Focal Length: 24mm; ISO 500; Exposure: 1/200 sec @ f/5/6: Camera: Canon EOS 50D (Click to Enlarge)
My 7th grade history teacher was a Civil War buff and ignited an interest in me that has lasted to this day. Moving to North Carolina in 1996 brought me closer to history, with access to many sites that played a role in that conflict. I haven’t quite adopted the southern term for that war, The War of Northern Aggression, but my perspective shifted quite a lot when I learned that I have ancestors on both sides of my family that served in the Confederate Army.
One of my favorite historical sites from the Civil War is Fort Macon, located near Atlantic Beach, NC. It did not play a huge role in the war, having been captured by the Union Army in 1862, a little over a year after the war started. It remained in Union hands for the rest of the conflict. But part of the appeal for me is the long history that included use as late as World War II.
This picture is taken inside one of the rooms on the interior of Fort Macon looking out toward the parade grounds that are in the middle of the pentagonal walls of the fort. One of the challenges was shooting from the unlit interior toward the brightly lit doorways and windows of the room. It was a bright, sunlit morning and I didn’t get an exposure that worked well for both lighting elements. Hence, the highlights were blown out or the shadows were completely black. This would have been an ideal situation for a HDR image, but I didn’t have a tripod, nor would I have been allowed to use one.
I decided to use Nik Silver Efex Pro to convert this to black and white and then add a slight sepia tone to give the impression of age. I also made some adjustments to specific areas of the image with the adjustment brush in Photoshop Lightroom to reduce the exposure in the areas where the highlights were blown out. The thumbnail below is the image before any adjustments in Lightroom or Silver Efex.
Before conversion with Nik Silver Efex Pro (Click to Enlarge)
