Oark Cafe

[RT66Rider]

My wife and I decided to take a day ride to the Ozarks for lunch, so we left OKC at 7:30 and rode I-40 East all the way to Ozark Arkansas, and stopped at Love's for fuel.

After topping off the tank and stretching our legs a bit, we back tracked about 3 miles to Hwy 23, The Pig Trail.

 

Hwy 23 is a nice secluded back road with lots of nice sweepers, and some pretty tight twisties that sneak up on you.

 

Riding North for 14 miles, we reached the Hwy 215 Junction, and this section of 215 is about the Sweetest Road I've ever ridden.

It runs East beside the Mulberry River for 15 miles, all the way to Hwy 103, which is another amazing road when heading South.

 

When we got to 103, we veered left and rode into Oark (not to be confused with Ozark) for our lunch stop.

 

The Oark General Store claims to be the oldest operating store in Arkansas, and it's decor would support that claim.

Their lunch specials are always delicious, and so are their deserts.

 

I snapped this photo of the place on Sunday, and if you're ever in the vicinity, it's well worth visiting.

 

[ryan_a1982]

Michael,

 

This is one amazing photo. Did you process it to give it the look or what? I love the beemer at this store. There is a place like this near me in Amador county but the store doesn't look this awesome, it is old, but not that old. Love the pumps.

 

Glad you had a great ride.

 

-Ryan

[RT66Rider]

Michael,

 

This is one amazing photo. Did you process it to give it the look or what? I love the beemer at this store. There is a place like this near me in Amador county but the store doesn't look this awesome, it is old, but not that old. Love the pumps.

 

Glad you had a great ride.

 

-Ryan

 

Yes Ryan, this photo is actually 3 images merged together. This is a technique called HDR (High Dynamic Range), and I shoot this way a lot.

You basically take a series of photos at different exposure values, and then use software to bring them together into something that more closely resembles what your eye would see.

[Rinkydink]

Beautiful shot. I've eaten there many times. One of the best breakfasts in AR.

[Dietrich]

Great shot! looks like you were the only one's there or did you photoshop others out of there?

[RT66Rider]

Great shot! looks like you were the only one's there or did you photoshop others out of there?

No, it was just a slow day I guess, or maybe we just caught it at the right time.

There were a 1/2 dozen others inside though. They must have been locals.

 

There was a fellow sitting on the porch wearing overalls when I was setting up the shot, but he said he didn't like having his picture taken, so he wandered off into the trees.

[Kathy R]

There was a fellow sitting on the porch wearing overalls when I was setting up the shot, but he said he didn't like having his picture taken, so he wandered off into the trees.

 

Witness protection, no doubt.

Kind of scary to think he might be a BAD person hiding out?

 

Your photo is a keeper and that is just what I did with it. It's saved for future views. Thanks for sharing such a great visual.

[RT66Rider]

There was a fellow sitting on the porch wearing overalls when I was setting up the shot, but he said he didn't like having his picture taken, so he wandered off into the trees.

 

Witness protection, no doubt.

Kind of scary to think he might be a BAD person hiding out?

 

Your photo is a keeper and that is just what I did with it. It's saved for future views. Thanks for sharing such a great visual.

 

He looked quite harmless, but when he said that did not like having his picture taken, I told him that he could just pull his cap down over his eyes, but I guess he didn't like the idea.

 

I'm glad you enjoyed the image.

[Lester V]

Thanks for this. Looks like a good breaky spot on the way to the UN

[Jimmy2Time]

You basically take a series of photos at different exposure values, and then use software to bring them together into something that more closely resembles what your eye would see.

 

This is a great photo.

Do you mind telling us what software do you use to merge the photos?

What camera are you using for these photos? Is it pretty straight forward to set the exposure for normal and then drop it down a few stops?

[RT66Rider]

You basically take a series of photos at different exposure values, and then use software to bring them together into something that more closely resembles what your eye would see.

 

This is a great photo.

Do you mind telling us what software do you use to merge the photos?

What camera are you using for these photos? Is it pretty straight forward to set the exposure for normal and then drop it down a few stops?

 

Thanks James for the nice comments, and I would be glad to share the details with you.

 

Again, the technique I used to create the sense of 'realism' is called 'High Dynamic Range Photography', or simply, 'HDR'.

 

Here are a few links that will explain what HDR is:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-dynamic-range_imaging

http://www.stuckincustoms.com/hdr-tutorial

http://www.secondpicture.com/tutorials/photography/hdr_photography.html

 

The camera I used for this shot was a Canon 550D with a Canon 15-85mm lens, set at 15mm.

 

Most modern DSLR cameras have a bracketing feature that you can used to shot HDR automatically. Or you can very easily shot the sequence manually too.

The shot of the 'Oark Cafe' is actually 3 separate images, but you can use 5, or 7, or even 9 if you want to.

 

All 3 of these were shot at an aperture setting of f/16, but the shutter speeds for each was different, image #1 @ 1/15, image #2 @ 1/60, and image #3 @ 1/4 sec.

 

So briefly, if the subject you are shooting has a lot of contrast, like the backlit 'Oark Cafe', then a single exposure will not likely capture all of the detail in the highlighted areas, the middle areas, and the shadow areas. More than likely, the detail in the middle area will be captured, but the highlight and shadow detail will be lost. So the solution is to bracket several exposures around the middle.

 

In my shot above, the details in the middle were captured at 1/15th.

The details in the highlights were captured at 1/60th, which is technically an under-exposure.

And the details in the shadows were captured at 1/4 second, which is technically an over-exposure.

 

Now you take these 3 images, which together have all of the detail that your eye can see, and merge them into a single image that will provide all of the detail in the all of the areas.

 

Presto !

 

And the software that I used to do the merging is called Photomatix Pro, you can get it on Amazon for about $100.

 

I hope this, along with the links, helps to explain HDR a little better.

 

Cheers