The Buckhorn Exchange

When you want to have an authentic old west meal, few places compare to The Buckhorn Exchange. It's one of the oldest businesses in Colorado, and boasts liquor license #1. It is truly an institution.

While meeting friends for lunch there a couple weeks ago, I thought it would make outstanding HDR's, but I don't think these lived up to the potential. These were 7 shot +/-1 EV. Processed in PM, PS & Topaz Adjust. Any suggestions at improvement is always appreciated.

What a great looking building, both inside and out. Thanks for sharing.

Considering the concerns you had with your monitor in the past, you may be surprised to read that the first couple of images at least seem a bit bright, especially the awning on the first shot.

Looking forward to seeing more.

I think they look great.

Look good to me also - I prefer the interior shots given all the textures of the wood and animal hair. The exterior shot is not benefiting enough from the SW given its low range.
Might want to straighten some of the left side of some of them but no big deal.

It could be my monitor but this looks a bit better on mine for comparison.

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On my uncalibrated work monitor yours looks better and mines a bit light as you said. On my calibrated home monitor, mine looks about right and yours looks a tad dark. BTW, it's the calibrated monitor which was giving problems the last couple months so don't hold any stock in the fact that it's calibrated.

You might also try warming up the exterior Jon to remove the blue tint from the whites (again, on my monitor).

The bar looks really interesting...I could spend a good deal of time there I'm sure. Are those bottles as dusty as they appear?

Thanks j.litton, and Spike you are correct. There's a bit of barrel distortion which I didn't bother with as I'm not really enamored with these. Though, I was just showing them to my wife who really likes the bar shot, so maybe I'll rethink it a bit.

Gene, you're right, the WB on the outside shot is a bit off. It's funny because inside shots had the WB jacked due to the competing lights and windows and I worked quite a bit to minimize the impact. I wasn't even thinking of the outside being an issue.

The dust you see is a combination of glare and frosted bottles. In the time it took me to shoot this series the empty bar turned full...... in the middle of the afternoon.

Jon, I think they look great. "I want to go there" - Liz Lemon

How did you get permission to be in there when it was empoy?

Just ask?

Thanks Bill. I was there for lunch with some friends and grabbed a pamphlet on the way out. Called them a couple days later and they were very accommodating. They really didn't care when I wanted to shoot it and told me I could show up anytime except the busiest dinner hour. They suggested around 2:30 to 3:00 to split the lunch and dinner crowd, but they were ok if the place were full of people too.

I agree, the interior shots are just awesome! If I had to pick a favorite it would be the next to the last shot from your 2nd series shared. The textures of the bricks and chairs really gives you lots to find. Great job!

Thanks jemhead. I almost didn't post that one just because I feel it's kind of a lack-luster shot. I'm glad I decided to, and that you liked it enough to comment on it.