Inside the Abandoned National Silk Dyeing Co.: Paterson, NJ's Forgotten Textile Mill (Photos)

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  The text message from my friend J was simple: a list of addresses in Newark and Paterson. An invitation. An urban treasure map with Xs marking forgotten places. I picked the one on Piercy Street. Pulling up, I saw the building wasn’t exactly hiding. It was a behemoth of brick and colorful lettered graffiti, a whole city block of decay. A door gaped open next to an old loading dock, but the scene gave me pause. Mounds of illegally dumped trash lay along the floor of the loading bay. This part of Paterson has a tough reputation, and the open doors felt less like an invitation and more like a dare. I took a deep breath and stepped inside. The air was thick with the smell of dust and damp. I found myself in a vast, open space littered with plastic containers and skeletal metal shelving. I moved deeper, drawn toward the old boiler house section. Before I reached it, I walked into a room that stopped me cold. Everything was stained a deep, blood red. A fine crimson powder coated the fl...
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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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