Calder’s Flamingo in Chicago Federal Plaza is a really dynamic piece of art. In Chicago, if it weren’t for pieces like this all the harsh and imposing lines of the city would overwhelm you. But the amazing curves of the “Flamingo” with the shock of red in the midst of these black steel and glass buildings let’s you relax. Even the name of the location, Federal Plaza makes you stiffen up until you see this piece of art!
How did I shoot this photo? It was really formed with 7×2 HDR frames. That’s 14 frames with three photos each! (That’s 42 exposures combined.) I used Microsoft’s Image Composite Editor to stitch the photos together after I did the HDR processing in Photomatix.
How did I get rid of all the people? I waited! I was very patient this evening. Since not every shot took up the whole width of the display, it’s not as if I had to wait for everyone to be gone from the whole plaza all the time, either.
I used Photoshop and Lightroom for standard edits and corrections to paralaxing. (Paralaxing is what happens when you try to do a panorama and one item is split twice in the scene. If you put your finger in front of your face and look at it with one eye closed, and then switch eyes and the finger has a slightly different background.)
I hope you enjoy!
