Heritage Hall in HDR
29 May 2014 -- 149/365
North Smithfield, Rhode Island
I was in the mood for some HDR manipulation today, and I remembered this historic building in Slatersville, one of the original villages in North Smithfield. This is Heritage Hall, built as a small Episcopal Chapel in 1897 to serve the workers at the nearby Slatersville Mill. That lasted a mere three years, however. The mill closed in 1900, and the number of parishioners dwindled to the point where the fledgling parish could not survive. In 1906, the vacant building was converted into a community hall and it hosted numerous social events and dances for the next 7 years. In 1913, it was sold to Union Grange #13, and for the next 80 years it would serve as a Grange Hall. (In the US, a Grange is a farmer's fraternal association that promotes the economic and political well-being of a local community.) In 1994, it was sold to the North Smithfield Heritage Association and, while in need of some repairs, it continues to serve as a community meeting hall.
Today's photo is a composite of 9 photographs with a 9-stop range of exposures, stacked and tone-mapped in Photomatix Pro. The 16-BIT TIF was then brought into PSE and converted to 8-BIT. A classic filter was added in Topaz B&W FX. I adjusted color sensitivity sliders, adaptive exposure, regions, contrast, boost black, boost white, and protect highlights. A levels adjustment was added in PSE. I opted to leave the annoying wire that bisects the building since removing a wire that crosses that many parallel lines is more bother than it's worth.
