Virjune Manufacturing Co: Inside Waterbury's Vacant Factory

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J and I were already having a rough day. We'd just driven across town to check out an old industrial site he hadn't visited in a while, only to find it erased. Nothing left but a slab of concrete and chain-link fence. So we took a detour. Sometimes you salvage a disappointing afternoon with a backup plan, even if you're just ticking a box. The former Virjune plant hides in plain sight off Thomaston Avenue. If you drive past in summer, you'll miss it completely. Trees and shrubs swallow the building whole, nature reclaiming what industry left behind. Come winter, though, when the branches go bare and the world turns gray, the red brick skeleton reveals itself. Even then, you have to know where to look. I pulled up old Sanborn maps to trace the building's history. The earliest tenant was an auto body shop in 1922. By February 1950, something bigger had moved in. The map labels it simply "Stamping Wks." No company name. No flourish. Just function. That namele...
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Pixel Shifting Whilst Urbexing Using A Sony a7R IV



Last week I had the opportunity to go out in the field to find interesting subjects to pixel shift using Sony's latest a7R series the a7R IV. I always wanted to find out what I could bring back using this feature that allows users to create in-depth and highly detailed pictures using 16 shots combined into one. 


218.0MP Pixel Shift File Denoising


Buttery and soft.


Now I have come back with results and I have found that it can be done in dilapidated warehouses and other decaying buildings but during my pixel-peeping foray I found that the background was quite soft and muddy. I happen to believe this may due to the focusing area not being selected correctly or my Zeiss Batis 25mm is not as sharp as it touts to be which could be farthest from the truth. I surmise maybe the shifting daylight may have distorted the picture but I can only test that hypothesis on another field test in whether that may not be the case. 




In the example above, the 'PENT' graffiti was taken without any interference from outside daylight and I found the picture to be detailed and true to color and depth when I first saw it whilst exploring a different part of the building.  Keep in mind the ARQ files are quite massive. Rounding out for me at 1.82GB with the TIFF extension just as heavy at 1.32GB. So if you are thinking about using pixel shift files use them wisely for unique forms of art, product photography, and architecture. In addition, an Adobe Lightroom export in high quality using an edited ARQ file ran me up a weighty picture of 75.3MB. The quality was superb.  I will continue using it whilst urban exploring for unique parts of buildings that really stand out for stunning details.



#Sony #SonyAlpha #a7RIV #PixelShift #PixelShifting #PixelPeeping #ARQ #ARQPain


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