industry "Nodding Donkey Profile: Oil on Canvas"

A painterly sky backdrop for an old Derrick. Thanks for your time! Please click image

for a Larger view.

An ordinary subject made extraordinary! Cool title. Regards.

actually it's a bit more than a profile. Normally this would have been more silhouetted. Nice you kept it from going that far. It's nicely set off against that sky and to be brutally honest I think you did a fantastic job there.

Thanks Walter and Ton for the encouraging comments. You probably guessed by now Ton that this is a blend of two exposures. This is well after sunset and you are right, a single exposure for the sky and holding the highlights would render the "donkey" as a silhouette. If I tried pulling the shadows to render detail, the noise would start a loud party, waking everyone. If I tried to adjust my exposure to place the oil rig in the useful top half of the histogram, the sky would be approaching absolute white. It is my understanding that the largest range of tones resides in the upper half, while anything in the lower half degrades rather quickly. It is my goal to blend two images containing most of the upper half of the histogram. This essentially eliminates the lower, less useful portion. With this resulting tonality, I am free to make any adjustments I feel necessary without any monsters rearing their ugly heads. After all my adjustments and output sharpening, I see no blocking of shadow detail and nada noise. Thanks for sending the examples. Your explanation was intuitive and I think somewhat reinforces my goal. I simply do not mind taking the extra time to perfect anything related to good photography!

PDE

"I simply do not mind taking the extra time to perfect anything related to good photography!"

 

while we have a different approach in achieving this it's something I very much agree on. In all honesty I have to say you do it well and with a lot more taste than is usual, at least on this site. Just as long you don't forget that it's just a technique and not a goal in itself. I know, been there done that ;-)

I know what you mean. I choose challenging light conditions because they work so well to add drama, deeper color, etc. While it is just a technique, it has been a goal of mine to complete the technique without flaws (which is not entirely possible, more so without recognizable flaws). I would rather plunk down the cash for a newer Pentax K20D with 14mp and built in EDR technology within the sensor. I see the day within the next 5 years where digital images will render twice the range they are capable of today. Until then (when I have that cash), I enjoy post processing, but it is not the goal. Thanks for the conversation!

delicate colors, tastefully done.  don't mind the "hdr-ish" look at all, and think it works perfectly here (in my view, mimicking pretty well the dynamic range of our eyes).  and, as with all of your landscapes, hella good sharpness and resolution (which, in my view, are very much in the service of the image and the overall effect).  Just one question, this shot seems cropped a bit weird to me -- the "nodding donkey" isn't centered (shifted to the right).  you are obviously a meticulous guy:  so why the decision to off-center the donkey?  Did you feel the shot had better balance this way, given the shape of the oil pump?  Was there something distracting off to the right?  Would love to hear your thinking on this.  Anyway, really like your stuff:  very nice perspectives, very well executed and outstanding use of the format.  look forward to more work from you...

Thanks Mitchel! I appreciate the observations!! Well, I tend to avoid centering anything, but I also try to fill the frame with the subject. In this case, I will generally provide more room in front of a subject, the left side being the "front" of the derrick. It's just more a habit than anything else!