The Best Seat in the House (HDR)

Richard · June 10, 2011

Very weird.

eoren1 · June 10, 2011

Very cool shot Frank.
Love the distortion, light and your HDR work is very nice. I'm dying to know a bit more about the scene - where is it? what was it (a barber shop or just the discarded chair)??

R.Jay · June 10, 2011

Hi Frank, I really like the composition and processing on this one - would also like to know more about the place.

Cheers, Richard.

Eia · June 10, 2011

This is interesting - yes - really would like to know some information behind this scene!

dbveto · June 10, 2011

I have to agree with the others, I like the shot but I to would like to know more about the shot, where? how many shots?

TrigPhotography · June 10, 2011

This is located at www.easterstate.org The Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, PA. The place is open to the public for tours. They even let you in with a camera AND a tripod! More of the set can be seen here if you are interested: http://trigphotography.smugmug.com/photos/swfpopup.mg?AlbumID=17403737&AlbumKey=TTbfPr

Here is Al Capone's cell when he served time there:

Crazy place, full of wonderful texture and decay...

I have a ton more to go through.

dbveto · June 10, 2011

would you care to explain how you took them How many shots did you use or what was your processing?

TrigPhotography · June 10, 2011

dbveto wrote: »

would you care to explain how you took them How many shots did you use or what was your processing?

I missed the first request about this.

This was put together from 7 RAW files with the lowest EV at about -7. Had to do this low due to the light coming in from the opening in the top of the cell. Anything closer to a 0EV would have had a completely blown out highlight. I converted the RAWs into TIFFs. Loaded the TIFFs into Photomatix Pro 4.0 and tonemapped it in the Detail Enhancer.

I then loaded the file into Camera raw and set the clarity to the maximum and loaded that into Photoshop. Did standard processing from there. I removed the purple fringing that my fisheye lens is known for by selecting the magenta/purple color and de-saturated that.

Thanks for the compliments!

TrigPhotography · June 10, 2011

Eia wrote: »

This is interesting - yes - really would like to know some information behind this scene!

According to one of the paranormal investigator TV shows, this is the type of chair that was used to punish prisoners that would be caught speaking to other inmates. Communication was not allowed at E.S.P. A clamp would be put on their tongue and attached to their tied hands around their back while strapped very tightly to the chair. Circulation would be cut off from being tied tightly to the chair and if they moved at all, the tongue clamp would cut their tongue. The victim would be left their for days like this without food or drink.

I do not know if it is true, but if sure makes for one heck of a story!