Gaylord Opryland

jeffashman · May 18, 2023

I was reminded of indoor forest/gardens and remembered that I had taken these while visiting Nashville. I need to figure out how to do a better indoor photo, given the space and lighting. For those who aren't familiar with Gaylord, it is a hotel with an incredible indoor area filled with plants, shops, and restaurants, and very well worth visiting, even if you aren't staying there. We have one here in Grapevine, and I should probably go visit there with my camera. I need to figure out how to get these to pop a little more.

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nov04202201 by Jeff Ashman, on Flickr

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nov04202202 by Jeff Ashman, on Flickr

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[url=https://flic.kr/p/2oBj5vR]

nov04202203 by Jeff Ashman, on Flickr[/URL]

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nov04202204 by Jeff Ashman, on Flickr

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nov04202205 by Jeff Ashman, on Flickr

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nov04202206 by Jeff Ashman, on Flickr

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nov04202207 by Jeff Ashman, on Flickr

terri · May 18, 2023

It looks amazing! What a fun place to go hang. I love the plants, water and fish - it would be challenging to photograph simply because it's busy everywhere you look. Total eye candy!

jeffashman · May 18, 2023

terri said:
It looks amazing! What a fun place to go hang. I love the plants, water and fish - it would be challenging to photograph simply because it's busy everywhere you look. Total eye candy!

Thanks! It was a lot of fun just to walk through. If I had been by myself, I would have taken a tripod and more time exploring. This just one area.

Jeff15 · May 18, 2023

A very nice set.... :encouragement:

wobe · May 18, 2023

Very impressive place, will mark it down in case I am ever in that part of the world!

stapo49 · May 18, 2023

That's part of a hotel? Wow!

jeffashman · May 18, 2023

Jeff15 said:
A very nice set....

Thanks!

wobe said:
Very impressive place, will mark it down in case I am ever in that part of the world!

It's in Nashville, Tennessee, next to the Grand Ol' Opry, and is a huge venue for the Country & Western genre of music. The hotel itself is beautiful, and they have a loft of interesting exhibits throughout the year. During the Winter Holiday season, they have carved ice sculptures that are very impressive.

stapo49 said:
That's part of a hotel? Wow!

Yes. Some of the more premier rooms overlook the interior, and you can see the balconies in image #4. My goal is to treat my wife to a weekend there, but her parents live not too far away, so convincing her to stay in a hotel is a challenge.

PJM · May 19, 2023

Nice set. And nice place. I like #4.

Given the sun and shadows might it be a candidate for HDR when you take them?

jeffashman · May 19, 2023

PJM said:
Nice set. And nice place. I like #4.

Given the sun and shadows might it be a candidate for HDR when you take them?

Thanks! I have Skylum Aurora HDR, so I may give that a try.

snowbear · May 20, 2023

Good set. It looks like an awesome place - much more elaborate than the Gaylord at National Harbor, here at home.

Not sure how to make them pop other than tweaking saturation and vibrance (very small adjustments). If your post app has a lens compensation (LR does) play with that to help straighten out the inevitable wide angle distortions (#2).

jeffashman · May 20, 2023

snowbear said:
Good set. It looks like an awesome place - much more elaborate than the Gaylord at National Harbor, here at home.

Not sure how to make them pop other than tweaking saturation and vibrance (very small adjustments). If your post app has a lens compensation (LR does) play with that to help straighten out the inevitable wide angle distortions (#2).

Thanks! I think Opryland was their first hotel, and because it is right next to the Grand Ol' Opry, with all of its glitz and glamour and all the money associated with that, they went all out in designing this place. The one in Grapevine, TX is smaller, but Grapevine doesn't have the Grand Ol' Opry, and the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo doesn't have as big a draw as the CMA.

I first process the RAW image in Topaz Photo AI, which applies the appropriate lens correction, but I use LR as a second step to adjust the sliders, so I'll see if that further improves the wide-angle distortion. I'll play around with them. since I shoot RAW, that means manipulating mathematical formulas rather than pixels.

snowbear · May 20, 2023

Not all lenses are in the LR library, but they provide the ability to add lens profiles. You have to photograph a checkerboard grid a few times and process those through LR in some way. The old 28-85 Nikkor wasn't in the library so I downloaded and printed the grid, but haven't photographed and processed it. I haven't been using the lens, so I'm in no hurry.

bulldurham · May 20, 2023

Did many a educational conference there. I liked the little gondolas you could ride through the waterways. Great restaurants and bars there and the convention hall seats right at 10,000 bodies...maybe more but from a speaker's standpoint, it seems more like a million. These pics brought back some nice memories.