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Thanks for stopping by today everyone!

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True, I am from Pittsburgh and Chipper was coming into his prime just a few years after one of the most infamous nights in the Pittsburgh Pirates history.  A lazy single to left by Francisco Cabrera field allowed Sid Bream to beat a throw by Barry Bonds and started two decades of futility for the Pirates.  Jones wasn’t around then; his first season in the big leagues was 1993 and after sitting out the ’94 season with an injury, really came into the league in ’95.  For me, Chipper exemplified everything that was positive about the game.  There was no showboating, no drama, no complaining, no antics.  He just went out, did his job (well too, winning the MVP in 2000) and played the game hard.  That’s what I was always taught by my father when I was learning to play ball.  Go hard on every play, have fun, keep your head high and stay humble.  Chipper’s was a great lead to follow.

Now, in 2012, after 18 years, over 2,700 hits, 460 home runs, an MVP, a World Series win and 9 All Star appearances, the first ballot hall of famer is hanging up his spikes.  I have the great fortune of being able to watch him play his last regular season games of his career right here, in my hometown of Pittsburgh.  I attended the game last night and will be there tonight and tomorrow as well, being one of a handful of fans not rooting for the hometown Buccos.  Today’s post is a collection of shots from last night’s game, with more to come over the next couple of days.  Enjoy!

A view of the Pittsburgh skyline from PNC Park

Chipper gets ready for a pitch

Hitting into a groundout in the the 6th

Saluting the crowd…

One more time…

The past and the future in one picture

Thanks for stopping by today folks!

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Good morning everyone!  I hope that everyone has been doing well!  It’s been an exciting last couple of weeks for me, as the October issue of the Pittsburgh Magazine just came out featuring a write up (albeit a very short one!) on me as well as 9 of my images!  I’ve also released a 2013 wall calendar for pre-order and booked both a wedding and senior picture shoot, so I’ve been a little busy!

For today’s image we have one from the North Shore of Pittsburgh, taken just as the sun was coming up over the city and through the Andy Warhol Bridge.  If you are ever in Pittsburgh, this is definitely one of the places that you have to visit, either during sunrise or sunset.  It’s usually pretty empty, outside of a few runners and morning cyclists and the view of the skyline is just incredible!  This was processed with LR4 and the 32 bit HDR method that I described in my last post.  I am still really digging this way of processing HDRs!

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For today’s post I have something a bit different.  After reading Neil Kremer’s photo post a few days back, I learned of a new way to process HDRs using 32 bit processing and Lightroom 4 with a plugin from Photomatix.  This technique, which allows for outstanding tonal range without the complications from the HDR process like noise and halos, gives you ultra realistic HDRs that you can process using the Develop tab in Lightroom.  After that you can kick them over to Photoshop to run them through whatever filters you like, but your starting point is much, much different than if you were to use Photomatix alone.

The process is quite simple.  After making sure that you’ve upgraded to LR 4.1 and downloaded the plugin you are ready to begin.  Just select the bracketed photos in your LR library, control or right click and select Merge to 32 bit HDR.  Lightroom will do the processing and place the new, 32 bit image in your library, either among the bracketed shots or at the very end of the folder.  Hit the Develop tab and make any necessary adjustments.  I’ve found that most of the raw HDRs have been underexposed, so I’ve been upping the exposure by about 0.5.  You can then pull back the highlights and shadows using the appropriate sliders in LR.  Export to PS to make an final edits and you’ve got yourself a great HDR!

In this series of images, the first one was processed using the technique described above while the second was using the standalone Photomatix application.  I’m a believer!

Here you can see the highlights are much more under control.

The halo and banding in the sky is gone.

The clouds don’t look as dirty.

So, even without any other post processing (no filters were applied to the first image in every set), they still just look better.  I still have a bit of work to do in refining the technique, but I am very impressed thus far!

Thanks for stopping by today everyone!

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Today’s shots are from my most recent trip to New York City, featuring both Ground Zero and the new World Trade Center building, in remembrance of September 11th, 2001.

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Good morning everyone and happy Monday!  I hope that you all enjoyed your weekends!  For today’s post we head out past the West End of Pittsburgh and up West Carson Street.  This is an area that I have been meaning to visit for quite some time and finally got around to it on Thursday.  I actually got there a little earlier than I wanted to, as traffic wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought that it would have been!  That being said, I actually missed the sunset from here, which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, because it isn’t the best area of town.  I did manage to fire off a couple of brackets with these being two of my favorite, as I really liked how the city of PIttsburgh is framed by the West End Bridge.  My 70-200 lens happened to be in the shop, so all I had was my 16-35 and 50, and both of these were shot were the 50.  I know that they look similar, but you’ll notice on the top one a barge on the river, just below the bridge.  Since they have been a staple in Pittsburgh for over a century, I thought that I would include a shot where you can see it!

Thanks for stopping by today everyone and enjoy your week!

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See, where I live, in the South Hills of Pittsburgh, to get to the city you have to deal with the aforementioned Mt. Washington.  I say deal with because there are three ways to deal with a mountain (and I use that word loosely, it’s more like a hill).  You can go over it, around it or through it.  Well, the first two require much more work than going through it, obviously, and the city of Pittsburgh was nice enough to provide those of us who live in the South Hills two ways of going through the hill, the Fort Pitt and Liberty Tunnels.  The view that I spoke about earlier is the view when you come through the Fort Pitt tunnel.

It’s incredible because up until the point that you exit the tunnel, you have no idea, outside of the signs that say Pittsburgh on them, that you are even approaching a city.  Then BAM! all of a sudden, it hits you.  Big yellow bridges, three rivers and of course our signature skyline.  A view that tens of thousands of people see every day and most of us just take it for granted.  But I can’t tell you how many people who, coming to the city for the first time with that being their first impression of the city say “Wow, that view from the tunnels is just amazing!”.

All that being said, here are a couple of that same view, taken just yesterday afternoon!

This is the first view you seen, just after you come through the tunnels.  In front of you is the Fort Pitt Bridge and to the left, the Fort Duquesne Bridge.

Just a few hundred feet further and you are in the middle of the Bridge, the skyline in clear view!

Thanks for stopping by everyone, I hope that you all have a great weekend!

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For today’s shot we head back up to the 58th floor of the Steel Building in downtown Pittsburgh.  A few months ago I had the privilege of going up to this awesome vantage point and snapping a few shots, many of which I’ve shared already.  This is one view in particular that I had not yet shared.  In front you can see the CONSOL Energy Center, home of the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team.  Just to the right of it is the campus of Duquesne University, which sits on a significant hill from the arena, but from this high up, it all looks flat.  The river you see is the Monongahela, with the 10th Street and Birmingham Bridges crossing over it.

Thanks for stopping by today folks!  See you all tomorrow!

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As with last month, just click the image name below the wallaper and then download and save it to your desktop!  (You may have to click the image once the new window opens up to ensure you are viewing it full size).

Sunset over the North Shore

Heinz Field

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A couple different views from the Top of the Rock, I couldn’t decide which one I liked better, the color or B&W!

A wide angle view from the Top of the Rock

A gloomy sky over New York city as seen from Hoboken

The Empire State Building and the new World Trade Center

This is a view of the top of the Empire State Building as seen from the Flatiron District

Thanks for stopping by today everyone!

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