much better.
There were a few iterations of the shadows. Either too light or too dark. I finally settled on this, bit of a fade to dark. Great learning experience.
For photo number two: Almost total darkness. I have the setting for auto ISO to limit at 6400. And it worked. The D850 and f/2.8 lens was the right combo for this. And the original Nikon JPG:
That's dark. This is straight out of the camera. And with some of the before mentioned work:
Again, there is a lot of back and forth working on this. Sometimes too light, sometimes too dark. The noise issues weren't too bad to clean up. Again looking back, would have been excellent chance to push a few higher ISOs, just to play.
Fun to see the old machinery. And the light challenge was fun to play with as well.
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