I recently traveled back to NJ and finally noticed they demolished this old diner in Whitehouse. I think even as a kid it looked like this. I heard there was a fire and it sat at this location for years looking just like this. As I look back I am glad I took an early morning visit to the diner to capture it in its grungy decay. Great for photos!!
I miss the Jersey Diners…my favorite meal at any diner is a Pizza Burger! OK…now as I type this I am hungry! Enjoy!
From near my home town…here is a cool HDR of the Somerset County Courthouse located in Somerville, NJ. It was a perfect nite for HDR’ing. Fast moving cloudy skies and a cool subject at sunset with the lights just turning on. Somerville is a great little town in central NJ. We all have those hometowns where you can find all the favorite foods we grew up with. I do enjoy going back and see my family and of course, grab a pie of my favorite Jersey pizza!!
With this shot I used my Nikon 12-24 wide angle lens. Subjects like this are always tough with a wide angle. How many times have you taken a shot and looked at the leading lines and they seem to go in all directions! Tough processing! This may be due to topography variances or the architecture itself, but some may be caused by the lens you are using. I probably take 90% of my landscape shots using my wide angle lens. When shooting architecture, barrel distortion may be an issue…especially when getting closer to the subject. Barrel distortion is when the straight lines in the shot seem to bow outward. Luckily the shot above was not too bad…but when needed use your “lens correction” filter in Photoshop. Using a longer telephoto lens will help, but I can’t pass up shooting at a FL in the range of 12-20mm!
Talke Photography Settings:
Lens: Nikon 12-14 f/4.0
Setting: Aperture Mode
Focal Length: 12.0 mm
ISO: 200
Exposure: HDR 7 Exposures (+3 to -3)
Aperture: f/22
Gear: Tripod
Post Process: Adobe CS5, HDR Efex Pro, , OnOne Software Photo Tools 2.6
Summer is upon us and fall is just around the corner! That means cooler weather (depending on where you live), football and wonderful colors. This shot was from last fall at Hacklebarney State Park in Long Valley, NJ. Just a nice quiet late afternoon in the park. Hope you have some great summer vacation plans!
Talke Photography Settings:
Camera: Nikon D300
Lens: Nikon 12-24 f/4.0
Setting: Aperture Mode
Focal Length: 20.0 mm
ISO: 200
Exposure: 9 Exposure HDR (+4 to -4)
Aperture: f/11.0
Gear: Tripod
Post Process: Adobe CS5, Color Efex Pro, Photo Tools 2.6
From the First Reformed Church in downtown Somerville, NJ…one church light left on. I love doors and thought the shot itself would be cool, but knew it needed a little kick. B&W shots are always neat when tones are involved…throw in a selective color and and texture and a simple door is transformed into art! Hope you enjoy!
Talke Photography Settings:
A revisit on my HDR form last week…I love this old abandoned DIner! Just wanted to give it that textured look. I will have one more slow posting week on Places 2 Explore…but a few cool shots coming up!! ! Have fun!
My hometown is Branchburg, New Jersey. I was there for 25 years. It is a very small town and used to be made up mostly of farms. These days its developed with housing and corporations. That is the world today! The one steady constant was that you can catch a train into New York City at the North Branch Station on the NJT (New jersey Transit) via the Raritan Valley Line. As I grew up here…there were not a bunch of great spots for photography. After my morning shoot at the abandoned Diner (post this past week)…I drove over the one lane bridge near the station to see if there were any possible good shots.
Once over the bridge I looked over the the left and saw this cool bridge! Had seen it before? I am sure I have, but it never registered as a photo op! As the trees surrounding it were still bare from winter…it was a clear view! I looped back around and parked. Walked about 1/4 mile down the embankment and here was the bridge! A nice calm quiet morning. It was just me and the geese honking. Sweet spot for an HDR! Sometimes taking a drive can lead to treasures!
Talke Photography Settings:
From Somerville, New Jersey the Somerset County Courthouse is located right off main street. Some famous trials here have been Mike Tyson and the Hall-Mills Murder trial in 1926. Some info from the web: The courthouse, built between 1907 and 1909 in the Palladian style and is faced with marble. The courthouse underwent a $US 6 million renovation between 1989 and 1996. Attached to the courthouse is the First Reformed Church which was built in 1898. It has served as the county’s Jury Assembly Room since it was renovated around 1985.
Talke Photography Settings:
While in my home state New Jersey this week I had a chance to stay with my family. I had to hit one of my favorite spots after dinner…the Polar Cub Ice Cream Stand! Tough not to pass up a soft chocolate ice cream topped with a hard chocolate dip! Great stuff! Only 1/2 mile from there…you can find an old abandoned diner sitting and decaying for all to see. On Saturday morning I woke up early and went to grab some pics! I snapped a bunch and as I walked around, I can tell in the back there must have been a fire that shut this place down. The kitchen was a mess.
As I grew up in NJ…Diner’s are a way of life! In our area, there are quite a few! Gotta love stopping by and getting a Pizza Burger Deluxe! So why did this sone not open back up? Who knows? I googled it and found this diner is somewhat of a hot spot for photography diner lovers! I bet you can find it in a NJ Diner book somewhere! I’ll search more and post another shot later. Have a great weekend!
…sorry its a crazy week ahead..my post amount will be slow on P2E
I always love those color Fall shots…so why not crank it up a notch and Pixel Bender it….this is is called Color Explosion! Enjoy!
The art you can create with an Infrared Camera is endless! I am always trying to find ways to produce different looking shots with my IR photos. Thanks to some new unreal and awesome software I just downloaded…onOne Software’s Perfect PhotoSuite 5.5 …did I have a great weekend of processing photos!! I will get a review complete later this week. I want a little more time to play around. The effect in the photo above was thanks to Photo Tools 2.6 (part of the suite).
The photo above is from Hacklebarney Park when I visited in October. The leaves were in full fall bloom. I posted an HDR shot of this a few months back. I like this IR version as well!
Talke Photography Settings:
And for more fun…the Pixel Bender version!! So cool! Love this Pixel Bender!!!
Places 2 Explore 