I decided to bring the camera along to take a few pictures. I had to use the 18-135 lens because my long 100-400 would not be allowed. I think I took over 350 shots and these are probably the best of the bunch. They aren't good enough for Sport Illustrated, but I think they are ok. Let me know if you like them or not.
Thanks again, Brian and Stephanie! You guys are the best!
I hope you enjoy the photos and thanks for dropping by!
WV v UT Football 01Taken during the West Virginia vs University of Texas NCAA football game at Darrell K. Royal Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, TX.
WV v UT Football 02Taken during the West Virginia vs University of Texas NCAA football game at Darrell K. Royal Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, TX.
WV v UT Football 03Taken during the West Virginia vs University of Texas NCAA football game at Darrell K. Royal Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, TX.
WV v UT Football 04Taken during the West Virginia vs University of Texas NCAA football game at Darrell K. Royal Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, TX.
WV v UT Football 05Taken during the West Virginia vs University of Texas NCAA football game at Darrell K. Royal Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, TX.
WV v UT Football 06Taken during the West Virginia vs University of Texas NCAA football game at Darrell K. Royal Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, TX.
WV v UT Football 07Taken during the West Virginia vs University of Texas NCAA football game at Darrell K. Royal Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, TX.
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Badlands 04Taken in the Badlands National Park in South Dakota.
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Badlands 01Taken in the Badlands National Park in South Dakota.
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I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by!
Gatlinburg At DuskDowntown Gatlinburg, TN from atop the Skybridge at dusk.
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A new flag needed to be designed to represent both Congress and the fledgling nation, (initially called the United Colonies). A banner needed to be distinct from the British Red Ensign flown from civilian and merchant vessels. The Grand Union flag was first hoisted on the colonial warship, Alfred, in the harbor on the western shore of the Delaware River at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on December 3, 1775. The Grand Union Flag was a combination of the British King's Colors, the Union Jack, and 13 horizontal stripes alternating red and white to represent the original 13 colonies.
It is not known when, or by whom the Grand Union flag was designed or created. Some of the other names this historic flag gathered are the Continental Colors, the Congress Flag, the Cambridge Flag, and the First Navy Ensign.
It is most likely the Grand Union was the flag raised at Cambridge, January 2nd, 1776 by General Washington and given a salute of 13 guns.
The most recent moniker, the Grand Union Flag, was applied during the 19th century during the Reconstruction era by George Henry Preble in his 1872 History of the American Flag.
I took this at the Field of Honor in Georgetown, TX back in 2017.
Happy Independence Day everyone!
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Grand Union FlagTaken at the Field of Honor in Georgetown, TX.
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I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by!
White Winged DoveTaken in backyard in Georgetown, TX.
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The photo below is from a trip we took to Washington DC 11 years ago. We took a tour of Arlington National Memorial Cemetery and this marker stood out for obvious reasons. From https://www.cia.gov/legacy/museum/artifact/william-j-donovans-medal-of-honor/:
General Donovan was the most highly decorated American officer of World War I. He received our nation’s top four medals, including this Medal of Honor for action in France in 1918. Donovan, who was a lieutenant colonel at the time, stood in front of his men with his rank showing and shouted, “Men – If they can’t hit me, they can’t hit you!” With that, Donovan led his men to take the German position. He was eventually wounded in the leg but refused to be evacuated from the battlefield until his men and their position were secure.
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William J DonovanMedal of Honor recipient interred at Arlington National Cemetery in Wash DC.
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Fightingtown CreekTaken just outside our vacation rental in GA.
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I tried to find a picture that is kind of related to that time and the best I can come up with is this shot of some turrets from Casa Loma in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Looks medieval, right?
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by!
Casa Loma Tower 01Tower and turret from Casa Loma Castle in Toronto, ON, CA.
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Toronto Skyline 02Taken in Toronto, Ontario, CA.
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To purchase a print or digital copy of these images, click the image above and go to the "VISIT SHOP" button. For any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
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To purchase a print or digital copy of these images, click the image above and go to the "VISIT SHOP" button. For any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
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Hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for stopping by.
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Hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for stopping by.
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Hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for stopping by.
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Hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for stopping by.
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Hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for stopping by.
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Hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for stopping by.
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Hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for stopping by.
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Hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for stopping by.
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I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by.
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This is the "ski tree" from downtown Telluride, CO. Yes, it's a tree made of snow skis!
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I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by.
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I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by.
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I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by.
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I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by.
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I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by.
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Anyway, this is a shot of Rising Wolf Mountain over Two Medicine Lake. This is one of the first places you stop and see when driving in from the East Glacier entrance. You can't tell in the photo, but the wind was blowing very hard that day (I guess you can tell a little from the white caps on the lake) and there was a little rain coming down.
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I hope you enjoy the photos and thanks for dropping by.
Jason Kipnis
Francisco Lindor
Mike Clevinger
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I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by.
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I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by.
To purchase a print or digital copy of these images, click the image above and go to the "VISIT SHOP" button. For any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
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I hope you enjoy the photos and thanks for dropping by.
To purchase a print or digital copy of these images, click the image above and go to the "VISIT SHOP" button. For any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
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I hope you enjoy the photos and thanks for dropping by.
To purchase a print or digital copy of these images, click the image above and go to the "VISIT SHOP" button. For any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
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I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by.
To purchase a print or digital copy of these images, click the image above and go to the "VISIT SHOP" button. For any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
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I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by.
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Here's more info about the courthouse from Wikipedia (so it must be true. ;-)).
The Caldwell County Courthouse is a historic courthouse located in Lockhart, Texas, United States.[2][3] The courthouse was built in 1894 to replace the existing courthouse, which was too small for the growing county. The courthouse was designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1976 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a contributing property of the Caldwell County Courthouse Historic District on January 3, 1978.[4]
The courthouse was built in the Second Empire architectural style, with the design often attributed to Alfred Giles; however, recent research indicates the building was designed by Henry E.M. Guidon, who eventually became partners with Giles.[5] The courthouse is nearly identical to the courthouse in Goliad County, Texas, as it was built from the same Guidon plans.
The exterior has been featured in the films What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993) and Waiting for Guffman (1996).
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Exif Info:
FUJIFILM
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Here is more info on the Skylab trainer from Space Center Houston:
America’s first space station was huge. It was so big that the actual trainer used by astronauts to prepare for life aboard Skylab couldn’t be brought into Space Center Houston. Space Center Houston had to be built around the trainer.
The actual Skylab training module lives in Starship Gallery. Created out of the final stage of a Saturn V rocket, this habitable spacecraft was designed to develop methods of living and working in space for long periods.
It also was equipped with solar telescopes and served as a laboratory to study how the human body adapts to long duration exposure to a micro-gravity environment. Three different crews spent a total of 171 days on board, conducting a wide array of research.
The sign in the bottom left of the image says:
The large white ring that runs along the interior wall of Skylab is made up from a series of storage lockers for items ranging from cotton swabs to urine bags. Some crew members were able to run the length of these lockers as seen in the video to the left. The orbital workshops interior volume was 9,550 cubic feet (270 cubic meters).
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Exif Info:
FUJIFILM
X-H1
10 mm
15 mm
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After all that above, the following is gonna sound cheesy cheap and self-serving, but hey, that’s me, hehe! Anyway, thru the end of the month, everything on my site is for sale for 30% off with code PHONECASE2019. I'm promoting the phone cases because I like them a lot, but the code is good for everything.
I hope you enjoy the photos and thanks for dropping by.
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I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by.
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Exif data:
NIKON D90
11 mm
1/200 at f/11
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We here at Evan Gearing Photography are offering a new product for sale; phone cases! They are an excellent way of protecting your phone as well as showing off a bit of your personality! I think they are well made and the print quality is outstanding! I'm using one myself with my trick roper shot and I am quite happy with it! There are different kinds of cases; there are the traditional kind that cover the phone except for the screen (tough case) and then the kind that have a flap that covers the screen as well (folio case). The cases are just for Samsung and Apple phones. Go to this post for a couple of examples.
I've curated some of the photos on my site that I think would work great for phone cases into a collection that you can see if you click here. I personally think the portrait orientation of a photo goes best with these cases, but the landscape orientation works as well. It mainly comes down to preference. Also, any photo on my site will work if you don't see any in my phone case collection that strikes you. If you find a photo that you like, click on Visit Shop, click on Photo Gifts and then on the bottom left under TYPE, click on Phone Cases.
Use the code PHONECASE2019 for 30% off everything for all of April! The code is good for everything, not just the phone cases, so act now!
Lucent
Today's photo is another from Chicago. This one is from the ground floor of the Hancock building. This chandelier over the reflecting pool is a piece of art called "Lucent" and is supposed to represent different stars and constellations that can be seen from Earth's northern hemisphere. Here is more about Lucent from https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/lucent:
Lucent, the mesmerizing sculpture hanging in the lobby of Chicago’s John Hancock Building, certainly lives up to its name. The title is derived from the Latin word “lucere,” meaning “to shine,” and the artwork’s 3,115 lights depict a scale map of the stars that shine in the night sky.
The 13-foot artwork contains thousands of glass bulbs, all fed light through blue illuminating fiber-optic lines. The sculpture, created by English artist Wolfgang Buttress with the help of astrophysicist Dr. Daniel Bayliss, represents a 3D map of all the stars in the Northern Hemisphere that are able visible with the naked eye.
All of the piece’s glass bulbs were hand blown by artists at a local glass studio. Each one of the more than 3,000 bulbs is amplified even more against a mirrored ceiling above and a reflecting pool below. The end result is a piece that seems to go on forever, light looping from sky to ground over and over again.
The cosmic-inspired sculpture, Buttress told Chicago Magazine, aims to expresses “the idea of looking up and sensing wonder.”
This is another portrait-oriented photo that would be great on a phone case! I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by.
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Exif data:
FUJIFILM
X-T1
10 mm
15 mm
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Not fired, compulsory mode
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We here at Evan Gearing Photography are offering a new product for sale; phone cases! They are an excellent way of protecting your phone as well as showing off a bit of your personality! I think they are well made and the print quality is outstanding! I'm using one myself with my trick roper shot and I am quite happy with it! There are different kinds of cases; there are the traditional kind that cover the phone except for the screen (tough case) and then the kind that have a flap that covers the screen as well (folio case). The cases are just for Samsung and Apple phones. Here are examples of a tough case for a Galaxy S9 and a folio case for an iPhone XR:
I've curated some of the photos on my site that I think would work great for phone cases into a collection that you can see if you click here. I personally think the portrait orientation of a photo goes best with these cases, but the landscape orientation works as well. It mainly comes down to preference. Also, any photo on my site will work if you don't see any in my phone case collection that strikes you. If you find a photo that you like, click on Visit Shop, click on Photo Gifts and then on the bottom left under TYPE, click on Phone Cases.
Use the code PHONECASE2019 for 30% off everything for all of April! The code is good for everything, not just the phone cases, so act now!
Chicago Skyline
Today's photo comes from the archive. I took it at the Signature Lounge atop the Hancock building in Chicago, IL. I took several in landscape orientation and a couple in portrait. Sometimes the portrait orientation turns out nice and now that it can be used for a phone case or other goodies, I'm glad I did! Need to take more that way!
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by.
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Exif data:
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Here is a little more info on the bridge from Austin Tenant Advisors:
It’s more commonly known as the 360 bridge however was named after Percy Pennybacker Jr who was a pioneer in welded structure technology and designed bridges for the Texas Hwy Department in the early 1900s.
The Pennybacker Bridge was started in 1979 and completed in 1982. To help it blend in with the surrounding area it was designed with a weathered rust finish. Made of 600 short tons of steel produced in Japan and 3,400 short tons of concrete the Pennybacker Bridge cost $10M to design and construct.
The arched design was created to avoid having support columns because Lake Austin is very popular with water skiers, wake boarders, and boaters.
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Exif data:
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Gorrono is the remnant of a long time past sheep ranch that now operates as a restaurant during ski season and wedding destination year round. The menu consists of traditional ski resort fare, BBQ, Chili, Burgers, and salads served cafeteria style. Unbuckle your boots and sit inside by the roaring fire, or take your tray outside when weather permits. Picnic tables line multiple decks and there are plastic chairs set on the snow decks if you want to relax and listen to local musicians belt out cover tunes and the occasional original song. Gorrono Ranch is open during the ski season.
Local Note - On warm days in early spring, get to Gorrono early to snag a chair on the snow deck.
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Exif data:
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I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by.
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Exif data:
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This one of two shacks that I saw in Telluride. I didn't stop in this one to look at the shirts, but I did stop to take this photo. I'm not sure if the gentleman in this picture was a "ski patroller" since he wasn't wearing the traditional red and black jacket with the white cross that says "ski patrol" inside of it, but it was nice of him to turn and smile for me! Oh, I didn't buy a t-shirt either. I had already bought too many from town. Maybe next time! Click here for more info on the Telluride ski patrol.
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Exif data:
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Exif data:
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Exif data:
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Exif data:
Apple
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I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by.
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Exif data:
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During the San Juan Mountain gold rush, the smell of worn leather and the sounds of hard labor filled the air of Telluride. As precious metals were unearthed, more prospectors and profiteers moved to the area. The growing mining town of Telluride needed boarding for its passers-by and thus the Sheridan Hotel was constructed in 1891.
Destroyed by fire in 1894, the New Sheridan was built, this time in brick, in 1895. As decades passed and Telluride’s riches changed from gold to powdery snow, the New Sheridan Hotel evolved as well. Recently renovated with 26 handsome rooms, the New Sheridan is Telluride’s newest oldest hotel.
Home to the town’s oldest bar, the Historic New Sheridan Bar, a world-renowned restaurant, the Chop House. The New Sheridan has raised impeccable quality and service to a new level. Offering rich tradition paired with historic ambience, we invite you to discover the New Sheridan.
This is the only historic Telluride hotel and one of the few of Colorado’s historic hotels dating from the mining days.
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Exif data:
FUJIFILM
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Exif data:
FUJIFILM
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Exif data:
FUJIFILM
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Exif data:
FUJIFILM
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I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by.
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Exif data:
-
Fujifilm X-H1XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6R LM OIS WR
- ƒ/5.6
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Piloted by Gordon Cooper, Faith 7 flew May 15-16, 1963, and was in orbit for 34 hours, 19 minutes and 49 seconds, orbiting the Earth 22.5 times. With that flight, Cooper set the record at the time for spaceflight by an American.
Cooper selected the name “Faith 7” for his spacecraft to express his faith in his fellow workers, his faith in the spaceflight hardware that had been so carefully tested, his faith in himself and his faith in God.
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Exif data:
-
Fujifilm X-H1XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
- ƒ/4.0
- 16.6 mm
- 1/15
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I thought there would be more to this place than there really was. One of the big disappointments was seeing the "Mission Control Center". We had to get on a tram that ran only once every half an hour and we had to wait thru three of them before we got on. Then, when we got there, SCH is in the process of restoring the mission control center back to its Apollo-mission configuration. So, there were ladders and tarps and other construction things in there. They didn't even advise visitors about that! It would have been nice to know so we could've spent valuable time elsewhere. Not worth the visit. And also, it's disappointing that they are restoring it because they are removing all of the cigarette stains and other signs of wear and use to make it pristine. Would kind of like them to just leave it as it was when it was shutdown.
There were some interesting things to see there, so it wasn't a total bust. The picture you see here is from the "Starship Gallery" and is a shot of the Lunar Rover Trainer. You can read more about it here. Some of the text from the link to the site is as follows:
Rovers were taken to the moon’s surface (and left there) on the last three Apollo missions. Astronauts Dave Scott, Jim Irwin, John Young, Charlie Duke, Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt all practiced on the Lunar Rover trainer displayed at Space Center Houston in preparation for those missions.
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Exif data:
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Fujifilm X-H1XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6R LM OIS WR
- ƒ/5.0
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Exif data
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Exif data:
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Fujifilm X-H1XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6R LM OIS WR
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The CN Tower is a 553.33 meter-high (1,815.4 feet) concrete communications and observation tower in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
When construction of the CN Tower was complete in 1976 it became the world’s tallest free-standing structure and world’s tallest tower at the time. It held both records for 34 years until the completion of Burj Khalifa and Canton Tower in 2010.
It is now the 3rd tallest tower in the world and remains the tallest free-standing structure in the Western Hemisphere.
It was built by the state railways, the Canadian National Railway, known by the acronym CN, origin of the name of the tower.
The project’s architects were John Andrews, Roger Du Toit, and the Webb Zerafa Menkès Housden Partnership; the structural engineer was R.R. Nicolet.
Construction on the CN Tower began on February 6, 1973 and wrapped up about 40 months later in June 1976. In those 40 months, there were 1,537 workers working 24 hours a day, five days a week.
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Exif data:
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Fujifilm X-H1XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
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Fujifilm X-H1XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
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Exif data:
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XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
- ƒ/11.0
- 52.7 mm
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XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
- ƒ/8.0
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In the meantime, I thought since it has been a while I would post a few pics from the Stockyards Rodeo that Eileen and I went to a year and a half ago. It's a fun place if you've never been and I think there's always a rodeo there just about every weekend.
One other thing, Eileen and I recently dropped off Facebook due to this article on the Wall St Journal.
It's basically about how Facebook and the banks may share information about users and it kind of scared us. We may come back, but definitely won't post as much information about ourselves as we did in the past. Plus, some people on FB are just nuts when it comes to politics. You know who you are. :-P
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To purchase a print or digital copy of this image, click the image above and go to the "VISIT SHOP" button. For any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
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XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6R LM OIS WR
- ƒ/18.0
- 98.6 mm
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Exif data:
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Fujifilm X-H1XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
- ƒ/6.7
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Anyway, we stayed at the Hilton Americas which is about 6 blocks from Minute Maid Park where the Astros play. We got a room with an excellent view of downtown and I got this shot as the sun was going down after we got back from the game.
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Exif data:
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Fujifilm X-H1XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
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Exif data:
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I share photos on this blog from my Flickr account. When you login to Flickr, it will take you to the "Explore" page. This is where Flickr's algorithms pick so-called "interesting" photos that have been uploaded by other account holders and presents them to everyone for more hits and such. One of the things that makes me roll my eyes once in a while are the titles people give their photos. Can we just title it what it is? If it is a picture of a walkway in black and white (I'm making this up but it's not unrealistic), can we call it "Walkway in black and white" or title it with the location instead of, "Yearning for a life with less milieu" or something stupid like that? Jeez, come on, man... ;-) OK, maybe that's what helps get images into "Explore".. Maybe I should try that... On second thought, nah....
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XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6R LM OIS WR
- ƒ/10.0
- 21.6 mm
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Exif data:
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XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6R LM OIS WR
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Exif data
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18.0-105.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
- ƒ/10.0
- 58.0 mm
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There's kind of a weird story to go along with this photo... At the time I took this photo, there was a guy in a red Dodge Dakota pickup truck about 100 feet away from me just blasting his horn and revving his engine when the plane touched down. I looked over at him and he had his hand out the window making all sorts of signs like the finger, the hang-loose sign, etc. It seemed those were in my direction or the direction of the three other people that were there watching planes as well. Not sure what he was going on about, I started walking over to him thinking maybe I'm breaking some sort of protocol by taking pictures of incoming planes and he knew something I didn't. As I got closer to him, he drove away from me... He then came into the area where I parked and where a father and his young son parked their pickup. He pulled up on the curb just behind the father's truck and sat there. He revved his engine a couple of times.. The other person there besides the father and son duo was a nice gentleman named Solomon who was originally from Nigeria. Very nice man, but he also became concerned about the weirdo in the red pickup. So he went over to the father and son to tell them this might not be a good situation. As he went over to talk to them, the guy in the red truck left. At that point, I thought it prudent to leave and so did Solomon. As we drove out to get back on 71, red truck boy was sitting in the left lane sort of pointing in a crazy direction, like not quite perpendicular to the road and maybe slightly off to the side. It was strange.. Then he turned around and started following us, but he was quite a ways back. As I got back on to Highway 71, I wanted to head west back towards Austin, but since it is a divided highway, one must go east, turn around, then head west. I did so, but as I was going west, I saw red pickup boy one last time appearing to be broke down on the eastbound side of 71. He was out of his truck and like putting his head on the bed of the truck and other weird things. That's the last I saw of this guy. Isn't that a weird story? I think he must've been on drugs or drinking or something while driving a piece of crap. That's the only thing that makes sense to me...
One of the bad things about trying to photograph the planes is that you must shoot through a chain link fence. I opened up the aperture as much as I could on my lens, but you can still kind of see the blurred X's of the fence in the image. Oh well, I still like it.
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Exif data:
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XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
- ƒ/5.6
- 113.8 mm
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You see, Las Vegas holds a special place in my heart. First and foremost, Eileen and I got married there. We got married at the Imperial Palace on July 11th, 1993. It was awesome and the best thing to happen to me! Secondly, my first duty station in the US Air Force was very near Vegas; only about 45 miles NW of Vegas at a little base called Indian Springs Auxilary Airfield. So as you can see, I have a little bit of a connection there.
Now, Las Vegas has a National Hockey League expansion team called the Las Vegas Golden Knights. They are a scrappy bunch and fun to watch. This is their first year and they actually made the playoffs! Not only have they made the playoffs, but as of this writing they are one win from going to the Stanley Cup Finals. Being from Michigan originally, I am a Detroit Red Wings fan and this is the first year that the Wings haven't made the playoffs in like 21 years. With the Wings out, I find myself rooting for the Golden Knights in a big way! Not only because they are an expansion team in Vegas, but they beat the San Jose Sharks in the last round. I won't say why I am happy about that because it's rather stupid and personal, but I'm happy nonetheless. Plus, the Knights have these over-the-top pre-game ceremonies that are just so "Vegas". They are gaudy and cheesey and cool. How can you not like them?!
Lastly, with the horrible and god-awful shit that happened last October, I think Vegas deserves something spectacularly awesome and I'm hoping the Knights could be that special something. If they win the Stanley Cup, that would just be the best thing ever!
All that being said, here is a shot I took one early morning while we were visiting Las Vegas a couple of years ago. I went out early on one of the last mornings we were there and got this shot. No one was out except the weirdos and the drunks. Otherwise it was quite deserted. If you do the same thing, make sure you have a tripod in case you need to clock someone over the head because they are drunk and want to know when the fountains shoot off or because you hear them talking about "ni**ers" on their phone in a weird foreign accent.. Just kidding! Well not really, that actually happened except I didn't clock anyone, thank goodness. In other words, be careful! Not sure I would do that again. OK, Vegas isn't perfect, but what city is?
Go Vegas and go Golden Knights! :-)
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This guy here was one of the experienced ones and he was pretty good. The lady here on the other hand was just a beginner and I think her goal was to be out there and look pretty. Ah, that's sexist isn't it? Well she was, but she at least was trying to learn how to surf...
One other thing about this place is that they have their own brewery. I must say the Off Leash IPA is excellent!
As far as the picture goes, the water at this park had a yellowy brown color to it, so I took these into Photoshop and worked some Hue-Saturation-Luminance (HSL) trickery to get the water to look somewhat aqua-tourquoisey. What do you think?
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Exif data:
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XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6R LM OIS WR
- ƒ/8.0
- 23.3 mm
- 1/180
- 400
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Exif data:
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XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
- ƒ/8.0
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- 1/200
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This place was an old Magnolia gas station that was built in the 1940s. Whenever it stopped selling gasoline, it became - among other things - a sign store and an ice cream shop. Right now it is some kind of gun store. I'm glad the owners kept it looking like the old gas station though. Still has the old pumps out front!
It was kind of yucky weather-wise so I tried to make it a little more moody to reflect the crappy day.
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I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
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XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
- ƒ/8.0
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I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by!
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
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XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
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There are sorts of rules for keeping your distance from these guys, but there were no signs at this beach regarding said rules like at other beaches in HI.
To get this shot, I just crouched down through the gathering throng and zoomed in. I didn't want to get super close, so the tele-lens helped.
One lady that was there said that just a couple days prior there were so many on the beach that you couldn't tell the rocks from the turtles!
A photographer that took our anniversary pictures said that the reason the turtles come up on the beach is to warm up from being in the water at up to three weeks at a time, and to lay eggs of course.
Apparently they are called "green sea turtles" due to the color of the fat content underneath the shell.
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Exif data:
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XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6R LM OIS WR
- ƒ/11.0
- 93.2 mm
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You can see the shadow of Haleakala cast over the rest of the island! Also, it was during a blue moon and you can see the moon adds a nice little accent to the image! It was a great view, but still wish we could have seen the sun from the very top!
Kihei - the city we stayed in - is along the coastline in the lower left portion of the shot.
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by.
More about Haleakala from Wikipedia:
Haleakalā (/ˌhɑːliːˌɑːkəˈlɑː/; Hawaiian: [ˈhɐlɛˈjɐkəˈlaː]), or the East Maui Volcano, is a massive shield volcano that forms more than 75% of the Hawaiian Island of Maui. The western 25% of the island is formed by another volcano, Mauna Kahalawai, also referred to as the West Maui Mountains.
The tallest peak of Haleakalā ("house of the sun"), at 10,023 feet (3,055 m), is Puʻu ʻUlaʻula (Red Hill). From the summit one looks down into a massive depression some 11.25 km (7 mi) across, 3.2 km (2 mi) wide, and nearly 800 m (2,600 ft) deep. The surrounding walls are steep and the interior mostly barren-looking with a scattering of volcanic cones.
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XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6R LM OIS WR
- ƒ/4.2
- 26.6 mm
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Inside the Painted Church
Just a couple miles away from the place where we stayed in Captain Cook is the St Benedict's Catholic Church, aka "The Painted Church". The image here is an 11-shot panorama.
The images painted on the walls and the ceilings depict life and death as well as scenes from the Bible. The altar and the left side depict life. The right side and the rear of the church depict death. If you look at the palm fronds in the ceiling arches, you can see that the ones that point to the front are green (alive with life), while the ones that point to the back are brown (dying or dead). The priest who founded the church used these paintings as a way to explain the bible to those who could not read.
Here is more from Wikipedia:
Saint Benedict's Catholic Church (also called simply The Painted Church[1]) is a parish of the Roman Catholic Church in Honaunau, Hawaii. It was built between 1899-1902 under the direction of the Belgian Catholic missionary Father John Velghe, who then painted frescoes along the interior ceiling and walls. An untrained folk-artist, Fr. Velghe depicted various biblical scenes, such as Cain's murder of Abel, Jesus refusing the Devil, and the writing on the wall, as well as a vivid illustration of sinners in Hell.[3] While the building itself is small and rectangular, Fr. Velghe painted Gothic vaults above the altar, creating the illusion of a European Gothic cathedral, inspired particularly by Burgos Cathedral.[1] Several other priests learned from Velghe and went on to establish other 'painted churches', including Star of the Sea Painted Church, painted by Father Evarist Gielen.[4]
St. Benedict's continues to be an active Roman Catholic church in the Diocese of Honolulu, vicariate of West Hawaii, holding five masses per week.[5] It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and is open to the public for viewing seven days a week.
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Rocks and Waves
We stayed on the islands of Maui and Hawaii during our vacation. Maui was first and our accommodations was a VRBO in Kihei. One afternoon, Eileen and I went down to Kamaole Beach Park II where I tried to get some ocean sunset pictures. This is one of those.
It's a combination of three or four different photos masked together. It was hard to get the waves to crash at the right time in various places in the shot, so I took a bunch of different ones when the waves hit the rocks in different spots and then put together a few of the best ones.
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Exif data:
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XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
- ƒ/18.0
- 10.0 mm
- 1/30
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Captain Cook Sunset 02
Here is another view of the pool and the awesome sunset over the ocean as seen from our lanai in Captain Cook, Hawaii.
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Exif data:
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XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
- ƒ/11.0
- 10.0 mm
- 1/60
- 200
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Captain Cook Sunset 01
We had a fantastic trip to Hawaii! This was an early 25th wedding anniversary present to Eileen and myself. Our anniversary is actually on July 11th, but we wanted to go to Hawaii in February to see the whales and that did not disappoint! What a great anniversary and here's to 25 more, Eileen! I love you with all my heart and Happy Valentine's day, too!
Our good friends, Valerie, Ellen and Theresa went along with us and they made the trip a great one as well! We stayed on the islands of Maui and (the big island of) Hawaii. I think the place we stayed on Hawaii was the best! This was the view as the sun was setting from the pool below the main house.
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Exif data:
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XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
- ƒ/11.0
- 10.0 mm
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Whistler Olympic Rings
Since the Winter Olympics are coming up, why not post one more Whistler shot... Some of the Winter Olympics were held there in 2010 as Vancouver was the main city for the event.
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Exif data:
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10.0-20.0 mm f/4.0-5.6
- ƒ/4.0
- 10.0 mm
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Peak 2 Peak Gondola
This is the gondola that connects the Whistler Mountain with the Blackcomb Mountain at the Whistler-Blackcomb ski resort in - you guessed it - Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. Great place to ski once you get above the cloud deck and the gondola is a great way to get to see both mountains. You don't even need to be a skier!
According to their website, It is the longest and highest lift in the world for an unparalleled perspective of British Columbia’s rooftop – from incomparable views of snow covered peaks to riding through the mist of the clouds. The world record-breaking PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola was built for sightseers, skiers and snowboarders alike.
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This lovely lady here is creating a blanket that will take approximately 6-8 months from start to finish. It's all done by hand and she said she was commissioned by someone in California to make it. As you can see, it's probably almost half done. I asked her how long it would take to complete it and she said about another 3-4 months! Wow! She makes it one thread of yarn at a time and she said she comes up with the design off the top of her head! Incredible and beautiful!
I took this shot back in October so I'm guessing she's very close to being done now or already done and starting on another one. I just wish I would've gotten her name.
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I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by.
>If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
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I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by!
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I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
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XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
- ƒ/8.0
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- 200
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The two shots below of a lumber company in Granger, Texas that I took in 2009 are processed very differently. The one on top was processed today almost exclusively in Lightroom and I used just one exposure. The one on the bottom was a 3 exposure HDR and it's horrible! The great David Nightingale would say it looks like, "clown vomit".
Nowadays, HDR can look a lot more natural and could still be used in this situation with the proper software. But, software is just the half of it. Skills are a big part of processing, too and I was sorely lacking them in those days. However, now processing software is much better as is my knowledge if it. One exposure worked out well enough for me for the top photo.
The image itself isn't the best one in the world, but I wanted to use it today just to show the differences between what I thought was awesome a long time ago and what is my idea of an improvement. Of course all of this is in the eye of the beholder and you may think neither one of them are any good. That's OK, too!
Moral of the story; keep working on your skills and persevere. I need to try to be better at doing that myself. And who knows, maybe what I have at the top here will be crap when I look back on it in another 8 or 9 years, if I'm still doing this that long from now. :-)
I hope you enjoy the photos and thanks for dropping by.
Better!
Awesome in 2009, but Awful today, with a capital 'A'!
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]]>
I hope you enjoy the photos and thanks for dropping by.
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]]>The following is from the National Park Service's website:
From Desert View, aptly named because of the views to the east of the Painted Desert, you can see the Colorado River make a big bend and continue to the west, the North Rim more than 10 miles away, and a panoramic view for well over 100 miles on a clear day.
The Watchtower dominates the near view. This structure was designed by Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter who is often referred to as the architect of the southwest. She traveled throughout the southwest to find inspiration and authenticity for her buildings. The architecture of the ancestral Puebloan people of the Colorado Plateau served as her model. This particular tower was patterned after those found at Hovenweep and the Round Tower of Mesa Verde. Ms. Colter indicated that it was not a copy of any that she had seen, but rather modeled from several.
The tower was completed in 1932.
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Exif data:
-
XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6R LM OIS WR
- ƒ/8.0
- 18.0 mm
- 1/500
- 200
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One thing our tour guide of the Grand Canyon told us is that the difference between a canyon and a gorge is that a canyon is wider than it is deep and a gorge is deeper than it is wide. If that were the case, wouldn't Upper Antelope Canyon really be Upper Antelope Gorge? It is definitely deeper than it is wide as it gets pretty narrow in there. Maybe the difference was defined after it was named. :-) I think the case is that the area I took these shots is just part of the overall Canyon, although it is also referred to as a "slot canyon" which to me is a definition of a gorge. Oh well, whatever.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by.
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Exif data:
-
XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
- ƒ/7.1
- 10.0 mm
- 1.3
- 200
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I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
-
XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6R LM OIS WR
- ƒ/8.0
- 20.1 mm
- 1/250
- 200
I hope you enjoy the photos and thanks for dropping by.
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The Rotary Club of Georgetown Foundation proudly presents the first annual Field of Honor® in Central Texas in cooperation with the City of Georgetown and presented by Hewlett Chevrolet Buick and SportClips. This truly inspiring event will pay tribute to our valued veterans, active and reserve duty military, first responders, and personal heroes during the week of Veterans Day from November 5th to November 12th, 2017.
A stunning and emotion-filled display of over 1400 full sized U.S. flags will be posted at San Gabriel Park’s activity field on Chamber Way, each flag having been purchased by individuals in tribute to a veteran, active or reserve duty military, first responder, or their own personal heroes. It is a week to honor and express thanks to all who selflessly serve. It is also a time to educate. Visitors to the field will enjoy a display of historical American flags.
I especially liked the Air Force portion as it is a bit near and dear to my heart. :-)
Remember the Vets this weekend and have a great day!
I hope you enjoy the photos and thanks for dropping by.
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From Wikipedia:
The chapel was inspired and commissioned by local rancher and sculptor Marguerite Brunswig Staude, who had been inspired in 1932 by the newly constructed Empire State Building to build such a church. After an attempt to do so in Budapest, Hungary (with the help of Lloyd Wright, son of noted architect Frank Lloyd Wright) was aborted due to the outbreak of World War II, she decided to build the church in her native region.[2]
Richard Hein was chosen as project architect, and the design was executed by architect August K. Strotz, both from the firm of Anshen & Allen. The chapel is built on Coconino National Forest land; the late Senator Barry Goldwater assisted Staude in obtaining a special-use permit. The construction supervisor was Fred Courkos, who built the chapel in 18 months at a cost of US$300,000. The chapel was completed in 1956.[3]
The American Institute of Architects gave the Chapel its Award of Honor in 1957. In the sculptor's words, “Though Catholic in faith, as a work of art the Chapel has a universal appeal. Its doors will ever be open to one and all, regardless of creed, that God may come to life in the souls of all men (and women) and be a living reality.”
In 2007, Arizonans voted the Chapel to be one of the Seven Man-Made Wonders of Arizona,[4] and it is also the site of one of the so-called Sedona vortices.
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Exif data:
The tour itself was good because the guide on the one I went on (Rosie was her name) would block off those from other tours from entering the different "rooms" for a minute or two so we could get our shots and then chaos would ensue and we'd move on. The thing is, I had time to get the shots like this one below, but you don't get a LOT of time. You have to be ready and you have to be quick because they cannot hold up the other tour groups for too long.
In that regard, I got some nice shots, but most of them are crap as I really wasn't sure what to compose when we entered each room. The guide tried to tell us, but I really didn't figure it out until it was time to move on to the next opportunity. The best thing to do if you are interested in doing this is to go on a regular tour with your iPhone or Android prior to the serious one so you can see what you can shoot. Then go back on the photography tour and shoot with the good camera. That way you will have a better idea of what's there and where.
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by.
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EXIF Info:
-
XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
- ƒ/7.1
- 10.0 mm
- 1.8
- 200
Lastly, to give you a sense of the size of this view, if you look at about the 3 o'clock area of the river, you will see a little white speck. That little white speck is a fishing boat, probably a bass boat or something.
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by!
From Wikipedia:
Horseshoe Bend is a horseshoe-shaped incised meander of the Colorado River located near the town of Page, Arizona, in the United States.
Horseshoe Bend is located 5 miles (8.0 km) downstream from the Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell within Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, about 4 miles (6.4 km) southwest of Page.
It is accessible via hiking a 1.5-mile (2.4 km) round trip from U.S. Route 89, but an access road also reaches the geological structure, as it is part of a state park. Horseshoe Bend can be viewed from the steep cliff above.[1]
The overlook is 4,200 feet (1,300 m) above sea level, and the Colorado River is at 3,200 feet (980 m) above sea level, making it a 1,000-foot (300 m) drop.[2]
The rock walls of Horseshoe Bend contain a variety of minerals, among which are hematite, platinum and garnet.
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Exif data:
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I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
-
XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6R LM OIS WR
- ƒ/8.0
- 30.9 mm
- 1/550
- 200
The shot itself is made up of 17 photos taken left to right panning the field and then a few that took in the roof. Then I had to distort the roof by sort of smushing it because the photomerge process in Photoshop really stretched it out.
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by!
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Exif data:
- ƒ/2.8
- 4.5 mm
- 1/1000
- 1600
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I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by.
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Exif data:
-
XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
- ƒ/8.0
- 18.8 mm
- 1/60
- 200
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Part of the trip took us to Dyersville, IA, home of the movie set for "Field Of Dreams", a great baseball movie from the late 1980s, starring Kevin Costner. This shot is looking at the farmhouse and barns from 3d base. The cornfields are just behind in the outfield.
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Exif data:
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Oh, I should mention, this is another shot I took of the The Independence State Hospital in Independence, IA about 4 years ago or so. From Wikipedia:
The Independence State Hospital was built in 1873 as the second asylum in the state of Iowa. It is located in Independence, Iowa. The original plan for patients was to relieve crowding from the hospital at Mount Pleasant and to hold alcoholics, geriactrics, drug addicts, mentally ill, and the criminally insane. It was built under the Kirkbride Plan. The hospital's many names include: The Independence Lunatic Asylum, The Independence State Asylum, The Independence Asylum for the Insane, The Iowa State Hospital for the Insane, and The Independence Mental Health Institute. There is also a labyrinth of underground tunnels which connect every building. Like most asylums of its time, it has had a gruesome and dark history. Remnants of this are the graveyard, hydrotherapy tubs, and lobotomy equipment.
The hospital is still in operation. According to the state of Iowa, The Independence Mental Health Institute (IMHI) provides inpatient psychiatric treatment for adults, adolescents, and children who are in need of acute psychiatric service.
So apparently they still provide some mental health treatment. Like I said, the world could probably use a session or two...
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. (You can click on the photo to see different sizes if you so desire.)
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Exif data:
]]>
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
-
iPhone 6s back camera 4.15mm f/2.2
- ƒ/2.2
- 4.2 mm
- 1/15
- 320
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 18mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 1/125
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Manual
ISO speed - 2500
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
To mark the occasion, unfortunately I don't have any pictures of fireworks, eagles, flags or anything similar to post. I do however, have some photos from the one of the most American of pastimes one can experience and that is baseball! We went to see the Yankees take on the Astros in Houston on July 1st. In honor of the holiday, Major League Baseball changed up the uniforms of all 32 teams to include the colors of the flag (red, white and blue) as well as the stars and stripes. You can see the variations on the hats and the numbers and logos of the jerseys as well as the socks, at least the socks of the players who decided to wear them. I think they look pretty cool! Anyway, below are the pictures! Have a great holiday, don't eat too much apple pie and don't get heat stroke while waiting for the fireworks shows!
Oh and I should mention that the Astros won the game in dramatic fashion, 7-6 in the bottom of the 8th. The Yankees led the whole game and then Aroldis Chapman came in to get one out in the bottom of the 8th inning and he gave up the go-ahead run. We also got to see a grand slam home run in person for the first time! It was hit by Didi Gregorius of the Yankees! Pretty exciting!
On a totally different note, Eileen just reminded me that 25 years ago today, when we were barely dating, I got a ticket on my jet ski at Decker Lake near Austin, TX for going too fast in a no-wake zone. My excuse was that there was too much hydrilla in the water and if you go too slow over it, it gets caught in the jet ski's impeller intake and clogs up the impeller causing it to stall. The park ranger didn't buy it.
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the below images.
Carlos Correa (Astros #1) turning a double-play while Brett Gardner slides into second with Jose Altuve looking on.
Brett Gardner attempts a steal of second base.
Jose Altuve swings and misses.
Didi Gregorius (#18) celebrates with teammates after hitting a bases loaded grand slam home run.
Aroldis Chapman comes in for relief in the bottom of the 8th inning.
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]]>
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
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Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 24mm
Aperture - f9
Exposure - 1/500
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - -0.67 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 90mm
Aperture - f5.4
Exposure - 1/500
Metering mode - Spot
Exposure program - Manual
ISO speed - 6400
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
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Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length -34.3mm
Aperture - f3.6
Exposure - 1/80
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 640
Exposure bias - -1 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 55mm
Aperture - f4
Exposure - 1/80
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 400
Exposure bias - -1 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 55mm
Aperture - f4
Exposure - 1/80
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 800
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
Whisky Shivers from Austin, TX plays a type of bluegrass music with punk rock influences. I didn't really notice the punk rock part, but the bluegrass was definitely the influence here. They played well and their songs had a really fast beat. I guess that's where the punk comes in. They call their type of music "trashgrass". Gotta love it!
The two guys seen here are fiddler Bobby Fitzgerald on the left and guitar player Jeff "Horti" Hortillosa.
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
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Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 55mm
Aperture - f4
Exposure - 1/80
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 320
Exposure bias - -1 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
As far as the shot goes, it was rather dark in the arena even though it was lit. I had to use 6400 ISO and with my slow f4.5-6.7 zoom, the shots came out pretty dark. I had to do lots of Lightroom trickery to brighten it up and then used a new app called Noiseless by Macphun to get rid of all the horrible noise. It worked pretty well, but it is not as tack sharp as I want. I still like it, though. Crazy how that bull can extend like that, right?! Now, I just need a faster and sharper lens. Anyone got a Fuji 50-140mm f2.8 they don't need for cheap? ;-)
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 118mm
Aperture - f5.6
Exposure - 1/500
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Manual
ISO speed - 6400
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
Just down the street from the hotel, you can watch the cowboys drive "the herd" around the block everyday at 11:30a and 4:00p. It's a pretty fun - if not touristy - thing to do. ;-)
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length -18 mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 1/250
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Manual
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
Lance is super-friendly and came up to me and just started chatting about everything. He even showed me an old Jaguar in the back that he is working on. It was pretty awesome!
He has some definite views on current events and you can certainly tell by the decor in his showroom. Depending on which side you are on, you will either love him or hate him. He also has a great 1950s motif throughout his establishment, too. I'll leave that to your imagination, but recommend you stop by if you are ever driving between Austin and Houston. Hopefully you'll like what you see, if not the politics maybe the cars.
The cars seen here are 1964 Ford Thunderbirds and are in pretty good shape.
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 18mm
Aperture - f6.4
Exposure - 1/2000
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Manual
ISO speed - 1600
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Panasonic DMC-TZ5
Lens -
Focal Length - 6.7 mm
Aperture - f3.9
Exposure - 1/500
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Auto
ISO speed - 100
Exposure bias -
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
2008 was the last year the Yankees played at old Yankee stadium and Eileen and I as well as her folks, Paul and Barb wanted to see a game there. The day of the game we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and had pizza at Grimaldi's. It was awesome! What a fun trip!
I was also trying to figure out good compositions with my little compact point and shoot. I liked this one a bit, but never published it. Now with Lightroom, I tried to give it more of a gritty style and I kind of like how it turned out.
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
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Exif data:
Camera - Panasonic DMC-TZ5
Lens -
Focal Length - 4.7 mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure -1/250
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Auto
ISO speed -100
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Lens - Nikkor
Focal Length - Nikkor 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 1/250
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias -
Tripod - 0 EV
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 12.6 mm
Aperture - f7.1
Exposure - 1/120
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
Now, that we have seen the Houston Rockets play the last two years, I'm beginning to like them, too. James Harden of the Rockets is really becoming a superstar and his beard is making him one of the most recognizable players in the league. Obviously that's who is getting introduced in this shot. I took this just before the Rockets played the Pistons in Houston on April 7th. BTW, the Pistons won, 114-109. ;-)
Since the Pistons didn't make the playoffs this year, I will have to say I will root for either the Rockets, Spurs or Warriors. Just have to see how the attrition happens. You'd think since I am a Pistons fan I would go for a team in the East but nope, I don't like any of them. It's always whatever team LeBron is on anyway, so what's the point. Not a big fan. Go Western Conference!
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 18 mm
Aperture - f5
Exposure - 1.125
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Auto-bracket
ISO speed - 2000
Exposure bias - -1.67 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
That brings me to these two photos... They are photos that I took early in the morning just before Matt K's seminar started since I got to SA a little early. I wandered around the river-walk and grabbed a few photos. These two I didn't think were much after I took them, but with a little bit of processing that I took away from both Matt and Serge, I kind of like them now. Granted, they aren't awesome cityscapes with beautiful sunsets or anything, but they are still a bit interesting. Personally, I like the second one better. What do you think?
I hope you enjoy the photos and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the first image and here for the second..
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]]>I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 10 mm
Aperture - f22
Exposure - 12 secs
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Manual
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - -0.67
Tripod - Yes
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
This is a black and white image of one of the two walls that stand at each end of the reflecting pool marking the time before and after the explosion. One wall has the time of 9:01 am and the other 9:03 marking the time before and after the bombing that took place at 9:02 am. Click here to read more about the symbolism of the memorial.
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Lens - Nikkor 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0
Focal Length - 17 mm
Aperture - f16
Exposure - 1/15
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - +1 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - I think so
# of brackets - Probably 7-9
So what you see here is a handheld panorama of 7-8 shots. I converted it to black and white because the buildings and sky were pretty monotone due to the harsh contrast of the afternoon light. Someday when we go back there I would like to try again at night with a fisheye, of which I still need to purchase.
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 10 mm
Aperture - f8.0
Exposure - 1/500
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Manual
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
I took this shot as soon as we got inside. If you decide to go with a camera though, be careful that you don't take one with a very long zoom. Last season I brought my Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ300 which has an equivalent max of a 600 mm zoom lens. As I was taking pictures of Kobe Bryant (Lakers v Rockets in Dec., 2015), an usher grabbed me and made me check the camera at their Customer Relations stand. I had to leave it there until the end of the game. This time, I just put my wide angle on my Fuji X-T1 which looks big, but cannot zoom in on anything. They gave me a bit of a hard time when we entered because it looked like a zoom lens. However, they reluctantly agreed after I explained what it was and showed them that it didn't zoom much at all. Moral of the story, don't take a telephoto lens to the Toyota Center or any lens that will extend more than a couple of inches. That's the only place that's been a pain when it comes to cameras that I've experienced so far.
Last thing, I shot this pic with a 1/12 sec shutter speed. It ain't the most perfect shot, but still pretty darn clear handheld don't you think?
I hope you enjoy this photo and as always, click here to see a higher-res version of the image below.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 10 mm
Aperture - f5
Exposure - 1/12
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - -1.67 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 12.6 mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 1/110
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - -0.67 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 18 mm
Aperture - f5
Exposure - 1/900
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 800
Exposure bias - -1/3 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Apple iPhone 6s
Lens - iPhone 6s back camera 4.15mm f/2.2
Focal Length - 4.2 mm
Aperture - f2.2
Exposure - 1/180
Metering mode - Whatever
Exposure program - Whatever
ISO speed - 25
Exposure bias - Whatever
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Apple iPhone 6s
Lens - iPhone 6s back camera 4.15mm f/2.2
Focal Length - 4.2 mm
Aperture - f2.2
Exposure - 1/30
Metering mode - Whatever
Exposure program - Whatever
ISO speed - 25
Exposure bias - Whatever
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
Click their names and check out their sites! You'll be impressed! Great to see/meet you all and hopefully we can do it again sometime! Especially if there's Hopadillo involved!
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 10 mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 30 secs
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - +1 EV
Tripod -Yes
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
This one is just behind the Church of the Nazarene near the intersection of TX 29 and TX 130 here in Georgetown. The sun just went down by the time I got there so I didn't get that golden light, but I think it works.
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 19 mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 1/13
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - -1 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Apple iPhone 6s
Lens - iPhone 6s back camera 4.15mm f/2.2
Focal Length - 4.2 mm
Aperture - f2.2
Exposure - 1/6400
Metering mode - Whatever
Exposure program - Whatever
ISO speed - 25
Exposure bias - Whatever
Tripod - Nope
HDR - Nope
# of brackets - NA
One thing about so much snow is how quiet it gets when there isn't anyone around... Well, at least until the snowboarders slide by yelling, "Sick shot, bro!" That kinda breaks the quiet a little...
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Apple iPhone 6s
Lens - iPhone 6s back camera 4.15mm f/2.2
Focal Length - 4.2 mm
Aperture - f2.2
Exposure - 1/3800
Metering mode - Whatever
Exposure program - Whatever
ISO speed - 25
Exposure bias - Whatever
Tripod - Nope
HDR - Nope
# of brackets - NA
Regarding the buildings seen here, the "Pioneer Saloon" on the left has great prime rib and steaks and the building with the green first floor and brick second floor is called "Enoteca". It is an Italian food restaurant and the locals love it. We ate there and let's just say we didn't quite agree with the locals.
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Apple iPhone 6s
Lens - Whatever
Focal Length -4.2 mm
Aperture - f2.2
Exposure - 1/670
Metering mode - Whatever
Exposure program - Whatever
ISO speed - 25
Exposure bias - Whatever
Tripod - Nope
HDR - Nope
# of brackets - Nope
I also thought, why not put out another picture or two? So here you go. The first is a companion to my last post from outside the Lookout Day Lodge. If you read my last post, I talked about how windy it was up there but you couldn't get that from the pic of the lodge. With this shot, you get more of a sense of the wind; I took it at the same time as the last. You can see the banner blowing, snow blowing by the trees on the right and there's even someone bending over in front of the little building there doing something. My guess is kissing his ass goodbye, but who really knows?
The second shot is of a guy who was doing a little fishing in the stream by the sports store and lodge where I picked up my tickets and skis. I was done for the day and walking home when I spotted this guy. I didn't ask him how he was doing because I wasn't sure if that would scare off his potential catch. But it made for a nice scene, yes?
I hope you enjoy the photos and thanks for dropping by.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
]]>This shot here is of the restaurant at the top of the mountain called Lookout Day Lodge. You can see how much snow is up there as the restaurant is half-buried in it. You have to walk down just to get through the doorway. I stopped in there towards the end of the day yesterday for a beverage. As I was sitting there, a gentleman from the resort staff said that the lift to get there had to be closed because of high winds. It was crazy windy up there! I wondered if they would do that because that lift seemed to always stop just before I got to the top and it was just whipping up there. It was really hard to see where you were going. You can't really get a sense of the wind int his shot, but trust me, it was!
Usually when I go skiing I will take the Fuji X-T1 up with me to take some pictures. However, with this snow, I'm not sure I want to do this. So, I'm trying the iPhone out and editing with Lightroom Mobile and all of that. This is the first result.
I hope enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Apple iPhone 6s
Lens - iPhone 6s back camera 4.15mm f/2.2
Focal Length - 4.2mm
Aperture -f2.2
Exposure - 1/3000
Metering mode - Whatever
Exposure program -Whatever
ISO speed - 25
Exposure bias - Whatever
Tripod - Nope
HDR - Nope
# of brackets - NA
I you hope enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 18 mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 1/25
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 250
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - Sort of - exposure blended with two shots
# of brackets - 2, spaced 2 EV apart
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 20.5 mm
Aperture - f9
Exposure - 1/640
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
I hope enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 50 mm
Aperture -f16
Exposure -9 secs
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
Anyway, below is the first of a few shots and I think I may have to go back there later in the week to get a few more.
I edited this one a little different than normal. I did an in-camera edit to change the white balance as well as the crop and then I downloaded to my ipad and brightened the courthouse with Snapseed. Lastly, I just imported into Lightroom and exported it with my watermark, If there was a good way to watermark in an iPad or iPhone, that would be awesome! I know watermark lite app exists, but I wish Lightroom mobile did it!
I hope enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon 18.0-55.0 mm f/2.8-4.0
Focal Length -18 mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 1.1 secs
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 640
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
So, to acknowledge those who recently left their happy places and those just entering theirs, I would like to post a shot of one of my happy places... Hawaii!! This is from the Napali Coast of Kauai and the formation seen here is known as the Cathedrals. I took this while on a helicopter tour of the island that Eileen and I took with Jack Harter Helicopter Tours. We flew in a helicopter like the one in the old TV show Magnum P.I. It has no doors and I think part of me hung just a tad outside of the copter the whole tour. So much so that when we flew through a little rain, my arm got wet. However, it would dry off very quickly as we flew out of it. We highly recommend it if you decide to do that on Kauai!
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Lens - Nikkor 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0
Focal Length - 16mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 1/500
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Program AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Panasonic DMC-TZ5
Lens -
Focal Length - 8.5 mm
Aperture - f4.2
Exposure - 1/160
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Auto
ISO speed - 100
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
So this is a pano of the Georgia Dome, current home of the Atlanta Falcons for one more year. I think they will have a new stadium to call home right next door next year, but for now this is it.
I took this shot prior to the Seahawks v Falcons game on Nov 10th, 2013 and the Seahawks pounded them 33-10. The Seahawks went on to win the Superbowl by defeating the Broncos 43-8.
One last thought, I'm thinking I may get a fisheye lens for these types of shots in the future. I really liked how it worked out for a stadium shot of Jerry's World a few years back as well as Sports Authority Field in Denver because I can capture more of the stadiums. There would be less detail in the final shot, but I'm really thinking it would be easier and better. Anyone out there have experience with a fisheye on a Fujifilm X-T1 or X-T2?
I hope enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Sony DSC-HX9V
Lens - 4.3-68.5 mm f/3.3-5.9
Focal Length - 4.3 mm
Aperture - f3.3
Exposure - 1/30
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Auto
ISO speed - 125
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 20.9 mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 1/850
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - -0.67 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
To mark the occasion, this image here is of the scoreboard at Wrigley before the game we saw versus the Cards. It shows David Ross and his kid during the pre-game ceremony marking Ross' retirement from baseball at the end of the season.
I thought it was fitting as it says "Congratulations" because 'grats go all around.. To general manager Theo Epstein who helped break curses now at both Boston and Chicago, all the players on the Cubs team, especially David Ross who even hit a home run in game seven of the series and last but not least to the fans, including my father-in-law, Paul who's been a Cubs fan his whole life! Paul never thought he'd see the day! Congratulations! Go Cubs Go!!!
I you hope enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 107mm
Aperture - f5.6
Exposure - 1/450
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed -200
Exposure bias - -0.67 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets -NA
I you hope enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 10mm
Aperture - f4.5
Exposure - 1/30
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 6400
Exposure bias - -0.67EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
I you hope enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 18mm
Aperture - f5.6
Exposure - 1/320
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 800
Exposure bias - -0.33
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
I you hope enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 217mm
Aperture - f6.7
Exposure - 1/950
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
This is the second picture from the same sequence of shots during one pitch. I put the first one out there just on Facebook and Instagram, but after further review, Arrieta was a bit blurry due to a slow shutter speed. Me being a bonehead forgot to switch to shutter priority and bang the speed up to 1/750 or 1/1000 which works better for sports. However, in this shot he's not moving real fast as he is at the top of the pitch. Gotta remember that shutter-priority versus aperture-priority bit when it comes to sports!
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
Last but no least, Go Cubs Go!
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 216.9mm
Aperture - f6.7
Exposure - 1/300
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - -0.33 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
Prior to the game, I took this pano as the sun was setting. It turned out pretty nicely, I think. As I put this pano together, I learned that Photoshop does a better job at panoramas than Lightroom does. When I merged the photos for this shot in Lightroom, no matter what combination of photos I tried, the word "CHICAGO" in the near end-zone always seems to be missing a letter. Plus, the the near sides of the upper decks of the stadium were misaligned as well. Using the same images in Photoshop on the other hand, for the most part, everything turned out great!
I you hope enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Panasonic DMC-FZ300
Lens -
Focal Length -4.5mm
Aperture - f5
Exposure - 1/80
Metering mode - Spot
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 400
Exposure bias - -0.66 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
I selected the black and white conversion because of the timelessness of black and white. The shot originally used the classic chrome film simulation from the camera which I therefore converted to black and white in Nik Silver Efex 2.
I you hope enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 120 mm
Aperture - f5.8
Exposure - 1/400
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - -0.67 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
This was shot in the bottom of the first inning against the St Louis Cardinals on Sept. 23d, 2016. Dexter Fowler scores on a wild pitch as Anthony Rizzo (bat in hand) watches with Cardinals pitcher Mike Leake in between trying to cover home plate. Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina chases the ball and Matt Adams tries to cover as well coming in from first base. Cubs ultimately won 5-0!
Shot is a jpg straight from camera using classic chrome film simulation, cropped to get rid of distractions and a little added vignette in LR.
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
GO CUBS GO!!!
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 90mm
Aperture - f5.4
Exposure - 1/340
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - -0.33EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
I you hope enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 67mm
Aperture - f16
Exposure - 1/15
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - -2 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
We love going to these old ball parks. There's an intimacy, history and character to them that you just can't get at the newer ballparks, even if the new ones are so fan-friendly. Baseball is a sport that just seems to be better played and watched in these old stadiums. You can sort of feel the ghosts of baseball-past while sitting in the seats wondering what it must've been like 100 years ago. Drinking a beer and eating a hot dog and shelled peanuts is a great way to spend a Friday afternoon. Ferris Bueller knew what he was doing when he skipped school.
As far as the technical side of this shot goes, this is straight from the Fuji using the classic chrome setting with only a little spot healing from the Photoshop Fix app on the iPad. Otherwise, this is straight from the camera!
I hope enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
Last but not least, Go Cubs Go!!!
PS., Cubs won this game 5-0 on a strong outing by Jake Arrieta.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon 50.0-230.0 mm f/4.5-6.7
Focal Length - 50mm
Aperture - f5
Exposure - 1/450
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - -0.67 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
I hope enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 21.9mm
Aperture - f9
Exposure - 1/450
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - -0.67 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
Thanks for dropping by! As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 17.4mm
Aperture - f4.5
Exposure - 0.5 secs
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 400
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - Yes
# of brackets - 3, spaced 2 EV apart, from -2 to +2 EV
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon
Focal Length - XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 1/150
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Manual
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - -0.67
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
The other part of football season is opening weekend for the NFL which starts this Thursday night. Denver will play Carolina in a Super Bowl rematch. That should be a great game as well! Now that football is in full-swing, it means cooler weather is coming and we here in Texas can breathe a sigh of relief for getting through another hot summer.
To commemorate the beginning of football season, I thought this shot of a 60 yard field goal try by the San Diego Chargers from the game we went to last year would be a good one... I don't believe he made it by the way...
I used my Panasonic DMC-FZ300 because it has a full-frame comparable 600mm lens at the long end. However, the sensor is pretty small so the shot is a bit grainy, but this shot is at mid-field and we were in the nosebleeds in the end zone, so I might take the trade-off.
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Panasonic DMC-5300
Lens -
Focal Length - 68.1mm
Aperture - f2.8
Exposure - 1/1000
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 1600
Exposure bias - -0.66 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 10mm
Aperture - f7.1
Exposure - 6.5 secs
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 400
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - Yes
# of brackets - 5, spaced 1 EV apart from -2 to +2
I had quite an adventure trying to get there because Apple Maps took me to some weird part of town that looked like it was behind a warehouse or something. So, I basically drove around until it got dark, but I eventually found this place. I stopped in a parking garage by a county jail and that wasn't promising... Attendants at a gas station didn't know where this was... After driving around like a madman through neighborhoods and abandoned parking lots, I finally found it. Not sure why Apple Maps didn't have it correct, but at least I made it!
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 55mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 8.5 secs
Metering mode - Multi-mode
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 640
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - Yes
# of brackets - 5, spaced 1 EV apart from -2 to +2
What you see here is the final product. By the way, I'm not sure why the one building has the windows lit up with "USA" other than they must be getting excited for the Olympics, which is two weeks from the date I took this shot.
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 19mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 2.1 secs
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 640
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - Yes
# of brackets - 5, spaced 1 EV apart from -2 to +2
This is a shot of Mike Trout during his first time at bat. I don't think he got a hit and neither did Pujols. I think Pujols even struck out at least twice. He struck out looking on one of them and he yelled at the ump and almost got kicked out. Poor Albert. If he keeps playing like that he might not make it to the HOF.
As far as the shot goes, I was hoping to get more of Mike's face in the shot. But from the angle we were sitting at, his head was down and his visor covered his face. I do have some shots that show more of his face, but I found them less interesting than this one. I liked this one because it shows the motion of the bat during his swing as well as the ball. I might post a couple more, but I thought this at least told a little bit more of a story than the others.
Anyway, the Astros won 7-2.
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Panasonic DMC-FZ300
Lens - NA
Focal Length - 108mm
Aperture - f2.8
Exposure - 1/250
Metering mode - Spot
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 400
Exposure bias - -0.33
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
One thing about this picture is that when I was there, I didn't realize there was this sort of piece of art made up of many different colored canoes as you see on the right. I didn't notice this as I shot it, nor did I notice it when I processed the first shot of the Aria I posted. But when I processed this one, I brightened them up to see what the heck they were and lo and behold, canoes! This leads me to my next question; why in the heck do they have a load of canoes glued together in the middle of City Center in Las Vegas? I have a feeling the answer is similar to the question, why do people climb Mt Everest? Because they can...
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length -
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 1sec
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 400
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - Yes
# of brackets - 5, space 1 EV apart from -2 to
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 50mm
Aperture - f5.6
Exposure - 1/1500
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - -0.67
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
So this is a shot of the US flag flying over the harbor at the town of Avalon on Catalina Island off the coast of California. I took this shot while Eileen and I were taking a self-guided golf cart tour of the island. It was fun, but went pretty quickly.
I meant to post this shot yesterday to celebrate today's holiday, but by the time I realized it, I had already posted the shot of Lake Tahoe. Oh well, at least I got this one out before the end of the day! ;-)
I hope enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length -18mm
Aperture - f10
Exposure - 1/350
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - -0.33
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
It's fun to take a camera skiing, especially the Fuji X-T1 with the 18-55mm kit lens because it's a pretty small package to get some nice pictures while skiing. However, it's not a iPhone or something compact like that so it can still be a bit cumbersome, but it's better than a DSLR. Luckily - I guess - is that it was pretty warm on this day, so I could keep the camera hanging around my neck with my jacket unzipped instead of in a backpack. It made it easier to scope out good spots and shoot right away instead having to stop and pull the camera out of a backpack each time. Obviously, this was one of those spots. Pretty nice, eh?
I hope enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 18mm
Aperture - f11
Exposure - 1/420
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 Ev
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
I hope enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifim X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 15mm
Aperture - f4.5
Exposure -1/420
Metering mode -Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 250
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 10mm
Aperture - f9
Exposure - 0.4 secs
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 400
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - Yes
# of brackets - 5, spaced 1 EV apart, from -2 to +2
This shot is comprised of a collage of about 8 or so shots encompassing everything, all taken in portrait orientation and stitched together in Lightroom. It's not a traditional pano, but very similar.
I hope you enjoy it and thanks for dropping by! As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 18mm
Aperture - f9
Exposure - 1/180
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Manual
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
As far as processing goes, I cropped the original, used Fuji's Classic Chrome film simulation and added a little vignette. To see the differences, roll your mouse over the image and you'll see the original straight from the camera and when you roll off, you'll see the final image with the changes I made.
I hope enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 230mm
Aperture - f6.7
Exposure - 1/1000
Metering mode - Spot
Exposure program - Manual
ISO speed - 2000
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
It's amazing how big the mountains are especially when you see such a huge cruise ship as this Princess boat dwarfed by the mountains in the background. Can't wait to go back!
I hope enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera -Fujifilm X-E1
Lens - Fujinon XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 114mm
Aperture - f5.6
Exposure - 1/240
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
Apparently this temple is known for its branch of the Hindu religion called Radha Krishna, started by Radha Madhav Dham. I went inside shortly after I took this shot and spoke with a very nice lady who was the greeter and "concierge" for lack of a better term. She had recently come over from Ireland about a year and a half ago. She told me that the place had been built in 1995 and the property extends over 200 acres. There are families living on the property as well. There are what appeared to be dormitories/apartments as well as single family dwellings there.
As I have been saying, the place was rather interesting. However, it also kind of gave me the creeps. Something about the word "Krishna" I guess... I guess I always think of the cult "Hare Krishna" and the devotees I used to see in New Orleans and in airports.. Creepy for sure! Is that wrong? Maybe it's my ignorance on the Hindu religion or maybe this branch is a bastardized version of it. I don't know, but maybe I shouldn't judge. Anyway, I felt the creeps. Sorry.
I hope enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 17.4mm
Aperture - f11
Exposure - 1/180
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
I hope enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 12mm
Aperture - f22
Exposure - 1/50
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - +1 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
Also, to see the raw version before processing, roll your mouse over the image. What a difference post processing raw files makes!
I hope enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 22.3mm
Aperture - f3.5
Exposure - 1/750
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority
ISO speed - 2500
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
I hope enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujnon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 10mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 0.6 secs
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - Yes
# of brackets - 5, space 1 EV apart from -2 to +2
Anyway, this is a shot of the Aria Hotel taken from the turnaround dropoff/pickup area inside City Center. That place is futuristic-looking isn't it?
I hope enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 10mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 3.7 secs
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 400
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - Yes
# of brackets - 5, space 1 EV apart from -2 to +2
Another reason it was a slight mistake getting out that early was by the time I was tired of walking and shooting, the sun was just starting to come up. Had I got up about an hour later, I might have gotten some nice sunrise shots. Oh well. Still happy with this.
This shot is of mainly the Cosmopolitan Hotel and the Eiffel Tower of Paris Las Vegas with a full moon above and the reflections from the pool in front of the Bellagio. Good stuff!
I hope enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length -12mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 6.5 secs
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 400
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - Yes
# of brackets - 5, spaced 1EV apart from -2 to +2
One thing we wanted to do was take a tour of the Hoover Dam. That had been on our list for a while. So we did!
This shot is an 8-shot handheld portrait-perspective panorama taken from the Mike O'Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge . I didn't bring my wide-angle with me, so a pano always works in a pinch without it. If you roll your mouse over the image, you will see the small versions of the 8 shots I used for this.
The dam is some 726 feet high. If you can see the white line on the cliffs behind it, that is the water line for Lake Meade - which the dam created out of the Colorado River - when full. The last time the lake was full was 1983. Now it is down something like 135 feet. Hence the water line you see. Hopefully someday it will fill back up again. Hopes are high this year since it is an El Nino weather pattern, but nothing yet. Maybe when the snow melts in the Rockies later this spring, that will help. Apparently it was a similar El Nino back in '83. Fingers crossed!
I hope enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OI
Focal Length - 18mm
Aperture - f3.6
Exposure - 1/2000
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Manual
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
I hope enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 55mm
Aperture - f11
Exposure - 1/420
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Manual
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
I hope enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 60mm
Aperture - f5.6
Exposure - 1/4000
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture priority
ISO speed - 800
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
I hope enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 18 mm
Aperture - f11
Exposure - 1/280
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
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As far as the shot goes, I opted for the black and white look. Everything was so green and blue which is great for sightseeing, but for midday photography, I thought a monochrome version would be a little more interesting. You may not, so roll over the image with your mouse and you will see the original color version before straightening and post-processing.
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 14.5 mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 1/220
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program -Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 400
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 13.8mm
Aperture - f20
Exposure - 1/35
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
I hope enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 80mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 1/75
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 400
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
We also went on a photo tour with renowned wildlife and landscape photographer Keith Price who took us to this great location at Emerald Bay. He knows his stuff and he really helped us get to some great spots to shoot from and he also took lots of photos of Eileen and I for our own keepsake! Can't wait to see them! Look him up if you go out there!
The area is just so photographic that there is a great photo to be had at every turn. I must've taken almost 1500 photos! Granted a lot were brackets, but still, Keith pointed out this spot and I tried to take advantage! Can you imagine what it would be like if it was a sunrise or sunset? I don't care too much because I love the aspect of this one. This is one of my favorites and I didn't really have to do to much to it, so it's one of the first to make the blog.
All I did basically was give this shot the old Fujifilm Velvia film simulation in Photoshop and then a couple of other tweaks for sharpening and cloning out branches and spots in the sky. To see the differences, roll your mouse over the image to see the original raw image straight from the camera and then roll of for the final processed image.
That's it for now. Anyway, keep tuned-in and hopefully you'll see some more fun shots from our awesome trip!
I hope enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 44mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 1/800
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 400
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
This is another shot of the SeaView Cafe and Bar in Hope, AK. It's so "Alaska-looking", isn't it? Get the seafood chowder if you ever go! Oh and don't forget to stop at the Discovery Cafe for pie, right Richard and Sandy? ;-)
I kept the processing to a bit of a minimum. I straightened the buildings, did a little tonal contrast and bleach bypass with Nik Color Efex 4 and then sharpened with Nik Sharpener Pro.
Roll you mouse over to see the pre-processed raw straight from the camera and roll off to get the post-processed version.
I hope enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 13.8mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 1/160
Metering mode - Mulit-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
This is another shot of the SeaView Cafe and Bar in Hope, AK. It's so "Alaska-looking", isn't it? Get the seafood chowder if you ever go! Oh and don't forget to stop at the Discovery Cafe for pie, right Richard and Sandy? ;-)
I kept the processing to a bit of a minimum. I straightened the buildings, did a little tonal contrast and bleach bypass with Nik Color Efex 4 and then sharpened with Nik Sharpener Pro.
Roll you mouse over to see the pre-processed raw straight from the camera and roll off to get the post-processed version.
I hope enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 13.8mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 1/160
Metering mode - Mulit-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
I know the shot is a bit little cliche, but this shot has three big mountain peaks in the center. We saw these as we were heading into Seattle for our layover. I'm not sure what mountain peaks they are, maybe the three sisters in Oregon? I'm not really sure on that because we seem awfully low heading into Seattle to see these peaks that are in Oregon, but I could be wrong. If anyone knows, please comment below.
I just processed this shot mostly in Lightroom with no plugins and then I added a slight vignette in photoshop. If you roll over the image with your mouse, you will see the original raw image as compared to the final version when you roll your mouse off.
I hope enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-E1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 24.5mm
Aperture - f3.2
Exposure - 1/400
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - -1/3EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
I know the shot is a bit little cliche, but this shot has three big mountain peaks in the center. We saw these as we were heading into Seattle for our layover. I'm not sure what mountain peaks they are, maybe the three sisters in Oregon? I'm not really sure on that because we seem awfully low heading into Seattle to see these peaks that are in Oregon, but I could be wrong. If anyone knows, please comment below.
I just processed this shot mostly in Lightroom with no plugins and then I added a slight vignette in photoshop. If you roll over the image with your mouse, you will see the original raw image as compared to the final version when you roll your mouse off.
I hope enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. As always, click here to see the high-res version of the final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-E1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 24.5mm
Aperture - f3.2
Exposure - 1/400
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - -1/3EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
With that news, I had to try and do one more photo of Peyton that we took from the game we went to back in 2012. All of the good ones I have posted already. I had a couple more, but the prominent feature in those was the rear end of a defensive lineman. That's not really what I wanted the viewer to come away with.
So, I tried out a feature in Nik's Analog Efex called "multilens" and what it does is break up a single photo into 3 or 4 individual framed shots as you see below. However, I did that to 4 individual photos and just masked in the portions that had Peyton in the frame. This is the outcome. You can roll your mouse over the image to see the four individual shots that I used for this.
One other thing, I'm a little miffed at the second shot from the left in this compilation as the background is a little more in focus that the rest. However, the image is about Peyton, not the background focus. I'll live with it. ;-)
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by! Also, click here for a higher-res version of the final shot.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
]]>
With that news, I had to try and do one more photo of Peyton that we took from the game we went to back in 2012. All of the good ones I have posted already. I had a couple more, but the prominent feature in those was the rear end of a defensive lineman. That's not really what I wanted the viewer to come away with.
So, I tried out a feature in Nik's Analog Efex called "multilens" and what it does is break up a single photo into 3 or 4 individual framed shots as you see below. However, I did that to 4 individual photos and just masked in the portions that had Peyton in the frame. This is the outcome. You can roll your mouse over the image to see the four individual shots that I used for this.
One other thing, I'm a little miffed at the second shot from the left in this compilation as the background is a little more in focus that the rest. However, the image is about Peyton, not the background focus. I'll live with it. ;-)
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by! Also, click here for a higher-res version of the final shot.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Could today be the last NFL game Peyton Manning plays in? It just might be. He's like my favorite quarterback out there, but I think his time has come. He's not the same as he was due to injury, age and other things, but it would be great to see him get to one more Superbowl. I like Tom Brady, too, but would rather see Peyton win this one.
I took this shot during the Raiders v Broncos game a couple of years ago in Denver. Peyton just threw a touchdown pass and he's leaving the field. I kind of processed it with a couple of things in mind.. I wanted to give it an aged look by fading it out and split-toning it a tad to reflect Peyton's aging career and I also left the negative space behind him to signify the career he's leaving behind. Normally when you take a shot of something moving, the idea is to give the object more space in front to give the viewer a sense of motion and space for the object to move into, but I did the opposite here.
To see how I processed the shot, roll your mouse over the picture and you will see the version that came straight out of the camera. Roll your mouse off and that's the final shot. Click here to see a larger version of the final shot.
I hope you enjoy the picture and thanks for dropping by! Go Broncos!!
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D300s
Lens - Nikkor 18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
Focal Length - 200mm
Aperture - f5.6
Exposure - 1/800
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed -200
Exposure bias - 0EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
Could today be the last NFL game Peyton Manning plays in? It just might be. He's like my favorite quarterback out there, but I think his time has come. He's not the same as he was due to injury, age and other things, but it would be great to see him get to one more Superbowl. I like Tom Brady, too, but would rather see Peyton win this one.
I took this shot during the Raiders v Broncos game a couple of years ago in Denver. Peyton just threw a touchdown pass and he's leaving the field. I kind of processed it with a couple of things in mind.. I wanted to give it an aged look by fading it out and split-toning it a tad to reflect Peyton's aging career and I also left the negative space behind him to signify the career he's leaving behind. Normally when you take a shot of something moving, the idea is to give the object more space in front to give the viewer a sense of motion and space for the object to move into, but I did the opposite here.
To see how I processed the shot, roll your mouse over the picture and you will see the version that came straight out of the camera. Roll your mouse off and that's the final shot. Click here to see a larger version of the final shot.
I hope you enjoy the picture and thanks for dropping by! Go Broncos!!
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D300s
Lens - Nikkor 18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
Focal Length - 200mm
Aperture - f5.6
Exposure - 1/800
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed -200
Exposure bias - 0EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
This is a window on a dwelling at the Crow Creek Historic Gold Mine. It is a working gold mine where you can go and pan for gold out of Crow Creek. As a matter of fact, when we paid for our tickets to get in, the gentleman who sold them to us said he and his dad were able to get about $30,000 worth of gold out of it the previous year.
When I saw the house and the window, I thought this could be a really cool photo. However, I wanted to rearrange the axes and other items to balance it out. Well, since I could not do that physically, I shot the photo in order to do it via Photoshop. I shot wide enough to capture the items I wanted and then did my thing when I got back home.
If you roll your mouse over the image, you will see the original. I took a lot of liberties, but it was fun trying my hand at more stuff to see how I could make it turn out.
I did all of the following to it:
- Moved the axe on the right closer to the window
- Removed the items that looked like boxes behind the lace curtains in the right two lower panes of glass by copying the lace shades in the bottom left two window panes
- Copied the far left yellow flower in the flower box, flipped it horizontally and put it on the far right side
- Removed the square wood slats from above the top left of the window and copied in the right side and flipped that horizontally
- Warped the flower box to level it out
- Moved whatever that saxophone looking thing is from the far left of the original and put it just to the right of the window, between the window and the axe.
- Added some tonal contrast from Nik Color Efex 4 to bring out the detail in the whole scene
- Brushed in more tonal contrast to the red window as well as some bleach bypass to bring out more of the detail
- Increased the saturation of the red window
- Did even more serious tonal contrast and bleach bypass to the axes and the saxophone-looking things to really bring out the rust and give them a super rusty look
- Finally cropped the whole image to a 4:3 ratio to simplify it and get rid of some of the distracting elements on the edges
I think the final image has some nice symmetry, looks balanced and hopefully one cannot tell that all of that work was done to it, other than to maybe bring out some of the detail. If you ever want to arrange items in a photo and can't do it physically before the shoot, try to shoot the scene to where you can include the elements you want and then rearrange in post. You might get what you want.
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by.
(Click here for a higher-resolution version of the final image and click here for a higher-resolution version of the original.)
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 29mm
Aperture - f3.6
Exposure - 1/160
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
Enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. Click here to see a higher-res version of the shot.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 16mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 1/125
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 400
Exposure bias - -2/3 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
This shot was take from the nosebleeds at the opposite end of the field so you can see that the zoom is pretty significant on the DMC-FZ300. This shot was not cropped for anything other than its aspect ratio. It's a little noisy, but man, that thing can zoom!
Everything in my gallery is 25% off with coupon code DEC2015 for the month of December, 2015!! Hurry now!
Enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. Click here to see a higher-res version of the shot.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Panasonic DMC-FZ300
Focal Length - 107.9mm
Aperture - f2.8
Exposure - 1/640
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 1600
Exposure bias - -2/3 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
Oh and before I forget, everything at my store is 25% off for the month of December with coupon code DEC2015! Don't wait and purchase now! Click here to get to the store! If there is a photo that you see here on the blog or on my flickr page that you like and don't see in the store, contact me via this link - http://egearingphoto.zenfolio.com/contact.html - and I'll be sure to get it in there for purchase! Thanks again!
Lastly, click here to see a larger version of this shot...
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D300S
Lens - Nikkor 18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
Focal Length - 52mm
Aperture - f10
Exposure - 1/400
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture priority
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - ??? (probably but can't remember for sure, sorry)
# of brackets - 7, maybe? spaced 1 EV apart from -3 to +3
]]>
Everything in my gallery is 25% off with coupon code DEC2015 for the month of December, 2015!! Hurry now!
Enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. Click here to see a higher-res version of the shot.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 10mm
Aperture - f11
Exposure - 17 secs
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - Yes
# of brackets - 5, spaced 1 EV apart from -2 to +2
]]>
Everything in my gallery is 25% off with coupon code DEC2015 for the month of December, 2015!! Hurry now!
Enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. Click here to see a higher-res version of the shot.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifim X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 11mm
Aperture - f10
Exposure - 0.8 secs
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
Everything in my gallery is 25% off with coupon code DEC2015 for the month of December, 2015!! Hurry now!
Enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. Click here to see a high res version of the shot.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 10mm
Aperture - f11
Exposure - NA
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 640
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
Anyway, here's a shot from when the Chargers kicked a field goal. Whenever the Chargers score, they shoot off fireworks. Kinda nice, but they really need a new stadium!
Everything in my gallery is 25% off with coupon code DEC2015 for the month of December, 2015!! Hurry now!
Enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. Click here to see a high res version of the shot.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Panasonic DMC-FZ300
Focal Length - 5mm
Aperture - f2.8
Exposure - 1/320
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO speed - 1600
Exposure bias - -2/3
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
Everything in my gallery is 25% off with coupon code DEC2015 for the month of December, 2015!! Hurry now!
Enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. Click here to see a high res version of the shot.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D300s
Lens - Nikkor 18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
Focal Length - 80mm
Aperture - f16
Exposure - 1/1000
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Shutter-priority AE
ISO speed - 400
Exposure bias - -2/3
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
Everything in my gallery is 25% off with coupon code DEC2015 for the month of December, 2015!! Hurry now!
Enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. Click here to see a high res version of the shot.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifim X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 153mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 0.7 secs
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 640
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - Yes
# of brackets -7, spaced 1 EV apart from -3 to +3
]]>
Everything in my gallery is 25% off for the month of December, 2015 with coupon code DEC2015 !! Hurry now!
Enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. Click here to see a high res version of the shot.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 10mm
Aperture - f11
Exposure - 1/2 sec
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 640
Exposure bias - -2 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - Yes
# of brackets - 7, spaced 1 EV apart from -3 to +3
]]>
Everything in my gallery is 25% off for the month of December, 2015 with coupon code DEC2015 !! Hurry now!
Click here to see a larger version of this photo.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifim X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 10mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 1/420
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 800
Exposure bias - -2/3
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. (As always, to view a larger version, click here.)
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 14.5mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 1/750
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 400
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
This shot is from inside the post office. It's a shot of some hats - obviously - along with a painting of Hondo Crouch. He's quite a character and the guy who basically turned Luckenbach into the music venue that it is now, from what I understand. He had quite an imagination and might have been a little off his rocker, in a good way. Click here to read more...
This shot is a little perplexing to me. I wanted it to be totally symmetrical, but the way everything lined up, I had to center the image based on the way the hats were arranged or with the light and the painting being in the center. I opted for the latter and centered the shot on the painting and the light above. I hope it worked, but you can tell me otherwise if you are so inclined.
Enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by. (Click here for a larger, more detailed version.)
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 10.5mm
Aperture - f5
Exposure - 1/25
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 3200
Exposure bias - -2/3 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
Oh and before I forget, everything at my store is 25% off for the month of December with coupon code DEC2015! Don't wait and purchase now! Click here to get to the store! If there is a photo that you see here on the blog or on my flickr page that you like and don't see in the store, contact me via this link - http://egearingphoto.zenfolio.com/contact.html - and I'll be sure to get it in there for purchase! Thanks again!
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D300S
Lens - Nikkor 18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
Focal Length - 52mm
Aperture - f10
Exposure - 1/400
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture priority
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - ??? (probably but can't remember for sure, sorry)
# of brackets - 7, maybe? spaced 1 EV apart from -3 to +3
]]>
]]>
One other cool tidbit about Avalon that is pretty cool.. We stopped for a drink before we had to get back on the ferry and the bartender there was telling us about what living is like there. Mostly it's boring, but he said there is absolutely no crime. Except (there's always a caveat isn't there?), when the cruise ships come in. When people arrive from the cruise ships, they rent the golf carts, get drunk and then have accidents. That's the extent of the crime. Interesting. Oh, we turned the golf cart back in before we went to this bar, hehe! ;-)
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 31.5mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 1/550
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 55mm
Aperture - f9
Metering Mode - Multi-segment
Exposure - 1/900
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D300s
Lens - Nikkor 10.0-20.0 mm f/4.0-5.6
Focal Length - 13mm
Aperture - f11
Exposure - 1.3 secs
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 400
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
Hope you like the shot and thanks for dropping by.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 24mm
Aperture - f6.4
Exposure - 1/30
Metering mode - spot
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 250
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
This image is not an HDR, but I did auto-bracket when I shot it, even though it was hand-held. What I did in post was take the -1 EV exposure and masked in the bright exposure for the top of the image. It brought a little more detail that way, yet still pretty noisy.. That's what you get for ISO 6400...
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 18mm
Aperture - f5.6
Metering - Multi-segment
Exposure - 1/5
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 6400
Exposure bias - -1 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - 2
]]>
Thanks and have a good one!
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 55mm
Aperture - f5.6
Metering mode - Multi-segment
Exposure - 1/400
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
The inside of the hotel is as nice as the outside, too. The lobby has this great chandelier right in the middle and it really adds something to the rest of the lodge-like interior. One thing I thought was weird though, is that they have these video screens behind the check-in counter and I thought it sort of cheapened the place, ever so slightly. Maybe they'll get rid of those someday.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 10mm
Aperture - F4
Metering - Multi-Segment
Exposure - 1/30
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 6400
Exposure bias - 0EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
I took a page out of Scott Kelby's Recipes book for this one, the bleach bypass recipe to be precise. It turned out to give the shot a look similar to Fuji's Classic Chrome film simulation, which I really like. I could have used Nik's Color Efex 4's bleach bypass filter, but I wanted to experiment a little in LR with the develop module a bit instead. It's not as extreme as Nik, but a cool look nonetheless.
I hope you like the picture and thanks for stopping by!
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Lumix DMC-FZ300
Focal Length - 32mm
Aperture - f5.6
Metering - Spot
Exposure - 1/400
Exposure program - Program AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
The day was still overcast because of the morning clouds so I thought a good desaturation along with some split toning and clarity helped a little with it. What do you think?
Hope you enjoy the picture and thanks for stopping by.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifim X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 46mm
Aperture - f5.6
Exposure - 1/400
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
Wow! It's been raining here in Austin so much that once the rain broke, downtown was a marina! Just look at the pic below! Ha! Not really, but it sure seems like it. We got something like 10 - 12 inches of rain today in like three hours. It was what I like to call "rain-pocolypse"! And it may not be done! Time to build an arc and start marching animals two-by-two!
Seriously though, be safe and pray for those who may be flooded! Turn around, don't drown!!!
Today's Pic - Avalon Bay
OK, horrible jokes about the rain here in Austin aside, this shot is of Avalon Bay at Catalina Island off the coast of California! Fun place to go for a quick something to do. If you do go, rent a golf cart and take the scenic route! That's how I got this shot here. Lots of great views on the little roads in the hills around the bay. Fun and you'll be done in an hour! Also, the building on the left in the entrance to the bay is known as the Catalina Casino. It was once a thriving casino back in the late 20s and 30s, but now it seems to be a performing arts center and unless one goes to a show or something, the only way to see it is via tour guide. We didn't have time to go there, but it might be fun.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 42mm
Aperture - f13
Exposure - 1/400
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - -1/3 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
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If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifim X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 35mm
Aperture - f4
Exposure - 1/80
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 3200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No (bummer)
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
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But first, we decided to drive up the Pacific Coast Highway (aka PCH, Highway 1) from San Diego and stop at the Santa Monica Pier, then turn around and head back. It was a great idea in theory, but once we got to Long Beach, all bets were off and we had to head out to the 405 and back in again on the 10, I think..? We still made it to the pier for lunch, which was the goal.
The pier itself was pretty much a tourist trap. I think the sign was the best part about it. Oh and maybe the views of the beach and the PCH. Otherwise, lots of t-shirt stands and amusement rides. Not a lot of sport fishing going on either. There were a few guys with lines in the water and I think they said they were catching some mackerel, but not a whole lot else going on. One thing about the t-shirt stands is that there were lots about Route 66. I probably knew this at one point, but Route 66 started in Chicago, wound its way down through Oklahoma and Texas and ended at this pier. Pretty cool, eh? I think even my Uncle Bill made that drive back when it was popular in the 50s or 60s... So, I thought that was cool to find out, if I didn't already know. :-)
Lastly, we did make it for lunch and we ate at The Albright and that was pretty good. A little overpriced, but that's what you get for being tourists, yes? :-) Anyway, now that all is said and done, at least now we can say, "Been there, done that"!
As far as the picture goes, yes, it has a little flare and specks going on from the sun, but I kind of like it. I think it adds something to it. What, I'm not sure, but it adds something. I also made it a duotone sepia sort of shot and cloned out a couple of distracting lamp posts. What do you think? Did it work?
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for stopping by.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 24mm
Aperture - f14
Exposure - 1/350
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
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If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Lumix DMC-FZ300
Focal Length - 108mm
Aperture - f2.8
Exposure - 1/640
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 1600
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
This shot is a post-processed raw that I tweaked out a bit. I took some of the noise out of the players but left it in for the field to keep a little texture in there. I also adjusted the exposure, contrast, saturation and other stuff that one would normally do, even added a little vignette.
What do you think?
Hope you enjoy it and thanks for dropping by!
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Lumix DMC-FZ300
Lens - 24x Leica DC Vario-
Focal Length - 108mm
Aperture - f2.8
Exposure - 1/1600
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 1600
Exposure bias - O EV
Tripod -No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
For me and this little blog and photography habit that I have, taking pictures at a football game is a blast! However, the NFL makes it a little difficult to take cameras in. They have the policy about taking stuff in in only clear bags and everything has to be out of your pockets as you go through the gates. Taking a camera with 2-3 lenses to shoot games can be tricky. I like to cram lenses in pants pockets with batteries and other things, so the policy makes it a pain. So this year I decided to get an ultra-zoom camera for this very purpose. One camera, no fuss no muss. There are a lot to choose from out there. I really wanted to get the Nikon P900 because it has a super 83x zoom lens. However, it does not shoot raw and it doesn't have a constant aperture through the zoom. So after lots of searching, I settled on the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ300 as seen below:
This camera has a nice 24x zoom lens, equivalent of 25-600mm in 35mm format if I'm not mistaken, has a constant f2.8 aperture throughout and it shoots raw. This is pretty much what I was looking for and as matter of fact it just came out at the end of last month. The camera is even weatherproof, so no bag to take to the stadium in case of rain. Yeah, rain in San Diego, right. :-)
I enjoyed shooting it for the most part. It has customizable fn buttons and it has a nice touchscreen lcd monitor on the back which makes it easy to adjust focus points and stuff. The fn buttons aren't really the physical buttons on the camera though, they are more like tabs on the touchscreen monitor. That's ok, but if the actual buttons could be changed, that would be nice. The screen menu was a little difficult for me to navigate, too, but I think that's just because I am used to my Fuji stuff and need more exposure to this one.
When it came to wanting to shoot action on the field, I only had the camera's drive set to single shot and it took me a while during the game to find the high continuous mode, but I did. That helped a lot! The camera is pretty fast for continuous shooting, but trying to track movement once you start shooting is kind of weird because you get quick previews of each shot which interrupts the flow of the action. In other words, when I was watching someone run with the football or trying to receive a catch, I would start shooting and then I would lose track because the action would stop on the camera for each individual picture and that goofed me up. Other than that, not too bad.
Also the stabilization in the camera is pretty good. Even when I wasn't shooting pictures, I would watch the game though the camera with it zoomed all the way to the field and I could see everything on the field really well! I felt like one of the ESPN camera men there! Wouldn't THAT be an awesome job, btw?
Lastly, the zoom was just about the best you could ask for in a camera like this. If it was any longer with a constant 2.8 aperture, the camera would be rather big. Same goes for the sensor; it sports a 1/2.3 sensor and if it was APS-C or larger, the camera would be huge, too. This camera is a nice size, just a tad smaller and lighter than my Fuji X-T1 with its 18-55 attached. You can see the range of the lens in the two photos I have posted below. They are both jpgs taken straight from the camera, un-retouched. The one of the stadium is with it zoomed all the way out. You can see the view we had from our seats. We were in the upper deck about half way up. Pretty high up there. The shot of #2 Michael Vick, is with the camera zoomed all the way in. At the time I took that shot, he was on the near sideline around the 30 yard line near us, I believe. Not too shabby! And, as you can see with the Vick shot, the lens is quite sharp!
So overall, I like the camera. I just need more time to play with it and get used to its menu system and customize it more for my style. I would probably give it 4.5 out of 5 stars. That's the best I would give anything because I don't think anything is perfect. Except my wife! :-)
Oh, before I go, my next couple of posts will be action shots from the game. They are raws that I did a little post-processing on and might show you a little more of what this camera can do.
Qualcomm Stadium at Dusk, camera zoomed all the way out, 24mm. (Click on pic for better version)
Michael Vick (#2) warming up with teammates prior to game, camera zoomed all the way in, 600mm. (Click on pic for better version)
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This picture is of the Sun Deck Bar and Grill located just off the beach at the back of the hotel. It was just a few steps away from the Sheerwater and looked like a great place to enjoy a few adult beverages and watch the sunset. The beach was right behind me. And one other neat thing about the Sun Deck Bar is that there are rooms just beneath it. Of course I'm not sure how noisy they would be with bar patrons enjoying themselves just above, but it was a surprise when we walked down the steps to the beach and saw the rooms there. Bet they're not cheap either...
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length -10mm
Aperture - f4.5
Exposure - 1/420
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 250
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 18mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure -1/1250
Exposure program - Manual
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 55mm
Aperture - f9
Exposure - 1/800
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed -200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 21mm
Aperture - f14
Exposure - 1/350
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - -1 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujino XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 230mm
Aperture - f6.7
Exposure - 1/1000
Exposure program - Manual
ISO speed - 2500
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
The first is of the girls known as the Coca Cola Park Patrol and the second is of Carlos Correa, the rookie phenom swinging at a pitch from Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers...
Congrats Astros and good luck against the Royals!
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of these images or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
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If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 230mm
Aperture - f6.7
Exposure - 2 secs
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 1600
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
Enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by!
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Lens - Nikkor 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0
Focal Length - 19mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 5 secs
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
To celebrate, here's a picture from last year when Harbaugh was still coaching the 49ers. It's not a great shot since the guy with the stick has that crazy yellow and black striped vest on - very distracting - but it's the best shot of Harbaugh I have. I don't care, I'm just happy Michigan football is back! For this week at least! Go Blue!
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 230mm
Aperture - f6.7
Exposure - 1/1000
Exposure program - Manual
ISO speed - 6400
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 230mm
Aperture - f6.7
Exposure - 1/1000
Exposure program - Manual
ISO speed - 6400
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
Lee had seen some of the work I've posted out there on Facebook and found that I live near some of the locations needing to be photographed and asked if I would do it! I did and am happy I did, too! He was great to work with and compensated me well for it! Oh, and Lee even taught me a few things about the business side of photography and also gave me some good Photoshop tips! What an awesome dude!!
So the lesson is, if you don't like social media, maybe you should because you never know what opportunities may come along. One caveat though, just be careful what you post... Social media can be just as bad in return as it can be good. And, thanks again, Lee for taking a chance on me!
If anyone else out there needs some commercial work such as this, please contact me. :-)
One more thing... You can see my work at the following sites, although my shots only make up a select few. Mine are the first 3 or 4 on each site and then Lee's make up the rest:
Griffis LaFrontera
Griffis Lakeline Station
Griffis Canyon Creek
Finally, below are a few of the shots I took for Lee and Griffis and you can see more at my flickr site.
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For this shot I developed the raw file using the Fuji Classic Chrome film simulation, opened up the shadows a tad in LR and added a little vignette. That's it. No sharpening or noise reduction whatsoever.
Lastly, I also used Fuji's XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS lens which is a very inexpensive telephoto zoom lens. It's not as well made as say their 55-200 lens as it made of plastic and the glass may not be quite as sharp. However, with manual focus and the focus peaking of the camera, it can still render pretty good results. I think I would rather have the 55-200 lens, but I'm OK with this one for now, mainly because it's $150 cheaper than the 55-200. If the 100-400 lens ever comes out, that's my next pipe dream. Can't wait for that!!!
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifim X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 230
Aperture - f6.7
Exposure - 1/1000
Exposure program - Manual
ISO speed - 1250
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
Every time I do a pano, I try to remember my own little way of doing it, which is a little different than using the built-in panorama mode of a phone or camera. Basically, I take a few test shots of just the portion that I plan to have in the center of the pano to find the best aperture, shutter and ISO settings, use those settings in manual mode and then take all of the overlapping shots from left to right in portrait orientation. Those portrait shots are the ones I use for the pano-merge in LR.
Lastly, I will take a portrait shot of some good action on the field and mask in the players from that one shot so the scene has some interest on the field. Otherwise, chances are you will get some players just standing there between pitches and that's not as cool in my opinion.
Oh and one other thing about baseball stadium panos for me anyway, I like to take them when the home team is on the field because the home uniforms are usually almost all white and they standout better than the gray visiting team's uniforms.
You can click on the photo itself so you can see a larger version. I hope you enjoy the shot and as always, thanks for dropping by.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 18mm
Aperture - f3.6
Exposure - 1/180
Exposure program - Manual
ISO speed - 800
Exposure bias - O EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
The game was Awesome with a capital "A"! Justin Verlander seen here, pitched and had a great game. He pitched 7 shutout innings with a score of 1-0. Verlander even picked a guy off at first. It was funny because the leadoff hitter for the Astros - Jose Altuve - got on with a single, but he just kind of zoned out at first when Verlander picked him off. As Altuve was leading off, Verlander threw to first, but Altuve didn't even attempt to jump back to the base and the the first baseman, Victor Martinez tagged him easily. You can see what I mean here.
Later, the relievers came in and the closer gave up a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth. The Tigers rallied in the 11th by scoring 3 more runs and won the game 4-2.
As far as the picture goes, I had my Fuji set with the classic chrome film simulation which worked great for the game here. I took the raw photo, used the classic chrome camera calibration in LR, warmed up the white balance a tad, cropped it, sharpened it, dropped the highlights, and added a little noise reduction and vignette. Not much post-processing at all! What do you think?
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera -Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 230mm
Aperture - f6.7
Exposure - 1/1000
Exposure program - Manual
ISO speed - 2000
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
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Wow, I never thought this would happen but I have finally gotten over 1 million hits on Flickr! Yowzers! Thanks to everyone who takes a gander at my silly little photos over there! I really appreciate it!
Masking the Denver Broncos Cheerleader
Here's another shot commemorating the return of NFL football this season. I took this shot at Sports Authority Field in Denver, CO when the Broncos took on the division rival Oakland Raiders back in Oct of 2012.
This shot was processed using many liberties, specifically masking and cropping. You see, the original shot had a clear background of more of the football field, people in the stands and on the sideline as well as other cheerleaders performing in a different direction. All of this was rather distracting. So what I did was mask out the main cheerleader and cloned out the other cheerleaders, blurred out the background and then copied this cheerleader in overtop of the "new" background and cropped the shot. I also added in a little tonal contrast for her hair, some dynamic skin softening, darken/lighten center and some sharpening of her uniform, all done with Nik's Color Efex 4. Oh, and I blurred the background with Nik's Analog Efex 2. Anyway, I need to practice a little more of my masking skills, but I'm rather pleased with how this turned out. BTW, the masking in Photoshop CC is better than ever and works pretty well!
Now on to football!!!
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D300s
Lens - Nikkor 18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
Focal Length - 135mm
Aperture - f9
Exposure - 1/320
Exposure program - Program AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
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BTW, wouldn't it be great to be one of those sideline photographers you see here, too? Man, that is like a dream gig for me. I would like to do that just once! It would be so awesome!
Can't wait to go to the next game! Another Monday nighter this year! Woohoo! Stay classy!
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fuji X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 230mm
Aperture - f6.7
Exposure - 1/1000
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 6400
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
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If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifim X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 95mm
Aperture - f5.4
Exposure - 1/1000
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 6400
Exposure bias - 0 Ev
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
As far as this shot goes, it's a compilation of two pictures I took.. The flag is our very own that we fly at the sprawling Gearing compound here in Georgetown, TX and the other is of a bald eagle that we saw at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center outside of Girdwood, AK from our fun trip to Alaska last year. I just took the liberty of masking the eagle on top of the flag and lo and behold, the perfect 4th of July pic, without the fireworks of course. Maybe I'll get the fireworks into one for next year!
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
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If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D300s
Lens - Sigma 10.0-20.0 mm f/4.0-5.6
Focal Length - 15mm
Aperture - f11
Exposure - 0.8 secs
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 640
Exposure bias - 0 Ev
Tripod - Yes
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
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If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Here's a little more about Round Rock donuts.. Enjoy!
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Lens - Nikkor 16-35mm f4 ED VR
Focal Length - 17mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 2.5 secs
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - Yes
# of brackets - 7, spaced 1 EV apart from -3 to +3
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If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image or any other, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 14.5mm
Aperture - f16
Exposure - 1/80
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 1250
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
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If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D300s
Lens - Nikkor 18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
Focal Length - 22mm
Aperture - f3.8
Exposure - 1/8000
Exposure program - Program AE
ISO speed - 400
Exposure bias - -2 EV
Tripod - No!! ;-)
HDR - No
# of brackets -NA
]]>
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Lens - Nikkor 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0
Focal Length - 19mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 3 secs
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
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I took this one with the iPhone and edited in Snapseed for those who care.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - iPhone 5c
Lens - NA
Focal Length - NA
Aperture - NA
Exposure - NA
Exposure program - NA
ISO speed - NA
Exposure bias - NA
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
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If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D300s
Lens - Sigma 10.0-20.0 mm f/4.0-5.6
Focal Length - 10mm
Aperture - f11
Exposure - NA
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 640
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - Yes
# of brackets - 7 spaced 1 EV apart from -3 to +3
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If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Lens - Nikkor 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0
Focal Length - 17mm
Aperture - f16
Exposure - 1/160
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Lens - Nikkor 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0
Focal Length - 35mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 1/640
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifim X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 18mm
Aperture - f4
Exposure - 1/1400
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 12.6mm
Aperture - 4.5
Exposure - 1/80
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 2500
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
Just next to the Pfluger Bridge is another bridge for trains and some of Austin's more "creative" vandals have taken some time to paint "Ninja Style Kung Fu Grip" onto the side of it. Why? I guess it's the same answer as why some climb mountains... "Because it's there..."
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 40mm
Aperture - f4
Exposure - 1/1900
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 Ev
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 152.6mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 1/170
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 10mm
Aperture - f9
Exposure - 1/20
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - Yes
# of brackets - 5, spaced 1 EV apart from
]]>
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 55mm
Aperture - f11
Exposure - 1/50
Exposure program - Aperture priority
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 50mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 1/450
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
This is my 600th post on the little blog here! Can you believe that? Not sure I thought I'd stick with it this long. I think I started this silly little thing in 2009 and I haven't gotten tired of it yet. I guess I'll keep on until I do. Thanks for visiting over this time, too! I really appreciate it! Oh, and tell your friends! Haha!!
Photo: Tilted Pfluger Bridge View
Last weekend I took a trip out to the Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge and took a few snaps. The bad thing was that it was in the middle of the day, which is really not a great time for photography. So, I tried to mix things up a little by tilting the camera for this particular landscape.
Most of those buildings in the background are new high-rise condos. Austin is pretty much a big city now. Austin as I knew it twenty five years ago is certainly long gone and is missed.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 15.9mm
Aperture - f11
Exposure - 1/320
Exposure program -
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
As always, click on the photo itself to see a larger version.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 50mm
Aperture - f4.5
Exposure - 1/125
Exposure program - Manual
ISO speed - 1600
Exposure bias - 0EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 50 mm
Aperture - 1/60
Exposure - f4.5
Exposure program - Manual
ISO speed - 1600
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XC50-230mmf4.5-6.7OIS
Focal Length - 182mm
Aperture - f6.4
Exposure - 1/30
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 1600
Exposure bias - 0EV
Tripod - No
HDR - NA
# of brackets - NA
]]>
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 56mm
Aperture - f4.6
Exposure - 1/1000
Exposure program - Manual
ISO speed - 6400
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
You see, I think this guy was able to stay on this horse for the standard 8 seconds. But when it came time for the dismount, he ran into some trouble. According to our friend Ellen, whose husband used to do this, the rider here apparently tied his hand to the saddle of the horse. When he tried to get off the horse, his hand stayed with the saddle and the horse pretty much dragged him on the ground across the whole arena dangerously close to the horse's hooves. The horse finally stopped when he slammed himself and the rider into a closed metal chute gate. Needless to say, the rider did not get up very quickly but eventually was able to walk off. The horse was fine. You'll remember how I mentioned you have to have a special amount of crazy to do this? Well this guy had some extra-spacial crazy in him. We were all stunned when it happened, but were happy to see him walk off. I doubt he'll be riding this weekend...
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 153 mm
Aperture - f6.2
Exposure - 1/500
Exposure program - Manual
ISO speed - 6400
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 144 mm
Aperture - f6
Exposure - 1/250
Exposure program - Manual
ISO speed - 6400
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
I took this shot with ISO 6400 and on aperture priority wide open to let the camera handle the shutter and also used Fuji's classic chrome preset for the jpg conversion from the raw format in LR. One other thing... I'm not gonna lie; this shot is actually a compilation of two shots taken in succession. In the first shot, the bull was just starting to kick up his front left hoof and most of him was in focus, however not too interesting. The second shot had him kicking the dirt up more as you see here, but his head was out of focus just a tad, yet the shot was a bit more interesting. So I masked in the kicking hoof and little more of his body from the second shot into the first and wa-la! Now he's all in focus kicking up the dirt! Overall it could still be slightly better due to a little more noise than I would like, but that's the limitation of the camera and lens setup I was using here.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifim X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 75 mm
Aperture - f5
Exposure - 1/80
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 6400
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
This shot is one I took with the Fuji X-T1 and 50-230 lens. That camera and lens combo isn't really suited for low light indoor action shots, but I bumped the ISO way up to 6400, kept the aperture all the way opened and set the shutter speed to 1/500 to help freeze the action a bit. I would've preferred 1/1000 shutter speed, but that made the resulting image really dark. I would've had to bump the ISO even higher to 12,800 and with the Fuji camera, it won't allow for raw at that ISO setting, only jpg. It worked pretty well at ISO 6400 even though it is a bit noisy. But the expression on this guy's face is fantastic so I can deal with the noise.
Can't wait to go to another one and then I can say, "This ain't my first...!" :-)
Oh and thanks for being a great host once again, Ellen!
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 107mm
Aperture - f5.6
Exposure - 1/500
Exposure program - Manual
ISO speed - 6400
Exposure bias -0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 230mm
Aperture - f16
Exposure - 1/400
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 1600
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
It is quite a moving place and one you should visit if you ever get to the city. On the grounds of the memorial stands this Survivor Tree. It is a 40 ft tall elm tree that made it through the blast across the parking lot from the Murrah building. The quote in the circular wall around the tree states, "The spirit of this city and this nation will not be defeated. Our deeply rooted faith sustains us."
It was February when I took this shot so there were no leaves on it, but it still blooms and lives on.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Lens - Nikkor 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0
Focal Length - 16mm
Aperture - f16
Exposure - 1/60
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - Yes
# of brackets - 7, from -3 to +3 spaced 1 EV apart
]]>
Thanks for dropping by!
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 24mm
Aperture - f11
Exposure - 2.5 secs
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
This shot is a straight jpg from the camera with a little extra vignetting, tonal contrast and cropping thrown in for good measure.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 16mm
Aperture - f11
Exposure - 1/10
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 23mm
Aperture - f11
Exposure - 1/4
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - Yes
# of brackets - 5, spaced 1 EV apart from -2 to +2
]]>
So to commemorate opening day, I thought I'd post a shot of Busch Stadium, home of the Cardinals that I took from atop the Gateway Arch in St Louis. It was very rainy the day I took this so I took a LOT of liberties in post-processing. The most obvious is the black and white conversion, but I also bumped the contrast waaaayyy up, masked in a red filter to bring out the red seats in the stadium, a neutral filter for the rest and then I did a little tilt-shift effect on it to bring a little more attention to the stadium. Now, if I could've just got someone in St Louis to move that stinkin' Millenium Hotel out of the way when I took the photo and then move it back, that would've been perfect!
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 55mm
Aperture - f4
Exposure - 1/100
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Lens - Nikkor 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0
Focal Length - 16mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 0.8 secs
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 640
Exposure bias - 0EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - Yes
# of brackets - 5, spaced 1 EV apart from -2 to +2
]]>
Like my previous post, I exposure-bracketed this particular scene for a possible HDR image, but in the end I just used one exposure and tweaked it out in Photoshop. You know, it seems the more photo processing software (Photoshop, Lightroom) evolves, the less one needs to do HDR as long as you are able to capture the shot you are looking for in the beginning, exposure-wise. I find that I still bracket when I go on a shoot, but not too often anymore do I run the brackets through the HDR process. I just now take one of the exposures and work on that and maybe blend in another darker or lighter exposure depending on the sky or a different part of the scene that I like. I prefer the results a little better mostly. That's not to say I won't do HDR at all anymore, but I just don't do it as often.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 55mm
Aperture - f16
Exposure - 1 Sec
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - No
# of brackets -NA
]]>
I originally bracketed this shot for HDR, but in the end I just tweaked out the 0 EV exposure for this final image.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Lens - Nikkor 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0
Focal Length - 19mm
Aperture - f22
Exposure - 6 secs
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 10mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 1/4
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 6400
Exposure bias - 0EV
Tripod - No
HDR -No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
Every year SXSW seems to get bigger and bigger and when things like that get bigger and bigger they become more and more of a pain in the arse. While the festival may be great for the local economy, it makes it especially difficult to get around town. Most of the locals are just glad when it's over, I think. That's the vibe I got from the sign at Doc's Bar and Grill on South Congress when I went shooting one morning back in 2013 just after SXSW ended. I think they were glad to see it go. It was the same in Park City, UT when we went there last month. The locals were very happy to see the Sundance Film Festival end. These things just get too big.
So this shot is not an HDR, but it is a blend of two brackets... One shot at -1 EV and another at -3 EV. I then put them together using a gradient mask in Photoshop to darken the sky but keep the main building well lit. I then did a little more masking on the sign to darken it a bit for detail and got rid of a few spots on the camera lens as it was a little misty during the shot. Lastly, I made some vignette tweaks with Nik Color Efex 4 and here you see the final product.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Lens - Nikkor 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0
Focal Length - 18mm
Aperture - f11
Exposure - 10 secs
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - -1 EV
Tripod -Yes
HDR - No
# of brackets - 2
]]>
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 30mm
Aperture - f3.6
Exposure - 1/80
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 500
Exposure bias - +0.33 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
I'm not sure exactly why I picked this one, I just kind of liked it. I found it while going thru Lightroom the other day and decided to tweak it a bit. This shot is some sort of fish, maybe a grouper, but I'm not quite sure, that I took at the Alaska Sealife Center in Seward, AK. It's a great place to visit if you ever get to Seward. There are lots of animals to see from these fish here, to sea lions, puffins, salmon and lots of other native species from the area.
So, I added some pro contrast, darken/lighten center and bi-color filters to this shot using Nik Color Efex 4. I also had to blur out the background a bit more using Nik Analog Efex as it was a tad noisy. I'm not promoting those products, but I use them because they are so easy and a major part of my workflow and I sometimes like to state what I use to get the final product you see here.
Anyway, I hope you like the picture and thanks for dropping by. Oh, and if you know what kind of fish this is, please drop a comment and let me know. Am I right about it being a grouper?
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-E1
Lens - Fujinon XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 50mm
Aperture - f4.5
Exposure - 1/60
Exposure program - Program AE
ISO speed - 6400
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
The player with the ball is Brooklyn Nets guard Jarrett Jack and he is either getting blocked or fouled by Dallas Mavericks' forward Charlie Villanueva.
The shot was processed in Lightroom with a little vignette added, cropped and a tad bit of split-toning...
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Sony DSC-HX9V
Lens - 4.3-68.5 mm f/3.3-5.9
Focal Length - 38.3 mm
Aperture - f5
Exposure - 1/250
Exposure program - Auto
ISO speed - 1250
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
Our friend Ellen who lives in Ft Worth and went to the game with us let us stay at her house and she suggested we take the TRE train which was a great idea! It has a stop right in front of the American Airlines Center so it was perfect! (Thanks again, Ellen! It was great and you are a great host!) It made the trip to the game very easy and we didn't have to worry about parking. Not to mention worrying about the people who do not know how to drive in snow! Try the train if you ever go to the AA Center!
That is a great arena to see a game or just about anything else. Very clean, great beer and just a nice atmosphere. We were a little surprised by the crowd though.. It seemed to be kind of a snooty one as a lot of the people there looked like they had quite a bit of money from the way they were dressed and when the game announcer asked to make some noise, the crowd seemed to let out a collective, "Whatever".. Not literally, but they really didn't make much noise and they just didn't really try to play along. Once in a while they let out some cheers when Dirk here made a nice three pointer or someone else made a good play, but overall they weren't too enthusiastic. Maybe the fact that the Mavs were behind most of the game had something to do with it, but they were never totally out of the game until the very end. Oh well, still lots of fun!
I got this shot of Dirk Nowitski during shoot-around prior to the game kicking off. Not sure what he was smiling about but he really seemed to enjoy himself and his teammates out there! Good for him! Rajon Rondo on the other hand did not look too happy and I don't know why. I guess because he just came off of a suspension by his coach for a game because he and his coach got into a little bit of a tiff... Still, if I made his kind of money, I'd be ear-to-ear every night along with Dirk! Like the crowd, I thought, "Whatever".
I took this shot with my trusty Sony DSC-HX9V compact point and shoot. It has a nice zoom lens on it. Ellen went down as far as she could to get a nice shot of him and I followed her down. We made it about 5-10 rows before the court where we could not get past the last usher and I just zoomed all the way in. I also cropped this shot to give Dirk a nice placement in it. Lastly I added a some bokeh to it using Nik's Analog Efex to give it some depth and put the focus on Dirk.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Sony DSC-HX9V
Lens - 4.3-68.5 mm f/3.3-5.9
Focal Length - 68.5 mm
Aperture - f5.9
Exposure - 1/200
Exposure program - Auto
ISO speed - 1600
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
I took this during our trip a year ago last Sept.. It's a view out the back of the vacation property we rented near the town of Pahoa! It was awesome!
I took this shot from my iPhone with absolutely no edits. None needed!
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
None - Taken from iPhone
]]>
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 55mm
Aperture - f6.4
Exposure - 1/80
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 1600
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
Travel photography tip: I got this from Scott Kelby, but when I shot this photo, there were many kids from various schools milling about. I guess it was "Field Trip Day" or something in the capitol. So, in order to get a shot without them in the shot, I framed the photo so as to capture the scene without them by raising the viewfinder of the camera just above their heads. Sometimes this works and other times not, but where I was in relation to the stairs and the mural, this turned out rather well. I wasn't still able to capture as much of the stairs as I liked, but I was able to get some of it as well as the columns and the mural which still gives the viewer a sense of how the place is laid out.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 34mm
Aperture - f3.6
Exposure - 1/80
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 320
Exposure bias - +0.33 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
As far as the shot goes, I just converted to black and white in Lightroom with one of the built-in presets, added a bit of vignette, contrast and a tad of clarity and then sharpened a little. Boom!
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 16mm
Aperture - f4
Exposure - 1/80
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 5000
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
I did a little tonal contrast with Nik Color Efex 4 and also warmed it up a little more just to ehance the mood of it. What do you think?
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 16mm
Aperture - f4
Exposure - 1/20
Exposure program - Program AE
ISO speed - 6400
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
I'll have more pics of the inside later, but as you can see, this is the exterior of the building. I think it's not as nice as say the Texas Capitol, but it's nice nonetheless.
It was a cloudy day which made for some pretty flat light, so I tried to punch it up a little. I processed this shot mainly in Lightroom and gave it a split-toned look and the I added a little Tonal Contrast with Nik Color Efex 4 in Photoshop.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 18mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 1/420
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - +0.33 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
A lot of times on the last day, I just take it easy and sometimes take along my "good camera" instead of a compact or an action-cam to see what kind of pics I can get. Well, at one point while riding the chairlift, I went up with a young lady whom I didn't pay much attention to. Some people like to talk and others don't and this time her and I minded our own business. But at one point during the ride up, I noticed a slalom course and a giant slalom course. I looked over at my fellow rider and she had on all of this gear that screamed racing, like a face-guard, hand-guards on her pole-grips, etc. I turned and said to her, are you skiing that course? And she said yes, but that it was only practice. I thought, "Cool, I could get some photos!" She said it was OK to shoot and so here's one of the shots. I don't think this is the same woman I rode the chairlift with, but nevertheless, they were good and really fast!
As far as the pic goes, I'm not gonna lie... I added a little motion blur via Nik's Analog Efex to give it a sense of speed. I also sharpened the skier up quite a bit. Otherwise, not too many other tweaks!
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 55mm
Aperture - f4
Exposure - 1/1900
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
There are two photos below. It's two versions of a shot I took is from inside the square. It's nothing special, but I wanted to post it to point out the power and fun of Snapseed. You see I edited this shot solely on my iPad using the Snapseed app. It was developed by Nik which is my go to plugin of choice in Photoshop. I really like it and I can get some excellent results. The original shot was pretty flat and dull and even had some spots from a dirty lens on it. So, I Tuned the photo and bumped up the saturation and sharpness of it and also added some Drama to it. I liked the Drama part because it adds some texture to it to sort of make the picture look old and it helps hide some of the spots from the lens. That's one thing about Snapseed... There's really no way to get rid of spots from a photo in the app that I know of. All in all, I really love that app and it's fun to edit on the iPad sometimes when I don't feel like getting on the computer. Now, if I could just figure out how to watermark on the iPad...
The first one here is the original jpg straight from the camera:
And this is the edited one from Snapseed on the iPad:
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 34.3 mm
Aperture - f11
Exposure - 1/180
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - +0.33 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
Speaking of touring SLC, we learned everything there is to know about how the Mormons settled into the area. We even got to tour the Mormon Tabernacle where this great organ sits. Everyday there is a recital by one of the organists. There are 5 organists in total and we got to see the number one or "principal" organist play for about 30 minutes. He was great! So was the organ! And, the Tabernacle has these great acoustics... Before he played for us, the organist showed us the "pin-drop test", basically showing that you can hear a pin drop throughout the Tabernacle without any electronic amplification via microphone and speaker. He took out three pins and dropped them on a wooden box of some sort and then he took out a nail and dropped it on the same box. Sure enough! We could hear those pins and the nail clear as if we were dropping them ourselves!
Anyway, here is some more info on the organ from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's website:
- The present instrument was built in 1948 by the Aeolian-Skinner Company of Boston, Massachusetts, under the direction of G. Donald Harrison, president and tonal director of the firm.
- The organ now has 11,623 pipes organized into 147 voices (tone colors) and 206 ranks (rows of pipes).
- The pipes are made of wood, zinc, and various alloys of tin and lead.
- The pipes are controlled from a console with five 61-note manuals (keyboards) and a 32-note pedal board.
- Some of the famous gilded cylindrical pipes in the organ's facade are made of wood staves fashioned of native Utah pine, retained from the original pioneer organ built in the 1860s.
- The longest pipe has a speaking length of 32 feet.
- The shortest pipe has a speaking length of three-quarters of an inch.
- Two technicians are employed full time to maintain this and other musical instruments on Temple Square.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 30mm
Aperture - f3.6
Exposure - 1/80
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 1250
Exposure bias - -0.67
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
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I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by!
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 13.8 mm
Aperture - f4
Exposure - 1/180
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
The second is a shot of the mountains around the Turnagain Arm as we were set to arrive in Girdwood at the end of the day. There were these crazy-looking clouds that you only see in mountainous areas it seems and the window of the train acted as a nice filter for the sunset, providing the great yellow color here.
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If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
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For shots like this, it really helps to get as low to the ground as possible. It really makes for a nice vantage point and helps make the stripes on the road as well as the detail in the asphalt really stand out.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Lens - Nikkor 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
Focal Length - 28mm
Aperture - f16
Exposure - 1/250
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 400
Exposure bias - 0EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
This one I took almost 4 years ago from an "Italian" location... OK, it was from Disney's Epcot Center in Florida, but it was the Italy Showcase area, so that can be considered "Italian", right? Maybe the American version of what Italy is, but still... If I remember correctly, I took this fairly early in the day when there weren't many people on the grounds yet. And, Epcot is cool about people using tripods there. I think it is just like any other place, as long as you don't get in anyone's way and infringe on anyone else's enjoyment, they are fine.
This is an HDR and then I kind of faded it out with a combination of different things in Lightroom and Nik's Analog Efex 2.
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Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D300s
Lens - Sigma 10.0-20.0 mm f/4.0-5.6
Focal Length - 11.5mm
Aperture - f4.2
Exposure - 1/8000
Exposure program - Auto
ISO speed - 800
Exposure bias - -2 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - Yes
# of brackets - 5
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If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D90
Lens - Nikkor 18.0-105.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
Focal Length -18mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 1/20
Exposure program - Auto
ISO speed - 800
Exposure bias - -1 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
Wimberley is a cool place with some nice touristy and unique stores. Most of the shops there were OK about me taking photos in them and one of them even encouraged it. I do my best not to be in anyone's way and be as discreet as possible. Stop, shoot and move on, quickly. This place is one of them and there's another I'd like to mention, but not in a good way.
I went into Wall Street Western and in there they had rows of some really cool boots. So, as an aspiring photographer, I tried to take a couple photos of some of the boots. I've seen others get some nice images of boots elsewhere and I always thought if I was in a place that had boots, why not?
Well, right when I started, some employee came storming over telling me they didn't allow photography inside their store. Really? What, so they have some sort of thing about their boots, like maybe someone will steal their designs or something?? That would happen as soon as someone buys a pair and they get out of the store. I wasn't in anyone's way and and even if I was, others spent a lot of time gawking at the boots longer than I would take to snap a photo. So, wouldn't it be great free advertising for them if I took a photo and wrote about it? Anyway, since I was not allowed to take photos, I thought as a photographer and potential customer, "I guess I won't allow myself to give you any advertisement or spend any money in your establishment, either" and I subsequently vacated the premises. Their loss.... Well, I guess they are getting some free advertisement here after-all, but it ain't good! :-)
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 10mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 1/80
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 2500
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
I finally figured out how to keep blogger from jacking with the photos that I post here... If you have a Google+ account, which I do, go to your home page, settings, and turn off Auto Enhance. Sheesh! That thing is crap!
Photo: Pennybacker Bridge in 2014
I have taken shots of the Pennybacker Bridge (aka 360 bridge) in Austin before, but the day I took those it was rather foggy and I didn't get the exact shot I was looking for even though I was happy with those.. Anyway, I went back again during some time off over the holidays and managed to get this shot. It's still not exactly what I'm looking for, but it's getting closer. I may have to go out again another morning or afternoon, but I like this one. The funny thing is that I went out there to do HDR and most of the shots were out of focus and those were the ones where I had just a tad better composition. As you can see on this one, the very top of the tree got cut off. Otherwise I like it, but it's not HDR! I don't know what the hell happened, but I'm happy I got something for all the trouble of going out there!
What do you think? Is it worthy? Any comments are appreciated!
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 10mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 30 secs
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 640
Exposure bias - +1 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
This is another shot from Smithville from last weekend. It is either a storefront of some sort or maybe an office front. I just liked the way it was decorated and how the red and white lights looked shining on the brick. Now that I think about it, when I looked inside, I got the impression that it was a realtor's office. Not for sure on that, but there you go...
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera -Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 10mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 1.5 secs
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 640
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - Yes
# of brackets - 5, spaced 1 EV apart from -2 to +2
]]>
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 18mm
Aperture - f11
Exposure - 10 secs
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 640
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 10mm
Aperture - f11
Exposure - 3.5 secs
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 640
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - Yes
# of brackets -5, spaced 1 EV apart from -2 to +2
]]>
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 10mm
Aperture - f10
Exposure - 3.2 secs
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fuji X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 10mm
Aperture - f11
Exposure - 3.5 secs
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - Yes
# of brackets - 5, spaced 1 EV apart, from -2 to +2
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Oh, and please click on the shot to see a better version. Blogger.com really screws with photos when uploaded here. Hope you like the photo and thanks for stopping by!
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 50mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 5.3 secs
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - Yes
# of brackets - 5, space 1 EV apart from -2 to +2
]]>
After the seminar, I went to a spot above the Riverwalk that I scoped out at lunch and took a bunch of long exposures to capture the boats moving around the corner under the pedestrian bridge. This time of year, everything including most of the boats are decorated with lights and they really make some cool streaks on the water when they are going by. The boats themselves are not so much water taxis as they are tour boats. You can see a couple of them docked to the edge there. They are a little blurry because the water wasn't too still due to the other boats going by. But, at least you can get an idea of how they are decorated. Very fun to ride on if you like that sort of thing.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF 10-24mm OIS
Focal Length - 16mm
Aperture - f16
Exposure - 30 secs
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
From what I understand since I've never been, people like to stand underneath the tree, look straight up and spin around. Apparently it's something fun to do, but sounds like a sure way to relieve ones stomach of any contents therein. :-)
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 95mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 1 sec
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 640
Exposure bias - -1 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
Technically speaking, this shot is comprised of two exposures. One is at 0 EV and the other is at -1 EV. I combined them in Photoshop using a gradient mask to make the bottom portion of the shot lighter than the top portion. I think it helped add a little depth and atmosphere to it so as the lights down below look like they are illuminating the scene properly.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the shot and thanks for stopping by!
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 10.0 mm
Aperture - f11
Exposure - 2.1 secs
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - -1 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - No
# of brackets - 2 ranging from 0 to -1 EV
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Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 14.5mm
Aperture - f11
Exposure - 8 secs
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D300s
Lens - Nikkor 18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
Focal Length - 75mm
Aperture - f11.0
Exposure - 1/1000
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - Yes
# of brackets - 7, spaced 1 EV apart from -3 to
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If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D300s
Lens - Sigma 10.0-20.0 mm f/4.0-5.6
Focal Length -10mm
Aperture - f11
Exposure - 1.6 secs
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 800
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - Yes
# of brackets - 7, spaced 1 EV apart from -3 to +3
]]>
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Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D300s
Lens - Nikkor 18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
Focal Length - 105.0 mm
Aperture - ƒ/11.0
Exposure - 1/320
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - -1 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
That's where this shot comes in... It's from Alaska and one of the first shots I processed on this new machine. I took this when we were riding the Alaska Railroad train back to Girdwood from a fjords tour in Seward.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 143.9 mm
Aperture - ƒ/6.0
Exposure - 1/320
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 10mm
Aperture - f4
Exposure - 1/80
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 2000
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
I did a little editing in Snapseed on my iPad to give it a more vintage flavor. (Sorry, no good exif for this one...)
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I must say though, the experience wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I was a bit freaked out about it, but now that it's over, I'm glad I did it. The bad thing is I have to have another exhaust inspection in three years.
The last thing I can take away from the whole experience is this; doctors are great and thank goodness we have them. But, if it wasn't for the nurses, the whole experience would be horrible! Nurses are the best and they make the whole show work! Of course I may be biased since Eileen is a nurse, but they all ROCK for sure!
I came up with the car analogy because when I was getting wheeled into the O.R., I told the nurse it looked like a garage. I mean there were all these lights that looked like "light-alls", there were lots of tables and tools and there was a bunch of what looked like tool chests! You know that gives me an idea, what if they made operating rooms look like garages?! Make the tool chests have "Craftsman" logos on them, have a bunch of pictures of cars in there, make the floor a black and white checkerboard! Wouldn't that be cool? Kind of like Sport Clips only for an operating room! But, it would obviously have to be really clean! No grease-monkeys allowed! Then again, maybe not such a good idea...
As relieved as I was knowing that my procedure wasn't as bad as I thought, it was still no walk in the park. I would so much rather have been here where I took this shot. This swinging bench was at Shipwreck Beach on Kauai! I guess rocking in this chair could be my happy place so to speak!
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Lens - Nikkor 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
Focal Length - 28mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 6 secs
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 1600
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - Yes
# of brackets - 7, from -3 to +3 spaced 1 EV apart
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If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Lens - Nikkor 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0
Focal Length - 16mm
Aperture - f16
Exposure - 1/60
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D90
Lens - Sigma 10-20mm
Focal Length - 10mm
Aperture - f11
Exposure -
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 100
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - Yes
# of brackets - 5 spaced 1 EV apart
]]>
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 230mm
Aperture - f6.7
Exposure - 1/1000
Exposure program - Shutter priority AE
ISO speed - 6400
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
Anyway, it's my second shot in the 5 Day Black and White Challenge and I took it on the island of Kauai during our Hawaii trip last year. I just got done snorkeling (this Canon S100 and housing is great for that btw) and I wanted to get a nice shot of the location. The building in the background is the Beach House Restaurant. Eileen and I had our 20th anniversary dinner there with our friends Valerie, Theresa and Ellen and it was a great time! Oh and lastly, I don't know who the lady is in the foreground of this shot, but she adds some interest, yes? :-)
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Canon PowerShot S100
Lens - 5.2-26.0 mm
Focal Length - 5.2mm
Aperture - f4.0
Exposure - 1/1600
Exposure program - Auto
ISO speed - 800
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
Anyway, I thought I'd start with an oldie but a goodie. I took this shot when I first started getting serious back in June of 2009. It's a shot of a jail cell in the old Caldwell County Jail in Lockhart, TX which is now known as the Caldwell County Museum. It looks like it was a scary place back in the day and with Halloween coming up, why not start with this! It's also one of the first shots that I got accepted on iStock so I guess it's OK! What do you think?
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D90
Lens - AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR
Focal Length - 18mm
Aperture - f11
Exposure - 15 secs
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 125
Exposure bias -0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
On Monday before the game, we went up into the Gateway Arch for something to do. That was quite an experience for sure! We got into these little pod-like things that have 5 seats in them and rode up to the top. These things are not for those who are claustrophobic. I can be a little, but was OK for the most part even though I was a little nervous. Anyway, when we got to the top, there wasn't much to do but look out the windows and take pictures. There is no gift shop up there.
So as you can see, the day was rather gloomy and wet. As a matter of fact, when we were walking to the arch, Eileen said, "You might want to take some pictures of the arch down here before we go up, because who knows what it will be like when we come back down!" She was right.. Before we went up, it was just cloudy, but when we got up there and when we came back down, it was raining cats and dogs! So, I didn't get any shots of the outside of the arch.
What I did get is this picture of downtown St Louis with the Old Courthouse in the center - the courthouse known for the famous Dred Scott trial. There was also some construction going on around the Arch as you can see in the very foreground.
I decided to convert this shot to black and white since the gloominess made the shot almost monochrome anyway and I tried to process it so as to make the courthouse the center of attention. Did it work? Any comments are appreciated! Oh and click on the shot to see a larger view as that is much more interesting when seen larger than this smaller version!
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 13.2mm
Aperture - f4
Exposure - 1/200
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 136mm
Aperture - f6
Exposure - 1/1000
Exposure program - Shutter priority AE
ISO speed - 6400
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
And now, the Giants won the pennant so the Cardinals are out. I guess that makes for a good metaphor for this shot since the stadium is pretty much empty and the Cardinals season is over. I guess that means one thing; Go Royals!!!
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 13.8mm
Aperture - f4
Exposure - 1/80
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 400
Exposure bias - -1 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
I tell you, this little X-T1 is not too shabby for shooting sports, I don't care what anyone says. Sure, it's not a Canon 1D Mark IV or whatever, but this camera worked well for me. I'm happy with it anyway. However, if I wanted to shoot from the sidelines, maybe I would rent a better one, but I'm happy with this.
I processed the picture using Nik's Analog Efex, with Camera filter #7. You see the game was a homecoming for the 1999 Super Bowl winning Rams team so the Rams wore their old throwback uniforms in honor of the those guys. So I thought I'd throwback the pic a little to give it a bit more interest.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 230mm
Aperture - f6.7
Exposure - 1/1000
Exposure program - Shutter priority AE
ISO speed - 6400
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
Due to the amount of rainfall on Kauai, the island has a plethora/cornucopia/bounty of waterfalls. As a matter fact, one part of the island gets the most rainfall of any place on the planet; 450 inches/year to be exact! That means that there are a zillion waterfalls there. This particular set is called Opaekaa Falls, which is located on the east side of Kauai. These falls are quite spectacular and just off Route 580 if you get out that way. Wish I was there right now. Of course I'm not sure of a time when I wouldn't wish I was there...
One other thing... It's hard to convey the size of these falls without being there. But I guess one thing I could point out is that if you look at the top of the shot where that tree is kind of isolated, you will see the rooftop of a house that is about normal for a ranch-style dwelling. So, if you take that into consideration, you will understand that these falls are rather large and one would probably not survive a fall over them if one decided to kayak down... Just sayin'...
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
]]>Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Lens - Nikkor 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
Focal Length - 135mm
Aperture - f8.0
Exposure - 1/80
Exposure program - Aperture Priority AE
ISO speed - 400
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
One of the animals that I enjoyed seeing and photographing was this monkey. I'm not sure of the type he is but I did read about him when I was there. I think he is a patas monkey that are normally found in Central Africa based on this Wikipedia link here. Guess I should've taken a picture of the sign so I could provide that info. Anyway, I'm not sure of he's sad or not, but I get that impression by looking at his eyes. I guess I would be too if I were cooped up in a cage, but hopefully he'll be able to move on to bigger and better things some time down the road.
As far as processing goes, I just did some minor exposure, clarity and vignette adjustments in Lightroom. I also brightened up his eyes a tad and cropped the overall shot just to put his face in a more "rule of thirds" location.
Now, if I could just figure out how to remove those bars in Photoshop! That would be awesome!
As always, I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by!
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 230mm
Aperture - f6.7
Exposure - 1/80
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 400
Exposure bias - 0EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
We've been to Paris and it's is pretty nice! Great food and good shows! However, we've never been to the Cosmopolitan. Maybe on the next visit!
As far as the shot goes, I tried to mute the colors a little to give a different feel. Is it futuristic? I'm not sure, but I liked how it turned out anyway. Let me know what you think! As always, click on the picture and you will see a larger, slightly better version.
Also, did you know you can get an email of my posts when they come out? Just enter your email address on the right side of this site where is says "Follow by email" and wa-la! You will get the posts in your email as they come out! And, no, you will not get any spam from here!
Thanks, and stop by again!
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 18mm
Aperture - f2.8
Exposure - 1/35
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 6400
Exposure bias -0EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 230mm
Aperture - f6.7
Exposure - 1/1200
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 6400
Exposure bias - 0EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
On the property there was this old truck and I thought this kind of made a neat shot with the headlight and the license plate. Since it was an old truck and everything, I tried to give it an old look with Nik's Analog Efex plugin. Sometime you can get some nice effects out of that. I think this was Classic Camera Number 3 and then I did a little more tweaking in Photoshop.
Hope you like it and thanks for dropping by.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 46.3mm
Aperture - f4
Exposure - 1/125
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 20.5mm
Aperture - f4.0
Exposure - 1/160
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 800
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
We all had a great time! Yu Darvish even pitched for the Rangers. However, he gave up a lot of hits and runs and the Rangers lost 7-3. Now Darvish is out for the rest of the year with elbow inflammation or something like that. So, we saw him pitch his last game this year! Cool, but yet a bummer at the same time.
Whenever we go to sporting events, I like to get a quick panorama from either our seats or some other vantage point. This time, I just took it from our seats and I shot it prior to the game starting. I feel a little weird about taking it during the game as I don't want to interfere with other fans enjoyment by standing up and shooting several shots to get it done. I hate to be in people's way because I don't like it when people are in my way. At least that's what I like to tell myself!
(To see some of my other stadiums panoramas, click here. I think my fave so far is from Rangers Stadium in Arlington during the day, but I digress.)
So here's the finished product! You can see Dylan with the sunglasses on his head in the lower-right corner of the shot along with his mop-top friend Wyatt! Wyatt has lots of hair but he was a good kid! Maybe I'm jealous of his hair 'cause at my age, there isn't much left!
Anyway, hope you like the picture and thanks for dropping by!
Oh and lastly, click on the picture itself so you can see a larger version. This little thing here on the blog does not do it justice!
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifim X-T1
Lens - XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 18mm
Aperture - f3.2
Exposure - 1/125
Exposure program - Manual
ISO speed - 320
Exposure bias - 0 Ev
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
With that being said, I thought I would post another shot from my time with Van and Chris Sutherland while we took pictures from the new boardwalk on Lady Bird Lake.
Like my last shot, it isn't quite after sunset when you can see the lights from the buildings in the city, but it is at a nice time as there is still a little activity on the lake with the boats and kayaks out there.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-E1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 24mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 1/220
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - +0.33
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 34mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 1/250
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
Here's an interesting fact about bison that comes from the official website of Yellowstone:
"A bison’s massive hump is comprised of muscles supported by long vertebrae; this allows a bison to use its head as a snowplow in winter, swinging side to side to sweep aside the snow."
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 182mm
Aperture - f6.4
Exposure - 1/180
Exposure program - Program AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
Enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by!
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 12mm
Aperture - f5.6
Exposure - 1/170
Exposure program - Program AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
Anyway, as we drove around seeing the sights, we stopped at many of the photo turnouts along the Seward Highway to take photos. WIth this shot, it was raining a bit, but I saw this nice view through a break in the trees where you could see the mountain, a stream and the road all at once. So, I broke the traditional "landscape rules" that state that one should use a wide angle lens with landscape orientation. I did a portrait orientation with my 50-230mm telephoto zoom lens so I could capture everything I mentioned and compress the shot. Did it work? Please leave a comment below and thanks for dropping by!
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 63.2mm
Aperture - f5.6
Exposure - 1/350
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
Also, the car had two levels. We sat in the top level, but down below is a dining area where we had our dinner on the way back. I gotta say that our meals were two of the better ones we had on our entire trip! That doesn't mean we ate at many bad places... no. Alaska Railroad has a very good chef on-board their trains and the food was outstanding! It was just a great all-around experience. When we go back we are taking the train again!
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifim X-E1
Lens - XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 50mm
Aperture - f5.6
Exposure - 1/150
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - ) EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
Also, the car had two levels. We sat in the top level, but down below is a dining area where we had our dinner on the way back. I gotta say that our meals were two of the better ones we had on our entire trip! That doesn't mean we ate at many bad places... no. Alaska Railroad has a very good chef on-board their trains and the food was outstanding! It was just a great all-around experience. When we go back we are taking the train again!
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifim X-E1
Lens - XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 50mm
Aperture - f5.6
Exposure - 1/150
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - ) EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
The Conservation Center takes care of injured animals and uses those animals to educate the public about them. So, this eagle must've had some sort of problem because he was perched inside of a barn. I'm guessing he/she probably could not fly for whatever reason, but I really don't know for sure.
Speaking of getting close to the animals, this eagle was located right on the other side of the barn that housed two male moose! If it wasn't for the fence, one really could touch those guys! They were that close! Too close for me to get a decent shot if you can believe that!
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 230mm
Aperture - f6.7
Exposure - 1/80
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 2500
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - XF10-24mm F4 R OIS
Focal Length - 18.2mm
Aperture - f5.6
Exposure - 1/400
Exposure program - Program AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - XC 50-230mm F4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 75mm
Aperture - f4.5
Exposure - 1/2000
Exposure program - Shutter priority AE
ISO speed - 640
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - NO
# of brackets - NA
]]>
Whittier has a population of about 200-300 people in it and just about all of them live in that tall building you see in the shot. Whittier is also a port for the Princess Cruise Line as well as cargo ships. So most of the people that live and work in Whittier support that industry.
You can get to Whittier two ways, either by boat or through a tunnel in the mountains that is only big enough to fit a train or a car/truck. So if one wants to go through, you need to get staged at predetermined time and vehicles will then be allowed to go one way through the tunnel for about 10 - 15 minutes, then a train goes through, then vehicles get to go through the tunnel in the opposite direction. So, if you have to be somewhere either in Whittier or outside of Whittier, you have to take the schedule for the tunnel into consideration as part of your travels. Not too much to do there other than work for the boating industry, but if you want to read more about Whittier, click here.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-E1
Lens - Fujinon XC 50-230mm f4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 80mm
Aperture - f5.6
Exposure - 1/340
Exposure program - Program AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
According to Wikipedia, "The inlet was named after Cook in 1794 by George Vancouver, who had served under Cook in 1778. Turnagain Arm was named by William Bligh of HMS Bounty fame. Bligh served as Cook's Sailing Master on his 3rd and final voyage, the aim of which was discovery of the Northwest Passage.
Upon reaching the head of Cook Inlet, Bligh was of the opinion that both Knik Arm and Turnagain Arm were the mouths of rivers and not the opening to the Northwest Passage. Under Cook's orders Bligh organized a party to travel up Knik Arm, which quickly returned to report Knik Arm indeed led only to a river.
Afterwards a second party was dispatched up Turnagain Arm and it too returned to report only a river lay ahead. As a result of this frustration the second body of water was given the disingenuous name "Turn Again". Early maps label Turnagain Arm as the "Turnagain River".
One other cool thing about the Turnagain Arm is when the tide rolls in... When it does, it comes in all at once. It is literally a tidal wave, so much so that one could surf it in. As a matter of fact a lot of locals do that since the wave can reach heights of 5 feet or more. The guy operating the tram at the Alyeska stated that a world surfing record was set here for the longest ride of approximately 11 miles! Incredible! As you can see, the tide is out at this point, but when it comes in, it's all water down there.
As far as the photo goes, I used the trusty X-T1 and I post-processed it all in Lightroom! Hooray for me! I'm getting used to that program!
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 22mm
Aperture - f9
Exposure - 1/420
Exposure program - Program AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0Ev
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
We stayed in a little town called Girdwood which is about 35 miles SE of Anchorage. And further down the Seward Highway another 10-15 miles or so is the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. It's a place that rehabs injured animals and gets them back into the wild. It's a sort of zoo, but more to educate people on the local wildlife by bringing in injured animals and getting them healthy. If they can be released, wonderful, but if they can't, they will stay permanently.
This is a shot of one of the grizzly bears there. He seems very friendly as he wandered up to the fence and then sat down on his backside. Rather funny actually. He also seemed quite tired. Although looking tired and friendly, I would not want to meet him in the woods. As a matter of fact, a good friend of our bed and breakfast hosts was mauled by a brown bear while we were there. She's going to be OK, but it just goes to show that these guys don't play. The mauling also occurred at a campground that some of our own good friends, Richard and Sandy, stayed at just the night before and heard of bear sightings in that area! Oh and thanks again guys for taking us around and showing us all the sites! We had a great time and you guys made it extra special!
Anyway, that's the shot of the bear and I have quite a few other shots from AK to go, so stay tuned!
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - FujiFilm X-T1
Lens - XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 204mm
Aperture - f6.7
Exposure - 1/210
Exposure program - Aperture Priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
This is a shot of the Trump International Hotel that I took from the top of the Stratosphere the second night we were there. I like how it turned out because of the light that's reflecting off of the gold windows. Speaking of which, apparently those windows are gilded with 24 carat gold. I'm not sure what that means exactly, but it sounds expensive and it looks pretty good as well.
I also like this shot because it's straight from the Fuji X-T1 camera using the Velvia film simulation. I did not do any post-processing on it whatsoever...
Well, that's not totally true.. I resized it and added my watermark. Speaking of the watermark, I created a whole new one and have started using it. It's in the upper right corner of the shot. Tell me what you think. Maybe the word "Photography" under my name should be a little bigger?? Anyway, don't let that distract you from the overall image either. I'd like to hear what you think of that as well! :-)
Thanks and stop by again!
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon 50-230mm f4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 143.9mm
Aperture - f6.0
Exposure - 1/18
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 6400
Exposure bias -0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - NA
# of brackets - NA
]]>
You see, I have it, but I'm rather intimidated by it and still don't like it, yet. I shouldn't be intimidated because it's supposed to be simple to use. But I'm so used to using Adobe Bridge along with PS, that when I get into LR, I get screwed up and can't figure out what's what and then frustratingly get the heck out and go back to Bridge/PS. Well, a couple days ago, I thought I should give LR another crack. It seems each time I go into it, I get a little more comfortable with it. Downloading this little piece of literature from the Lightroom Queen helped as well.
So, to play around in LR I needed a photo, right? I decided to use this one you see here. It's one of the very first photos I took when I started this whole photographic journey with DSLRs about 5 years ago. It's a shot of the Bertram train station in Bertram, TX. I took it with my old trusty Nikon D90, a great camera in it's day and is still a good option for a used one if you want to start out... I converted this photo to black and white and used some of the adjustment brushes in LR to bring out some detail here and there. (Here's my original HDR, if you are interested) However, I did open it up in PS to add my watermark and save it as a JPG. Still not crazy about how the library works in LR on how to save a photo, but that's probably because I still don't quite understand it. It seems the easier Adobe tries to make things, the harder it gets.
So, I'll keep poking around, but I'm not sure I'll ever like it. Maybe some day I'll take a class on it and maybe that will help. I have a book or two and that's good, but nothing helps me more than actually seeing someone working it. We'll see! Thanks for dropping by!
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D90
Lens - Nikkor 18-105mm f3.5-5.6 VR
Focal Length - 21mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 1/250
Exposure program - Program AE
ISO speed - 100
Exposure bias - -0.33 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
"Pull off the the road at the Hanalei Valley Lookout to get your shot of one of the most photographed lookouts in all Hawaii. The Hanalei Valley is an enchanted site charmed with the likes of countless waterfalls, rainbows, fields of taro and hidden treasures waiting to be explored. Set against the backdrop of the carved out and waterfall bejeweled Namolokama mountain, this magical place is not to be missed."
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Lens - Nikkor 28-300mm f3.5-5.6 VR
Focal Length - 28mm
Aperture - f7.1
Exposure - 1/200
Exposure program - Program AE
ISO speed - 400
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Sony DSC-HX9V
Lens - 4.3-68.5 mm f/3.3-5.9
Focal Length - 4.3mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 1/250
Exposure program - Program AE
ISO speed - 100
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - Yes
# of brackets - 3
]]>
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - XF 10-24mm f4 R OIS
Focal Length - 10mm
Aperture - F4
Exposure -4 sec
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - +.3 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
Anyway, Mike here is looking over the old golf course that used to be part of the Desert Inn casino. Now I think it is part of the Wynn Hotel and Casino.
I like this shot because when I initially took it, a lot of what you see out the windows were rather blown out. But, with the power of Adobe Camera Raw, I was able to bring a lot of that back and now you can really get a good idea of what we were seeing as we rode along.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 12mm
Aperture - f4.0
Exposure - 1/180
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
It was quite an adventure getting there. This beach is pretty far away from any towns or villages for Hawaii standards. It's located at almost the very southern tip of the island. So you have to drive for a little while and when you get about 2.5 to 3 miles away, the road pretty much ends. Then you can either walk, 4-wheel, or you can hitch a ride for about $20/person in an open-air beater of a Mazda pickup truck for a 4-wheel ride that will clog your nose and other portions of your body with dust. There are other vehicles there to take you out as well, but they are all in a similarly worn-out shape and all covered with dust. We just happened to get the Mazda. :-) The people who run this little business are an Hawaiian family and it seems they do pretty well, at least during tourist season. You can also drive out there yourself, but it can be pretty treacherous if you aren't used to 4-wheeling. Needless to say, we made it out there and back, but not without fear of falling out of the truck a few times. We never did, but it seems like we came close a lot!
The beach itself was incredible! There's nothing quite like it! I mean, how often would you see green sand? It has the potential for privacy because it is a cove, but yet it is very public because people want to see the green sand. Seriously, if you had the means, why not see it? But, it's kind of far away from everything that one can't spend too much time there because it's just not feasible. For that reason, we didn't stay too long after we got there. It was rather windy plus we didn't really bring any beach stuff with us. We're certainly happy we did it, though! To conclude, it's worth seeing, but if you decide to see it yourself, don't plan on spending a whole day there if you want to explore other things during the same day. Keep in mind, we are adventurous, but not THAT adventorous, so your mileage may vary. ;-)
I made this shot using my panorama technique. Well it isn't all mine, but it's what I do and the camera I had did not have a panorama function in it anyway. As a matter of fact, I don't like most cameras' way of doing panoramas. They all seem to do it in landscape orientation, whereas I like to do them in portrait. I think you get more in the shot that way. They only thing that I know of that does panos in portrait orientation is my iPhone!
Oh, and one thing about doing panos that I didn't mention is, if your camera has manual mode, use that. First take a good test shot of what you want in the center of your pano using Program or Aperture Priority, note the aperture and shutter settings and then switch to manual and put those settings in. Then flip to portrait orientation, take the shots ensuring you have at least 1/3 overlap between shots and then process those accordingly in either Photoshop or whatever you use to stitch the resulting images. That seems to work best for me.
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Lens - Nikkor 28-300mm f3.5 - 5.6 VR
Focal Length -28mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure -1/1000
Exposure program - Manual
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Lens - Nikkor 16-35mm f4 VR
Focal Length - 16mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 1.6 secs
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0EV
Tripod -Yes
HDR - Yes
# of brackets - 7, spaced 1 EV apart from -3 to +3
]]>
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - XF 18-55mm F2.8-4 OIS
Focal Length - 23mm
Aperture - F3.2
Exposure - 1/80
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 2500
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 14.5mm
Aperture - f4
Exposure - 1/80
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 2500
Exposure bias - 0EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mm F2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 26.5mm
Aperture - f3.2
Exposure - 1/75
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 6400
Exposure bias - 0EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Focal Length - 10mm
Aperture - f4.0
Exposure - 1/80
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
You see there are a couple of BIG hotel/casino things going up at that end of the strip and they are off-again on-again builds. So since those places are currently under construction (or not), they block portions of the other casinos and also put giant black area in the pictures. You can kind of see what I'm talking about in the center-right of this shot. That's the location of the "Resorts World" casino that's being built. It's just a big black void. And to the lower left of the shot, across from the Hilton in the foreground, there is another big monstrosity going up called "the Fontainebleau". I kept it out of the shot, but it made it hard to get decent landscape orientation shots of the strip because it blocked out everything to the left of the Encore. Bummer. Still a fantastic view from up there, though! Oh and lastly, you are not allowed to take tripods to the top of the Stratosphere, so this shot was hand-held and thus a tad noisy... Still gotta love all the lights, though...
If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon 50-230mm f4.7-6.5 OIS
Focal Length - 75mm
Aperture - f5.0
Exposure - 1/25
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 6400
Exposure bias -0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
I spotted a blue jay sitting on our fence and I grabbed a few snaps of it quickly. Those little guys don't stay in one place for too long so I had to act fast. The one bad thing here is that I shot him through some window blinds so the bokeh in the background looks rather funny. Otherwise I like the lens and the shot, for the most part.
Speaking of the shot, I cropped it down a bit, brightened the bird with Nik Viveza, added some lens vignetting with Nik Color Efex 4 and sharpened with Nik sharpener. If you haven't guessed already, I really like that Nik suite of tools. Oh and there was a big old branch with leaves above the bird that I removed with PS CC's content aware fill. That's a nice little thing to have as well!
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XC 50-230mm f4.5-6.7 OIS
Focal Length - 230mm
Aperture - f6.7
Exposure - 1/210
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
Also, while I was there, a woman with the last name of Hall (sorry can't remember her first name) who hails from Canada was there shooting a music video. So I guess this mural is fairly well known outside of the US as well!
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 23mm
Aperture - f18.0
Exposure - 1/80
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - +0.33
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
So, suffice it to say, I love this little thing! It's made taking photos more fun than before. I loved taking pictures with my Nikons, but I always kind of dreaded packing everything up and lugging it around most of the day because those DSLRs were so darn big and heavy. Granted, it wasn't like carrying around a 40 pound bag of salt all day, but after carrying a few pounds of camera and lens around your neck for a few hours, it can begin to hurt. Well, this little baby is so lightweight and comfortable, it's hardly noticeable. And, the functionality of this thing is truely awesome! Most of those functions have been written about in other reviews as I have said, so I am glad I took their recommendations and went with this camera. I do have a few specifics that I'd like to point out, both what I like and what I don't like, and they are:
Likes:
- Electronic View Finder:
-- You can have the histogram in the EVF as you are composing the shot so you can see if you are
getting the light captured correctly
-- You can overlay a horizon level in the EVF instead of worrying about a bubble level on your
tripod or on the camera as an accessory that fits in the hot shoe or something
- The LCD folds out so you can get the camera in some very low spots and not have to look through
the viewfinder while composing
- Love the manual dials on top.. easy to see settings right away
- The Q menu which allows you to get to some frequently used settings fast without digging through
the actual menu system
- Film simulations such as Velvia, Black and White with Yellow filter, etc. and once selected you
can see that simulation in the EVF or LCD display as you are composing the shot
- Small size, light-weight and comfortable to hold
- WIFI connectivity with smartphone or other device so you can transfer images to the web or
control the camera with phone or tablet
Dislikes:
- No place to input copyright info onto resulting image files
- Need glasses for EVF
- Only 3-shot auto-bracketing and 1 EV apart at that
After all is said and done, I am really glad I got this camera and can't wait to use it on some exciting trips we have planned! It's gonna be great!
Today's Photo: Downtown Austin from the Hyatt Hotel
Last Saturday morning, I just had to take the camera out for a spin. I started out on S. 1st St and then made my way to the Hyatt Hotel. I went there because I have seen other shots of Austin taken from that vantage point and it's someplace I always wanted to shoot from. This view is from one of the ballrooms on the 17th floor and luckily when I got there, the room was open. Some lady was decorating it for a batmitzvah. I got in, spent a few minutes shooting and then got out. Not sure if those rooms are always open, but I kind of doubt it. Now, if I could just get up there at dusk or later, that would be very awesome! Anyone out there have any connections?
As far as the image goes, this is really the first shot I have published from the new camera. This is a raw file that I edited in Photoshop. Photoshop's ACR now has the Fujifilm film simulations built-in so I converted it to Velvia, darkened the sky a bit with Nik Color Efex's Graduated Neutral Density and Polarization filters and then changed the color of the water from a nasty green to more of a blueish color using Nik's Viveza. I think had this shot been taken during a better part of the day, the Velvia simulation would probably be all I would need. But since it was in the middle of the day, I had to tweak it a bit. Oh and one last thing, I used to have to always rotate the image during post because I didn't have them quite level, but this one I did not have to rotate at all and it turned out perfectly level, all thanks to the built-in horizon level in the EVF. Just look at the buildings on the edge of the shot... Perfect! Love it!
Exif data:
Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - Fujinon XF18-55mm F2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 18mm
Aperture - f5.6
Exposure - 1/300
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
UPDATE 5-1-14: I just received a tweet from the Blanton Museum of Art with more info on this piece.. Here's the info from their site:
"Artist: Peter Rostovsky
Piece: Epiphany Model 5: Expedition♦
2004
21st century
132 cm x 182.8 cm (51 15/16 in. x 71 15/16 in.)
| Comments: | 
| The tiny mountaineers take in a breathtaking view that is, in fact, a flat, generalized representation of grandeur. Removed from the painted wilderness by the tangible space that we as viewers also occupy, these meticulously rendered sculptural figures are our scouts, our stand-ins. Rostovsky has countered the sublime meditations of nineteenth-century Romanticism with the artifice of Internet-derived photographs, model replicas, and a hyper-realistic attention to expedition details. He comments on our inability today to experience and comprehend the natural world without some form of mediation—and perhaps the inability of art, painting in particular, to any longer support utopian ideals." |
You can click here to see the piece as intended.
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Lens - Nikkor 16-35mm f4 VR
Focal Length - 32mm
Aperture - f6
Exposure - 1/20
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 1600
Exposure bias - 0EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
Here is a shot I took during our helicopter tour of Kauai last September. This was one of the first shots I took as we lifted off from the airport. Those green areas to the right of the mountains on the left side of the image is the location where portions of the movie Jurassic Park were filmed; mainly the scene where Sam Neill's character and the two kids were running with a herd of dinosaurs and the three jumped behind a big log to get out of the way. The area is known as Kipu Ranch. If you ever go, do the ATV tour with Kipu Ranch Adventures! It's a blast!
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Lens - Nikkor 16-35mm f4 VR
Focal Length - 24mm
Aperture - f8
Exposure - 1/640
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Lens - Nikkor 16-35mm f4 VR
Focal Length - 18mm
Aperture - f16
Exposure - 1/6
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - Yes
HDR - Yes
# of brackets - 7
]]>
Well, I have finally decided that I am no longer going to use Nikon gear for my photos anymore. Don't get me wrong, Nikon makes some fantastic stuff. I have really enjoyed the results I've gotten from everything I've used. However, they seem to really be slow in the mirrorless camera arena. I could say the same about Canon as well. Sony, Fujifilm, Olympus and a few others have surpassed "The Big Two" (Canon and Nikon) with their mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Cameras (ILC for short). The results these guys get are just as good as DSLRs, plus they weigh less, cost less in some respects and take up less room in the camera bag. And, the features that these cameras have will work for me more than some of the "Big Two's" offerings such as electronic viewfinders that can overlay a histogram over what you are previewing and you can see what the image will look like before you take it, etc. There are so many other reasons that I will not get into, suffice it to say I'm ready to make the move!
Why Fuji? Well there are several photographers I follow out there and all of them have been raving about the X-T1, Fujifilm's latest camera. Their reviews peaked my interest. Here, read for yourself:
David Nightingale of Chromasia
Gordan Laing from Camera Labs
Nick Devlin of Luminous Landscape
DPReview's Assessment
After reading those reviews I did some research myself. Most everything I could find on this unit was oh so positive! From the size, to the quality of the camera and the images it produces, to the features and dials, to the weather sealing, weight, lens offerings, etc., it seems to be the best mirrorless ILC out there, for now anyway. Some reviewers did have quarrels with a few of the buttons and some other things, but all cameras have a little something that won't satisfy everyone. Take HDR enthusiasts of which I am one... This camera will only bracket 3 shots at 1 EV apart. Well when I shoot for HDR I need at least 5 shots and preferably 7. This is a bummer, but it's a trade off I am willing to take. As a matter of fact, I don't seem to do as much HDR as I did before because technology in photo-processing software as well as digital camera sensors are getting to the point where bracketing isn't as necessary as it was. The other big drawback is that my D700 is full frame whereas this Fujifilm X-T1 is a cropped APS-C sensor camera. This is something I can live with because it has 4M more pixels than my full framer and the resulting quailty is just as good, if not better.
After taking it all in, that's where I have decided to go. Hello Fujifilm! Nice to meet you!
Photo: Water Crashing on Rocks Below
I'm hoping I might get a couple more wildflower shots before the season runs out, but until then, here's another photo from Shipwreck Beach on Kauai. This is from the other side of the little peninsula that sort of juts out on the east side of the beach. You can really get a nice view of the sunrise in the morning with the waves crashing on the rocks about 20-30 feet below.
Click on the image to see a better version.
Exif data:
Camera -Nikon D700
Lens -Nikkor 16-35mm f4.0 VR
Focal Length -16mm
Aperture -f8
Exposure -1/50
Exposure program -Aperture priority AE
ISO speed -640
Exposure bias -0 EV
Tripod -yes
HDR -yes
# of brackets -5, spaced 1 EV apart
]]>
So, to commemorate their induction, I thought I'd post a few shots of the show we went to back in 2009. I used my little Lumix point and shoot for these and the quality isn't the best, but I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out anyway. They turned out a lot better than the shots I took with my little Kodak Instamatic film camera that I sneaked into the old 1979 show for sure! Of course it would've been much better to be in the first row with a full-frame DSLR and really fast glass, but since we sat pretty far in the back, I'm pretty happy with what this little camera did.
One other thing I'd like to add is that times sure have changed. I remember cameras used to be banned at all concerts. Bands had exclusive photographers and press people that shot their concerts so they really did not like people using their own equipment to get pictures. These days with the proliferation of good quality compact digital cameras and phones, bands are now thinking, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." They don't seem to mind at all and the venues for the most part are OK with it. As long as you don't have a camera system that is so big it interferes with others' enjoyment of the show. That's awesome! So, on to the pics!
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Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Lens - Nikkor 28 - 300mm f3.5 - 5.6
Focal Length - 135mm
Aperture - f5.6
Exposure - 1/125
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
To celebrate baseball starting, I thought I'd post a shot I took from a Rangers game we went to last year. This one is a little significant to me because I like the Rangers, but I'm a die-hard Detroit Tigers fan. I grew up watching them and they are the team I follow. So, this shot shows a poster of Ian Kinsler in the rafters of The Ballpark at Arlington where the Rangers play. Well, Ian Kinsler got traded to the Tigers in the off-season for Prince Fielder. Plus, down in the bottom right side of the shot, there's a poster of Kenny Rogers who played for the Rangers but finished his career in Detroit. I guess you could say that the Rangers are the Tigers farm club! Haha of course!
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Lens - Nikkor 28 - 300mm f3.5 - 5.6
Aperture - f4.8
Exposure - 1/80
Exposure program - Aperture priority AE
ISO speed - 1600
Exposure bias - 0 EV
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA
]]>
This is a 7-bracket HDR processed via Photmatix with the "Natural" setting and post-processed in Adobe Photoshop CC with the Nik Software Plugin suite.
]]>
After that disappointment, I decided to drive to the spot where I got my best bluebonnet shot from a few years ago. When I got there, no bluebonnets at all, just a field of weeds. But right next to it was this corral with these horses. So, I shot them and here we are!
They were very friendly horses, they even walked over and let me pet their noses. Maybe they thought I had some food or something, but I like to think it was my charming demeanor that brought them over. :-) OK, they were looking for food... There were actually two sets of horse moms with their colts, but these two were the more photogenic I think...
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Lens - Nikkor 28 - 300mm f3.5 - 5.6
Focal length - 210mm
Aperture - f5.6
Exposure - 1/160
Exposure Program - Aperture priority AE
ISO - 200
Flash - No Flash
]]>
Again, this is another shot of the west side of the memorial. Is a good area to shoot in the late afternoon and early evening as you can see that you can get good shots when the sun starts setting. The only problem with the west side is that there's an ugly building just behind the "monolith" and to the right. So, I took a little Photoshop liberty and cloned the tree on the left and put it on the right to get rid of that building. I think it looks better this way...
Click on the photo itself to get a better look at it. For some reason, sometimes when I load it up on the blog, Blogger kind of screws it up...
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Lens Model - Nikkor 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0
Aperture - f/16.0
Exposure - 1/40
Exposure Program - Aperture-priority AE
ISO Speed - 200
Exposure Bias - +2 EV
Flash - No Flash
]]>
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Here's a little about the how a cog train works from their website:
"Conventional railroads use the friction of wheels upon the rails, called "adhesion", to provide locomotive power. A cog, or rack, railroad uses a gear, "cog wheel", meshing into a special rack rail (mounted in the middle between the outer rails) to climb much steeper grades than those possible with a standard adhesion railroad. An adhesion railroad can only climb grades of 4 to 6%, with very short sections of up to 9%. A "rack" railroad can climb grades of up to 48%, depending upon the type of rack system employed. Some Swiss trains use a combination of "rack" and "adhesion". This enables the trains to reach much higher speeds on the adhesion sections (rack railroads can not go much faster than 15 miles per hour or they run the risk of dislodgement from the rack rail- M & PP Ry.'s top speed is about 9 MPH)."
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D300S
Lens Model - Sigma 10.0-20.0 mm f/4.0-5.6
Exposure Program - Aperture-priority AE
Aperture - f/11.0
Focal Length - 13 mm
ISO Speed - 200
Flash - No Flash
]]>
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Lens Model - Nikkor 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
Exposure Program - Aperture-priority AE
Exposure - 0.033 sec (1/30)
Aperture - f/5.3
Focal Length - 90 mm
ISO Speed - 1600
Exposure Bias - +1 EV
Flash - No Flash
]]>
After looking at what I have captured, I have concluded that I need a remedial street photography class. Most everything I captured was crap and what I have posted here is no exception, but they are the best of the lot. It was still fun to do though! Man, there were a lot of people down there for a Tuesday night!
Wish I would've read the following before going out: 14 Secrets of Successful Street Photography by Paul Bence. Might've helped...
Lastly, click on each photo for a better view...
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This shot is a single raw that I adjusted in Photoshop CC's camera raw filter with a little bit of Nik Color Efex 4's tonal contrast, pro contrast and darken lighten center filters thrown in for good measure. It's not an HDR. I'm trying to ween myself off of HDR unless really necessary. Not everything can be HDR! :-)
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Lens Model - Nikkor 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0
Exposure Program - Aperture-priority AE
Exposure - 0.04 sec (1/25)
Aperture - f/6.3
Focal Length - 16 mm
ISO Speed - 1600
Exposure Bias - +1 EV
Flash - No Flash
]]>
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Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Lens Model - Nikkor 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
Exposure Program - Aperture-priority AE
Exposure - 2
Aperture - f/8.0
Focal Length - 28 mm
ISO Speed - 200
Exposure Bias +1 EV
Flash - No Flash
]]>
"Katherine Louise (Kathy) Cregan, 60, was a widow devoted to her three sons, William, Regis and Christopher, her two grandsons, Sean and Jonathan, and her three granddaughters, Rachel, Kari and Michelle. She was fond of telling friends how much she loved to spoil them. Her two dogs, Yorkshire terriers Max and Jason, also received a great deal of her attention. Cregan, 60, was born Nov. 15, 1934, in West Memphis, Ark. She was a longtime resident of Oklahoma City and a graduate of Classen High School. She worked as a claims representative for the Social Security Administration for 13 years. "
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Lens Model - Nikkor 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
Exposure Program - Aperture-priority AE
Metering Mode - Multi-segment
Exposure - 0.4
Aperture - f/8.0
Focal Length - 28 mm
ISO Speed - 200
Flash - No Flash
]]>
This shot as well as my previous is a 7-shot HDR merged with details enhancer in Photomatix 4 and post-processed in PSCC with the Nik bundle. Yes, it's an HDR, but I tried to make it look more "photographic" instead of "painterly" like a lot of HDRs can look.
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Lens Model - Nikkor 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0
Exposure Program - Aperture-priority AE
Metering Mode - Multi-segment
Exposure - 0.05 sec (1/20)
Aperture - f/16.0
Focal Length - 18 mm
ISO Speed - 200
Flash - No Flash
]]>
It's quite a site to see and if you ever visit OKC, take some time to see the memorial. You'll be glad you did!
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Lens Model - Nikkor 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
Exposure Program - Aperture-priority AE
Metering Mode - Multi-segment
Exposure - 1
Aperture - f/8.0
Focal Length - 40 mm
ISO Speed - 200
Flash - No Flash
]]>
Our seats weren't the best, however. We were way up near the top in one of the corners of the arena. But with a good pair of binoculars, we could see quite a bit! Plus, I had my little Sony point and shoot camera with a 16x zoom lens which allowed me to get the shot of Kevin Durant going in for a layup you see here. Unfortunately, Chesapeake Arena has a policy forbidding "professional" type cameras like DSLRs and the like. And, it appeared they enforced that rule because I didn't see anyone with and "fancy" camera such as a DSLR. One always has to be careful about that.
Exif data:
Camera - Sony DSC-HX9V
Exposure Program - Action (High speed)
Metering Mode - Multi-segment
Exposure - 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture - f/5.9
Focal Length - 68.5 mm
ISO Speed - 800
Exposure Bias - 0 EV
Flash - Off, Did not fire
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With the graduated neutral density filter and the detail enhancer on Color Efex 4 as well as the structure slider in Viveza 2, I was really able grab some detail of the clouds and make it a bit more interesting. Therefore, I thought I'd put it out next and screw up the numbering of the published photos. Oh well...
What do you think?
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Lens Model - Nikkor 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0
Exposure Program - Aperture-priority AE
Metering Mode - Multi-segment
Exposure - 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture - f/16.0
Focal Length - 22 mm
ISO Speed - 400
Exposure Bias - 0 EV
Flash - No Flash
]]>
(As always, click on the picture to see a larger version.)
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Lens Model - Nikkor 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
Exposure Program - Aperture-priority AE
Metering Mode - Multi-segment
Aperture - f/5.6
Exposure - 0.001 sec (1/800)
Focal Length - 122 mm
ISO Speed - 400
Exposure Bias - 0 EV
Flash - No Flash
View Larger Map]]>
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Lens Model - Nikkor 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0
Exposure - 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture - f/16.0
Focal Length - 16 mm
ISO Speed - 400
Metering Mode - Multi-segment
Exposure Bias - 0 EV
Exposure Program - Aperture-priority AE
Flash - No Flash
View Larger Map]]>
The original had the moon quite small in it so I really cropped it down and this is the final result. That and some adjustments in ACR and Nik's Viveza to bring out some of the detail did the trick! Probably not the greatest shot of the moon ever, but I like the result and it was fun shooting it! Wouldn't it be nice to have a 600 or 800mm lens to shoot it with?
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Lens Model - Nikkor 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
Exposure - 0.003 sec (1/400)
Aperture - f/11.0
Focal Length - 300 mm
ISO Speed - 400
Metering Mode - Center-weighted average
Exposure Bias - -4 EV
Exposure Program - Aperture-priority AE
Flash - No Flash
View Larger Map]]>
Speaking of getting hot, we haven't been real hot for a long time down here. Just like much of the rest of the country, it has been unusually cold this time of year. Yes, it's supposed to be cold, but not like this. I mean, we've had two ice storms already and possibly a third tonight or Thurs night. Hard to believe! We usually only get one every 3 - 5 years or so. Crazy! So, I am looking forward to warmer weather, like when it's 75 - 85 degrees F, not the 105 - 110 degrees that we seem to get down in here during summer. So, where can one get a constant 75 - 85 degrees all year round..?
That's where this picture comes in... I took this last year during our helicopter tour of Kauai. This formation is known as "The Cathedrals" and is located on the Napali Coast of Kauai.
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Exposure - 0.003 sec (1/400)
Aperture - f/8.0
Focal Length - 16 mm
ISO Speed - 200
Exposure Bias - 0 EV
Flash - No Flash
Exposure Program - Aperture-priority AE
Lens Model - Nikkor 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0
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The shots here are not on the level of say Scott Kelby's football photos, but they aren't too bad taken from the stands with much crappier cameras than Kelby's.. :-) That is a dream of mine, by the way, to shoot a pro game from the sidelines... Wouldn't that be awesome? But, I digress..
Anyway, I hope the Super Bowl is a great game and I hope the Broncos win for Peyton Manning's sake! Go Broncos!
Also, I gave these shots a unique look using the "Classic Camera 7" preset in Nik Analog Efex. Fun stuff!
Enjoy the photos and thanks for dropping by!
Above: Broncos defensive back Champ Bailey making tackle
Above: Seattle Seahawks Head Coach Pete Carroll greeting troops during pregame warm-ups
Above: Broncos wide receiver Eric Decker on his way to a touchdown
Above: Seahawks receiver Jermaine Kearse during pregame warm-ups
Above: Peyton Manning, Lance Ball and Eric Decker after Ball scored touchdown
Above: Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson
Above: Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning set for the snap of the ball
Above: Russell Wilson ready for snap of ball
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Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Exposure - 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture - f/16.0
Focal Length - 35 mm
ISO Speed - 200
Exposure Bias - 0 EV
Flash - No Flash
Exposure Program - Aperture-priority AE
Lens Model - Nikkor 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0
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So that brings us to the picture. I took this when Eileen and I went to Atlanta last November. We went to see the Seahawks play the Atlanta Falcons at the Georgia Dome. Needless to say the Seahawks killed the Falcons! But, since the Seahawks are in the playoffs, I thought I should put a picture out from that game. One thing about that game ticked me off though.. You see the Georgia Dome has a camera policy that states:
- For most events Small personal cameras are allowed.
- Professional cameras and cameras with interchangeable lens are prohibited
Anyway, the picture here shows the Seattle Seahawks on offense in green and white against the Falcons who are in red. Most of the shots I got are like this one when there wasn't a lot of action going on since the little camera takes a while to focus. I think this was probably the best of the bunch.
Well, enjoy the weekend, enjoy the football and thanks for dropping by!
Exif data :
Camera - Sony DSC-HX9V
Exposure - 0.01 sec (1/100)
Aperture - f/5.9
Focal Length - 68.5 mm
ISO Speed - 800
Exposure Bias - 0 EV
Flash - Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program - Program AE
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So here are my top 10 favorites (OK, really a dozen, but who's counting?) from 2013! Enjoy!
For more info on each picture, click on the image and you will get redirected to that photo's original blog post.
Above: Grand Tetons, Jackson Hole, WY.
Above: I-35 Upper Deck Panorama in Morning, Austin, TX.
Above: Doc's Bar and Grill, Austin, TX.
Above: Centennial Park Fountains, Atlanta, GA.
Above: Sunrise in Kapoho, HI., the "big island" of Hawaii.
Above: Mesquite Trees, New Braunfels, TX.
Above: The Napali Coast, Kauai, Hawaii. (This shot was also selected by Popular Photography as it's online Photo of the Day for October 10th, 2013.)
Above: Rangers Ballpark at Arlington, Arlington, TX.
Above: Austin Skyline Reflection, Austin, TX.
Above: Grand Tetons Above the Snake River, Jackson Hole, WY.
Above: Misty Texas Capitol, Austin, TX.
Above: Sea Turtles, Punalu'u County Beach Park, Hawaii.
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Merry Christmas everyone! We here at Evan's Expo wish you a very wonderful holiday season and hope you have an even better new year! With that, we are offering 30% off of everything in our gallery. Just go to http://egearingphoto.zenfolio.com, pick out anything you like there and use coupon code XMAS13. It's good thru the end of the year! And, if there's something on my blog here or on my flickr site that you cannot find in my gallery that you wish to purchase, please email me and I will be sure to make it available!
Round Rock Tower #2
Here's another shot of the Round Rock Water Tower that I took the other morning. It's quite similar to the first one I posted, but it does have a couple of differences. The first most obvious one is that I went back to my old watermark. I love the new one that I've been trying, but it takes a lot of time to get right. I think I will eventually use that style permanently, but I still need a lot more practice. So, in a pinch, I'll use my old one like I did here. The other difference is that this is not an HDR, but a single shot that I processed very little in Photoshop CC's ACR. The more that ACR can do, the more I'm thinking HDR may become obsolete except for the shots where there are extreme contrasts.
Well, that's all for now... Except for one more thing, as Columbo would say. I know I mentioned I would post a couple more shots from the Driskill Hotel, but I've really been struggling to get those processed properly. So, until I can get them the way I want them, they will have to wait. Sorry about that.
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Exposure - 6
Aperture - f/14.0
Focal Length - 20 mm
ISO Speed - 200
Exposure Bias - 0 EV
Flash - No Flash
Exposure Program - Aperture-priority AE
Lens Model - Nikkor 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0
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Above: View in Nik's Analog Efex
Above: Original Black and White
Above: Result from Nik's Analog Efex
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Exposure - 0.013 sec (1/80)
Aperture - f/16.0
Focal Length - 16 mm
ISO Speed - 200
Exposure Bias - 0 EV
Flash - No Flash
Exposure Program - Aperture-priority AE
Lens - Nikkor 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0
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This is another 9-shot HDR processed via Photomatix using the fusion method. Then I brought out the Texaco sign using Nik's Viveza 2 with control points on the white portion at the top to make it stand out as well as with the red and green. Then I sharpened the thing up with Nik Sharpener. One other thing - because some of you guys might notice - there is a little lens flare in the middle of the shot. Sometimes I like those little imperfections and I decided to leave them in. I guess it could be considered a mistake, but that's ok.
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Exposure - 1.6
Aperture - f/6.3
Focal Length - 17 mm
ISO Speed - 200
Flash - No Flash
Exposure Program - Aperture-priority AE
Lens Model - Nikkor 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0
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I bracketed 9 shots instead of my standard 7 just to make sure I reduced the amount of noise in the final image as much as possible. Then I took several shots at a f13 I think it was so as to get a long exposure when cars drove by. Then I blended the tonemapped HDR with the long exposure and here's basically what I got in return. Then a few tweaks in Photoshop and wa-la! What do you think?
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Exposure - 6
Aperture - f/5.6
Focal Length - 24 mm
ISO Speed - 200
Flash - No Flash
Exposure Program - Aperture-priority AE
Lens Model - Nikkor16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0
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I changed this one up a little from my normal routine. It is a 7-bracket HDR, but I processed it mostly with Nik's new Analog Efex and I added a white vignette instead of a dark one. I also had a little fun with the water mark. It isn't perfect, but I think I might try to start getting a little more creative with those. You never know, it might help boost some other skill.
I hope you enjoy the shot and thanks for dropping by!
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D300S
Exposure - 2
Aperture - f/11.0
Focal Length - 10 mm
ISO Speed - 640
Flash - No Flash
Exposure Mode - Auto
Lens Model - Sigma 10.0-20.0 mm f/4.0-5.6
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Speaking of liberty, I could get all political here and I really want to, but instead I will just say liberty does not seem to be the same anymore and that's not a good thing.
I took this shot the other day as I was leaving the capitol grounds. You see, I went out there on my lunch hour with hopes of playing and practicing with a new 10-stop neutral density filter. I figured some nice cloud streaks over the capitol would be a good place to start. There were some wisps of clouds in the sky when I drove to the capitol, but by the time I got there they were pretty much gone. So, not one to miss an opportunity to shoot anything, I took a few snaps of the grounds and this was one of the more unique shots I got. I guess I'll have to try the ND filter another day.
This is a single shot raw file that I processed in ACR and Photoshop CC's black and white filter. Then I just removed noise with Nik Dfine and sharpened with Nik Sharpener 2.
SO... Originally, I was just going to post the black and white shot directly below. But, after letting it "cook" for a while, it just came off as being a little blah. I loaded this shot into flickr at the same time I drafted up this post, so instead of processing it some more in Photoshop, I decided to see what flickr's Aviary editor could do. I put this through their effect called "Avenue" and I kind of liked the aftermath. That's the second shot below. What do you think? It certainly added a little interest in my eyes as well as a little pop. Maybe it is too much? The goddess herself might be a little blown out, but I still kind of like it...
Above: Original black and white
Above: Edited in Flickr's Aviary.
Exif data:
Camera Nikon D700
Exposure 0.001 sec (1/1000)
Aperture f/5.6
Focal Length 300 mm
ISO Speed 200
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash No Flash
Exposure Program - Aperture-priority AE
Lens Model - Nikkor 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
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I have uploaded some of the shots I took during our recent trip to Hawaii in my gallery for purchase. You can buy rights for the file itself or you can buy a print of anything you like there. Or, you can just browse the non-watermarked versions of those shots. Click here to see!
SkyView Atlanta and Westin
We're going back to Atlanta in this post and yet another view of the new ferris wheel called "SkyView Atlanta". It's just across the street from Centennial Park and looks like a fun ride. The cylindrical building on the left is the Westin Peachtree Plaza in the heart of downtown. Looks like a nice place to stay, but not nice enough to pay for.. ;-) We stayed at the Hampton Inn right next door to the Westin and it was much cheaper and very nice.
This is a seven-shot HDR fused in Photomatix. The ferris wheel didn't turn out quite right so I masked in one of the brackets and then tweaked the rest out using ACR and Nik Color Efex.
Hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by! Oh, and I'll probably post a couple more Driskill Christmas shots in the coming days, so keep an eye out for those if you are interested.
Exif data:
Camera Nikon D700
Exposure 1.3
Aperture f/16.0
Focal Length 21 mm
ISO Speed 200
Flash No Flash
Exposure Program - Aperture-priority AE
Lens Model - Nikkor16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0
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Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D300S
Exposure - 4
Aperture - f/11.0
Focal Length - 10 mm
ISO Speed - 640
Flash - No Flash
Exposure Program - Aperture priority-AE
Lens Model - Sigma 10.0-20.0 mm f/4.0-5.6
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Well, back when I was a kid, I loved Farrah Fawcett! Yes, I had the iconic red bathing suit poster hanging in my room! (It's still for sale on Amazon! Unbelievable!) Therefore, when I saw this portrait in the museum, I just had to take a snap.
I heard the news of the suit last night and I thought it made for a good opportunity to post the shot. It's hanging in the same room as Luis Jimenez' "Progress II" sculpture at the Blanton. Check it out if you go because if O'Neal wins, it probably won't be there long!
I just did minor adjustments of the original raw file in Adobe Camera Raw, add some vignette with Nik Color Efex, removed noise with Nik Dfine and sharpened with Nik Sharpener.
The following is from the information card in the bottom right of the photo that describes the work:
"Andy Warhol
Pittsburgh, 1928 - New York City, 1987
Farrah Fawcett, 1980
Synthetic polymer paint and silkscreen on canvas
Bequest of Farrah Fawcett, 2010
Beginning in the late 1960s, Andy Warhol painted commissioned portraits of notable figures. These included celebrities, members of the art world, and socialites. By 1980, Warhol had achieved the same celebrity as many of the famous faces he depicted; commissioned portraits by the artist were in high demand, Warhol based this painting of Farrah Fawcett on one of dozens of Polaroid photographs he took of her. He enlarged and screenprinted the actress's face over flat areas of red and green that emphasize her mouth and eyes, then added a white highlight to her lip. The portrait not only captures Fawcett's renowned allure, but also shows a more serious, pensive side of the actress than was typically on view."
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Exposure - 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture - f/8.0
Focal Length - 26 mm
ISO Speed - 3200
Exposure Bias - 0 EV
Flash - No Flash
Exposure Program - Aperture-priority AE
Lens Model - Nikkor 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0
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The photo below is a shot I took when Eileen and I traveled to Plymouth, MA a couple of years ago and visited the Plimouth Plantation. The Plimouth Plantation is a recreation of what the settlement looked like when the Pilgrims arrived back in the 1600s. They have a mockup of the Pilgrims village along with a mock up of a Wampanoag village. The Wampanoag is the tribe of American Indians that lived in the area when the Pilgrims arrived. What you see here is what a typical Wampanoag home looked like. If you ever get to Plymouth, MA, visit the Plimouth Plantation. I think you'll enjoy it!
The shot is something I decided to have a little fun with.. It's an HDR that I put through Nik's new Analog Efex filter using one of the old camera presets, and then I ran it through Nik Silver Efex2. So that's why it has this old gritty look to it with all of the stains and stuff on it. I thought this house is from a long time ago so why not make the photo look like it came from a long time ago! I hope you like it and thanks for dropping by!
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D300S
Exposure - 0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture - f/11.0
Focal Length - 10 mm
ISO Speed - 400
Flash - No Flash
Exposure Program - Aperture-priority AE
Lens Model - Sigma 10.0-20.0 mm f/4.0-5.6
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This is a single shot, non-HDR. I tried HDR for this, but it didn't work out too well. What do you think? Oh and that bright white dot just above the ferris wheel is the moon. I probably should take it out, but I like it there...
Here's some more info from the SkyView Atlanta website:
"Located at the South end of Centennial Park in downtown Atlanta, the SkyView Ferris wheel is set up to thrill families from all over the Atlanta Metro area. The wheel is almost 20 stories high with 42 gondolas that will be able to hold up to 6 people. With a view like this, everyone will be wanting a ride. And if you want to ride in style, check out our VIP gondola that gives you all the perks including the wonderful view. Surrounded by many other local favorite attractions of this downtown Centennial Park area, you'll never find yourself looking for something to do. SkyView. You can see Atlanta from here."
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Exposure - 4 seconds
Aperture - f/22.0
Focal Length - 19 mm
ISO Speed - 200
Exposure Bias - 0 EV
Flash - No Flash
Exposure Program - Aperture-priority AE
Lens Model - Nikkor 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0
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We also went to visit a good childhood friend of mine, John. He and I lived just down the street from one another when we were kids. We pretty much hung out all the time but went our separate ways after high school. We visited him and his wife Nicole and their son Alexander! It was great to see them and we had a great time catching up! Thanks again for everything, guys! Hopefully we'll get together again sometime soon!
So, that's where this picture comes in... We stayed at the Hampton Inn in the downtown area which was right across from Centennial Park. This is that park that was built for the Summer Olympics back in 1996. Hence, that's what these fountain rings are you see here. In the summer, kids will play and cool off in these things. I'll bet that's a fun thing to do as a kid. I like how the fountains were lit up here, but I'm a little disappointed that the red ring on the left's fountains weren't at full pressure. Maybe I caught them at a bad time since they are supposed to do a little "dance" or something, but even when they were doing their "dance", they never got above the height that you see here.
As far as the shot goes, this is a single shot, 13 second exposure that I took with a tripod standing atop a brick wall just above the fountains. I just kicked the aperture down to f22 in aperture priority mode and let the camera do the rest. I then did a bit of post-processing in Adobe Camera Raw and added a vignette with Nik's Color Efex 4 via Photoshop CC. Finally I cropped it down to a 16x9 ratio since there wasn't too much foreground interest in the original shot.
I hope you like the shot and thanks for dropping by! (As always, click on the picture if you want to see a larger view.)
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Exposure - 13
Aperture - f/22.0
Focal Length - 18 mm
ISO Speed - 200
Exposure Bias - 0 EV
Flash - No Flash
Exposure Program - Aperture-priority AE
Lens Model - Nikkor 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0
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Luckily, no, it isn't hell. It's actually the entrance to the Thurston Lava Tube in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on the big island. The following is from gohawaii.com's website as linked previously:
"Lava caves like this are formed when a river of lava gradually builds solid walls and a ceiling. When the lava flow stops and the last of it passes downhill, a cave is formed. These caves can be a few feet high and only yards long, or they can stretch for miles with high ceilings. The Thurston Lava Tube is a fantastic example of a massive lava cave. Lit by electric lights, with a flat rock floor and a ceiling high enough in the center to keep you from scraping your head, this is a great introduction to lava tube geology."
This photo is a 7-shot HDR bracketed at 1 stop intervals from -3 to +3 EVs. I processed them via Adobe Camera Raw, saved each bracket as a tif, merged them in Photomatix 4 using the natural setting and then tweaked it out in Photoshop CS6 with Nik Color Efex 4's tonal contrast, glamour glow and graduated filters.
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by! As always, click on the image for a larger view.
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Exposure - 0.3
Aperture - f/9.0
Focal Length - 16 mm
ISO Speed - 800
Flash - No Flash
Exposure Program - Aperture-priority AE
Lens Model - Nikkor16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0
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It was fun indeed, but a lot of the shots I got were worthless. I did get a few OK ones, but I think I need to practice a bit more. Too bad there aren't nice warm and clear tide-pools here in Central Texas! :-) Anyway, I did snorkel twice.. Well, really three times, but one time I can't really count because the water was too rough and I got all of my gear knocked off at one point. That's a funny story in itself and I might talk about it one day. Until then, I thought I'd post a few of the decent shots I got as well as a few things I learned while shooting with it...
1. Even though the camera is in a housing and you have a mask on, it's still pretty hard to see the view screen on the camera. It's OK, but not as good as when you are on dry land taking a snap. You have to use your judgement a little more when composing and hope you get the shot. If you can adjust the brightness, do so, but be aware that will also drain your battery faster.
2. Fish don't normally sit and pose for a shot. Imagine that? Silly fish.. So, you have to have a little luck and rely on your instinct as to where the fish might go and when. Have your camera ready to go when you are close to the composure you want so you don't miss the shot.
3. Turn off your camera when you know you won't be using it in the water. Leaving it on all the time underwater is very tempting, but it can drain your battery before you know it. Nothing more of a PITA than to have to get out of the water, take your camera out of it's housing, exchange batteries, then put it all back together while hoping you don't get one grain of sand in the housing's seal and possibly ruining your camera.
4. It seems to take a bit longer for the camera to focus when underwater versus on land so you'll need to compensate for that. If you can set a manual focus for aperture f4 say, you might have better luck. Plus, with the camera in the housing, Canon's housing anyway, it's very difficult to press the shutter halfway to get the camera to focus. You kind of have to play with that a bit because it doesn't have that same feel.
5. Snorkel in the midday sun. This way it will be as bright as possible underwater and your camera will hopefully be able to focus faster and have shorter exposure times.
6. Lastly, if you want really professional-quality underwater shots, prepare to use at least a camera with an APS-C size or above sensor and then get an underwater housing for it along with a good fisheye lens and some strobes. Also get ready to pay thousands of dollars for a rig like that. In other words, don't use what I did. As you can see, the shots below are nice, but they are lacking detail and sharpness. I really enjoyed taking them and I enjoy looking at them, but after that, they aren't good for much. All of that being said, I still had lots of fun and would like to try it some more. Maybe with some practice these shots will get better. It would be interesting to see what Nikon's new 1 AW1 camera can do as well. It's not APS-C size, but looks like it might be good...
About the shots...
Below: This is a school of convict tang fish that I took near the Beach House Restaurant in Poipu, Kauai.
Below: Here is the unofficial fish of the state of Hawaii. It's called a Humuhumunukunukuapua'a or reef triggerfish for short. The long Hawaiian name means "triggerfish with a snout like a pig." It's not a great shot, but I just had to prove that I actually saw one, especially since I have a t-shirt with this fish on it! I took this one near the Beach House Restaurant in Poipu, Kauai.
Below: This is a moorish idol fish that I took in the tide-pools near our rental on the big island.
Below: This is an orange-spine unicornfish that I took in the tide-pools near our rental on the big island.
Below: This is a raccoon butterflyfish that I took near the Beach House Restaurant in Poipu, Kauai.
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When we got there we walked around a bit and just took in the sites. The sand felt just the same when walking on it as sand on a regular beach. However, it's just such a different landscape (ocean-scape? beach-scape?) and so exotic that it was fun yet weird to look at. But, I liked it! Of course the palms and the ocean were just beautiful as well!
There was also a gentleman fishing with a net and he caught a few fish in his bucket. I asked him what they were, but at this point I really don't remember. I do remember seeing some small silver and black striped fish, but that could be almost anything.
We also went to the standard tourist T-shirt stand and we met a very nice guy named "Guy". He was awesome! We had heard that turtles would come up on the beach during the day so we asked him when that might happen and he walked with us right out to the water and pointed some out to us. The turtles were still feeding in the water, but he said they would come up later in the day. He also told us a little bit about his family and stuff. Turns out he and his family are big volleyball players and have been all over the world competing. And, the t-shirt stand at the beach has been in his family for two or three generations, if I remember correctly. What a wonderful life he has! Very nice and interesting guy (pun intended..). So of course we bought some t-shirts from him and said we'd come back to check out the turtles, which we did.
So, here are some of the shots from the beach below. I didn't get any spectacular shots I don't think, so I thought I would post a multitude of what I got there and just enjoy the memories. I hope you enjoy the shots, too and thanks for dropping by! (As always, click on the picture to see a larger version.)
BELOW: View looking west with a life guard shack on the right and pavilion in the distance.
BELOW: View looking east with Guy's T-shirt stand on the left.
BELOW: Guy with Eileen as we discuss turtles and life.
BELOW: A couple of sea turtles resting that we saw on our return trip to the beach later that same day.
BELOW: Another sea turtle with the warning sign not to get too close to these guys. The shot above was taken with my zoom so I really wasn't within 15 feet of them when I took it. More like 25 - 30 at least.
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So, this is a single shot processed in Adobe Camera Raw and then given varying degrees of Nik Color Efex 4's tonal contrast filter throughout. Then a little noise reduction in the sky and a little sharpening and here you go!
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Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Exposure - 0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture - f/7.1
Focal Length - 28 mm
ISO Speed - 200
Exposure Bias - 0 EV
Flash - No Flash
Exposure Program - Program AE
Lens Model - Nikkor 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
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As far as processing this shot goes, I tried something different... Instead of doing an HDR with 5 different shots at exposures 1 stop apart, I took two shots that were two stops apart, layered them in Photoshop and created a gradient mask to bring out the highlights in the foreground and the dramatic sky in the background. I kind of like the way it turned out versus the HDR results I sometimes get from Photomatix. Speaking of which, there's a shot from the Big Island that I took that I'm struggling with and if I figure out a good way to process it, I'll post and let you know what I did. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this shot and thanks for dropping by!
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Exposure - 0.6 Aperture f/8.0
Focal Length - 16 mm
ISO Speed - 1600
Exposure Bias - -1 EV
Flash - No Flash
Exposure Program - Aperture-priority AE
Lens Model - Nikkor 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0
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This is another single non-hdr shot and I just added some vibrance and saturation in ACR as well as the darken lighten filter from Nik Color Efex 4.
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Exposure - 0.013 sec (1/80)
Aperture - f/8.0
Focal Length - 200 mm
ISO Speed - 400
Exposure Bias - 0 EV
Flash - No Flash
Exposure Program - Aperture-priority AE
Lens Model - Nikkor 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
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In this shot we are just getting to Waimea Canyon on the island of Kauai. Waimea Canyon is so big that it is considered "the Grand Canyon of Hawaii". I've never been to the actual Grand Canyon so I have no frame of reference, but this one here was pretty big. I really like this shot because you can see the canyon quite well through the windshield and you can really see the gauges on the instrument cluster very clearly. However, there are some white speckles on the windshield but those aren't flaws in the shot, they are actually water spots as we just came through a little bit of rain at this point. As you can see, we are flying at about 3700 feet, flying at about 87 knots (100 mph), and have over half our fuel left. Pretty cool, huh? Love this stuff!
As far as the picture goes, it's just one shot that I adjusted a bit in Adobe Camera Raw. I kept the white balance as set from the camera, but I let ACR adjust the exposure and then in post I added some tonal contrast to bring out the colors of the canyon and added graduated neutral density filter to darken the sky a little. Both filters were from Nik Color Efex 4. Then I reduced the noise in the shot with Nik's Dfine and sharpened with Nik's Sharpener 2. I don't care what anyone says, I just love that whole Nik suite!
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Exposure - 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture - f/16.0
Focal Length - 16 mm
ISO Speed - 200
Exposure Bias - 0 EV
Flash - No Flash
Lens Model - Nikkor 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0
Exposure Program - Aperture-priority AE
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Anyway, both of us sat up front with the pilot. The pilot was on the left, Eileen in the middle and I on the right. I was so close to the opening of the chopper that when we flew through the rain, my arm would get wet and then immediately dry as soon as we flew out of it. It was great because there were no windows to glare into the photo. The photo here is what our pilot, Ben Silver called the "postcard shot". I hope it's worthy of a postcard but you know you really don't have much time to shoot as you are flying through the air. Especially since there are others on the flight that want to shoot the same thing from the other side of the aircraft.
So, Kauai is probably the oldest island in the Hawaiian chain. It was formed by an old extinct volcano, Waimea I think, and subsequently formed all of these great canyons and nooks and crannies in the countryside due to all of the rain that falls there. Kauai has the wettest climate on the planet where portions at the highest elevations can get anywhere from 450 - 700 inches of rain per year! All of that water can do lots of things to mountains and that's why you see all of these beautiful formations here.
If you ever get a chance to visit, do the helicopter and you won't be sorry!
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Exposure - 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture - f/8.0
Focal Length - 35 mm
ISO Speed - 200
Exposure Bias - 0 EV
Flash - No Flash
Exposure Program - Program AE
Lens Model - Nikkor 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0
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So, to start things off, this here is a shot of the water and the lava rock just outside the back of our vacation rental home in the town of Kapoho. It was a small town just ESE of Pahoa on the southeast side of the island. Where we stayed did not afford good sunset shots, so I had to opt for sunrise. That was OK since because Hawaii is 5 hours behind US central time, we were up pretty early anyway. What a lovely way to welcome the day!
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Exposure - 1.6
Aperture - f/4.0
Focal Length - 19 mm
ISO Speed - 640
Flash - No Flash
Lens Model - 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0
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So, in honor of Peyton and the start of NFL football, I thought I'd post a couple of funny commercials Peyton did with his brother Eli from DirectTV... Enjoy.
One more thing... Before you play these videos, be advised that some silly thing will pop-up asking you to either "Download", "Play Now" or "Convert". Pay no attention to that and just click on the little X in the upper right corner of that white box when it pops-up. I'm sorry if that happens to you, but it's just more crap in the internet universe to be aware of.
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As far as processing goes, this shot is comprised of 7 bracketed photos spaced 1 EV apart. I also used Exposure Fusion in Photomatix instead of Tone Mapping. I'm really starting to like that way of processing more for landscape-type shots. It has a more realistic/photographic look to it. Of course, if texture is your thing, go with Tone Mapping for sure!
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Exposure - 0.025 sec (1/40)
Aperture - f/16.0
Focal Length - 31 mm
ISO Speed - 200
Flash - No Flash
Lens Model - Nikkor 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0
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I was able to get pretty close to him. He just seemed to be relaxing and I'm afraid I may have disturbed him a bit. That's OK though, cause he might be the guy who's been raiding our bird feeder. Anyway, I was able to get a couple of shots from a couple of angles and this was probably the best of them. Right after this shot, he scurried on to the roof of the house and took off! Guess he was a little camera shy.
This was a shot that I adjusted a little bit in Adobe Camera Raw, cropped a little bit in Photoshop CS6, added some pro contrast and vignette from Nik Color Efex 4 and finally sharpened with Nik Sharpener.
Finally, I'm still trying to think of more content to put here, but it may be a while. However, in the next couple of months, I should have some really great stuff to post and I can't wait, so stay tuned!
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Exposure - 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture - f/5.6
Focal Length - 300 mm
ISO Speed - 200
Exposure Bias - -1 EV
Flash - On, Return detected
Exposure Program - Aperture-priority AE
Lens Model - Nikkor 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
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I shot this piece from several different angles and I narrowed it down to two that I liked most. However, I had a hard time figuring out which angle I liked better so, since this is named "Progress II" I thought, "Why not post both?" So here you go...
The following is a description of what this sculpture represents from a December 31st, 2012 glasstire.com article:
Progress II, a massive sculpture cast in fiberglass and finished with car paint, belongs to the artist’s 1976 series that critically examines mythologies of the West. Rectifying traditional cowboy imagery, the work features a Mexican vaquero – the original cowboy – closing in on his prey: a snarling, red-eyed longhorn hopelessly attempting to evade defeat. Beneath the larger components of the sculpture, an owl stalks a mouse, while other small living creatures fight for their survival. An overarching theme of pursuit is revealed as Jiménez uses relationships between predator and prey to allude to the concept of Manifest Destiny, America’s road to “progress.”
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This is a 5-bracket handheld HDR merged with exposure fusion in Photomatix. It's a bit noisy, but that's what happens when it's a little dark. Nik's Dfine really helped get some of that out.
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Exposure - 0.077 sec (1/13)
Aperture - f/5.6
Focal Length - 18 mm
ISO Speed - 3200
Flash - No Flash
Exposure Program - Aperture-priority AE
Lens Model - Nikkor 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0
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The work here is one Evan Penny calls, "No One - In Particular #6, Series 2 (Old)". Very lifelike, indeed! The lady observing the work in the photo is real, though (hehe!) and I don't know her. However, I thought she added some interest to the shot and left her in. Anyway, I was hoping to see more of this kind of stuff in the exhibit, but that wasn't the case. You see, "the contemporary artists in Lifelike investigate often overlooked items and moments as subject matter: a paper bag, an eraser, an apple core, a waiting room, an afternoon nap. Favoring a handmade, labor-intensive practice rather than technological enhancements, the works in the exhibition—including painting, sculpture, photography, drawing, and video—transform the seemingly ordinary into something beguiling, loaded with narrative and metaphor." In other words, most of the stuff are recreations of everyday objects such as pencil erasers, legal notepads, etc. They may be of a different scale, but that's what's there.
OK, since I like to take pictures I guess I could be considered an artist. I guess that doesn't necessarily mean I know art. I think the sculpture in this picture is great art, but there were things there that I just didn't understand. For instance, there was a cardboard box hanging on the wall. It looked like something that one would use to ship something in. Just a regular, everyday box. It had packing tape on it and all that stuff. Just hanging on the wall. That's it. I guess it was a recreation of a box made out of masonite or something, but I think I would've been more impressed by a real box hanging there. Oh, and that wasn't the only one.. There was a similar box on its own pedestal under plexiglass! Seriously? This is art? Some other things on display there were a suitcase in the middle of the floor with one side cut out, a car door on the wall, a recreation of a paperbag as mentioned in the paragraph above, etc. This is where the artist in me fails to see the art in these things. To me, it's not art, but just things. I guess it can be considered art because of the old "eye of the beholder" saying, but I still don't get it. To each his own, I suppose. Maybe on some level it is art because of the work it takes a manufacturer and designer to make these real everyday items, but I don't think these things are the kind of art that deserves their own exhibit. Except Evan Penny, of course!
This is a regular shot that I tweaked out and cropped in Photoshop CS6. It's not an HDR, just a handheld shot. However, I did take a few other shots that are HDR and I will be posting those in the coming days, so stay tuned! I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by!
Oh, and one other thing (as Columbo used to say), Thursdays at the Blanton are free. That's when Van and I went and if you want to see this exhibit as well, I highly recommend going on a Thursday! ;-)
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Exposure - 0.033 sec (1/30)
Aperture - f/8.0
Focal Length - 35 mm
ISO Speed - 3200
Exposure Bias - 0 EV
Flash - No Flash
Exposure Program - Aperture-priority AE
Lens Model - Nikkor 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.
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This shot was a little more complicated than most. After the merge process in Photomatix, the sky turned out really awful and the snow looked like something you would see on the side of city road versus nice clean white stuff. So, I had to mask in portions of some of the original brackets. Looks much better now. That's one of the bad side effects of HDR... snow turns out really bad. It just gets a dirty look to it. But, you can fix it by masking in snow from a bracket and then life is much better!
Hope you enjoy the shot and thanks for dropping by!
Exif data:
Camera Nikon - D300S
Exposure - 0.8
Aperture - f/11.0
Focal Length - 14 mm
ISO Speed - 800
Flash - No Flash
Exposure Program - Aperture-priority AE
Lens Model - Sigma 10.0-20.0 mm f/4.0-5.6
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This is a 7-bracket HDR processed via Photomatix and post-processed in Photoshop CS6 with various filters in Nik's Color Efex 4 plugin. You know, I bought OnOne's Perfect Photo Suite 7 a while back because they were giving a deal to owners of the Nik suite and after having used both, I still prefer Nik's suite. You just can't beat the U-point technology! I love it! There are some things in OnOne's stuff that I do like, but overall, I like Nik better. Do you use any of these and if so, which software do you prefer?
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Exposure - 1
Aperture - f/8.0
Focal Length - 250 mm
ISO Speed - 400
Lens - 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
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Anyone out there know what church this is? Any help in that regard would be great!
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Exposure - 0.003 sec (1/320)
Aperture - f/9.0
Focal Length - 38 mm
ISO Speed - 200
Exposure Bias - +2/3 EV
Flash - No Flash
Exposure Program - Program AE
Lens Model - 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
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Compared to my other pano, this one isn't quite as wide. I'm not too consistent when it comes to where I should start and stop taking the shots that make-up a pano. The more I do it however, the better I get. To get a good periphery, I think you almost have to go beyond 180 degrees from left-to-right or right-to-left and then crop out from there. If I would've done that here, I could've gotten almost identical shots of the stadium at different times of the day. I guess I could crop the other, but I really like how I captured the words "Rangers" and "Arlington" from the wall on either side of the daylight shot and am sorry I didn't get that here. Oh well, live and learn I always say!
Oh, lastly in this shot you can see Victor Martinez of the Tigers getting at least a base hit and rounding first base as the ball is getting fielded in right. Sorry if the shot is a little too small to see that, but if you click on the picture, you might be able too see it a little better on the larger version.
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Exposure - 0.006 sec (1/160)
Aperture - f/6.3
Focal Length - 28 mm
ISO Speed - 800
Exposure Bias - -1/3 EV
Flash - No Flash
Exposure Program - Manual
Lens Model - 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
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I just want to say that marrying Eileen was the best decision of my life and I can't imagine my life without her! Thanks for putting up with me for the past 20 years! You are a saint and I am so grateful! Happy anniversary, honey and I can't wait for the next 20!
Also, I love how the light from the sunset shines off the tall portion of the building at the top! That golden-orange glow is incredible! (As always, you can click on the picture to see a larger version if you wish.)
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Exposure - 0.1 sec (1/10)
Aperture - f/16.0
Focal Length - 16 mm
ISO Speed - 200
Flash - No Flash
Exposure Program - Aperture-priority AE
Lens Model - 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0
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This is a shot I took while we visited Philadelphia two years ago. This was taken just outside the museum across the street from Independence Hall. I'm not sure if these guys were getting ready for some sort of show or if they were just showing off the garb from back in the day, but I was happy that they would pose for a shot. I just kind of wish I would've gotten a better background, such as Independence Hall for instance! In my defense, Independence Hall was under renovation at the time and covered in scaffolding, so maybe this was the best I could do!
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D300S
Exposure - 0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture - f/11.0
Focal Length - 20 mm
ISO Speed - 200
Exposure Bias - 0 EV
Flash - On, Return detected
Exposure Program - Aperture-priority AE
Lens Model - 10.0-20.0 mm f/4.0-5.6]]>
I saw this on Facebook and I thought it was really cool, so why not share here...
Photo: Low Earth Orbit
While flying on our recent trip, I wanted to try and get a shot out of the window, but I wanted the window to also be part of the shot. This was the best of those. To me it sort of looks like a view from a spaceship instead of an airplane, but that's just my child-like imagination going off again. ;-)
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Exposure - 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture - f/18.0
Focal Length - 16 mm
ISO Speed - 200
Flash - No Flash
Exposure Program - Aperture-priority AE
Lens Model - 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0]]>
In addition, I took my nephew Dylan along and he acted as my assistant. He was awesome! I would line up the shot and he would fire off the brackets. It was fun! But, we couldn't stay too long because the mosquitoes were eating us alive.
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Exposure - 0.01 sec (1/100)
Aperture - f/16.0
Focal Length - 26 mm
ISO Speed - 200
Flash - No Flash
Exposure Program - Aperture-priority AE
Lens Model - 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0
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When it was time to fly out, we had to connect through Minneapolis instead of Dallas. Makes no sense to me, but that's the way it is. Not to mention, we had to get up at 0-dark-30 because the first leg of our trip left at 6:00am and we had an hour drive to the airport. Sucked!
Well, Minneapolis is a cool place to fly into! Literally! The plane was very cold when we flew and then the terminal was freezing when we got off the plane. I guess it's remnants of winter! Anyway, our approach into Minneapolis had some great clouds so I whipped out the old compact camera and took a couple shots out the window. I think this was the best of the lot. How do you like it?
I did learn a couple of things about taking photos on a plane. They are:
1. Take shots during the approach to land versus taking off. It's slower which gives you a little more time to see and compose something that may be interesting on the way in. Take off on the other hand, is much faster and the ascent is so much steeper than descent and that can make it hard to shoot anything decently.
2. Reserve your seats in advance so you can be on the side you want during landing. That may be a little tricky to do, but if you know where the airport is at your destination geographically-speaking, you can probably figure out which way you are coming in and subsequently what side of the aircraft would make better photo ops during your landing.
Exif data:
Camera - Sony DSC-HX9V
Exposure - 0.003 sec (1/320)
Aperture - f/10.0
Focal Length - 10.8 mm
ISO Speed - 100
Exposure Bias - 0 EV
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I'm not one who takes many portraits, but this occasion screamed for one. So, I did take a few shots from a couple different poses and this was the best of the lot. I also did a few touch-ups in Adobe Lightroom 4 using Scott Kelby's Lightroom 4 book. It helped tremendously. One thing it didn't help with is that I noticed I cutoff just a tad of Barb's head in the final shot. Sorry, Barb. Hopefully I'll get it better in the next one!
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Exposure - 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture - f/5.6
Focal Length - 210 mm
ISO Speed - 200
Exposure Bias - 0 EV
Flash - On, Return detected
Lens Model - 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 ]]>
Speaking of Coke... Why do the Tigers still have him? Man, he sucks... As a matter of fact, their whole middle relief as well as their closers all suck.. I don't know what the answer is, but sheesh.. I think it's half the reason they lost the series last year... Along with the fact that the Giants were really good, but that's beside the point!
As far as adjusting this shot goes, I let Adobe Camera Raw adjust the exposure, I cropped it a little, did a little darken/lighten with Nik Color Efex 4 and then some noise reduction and sharpening using Nik Dfine and Sharpener. Wa-la.
Exif data:
Camera - Nikon D700
Exposure - 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture - f/5.6
Focal Length - 190 mm
ISO Speed - 3200
Exposure Bias - 0 EV
Flash - No Flash
Lens Model - 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
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"Howev-uh", (as Steven A. Smith would say), we did get to see the Spurs play the Heat for the first time when Lebron (not one, not two, not three...) James joined the Heat and played the Spurs in San Antonio back in March of 2011. It was Awesome (with a capital A) because the Spurs won by 30 points. Matt Bonner, aka "The Red Rocket", aka "The Red Mamba", nailed eight 3-pointers that night! What a game!
Now that the Spurs are playing the Heat in the finals, I thought it appropriate to post a shot I got from that game in 2011. It's not a great shot, but it does have Tim Duncan shooting a free throw, with Chris Bosh and Lebron on the key at the top of the shot. I'm not sure who the Spur is between them though. It also shows Erick Dampier of the Heat and Richard Jefferson of the Spurs, but they're no longer with their respective teams. You can also see Mario Chalmers at the top right and I believe Dwyane Wade's head which is kind of covered by my watermark. BTW, why does Wade spell his first name like that, but pronounce it "Dwayne"? I guess that's a better question for his parents.
As far as this picture goes, I took it with my little Lumix DMC-TZ5 compact point and shoot that mysteriously broke a couple months later. It had a great 10x zoom on it so you could get pretty tight shots of the floor from the nosebleeds. That's where we were for this shot! Although, we weren't so far up that we couldn't see Manu Ginobili's nose! No seats are THAT far away! :-) Speaking of the camera, I just wish a point and shoot would come out from someone that had at least an APS-C size sensor in it. I know Nikon did, but it's like $1100! A little cheaper please! I imagine one will someday that will be less expensive, but we need it now!
Well, I hope you enjoy the shot and "Go Spurs Go!"
Exif data:
Camera - Panasonic DMC-TZ5
Exposure - 0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture - f/4.9
Focal Length - 45.4 mm
ISO Speed - 800
Exposure Bias - 0 EV
Flash - On, Fired
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I like the statue because it really captured his face as well as a statue could. I also like how the shadow portion of it is different, showing him playing the guitar while the main part of it has him standing and sort of leaning on the guitar. OK, maybe not leaning on it as much as holding it up. Anyway, as cool as it is, I think I would like to see a statue of Stevie actually playing the guitar with a pipe in his mouth ala this video of him in Tokyo while playing Scuttle Buttin'. I think that would be awesome!
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This is an HDR of 7 brackets, tonemapped with details enhancer in Photomatix, and then processed in Photoshop CS6 using OnOne's Perfect Effects 4 with the grunge effect and Nik's Color Efex 4 lens vignette effect.
Speaking of vignettes, I noticed that I use them a lot in my photos recently and I'm wondering if I use them too much. What do you think? Do you like the look or should it only be used sparingly? I guess I like the framing it does, but I don't know if I should use them as much as I do. Let me know.
Oh and lastly, I hope Mr. Eddie himself doesn't find out about this vehicle. He has trademarked his "candy stripe" and has cracked down on people using it. Look here at a sneaker lawsuit he's filed against Nike... I also remember a guy named Fernandez or something that made replica guitars and Ed stopped that. Good luck, owner of Jambulance ERuption! Hope you don't get in trouble! ;-)
Thanks for dropping by and I hope you enjoyed the picture!
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This is a shot of a Soldier guarding the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery near our nation's Capital. Not sure if you can read the inscription on the tomb itself, but it states, "Here Rests In Honored Glory An American Soldier Known But To God." It's an impressive and moving sight if you ever get a chance to go.
The Tomb Guard marches 21 steps down the black mat behind the Tomb, turns, faces east for 21 seconds, turns and faces north for 21 seconds, then takes 21 steps down the mat and repeats the process. After the turn, the sentinel executes a sharp "shoulder-arms" movement to place the weapon on the shoulder closest to the visitors to signify that the sentinel stands between the Tomb and any possible threat. Twenty-one was chosen because it symbolizes the highest military honor that can be bestowed -- the 21-gun salute.
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Usually when I go to these games I only take my little point and shoot camera. I can get some decent panoramas with that, but last time I tried it I got some really bad results. So, I went to the Rangers website and read their camera policy. Theirs is very similar to Sports Authority Field at Mile High in that you can bring any camera as long as it doesn't interfere with other fans' enjoyment of the game. So, the big boy went with me this time with the intent on getting a nice pano! So here it is!
This is not an HDR but it is a composite of 16 shots. I took 15 for the panorama itself to make sure I got some great overlap for Photoshop's photomerge process and then I took one shot of just the infield during a pitch and masked that in so as to capture the moment and make sure everyone on the field is focusing on the task at hand. If you look at the largest version of the image on flickr, you can actually see the ball as it's crossing from the grass to the dirt on its way to the catcher.
You see, usually when I take a pano from a sports stadium such as this, I don't really pay much attention to what was going on down on the field because the I'm normally using my point and shoot and everything is usually moving as I take the shots. All that action gets jumbled during the photomerge process and turns out kind of messy. Well I wanted to make the shot look normal on the field this time plus add a little interest. I think it worked.
Oh, and one other thing that makes me happy about this pano is that when I did do the merge, the resulting image was already straight and level so I didn't have to do any warping! That was awesome! Just a little cropping and content aware fill in a couple corners! I couldn't believe it! Especially from a handheld pano! That's rare for me because even when I use a tripod it comes out way tilted and I have to do lots of warping to correct some distortion.
Also this shot took a little work to process other than the merging and the masking of the infielders. The sky that day was very hazy and I really had to crank out the structure slider in Nik Viveza to bring out the clouds. I also used a little blue filter for the sky. Then I added in some contrast, a little darken/lighten center in Nik Color Efex 4 along with a few other minor tweaks and here you go!
Lastly, I did take a night time panorama as well that I will put out some time. I hope it turns out as nice as this one. I have started on it a little bit and one thing that is different is that it's not quite as wide as this. Oh well, just something to remember for next time!
Click on the shot to see a larger version. Or click here to see the largest on flickr.
BTW, the players on the field in the shot are as follows:
Tigers:
P - Anibal Sanchez
C - Alex Avila
1B - Prince Fielder
2B - Omar Infante
3B - Miguel Cabrera
SS - Jhonny Peralta
RF - Torii Hunter
CF - Avisail Garcia
LF - Andy Dirks
Rangers:
3rd Base - Elvis Andrus
At Bat - David Murphy
On Deck - Lance Berkman
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UPDATE (5-20-19): I just read that if you go into Birds for a haircut, they will give you a free beer when you leave! I may have just discovered my new barbershop!
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All of that being said, he put an image on his training blog that he took recently and challenged others to process it. He was OK with the results he got from it himself, but he wanted to see what others could do. So the following is my take. The first shot is his original straight from his camera and the second is what I've done with it. You can visit his post to see what other have done as well.
I have to add that David said he liked this version of which I posted on FB so I guess I know what I'm doing a little... ;-) What do you think?
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This is an HDR but I masked in the -2EV bracket to emphasize the lit up name of the place. Plus, I did a little dodging and burning as well. Is it too much? Let me know and thanks for dropping by.
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If you know what you are doing and have the right gear, panoramas can be pretty easy and fun. For me, not so much. But, I did learn a lot about panoramas after taking and processing this photo. It still needs a little work, but for me, I think it works. The things I learned are as follows:
1. To take a proper panorama, one must know the "nodal point" of the lens of choice. The nodal point is basically the area "inside the lens where the light paths cross before being focused onto a film plane." That point is where you want the actual camera to pivot from while you take your shots for a panorama. That way, when it's time to stitch your shots together, the stitching software can blend the shots together as accurately as possible. Otherwise, you will get some wild and unfortunate problems from stitching to distortion (other than normal pano distortion, that is). Also, to figure out the nodal point, you will need a proper head and/or bracket for your tripod.
2. If you can't use a tripod or even if you have a tripod and not the right head or bracket, you can still take a decent panorama, but be prepared to fix a lot of stitching issues and perspective/distortion problems. I ran into a lot of those with this shot, but a photographer out there named Klaus Herrmann, aka Farbspiel, who takes some great vertical panoramas (or vertoramas), has some great processing techniques that were invaluable. His distortion correction video was a big help! I learned a lot from that video and I also learned a lot from his "making of" videos. However, if you watch those, be prepared to pause and play quite often because his techniques are quite extensive and he speeds up the vids about 10 times as fast as normal! However, you can still get a lot out of them! Those "making of" videos really helped me fix stitching problems.
3. To take a good panorama, put your camera in portrait orientation, meter the main subject in the pano with your camera, note the camera's aperture and shutter settings, switch to manual mode and input those setting accordingly. Then take all the shots to compose the pano with those settings. That way, you won't have any blending problems in post-processing.
I guess those are the main things I've learned. I hope you enjoy the shot and thanks for visiting!
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Sorry, but I had to get this out there... I heard this song on a commercial the other day and I just can't shake it. I thought I'd share it because it's just so catchy! I hated disco then and still hate it now, but this thing just grabs me for some reason. Granted, it's not totally disco, but it has a sort of disco beat to it. But beware, it's catchy and you might have the same problem as me as far as sleeping goes... None! ;-) Click at your own risk! BTW... Is the lead singer's name "Sniff"? ;-) "Driver's Seat, Driver's seat, yeahhh!!!"
Food Trailers by the Chevron
Austin has a plethora of food trailers. They're everywhere. It seems where ever there is a plot of land that isn't being used, someone pulls up with an Airstream or some other type of trailer and sets up a mini restaurant. This place was right between the Holiday Inn and the Chevron gas station on the southbound frontage road of I-35. Usually in the mornings these places don't have their lights on because they are closed, but this one did and I thought it might make a cool picture. Speaking of lights, this court had those new LED-type lights strung across so they really did look white. I prefer the incandescents, but this is the way of the world now, I guess.
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UPDATE (3-26-13): Yes, it's true! I downloaded it last night and got all of the plugins free! Pretty awesome! Now, I'm the proud owner of Nik's DFine 2, Viveza 2, Color Efex 4, HDR Efex 2, Silver Efex 2 and Sharpener Pro 3 (at least I think it's 3). Woohoo!! I just hope any updates that come out from now on are of the same quality that they were when not owned by Google. We'll see!
Are you an owner of any of these? If so try it out for yourself and let me know! Thanks for reading!
Click here to go to the new Nik site by Google...]]>
I'm so jacked about having a full-frame DSLR with full-frame glass, I cannot contain myself! I never thought I'd actually own one, ever! But, after a few years of waiting, it finally paid off. It's kind of like buying a luxury car, at least for us.. First you start with a "reasonably priced car" (as they would say on Top Gear) and then trade or sell for one that's a little nicer and then trade or sell that one for one a little nicer, and so on and so on. After doing that for a few times, you can finally have the car, or in my case camera, that you want. I started with a Nikon D90 (reasonably priced), then went to a Nikon D300s (a little nicer) and now I have a Nikon D700 (luxury - for me anyway)! Granted, I bought it used, but it's still awesome! Then, I sold my lenses (glass in photographer geek-speak) on ebay and used that money for new full-frame glass. Now I'm in full-frame nirvana! It handles noise so much better than my old cameras and it's just a better camera all around. From the buffer size and speed to the size of the viewfinder, it's just great! There are only a couple of things that my old cameras had that this one doesn't.. The D700 only has one memory card slot. My D300s had a CF and an SD card slot so you could really pack in the pics. The other thing my old cameras had that this one doesn't is a button for live view. The D700 has live view, but it's on the select dial on the top and it's not really easy to get to. I wish I could change one of the other buttons for this. I know you can change the function button, but I have that set for bracketing as most of the shots I take need to be bracketed. If only there was another button.. Oh well. Overall I'm ecstatic!
Finally Back To Weird
Since all of my glass finally arrived, I was just itching to get out there and get some HDRs with the new camera. So, on my way to work Friday morning, I stopped on South Congress Ave in Austin and took a few shots. The conditions weren't the best as it was very drizzly out there, but I got several shots anyway. This is a shot of Doc's Bar and Grill.
The last couple of weeks, Austin hosted the big South By Southwest (SXSW) music/film/tech festival. Now that it has wrapped, I think the people at Doc's are happy. You see Austin has this saying, "Keep Austin Weird" which is pretty much "normal" for Austinites, and I guess Doc's is happy that things are getting back to "normal". The other side of the same sign says, "S Bye SW". That was my other clue. :-) To be honest, I'm glad it's over as well.
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I created an HDR and then converted it to black and white. I did the HDR first because I wanted to make sure that I could get lots of tones in the converted black and white. I hope you like it!
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I processed this via HDR Efex... Just tonemapped one shot and gave the old "Grannies Attic" setting with a little vignette. Nothing else...
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Well, I'm gonna make a little change from the Jackson Hole series and post a couple shots I took with my new - new to me - D700. I'm still waiting to purchase some lenses for it, but I do have a 50mm 1.4 that I bought a while back and used with my D300s which works with a full-framer. So here it is.
Mesquite Trees in Black and White
So a couple of weekends ago, I was out driving around trying to find things to shoot and I didn't have too much luck. I went down to the Snake Farm near New Braunfels for something to do. For some reason I always wanted to go there. Now I have and won't need to go there again. Pretty touristy and not really worth it. Might be fun for the kids though. Anyway, while I was driving, I noticed this area where there were nothing but mesquite trees in a grassy field on a slope. If you get the right angle there was nothing on the horizon but sky. I thought that might be a cool place to get some black and whites. This spot is located on the southbound side of I-35 south of exit 195 if I remember correctly. I have linked up the location below the shot if you are interested in going out there to shoot them yourself sometime.
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I don't think I could ever accomplish anything close to his stuff and I must admit I'm a bit uncomfortable even trying to compare my work to his for that matter, but in this case I think the best I can do is at least compare locations. From there it's all technique and he is the best and always will be. So, my try from his spot is this:
Our tour guide from Jackson Hole Wildlife Safaris is the one who recommended that we stop here and subsequently took us to this famous spot. The location even has a little marker that talks about Ansel Adams' picture and how famous it really is. So, I just had to try it myself and see how I could do. I must say, it's my favorite from the trip! I really like how the light from the sunrise hits the tops of the trees in the foreground. I also like the cloud formation halfway up the mountains from the temperature inversion at this time of the morning. However, it's no match to Ansel's great image. He had a great sky and a wonderful view of the river and was able to convey that like no other. I bow to the master!
One thing I found interesting though, is the difference in the size of the trees in the foreground and how much of a difference there is between the two photos. Ansel Adams' shot, which was taken in 1942 I think, shows a lot of the river due to the trees' youth. Now the trees are so much bigger and the view is very different. From what our tour guide told us, apparently there are some people that would like these trees torn down so as to get a better photo like the one from Mr. Adams. I must say, I am not one of those people...
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Well, I did get a new full frame camera like I said I would in a previous post. Actually, it's not really new, but it it's new to me! I bought a used Nikon D700! I was torn between getting a D600 and a D800 but both have issues I really didn't want to deal with. Plus, the price on this used D700 was one I couldn't pass up. I can't wait to start posting pictures from this baby! As a matter of fact, I want to thank Dave Wilson for his input on my purchase! He's a great photographer who's advise I appreciate greatly! Speaking of which, I will need to get new lenses for it since the ones I have are for a cropped sensor camera. Therefore, I have listed my current lenses on ebay if anyone out there is interested! They are in great condition with no scratches on the glass at all! I don't have the original box or manuals for the fisheye, but otherwise they are all in mint condition!
Big Horn Sheep
This was a shot I got while out with Jackson Hole Wildlife Safaris. I took this shot through the window of the Suburban we were riding in. This is a female sheep that was basically just hanging out and eating. She came down from the top of the mountain in a few minutes while we were out searching for other animals and by the time we came back, she was right by the road! This shot probably isn't the best technically speaking because she's in the middle of the frame, but I think it works here. Besides, when I tried to crop it to make it more interesting, I think it just got worse...
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If you haven't seen the World Press Photo of the Year, you should check it out. It is a tragic photo, but depending on your perspective, could be a little political. It has to do with the Middle East. I must say that as tragic a picture it is, it is very powerful as well as technically impressive. It almost looks as though it was staged because the processing is so good. Anyway, it is quite a photo!
Teton and Trees
Speaking of technically impressive, I hope this one meets that criteria a little. I took this at a scenic turnout on Highway 191 in Wyoming on the suggestion of a tour guide from Jackson Hole Wildlife Safaris. They really know where and when to get the great photos you are looking for as well as having the knowledge to find wild animals in the local area! I highly recommend them! As far as the shot goes, this is the Grand Teton mountain just as the sun was rising. The little cloud layer you see halfway down through the image is what's known as an inversion layer where the temperature above the cloud is warmer than than temperature below. It could be a difference of as much as 20 - 30 degrees! When I took this shot is was about 5 below zero fahrenheit. So it was probably about 20 degrees or so above the layer. Interesting stuff!
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It's been a couple of weeks or so since I've posted anything to the old blog here, but I have a good reason. A couple of weeks ago, Eileen and I left with our friends, Doug, Tricia, Valerie, Theresa and Ellen for a week of skiing and fun in wonderful Jackson Hole, Wyoming. We had a great time! The skiing was awesome as were the views! Well, it was awesome for some skiers in the group. One of the skiers, Tricia, blew out her ACL in the middle of the trip after um, let's say "catching some air". It sucked because ski patrol had to bring her down off the mountain and she couldn't ski for the the remainder. She took it very well and I think still had a great time as did the rest of us!
Not only was the area at the ski resort beautiful, but the whole Jackson Hole (no pun intended) area is unbelievable! It's up near Yellowstone Park so the mountain vistas are just awesome! It made for exceptional photography opportunities as well as other great activities. We even took a snowmobile tour through Yellowstone to see Old Faithful! What a blast that was! Anyway, I'll be putting out more content from this trip in the next few posts. There's one shot in particular that I can't wait to post, so stay tuned!
Tram Building
This is the main building at the bottom of the mountain that houses the tram that takes you about 4000 vertical feet up to the very top of the mountain. You get dumped off on a run called Rendezvous which a wide open black, but it isn't too difficult as long as the wind isn't blowing too hard and it isn't snowing. ;-)
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Super Bowl Weekend! Woohoo! It's always exciting to watch the two best teams in the NFL play for the ultimate prize. There's nothing like American football, no? It's the best! However, this year, I'm not really too enamored with either team vying for the bragging rights of "Super Bowl Champions!" The Niners are OK because they have a good coach and their young quarterback is fun to watch. Other than that, meh. The Ravens on the other hand are aging, have a good coach as well as a good defense led by someone who was accused of being involved in a double-murder a few years ago. Again, meh. When all is said and done, I will probably root for the Ravens because their head coach - John Harbaugh - is the older brother of the Niners head coach - Jim Harbaugh - and has been in the league a few years longer. Therefore, the older brother must win! Otherwise, I hope it's a good game like the last few Super Bowls have been! Are you rooting for a particular team? If so, who and why?
Restaurants Banning Food Photography in New York
Did you know that food photography by restaurant patrons was a phenomenon? I know some people who like to take pictures of their meals, especially if it's really good, but apparently some restaurants in NYC don't like it. Maybe it makes the chefs work harder to present their meals or something? Whatever. Another reason why New York City is a great place to visit, but not a great place to live...
South Walk-Up at the Texas Capitol
I took this shot during the same visit as the shot in my previous post. This one was a bit more tricky to process and has a bit more noise in it, but I like how it turned out anyway.
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Also, I have one more shot that I may put out soon from a more traditional angle, but it needs quite a bit of work. Hopefully it will turn out nice. So, stay tuned!
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Woohoo! I finally got my camera back from the shop and can't wait to get out there and get some new shots! I'll still be posting stuff from the archives, but I should have some great new content in the next few weeks!
Siamese Twins #2
Speaking of stuff from the archives, this is another shot I took of the "Siamese Twins" from the "Garden of the Gods" in Manitou Springs, CO. It's an HDR that I converted to black and white. The color HDR turned out nice and I may post it some day, but I really like the textures and the sky in the black and white conversion. Click here to see my other Siamese Twins shot.
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If you are a Canon or Nikon owner and want to know what your camera maker has in mind for product releases in the near future, try taking a look a the Nikon Rumors or Canon Rumors blogs. I visit the Nikon one just about every day. I don't know how they do it, but they produce "bleeding edge" speculation about Nikons and Canons. Somehow they get information before anyone else has a clue! A lot of times, the speculation reported becomes reality. Sometimes not. But that's why it's a rumors site! Even if the info they provide isn't always true, I have found that more than just the majority of the time what they say is on the money! It helps me get my savings together to prepare for the next big purchase! Just remember that what you read out there may or may not become reality..
RCAF T-6 Trainer
Here's a shot of a Royal Canadian Air Force T-6 Trainer aircraft I took a few years ago out at the Georgetown Airport. I really like the yellow color they gave it, but I always thought Canadian aircraft would be red, wouldn't you?
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Well, in my last post, I put out something I thought was rather clever and fun. Since then - out of curiosity - I decided to Google the words, "buzzword bingo" and all kinds of stuff popped up. There is this one link that will do all of the work for you as far as juggling the words and putting out nice cards. Check it out...It kind of put my little bingo idea to shame. What a buzzkill! Oh well, it was fun while it lasted... Maybe I should've checked Google before I posted?
Waikiki Sailboats
It's cold in almost every part of the country this time if year, except for maybe parts of California, Florida and all of Hawaii. It can even get quite cold here in Texas. Most of the winter it's quite mild, but we do get the occasional ice storm as well as a few freezes. So, when weather changes like this take place, I like to post something taken from a different climate. So, that's where this picture comes in.
A few years ago, we took a trip to Hawaii and stayed at a great hotel on Waikiki Beach. As soon as we got to that hotel, we ran out to the beach to take in the view. Way out in the water were all of these sailboats and stand-up paddle boarders (if that's what they are called). I thought it was just so cool and awesome! Nothing like being on the beach in Waikiki watching sailboats!
One thing about this shot though... I took this before I got super serious with photography and got my DSLR. I just took it with my little Lumix DMC-TZ5 and I cropped it a little and converted it to black and white. I still like it, though and I hope you do, too!
Oh, and lastly, we plan on taking another trip to Hawaii sometime this year and I will have my super serious DSLR with me to get some great shots! I can't wait! Even if I wasn't into photography, I still couldn't wait! It's Hawaii!!! Hang loose!!!
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Ever been bored out of your skull in sales meetings or any other kind of meeting? Well, for your own amusement and possibly for your use as a listening aid, I have come up with the following buzzword bingo card:
| B | I | N | G | O | |
| B | due diligence | granular | 30,000 ft view | leverage | turn-key |
| I | 360 degree view | deep dive | deliverables | robust | efficiencies |
| N | low hanging fruit | drill down | going forward | tool set | single pane of glass |
| G | synergy | best practices | holistic | decompress | hybrid |
| O | capture | high level | governance | bandwidth | optimize |
| X | comprehensive | snapshot | seamless | autonomy | level-set |
This is a card (with a few extras) of some of the most useless terms used in business meetings all across our fruited plain. I'm not sure why they are in the lexicon now, but (oooh, lexicon... should add that one as well) I guess it makes people sound smarter and makes their product/project sound more important than it really is. So, copy and paste the above into a spreadsheet, make a few different versions by moving some of the terms around to different cells and then print and them out to meeting participants. It will make the meeting a little more enjoyable and you may even listen closer instead of being bored out of your mind. However, even if you are listening, you may not get the gist of the meeting due to the fact that you want to win the bingo game! (The X line at the bottom of the table are extras to shake up the different cards you may want to print.) If anyone knows of other words or terms that are just as useless, I'd love the hear them!
3 Levels Under the Rotunda
There are so many angles in Texas capitol building. If only there were more time... Plus, this is a year for the Legislative Session. In other words, in Texas, Congress convenes every other year and for only about 5-6 months or if the governor mandates a special session. I guess this way they don't have as much time to screw stuff up! I wish the US government would take a page from Texas' constitution in regards to this. Anyway, since the session starts next week, it would be a little more difficult to shoot there. Heck, my camera's in the shop anyway so I guess it doesn't really matter!
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Check out this robot that catches a ball... Man, they are getting smarter and smarter! Apparently Microsoft has been somewhat instrumental in the development of this. I used to think Google was Skynet, but maybe it's Microsoft? (For all of you non-nerds out there, Skynet was the corporation in the "Terminator" movies that built the machines that became self-aware and tried to wipe out the human race. It's beginning to seem more plausible, eh? ;-))
Cafe Du Monde in Black and White
This picture was taken about two and a half years ago and I posted it as a color shot. But, I think black and white images have a certain timelessness to them and I thought this shot would work great as a black and white. I especially like the server leaning up against the pole on the left. The uniform he's wearing is timeless and it works great here. I mean, if you didn't know any better, could you tell when this shot was taken? Could be yesterday, could be 1965, no?
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I got Lightroom for Christmas! Woohoo! It looks like a pretty powerful tool to say the least! Luckily, I also got Scott Kelby's Lightroom 4 book to help figure this behemoth out! So far so good! However, there's one thing in his book that he does not really address and that's TIFF + JPGs. You see, when I edit a photo, I like to save it as a TIFF, then watermark it and save it again as a JPG to put out on the web. I keep the same file-name, but a new file gets created with the .jpg extension. However, Lightroom wants to organize it so both the TIFF and JPG files are just one, meaning the JPG is a "sidecar" file or a TIFF + JPG. I don't like this at all and I can't seem to find a way to turn this off, unless you do this during your import settings. So, what I had to do was create a whole new folder just for jpgs and move the file in there with Windows Explorer and then import that. There's got to be a better way than this? Anyone out there have any ideas?
Texas Capitol From SoCo #2
Here's a picture I took back in April of last year.. It's a shot of the Texas Capitol from the hill up on South Congress Ave. I took it early in the morning so there wouldn't be much traffic, especially since I decided to take this in the middle of the road! This is a companion to another shot I took where I had zoomed out a bit further...
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I got Lightroom for Christmas! Woohoo! It looks like a pretty powerful tool to say the least! Luckily, I also got Scott Kelby's Lightroom 4 book to help figure this behemoth out! So far so good! However, there's one thing in his book that he does not really address and that's TIFF + JPGs. You see, when I edit a photo, I like to save it as a TIFF, then watermark it and save it again as a JPG to put out on the web. I keep the same file-name, but a new file gets created with the .jpg extension. However, Lightroom wants to organize it so both the TIFF and JPG files are just one, meaning the JPG is a "sidecar" file or a TIFF + JPG. I don't like this at all and I can't seem to find a way to turn this off, unless you do this during your import settings. So, what I had to do was create a whole new folder just for jpgs and move the file in there with Windows Explorer and then import that. There's got to be a better way than this? Anyone out there have any ideas?
Texas Capitol From SoCo #2
Here's a picture I took back in April of last year.. It's a shot of the Texas Capitol from the hill up on South Congress Ave. I took it early in the morning so there wouldn't be much traffic, especially since I decided to take this in the middle of the road! This is a companion to another shot I took where I had zoomed out a bit further...
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Well, I finally went and did it. I decided to stop taking pictures. That's right. I'm done! Most of you out there are probably thinking, "Thank goodness! His stuff sucks, anyway!" Well, hold on. I'm not through yet... I've only stopped taking pictures... temporarily! Ha! Gotcha! It's gonna be a slow New Year starting off as far as picture-taking goes...
So here's the story. Back in October when I was taking pictures of the balloons at the Georgetown Airfest, I accidentally dropped my camera! Ouch! Luckily all that was damaged was the control panel LCD on the top and my pride. Everything else worked fine. As a matter of fact the LCD worked pretty well, but it had a large black spot in it on the lower right side. Well, it started getting worse so I finally took it to Precision Camera to see what they could do. Sounds like they can replace it quite reasonably. I just hope it's reasonably soon because I have some plans coming up where I'll really need it! They said a "few weeks", but I'll need it in a "few weeks"! Fingers are crossed! Of course, if I make a few more sales from my gallery, I'll be sitting pretty for a new full-framer! I'm close now, but just not quite ready to pull the trigger. Anyway, I'm not totally done taking photos yet, only temporarily. So, if any of you out there are just dying for some excellent prints to dress up your walls, stop by my gallery and order to your heart's content! Help a brutha out! ;-)
In the meantime, I'll try and post some photos I've taken over the years that haven't made it to the blog yet and I'll also try to post some other interesting little tidbits about this and that. Hope you don't mind.
First Interesting Tidbit, Me!
I always feel a little funny about promoting my work because it seems so arrogant or self-centered, like I'm bragging or something. But in order to make money and get my name out there, that's what I have to do. Or that's what anyone with their own hobby/business has to do, right? So, here's a little something that was written about my work... Sebastian St. Troy, a colleague of Austin real estate agent Shannon Schmitz, posted a very nice write-up about my work on their blogs, "Shannon Knows Austin Real Estate and Fine Living" and Austin Fine Living Magazine. Not sure everything they say in there about me or my work is true, but I'll take it! ;-) Thanks so much, Sebastian and Shannon! And, if you need some real estate help in the Austin area, I'm sure they will be a great help! Check 'em out!
OK, Finally a Picture! Peyton Manning Handing-Off
So this is a shot I took back in September/October when we went to Denver. Yes, another Denver shot! Sorry, but I have quite a few of those left. :-) This is when we went to the Raiders v Broncos game on Sept 30th. It was awesome! We had great seats and Denver kicked the Raiders collective butt! This shot is a tad bit out of focus, but I like it nonetheless! I thought I'd add this one since the Broncos not only made the playoffs with Peyton's help, but they're the number one seed in the AFC! That means home-field throughout! I think Peyton should be the MVP this year! A lot of people think Adrian Peterson of the Vikings should be which is a valid argument, but Peyton makes everyone on his team better! I don't think Adrian does that! Oh, and Peyton is handing-off to Willis McGahee in this shot....
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Well, I finally went and did it. I decided to stop taking pictures. That's right. I'm done! Most of you out there are probably thinking, "Thank goodness! His stuff sucks, anyway!" Well, hold on. I'm not through yet... I've only stopped taking pictures... temporarily! Ha! Gotcha! It's gonna be a slow New Year starting off as far as picture-taking goes...
So here's the story. Back in October when I was taking pictures of the balloons at the Georgetown Airfest, I accidentally dropped my camera! Ouch! Luckily all that was damaged was the control panel LCD on the top and my pride. Everything else worked fine. As a matter of fact the LCD worked pretty well, but it had a large black spot in it on the lower right side. Well, it started getting worse so I finally took it to Precision Camera to see what they could do. Sounds like they can replace it quite reasonably. I just hope it's reasonably soon because I have some plans coming up where I'll really need it! They said a "few weeks", but I'll need it in a "few weeks"! Fingers are crossed! Of course, if I make a few more sales from my gallery, I'll be sitting pretty for a new full-framer! I'm close now, but just not quite ready to pull the trigger. Anyway, I'm not totally done taking photos yet, only temporarily. So, if any of you out there are just dying for some excellent prints to dress up your walls, stop by my gallery and order to your heart's content! Help a brutha out! ;-)
In the meantime, I'll try and post some photos I've taken over the years that haven't made it to the blog yet and I'll also try to post some other interesting little tidbits about this and that. Hope you don't mind.
First Interesting Tidbit, Me!
I always feel a little funny about promoting my work because it seems so arrogant or self-centered, like I'm bragging or something. But in order to make money and get my name out there, that's what I have to do. Or that's what anyone with their own hobby/business has to do, right? So, here's a little something that was written about my work... Sebastian St. Troy, a colleague of Austin real estate agent Shannon Schmitz, posted a very nice write-up about my work on their blogs, "Shannon Knows Austin Real Estate and Fine Living" and Austin Fine Living Magazine. Not sure everything they say in there about me or my work is true, but I'll take it! ;-) Thanks so much, Sebastian and Shannon! And, if you need some real estate help in the Austin area, I'm sure they will be a great help! Check 'em out!
OK, Finally a Picture! Peyton Manning Handing-Off
So this is a shot I took back in September/October when we went to Denver. Yes, another Denver shot! Sorry, but I have quite a few of those left. :-) This is when we went to the Raiders v Broncos game on Sept 30th. It was awesome! We had great seats and Denver kicked the Raiders collective butt! This shot is a tad bit out of focus, but I like it nonetheless! I thought I'd add this one since the Broncos not only made the playoffs with Peyton's help, but they're the number one seed in the AFC! That means home-field throughout! I think Peyton should be the MVP this year! A lot of people think Adrian Peterson of the Vikings should be which is a valid argument, but Peyton makes everyone on his team better! I don't think Adrian does that! Oh, and Peyton is handing-off to Willis McGahee in this shot....
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(Also, if you want to check a really good top 10, check out Dave Wilson's here. Blows mine away!)
1929 Duesenberg Model J Bohman & Schwartz Front
Here's another shot I took at Dick's Classic Garage. It is a 1929 Duesenberg Model J Bohman & Schwartz. It is a little different from other "Dueseys" because of the headlights. This one has smaller headlights, but overall it's still a classy looking ride. I really liked the front of it so I tried to capture it on an angle and make it dramatic, or at least a little different. I hope it worked. (Click the photo for a larger view)
Garden of the Gods #2
The National Natural Landmark known as "Garden of the Gods" is a must see on any visit you may make to Colorado. It's full of beautiful sandstone outcroppings and there are plenty of hiking paths and roads to see everything the park has to offer. Located in Manitou Springs just outside of Colorado Springs, its a wonderful place to see nature at its best!
Th shot below shows what you can do with HDR... The light was terrible. I was shooting into the sun and the sky was very hazy at the time. But, with 7 brackets, a little processing with Photomatix and some tweaking with Nik's Color Efex and Viveza, I was able to bring out some of the detail from the haze and the shadows to present something a little more interesting than just the original snapshot. Do you think it was worth it? I would love to hear your thoughts if this looks good, if it looks over done, or if it looks OK. Either way, I can take it! ;-)
Peyton Manning (Oakland v Denver, Sept. 30th, 2012)
Here he is! Peyton Manning! He's one of the big reasons we went to Denver. He's a great quarterback and ever since he's had problems with his neck in recent years, we never really knew if we'd get a chance to see him play. So, when the opportunity arose, we jumped on it. We were even able to score some pretty decent seats... 6th row in one of the end zones! Nice place to see a game and to take a few shots. This one here is one of the better ones I was able to get.
According to things I've read about getting football shots, if you get a face and the ball in the shot, then it should be good. Well most of the shots I got didn't have either. I realized it's not easy to shoot football games, especially from the seats. However, this is one of the few shots that had both a face and the ball in it. It's not the greatest shot in the world because I would've preferred to see Peyton's number 18 as well, but overall it's not too bad. Here, Peyton's throwing the ball to the running back, Lance Ball, number 35, for a touchdown.
The game was an awesome one! Denver won 37 - 6!
Shooting Security on the Aransas Pass Ferry
Last weekend we went to visit friends down in Aransas Pass, TX. They have a boat down there that they invited us to stay on. Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate enough for us to be able to go out on it. t was just too windy. However, that's not to say we didn't get to ride on a boat at all. We took the ferry from Aransas Pass to Port Aransas. It was a short ride, but it was windy as well. The funny thing was, as we started out across the channel, we decided to get out of the car and go to the front of the ferry to watch the dolphins. There was a small pod of them swimming about. Pretty cool! However, the further out into the water we got, the bigger the waves became. They started lapping over the front of the ferry. I and my camera got a little wet on the first one, so I turned around to head back to the car. As soon as I did a bigger wave crashed over the front and soaked my back. Luckily the camera didn't get very wet as my back blocked most of the water. But, my wife Eileen and her friend Sandy decided to stay and they got completely soaked! It was hilarious! Sandy says we got "baptized". I should've tried to get a shot of them at that point, but alas, I wanted to make sure the camera was OK and get out of anymore possible soakings. So, while in the car, the security guy came around to check everything and I thought that would be an opportunity to shoot SOMETHING. I got more of the camera in focus than the security guy, but I still think the shot is kind of interesting. Do you?
Siamese Twins
Hey, I didn't name it! ;-) It may be politically incorrect, but who cares, right? Anyway, this is one of the many different rock formations at the Garden of the Gods. This one is kind of off the beaten path, but I think it is one of the more interesting formations to see there. Also, just behind it lies Pike's Peak way off in the distance. I should've tried to find an angle with both of them in the shot, but I'm happy with this one.
University of Michigan Band At Jerry's World
This it a shot I took a few minutes before Michigan-Alabama game at Cowboys Stadium as the University of Michigan Marching Band was on the field. I took this with my new fisheye lens as you can see. It's pretty fun to play with! It's nice to get a whole panorama interior shot of a sports stadium without having to take 7-8 separate shots and try to blend them together. I did notice that there is a little bit of purple fringing around some of the lights so I guess I'll need to be conscious of that in the future.
Door Ringing at the University of Texas
Below is a picture of Alex Suarez's son that I took during one of Alex's photowalks at the University of Texas.
Cloud Shadows on Mountain Chute
This is an HDR that I converted to a monochrome. I tried to "Ansel Adams" it up a little even though I think he did mostly black and whites. Something about shooting mountains and clouds that just calls for either.
Hyper-drive
Wouldn't it be cool to be able to click a button in your car and move into "hyper-drive" or "warp-drive" to get to work if you were running late? I'm not usually late for work, but there are times when I would like to leave a few minutes later than usual, but yet get to work on time. That was sort of the inspiration for this shot.
Downtown Austin and Paddle Boat
I spent a few minutes on the 1st St bridge getting a shot or two of the Austin skyline and the lake. Here it is... Luckily, I think this one turned out nicely after a night of letting it cook.
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(Also, if you want to check a really good top 10, check out Dave Wilson's here. Blows mine away!)
1929 Duesenberg Model J Bohman & Schwartz Front
Here's another shot I took at Dick's Classic Garage. It is a 1929 Duesenberg Model J Bohman & Schwartz. It is a little different from other "Dueseys" because of the headlights. This one has smaller headlights, but overall it's still a classy looking ride. I really liked the front of it so I tried to capture it on an angle and make it dramatic, or at least a little different. I hope it worked. (Click the photo for a larger view)
Garden of the Gods #2
The National Natural Landmark known as "Garden of the Gods" is a must see on any visit you may make to Colorado. It's full of beautiful sandstone outcroppings and there are plenty of hiking paths and roads to see everything the park has to offer. Located in Manitou Springs just outside of Colorado Springs, its a wonderful place to see nature at its best!
Th shot below shows what you can do with HDR... The light was terrible. I was shooting into the sun and the sky was very hazy at the time. But, with 7 brackets, a little processing with Photomatix and some tweaking with Nik's Color Efex and Viveza, I was able to bring out some of the detail from the haze and the shadows to present something a little more interesting than just the original snapshot. Do you think it was worth it? I would love to hear your thoughts if this looks good, if it looks over done, or if it looks OK. Either way, I can take it! ;-)
Peyton Manning (Oakland v Denver, Sept. 30th, 2012)
Here he is! Peyton Manning! He's one of the big reasons we went to Denver. He's a great quarterback and ever since he's had problems with his neck in recent years, we never really knew if we'd get a chance to see him play. So, when the opportunity arose, we jumped on it. We were even able to score some pretty decent seats... 6th row in one of the end zones! Nice place to see a game and to take a few shots. This one here is one of the better ones I was able to get.
According to things I've read about getting football shots, if you get a face and the ball in the shot, then it should be good. Well most of the shots I got didn't have either. I realized it's not easy to shoot football games, especially from the seats. However, this is one of the few shots that had both a face and the ball in it. It's not the greatest shot in the world because I would've preferred to see Peyton's number 18 as well, but overall it's not too bad. Here, Peyton's throwing the ball to the running back, Lance Ball, number 35, for a touchdown.
The game was an awesome one! Denver won 37 - 6!
Shooting Security on the Aransas Pass Ferry
Last weekend we went to visit friends down in Aransas Pass, TX. They have a boat down there that they invited us to stay on. Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate enough for us to be able to go out on it. t was just too windy. However, that's not to say we didn't get to ride on a boat at all. We took the ferry from Aransas Pass to Port Aransas. It was a short ride, but it was windy as well. The funny thing was, as we started out across the channel, we decided to get out of the car and go to the front of the ferry to watch the dolphins. There was a small pod of them swimming about. Pretty cool! However, the further out into the water we got, the bigger the waves became. They started lapping over the front of the ferry. I and my camera got a little wet on the first one, so I turned around to head back to the car. As soon as I did a bigger wave crashed over the front and soaked my back. Luckily the camera didn't get very wet as my back blocked most of the water. But, my wife Eileen and her friend Sandy decided to stay and they got completely soaked! It was hilarious! Sandy says we got "baptized". I should've tried to get a shot of them at that point, but alas, I wanted to make sure the camera was OK and get out of anymore possible soakings. So, while in the car, the security guy came around to check everything and I thought that would be an opportunity to shoot SOMETHING. I got more of the camera in focus than the security guy, but I still think the shot is kind of interesting. Do you?
Siamese Twins
Hey, I didn't name it! ;-) It may be politically incorrect, but who cares, right? Anyway, this is one of the many different rock formations at the Garden of the Gods. This one is kind of off the beaten path, but I think it is one of the more interesting formations to see there. Also, just behind it lies Pike's Peak way off in the distance. I should've tried to find an angle with both of them in the shot, but I'm happy with this one.
University of Michigan Band At Jerry's World
This it a shot I took a few minutes before Michigan-Alabama game at Cowboys Stadium as the University of Michigan Marching Band was on the field. I took this with my new fisheye lens as you can see. It's pretty fun to play with! It's nice to get a whole panorama interior shot of a sports stadium without having to take 7-8 separate shots and try to blend them together. I did notice that there is a little bit of purple fringing around some of the lights so I guess I'll need to be conscious of that in the future.
Door Ringing at the University of Texas
Below is a picture of Alex Suarez's son that I took during one of Alex's photowalks at the University of Texas.
Cloud Shadows on Mountain Chute
This is an HDR that I converted to a monochrome. I tried to "Ansel Adams" it up a little even though I think he did mostly black and whites. Something about shooting mountains and clouds that just calls for either.
Hyper-drive
Wouldn't it be cool to be able to click a button in your car and move into "hyper-drive" or "warp-drive" to get to work if you were running late? I'm not usually late for work, but there are times when I would like to leave a few minutes later than usual, but yet get to work on time. That was sort of the inspiration for this shot.
Downtown Austin and Paddle Boat
I spent a few minutes on the 1st St bridge getting a shot or two of the Austin skyline and the lake. Here it is... Luckily, I think this one turned out nicely after a night of letting it cook.
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OK, yesterday I put out a pretty bad video. However, this one here is much better. It's a video of someone's house that has been decorated with tons of lights and synced to music. I'm sure you've seen many of these before, but this one seemed better to me. Maybe it's because everything is covered in snow or something. I don't know, but I like it. Hope you do to...
Moon Over Courthouse
Williamson County decorates their courthouse on the square very nicely every year. I have taken a few pics there in the past and last night I decided to get a few more. Unfortunately there were quite a few people roaming the streets so it was a little difficult to get some shots. One cool thing that happened was the moon peeked though the clouds a few times. I thought it helped add to the shot a little...
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OK, yesterday I put out a pretty bad video. However, this one here is much better. It's a video of someone's house that has been decorated with tons of lights and synced to music. I'm sure you've seen many of these before, but this one seemed better to me. Maybe it's because everything is covered in snow or something. I don't know, but I like it. Hope you do to...
Moon Over Courthouse
Williamson County decorates their courthouse on the square very nicely every year. I have taken a few pics there in the past and last night I decided to get a few more. Unfortunately there were quite a few people roaming the streets so it was a little difficult to get some shots. One cool thing that happened was the moon peeked though the clouds a few times. I thought it helped add to the shot a little...
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OK.. Just for the record, I love Christmas! It's the best time of the year! Other than football of course, hehe! :-) But, sometimes the little mischievous/devilish side of life gets to me and that pushes me to put out these little tidbits... Plus someone who shall remain unnamed sent this to me. Again, I love Christmas... Ho, ho ho and all that stuff! God bless us, everyone! With that, watch the video and I hope you have a chuckle! (Sorry Santa, but I bet this guy's last name is Fudd!)
Driskill Bar at Christmas
So I took my own advice and went out to the Driskill Hotel in Austin this past week to get some more up-to-date shots. The original ones I had are three years old so it was time to get new ones. They always do it up nice there. I stopped by on my way to work. Luckily it's not too far off the beaten path for me. This is a shot inside the bar which is just off the main lobby and up half a flight of stairs...
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Well, this is the first post on my little blog since Thanksgiving. Things have been pretty hectic. At work, we've had some crazy issues happening that has caused a bit of overtime. Without boring you with too much of the details, lets just say it's something that happens in the life of a systems administrator, but hope that it never does. I just hope what's happening at work gets better soon.
Another thing going on is that I thought I would give a shot at Windows 8, Microsoft's new operating system for tablets and desktop computers. I loaded it onto my home computer and after two weeks, you know what? I rolled back to Windows 7. I just am not impressed with the "Metro" apps and crap. I understand that it's a new operating system and we should all try to learn to like it. However, don't like having to boot to the crazy screen with the huge tiles and then having to rely on those tiles for certain "apps" such as games and stuff. And then, if you open a game such as Solitaire through those tiles, you have to login to Microsoft just to get them started and then it's a pain to try to close the game out when you are done. I still haven't figured that out. Another thing I like to do at home is sync files across multiple systems for backup. Well, if you want to map a drive to another machine and auto sync files, Windows 8 won't let it happen unless you use the built-in file sync tool which I don't like or you have to actually click on the mapped network drive of where you want to sync files to and then my 3d party file sync tool will work. I know this may not sound like much, but this new operating system just didn't seem like something that should run on a desktop. It's probably great for a tablet, which I do not own, but it seems more in tune for that. Maybe in some time, Microsoft will tweak this more for desktops as more people complain. We'll see.
Driskill Hotel Christmas Card
The shot below has been selected by the Driskill Hotel here in Austin, TX for their 2012 Christmas Card! It's also currently on a portion of their main webpage! I am pretty excited about that! I took this shot about 3 years ago and posted it on flickr, but I don't think I ever posted it here on the blog. Well now I have a reason to! I hope you like it, too! It's getting me psyched up to go back to the Driskill and get some new shots! They really do it up nice there for Christmas and they really have no problem with photographers and their tripods wandering about and shooting! It's great stuff! Thanks, Driskill Hotel! And for any of you photogs out there who follow this blog and come to town, check out the Driskill and shoot it up! You won't be disappointed!
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Happy Thanksgiving to everyone out there who follows my little blog. And for your entertainment, I found this little video that should make people think about what Black Friday could really be if you are not careful!
Wampanoag House Interior
The Wampanoag were the American Indians who met the Pilgrims that arrived in Plymouth, MA, the location where the first Thanksgiving is said to have happened. Now, Plymouth has created a replica of the Wampanoags' as well as the Pilgrims' settlements at the Plimouth Plantation. It is worth a visit if you ever get out there. This is an interior shot of a Wampanoag summer shelter or house. It was more suited for summer than the others that we saw. As you can see walls were made of cattail reeds which helped absorb the humidity and keep out the rain. Apparently it worked quite well. However, their winter shelters were made mostly of bark. The benches you see here would be where the adults would sleep. They would put down animal skins and other things to make their beds more comfortable. The kids then slept on the floor. Very interesting stuff. Plan a visit there if you ever go! You won't be disappointed!
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Everyone here in Austin, TX are getting pretty excited. The new Circuit of the Americas F1 race course is now open and will be hosting its inaugural Formula 1 race. If I'm not mistaken, event organizers expect upwards of 300,000 people to arrive from all parts of the world for all of the festivities. We'll see how that bears out, but that's quite a few people. What am I doing this weekend as if anyone cares? I'm staying as far away from this as humanly possible. The roads are expected to be horrendous, which means staying home and enjoying college and pro football on TV- American football that is - sounds like a much better option. I'm not knocking those who want to go to the race, but I'm not up to all of the fighting it takes to get to and from the event. Especially an inaugural one! Let's get the kinks get ironed out on this one and then maybe a subsequent one will be more attractive.
Marlboro Ferraris
So, in honor of the race this weekend, I thought I'd post another shot of a couple of Ferraris that were on display during the Formula 1 Expo held at the Austin Convention Center earlier this year. Anyone know why Ferraris are also painted other colors than red? See, doesn't red just GO with Ferrari? I've seen others painted black, yellow, white, etc., but red is just perfect. When I get my Ferrari, it will defintely be red. Of course, that will be in another lifetime, but red it will be! ;-)
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If you have a little time, check out the other photography blogs I have linked up on the right side of this page. There are some really outstanding ones out there. However, one of them is getting ready to shut down.. It's the Airstream Chronicles by Rich Charpentier. I met Rich on a trip to Prescott, AZ a few years ago. He is a fellow HDR and portrait photographer who has come to the realization that he cannot survive on photography alone. It's a shame, but it's the times we live in, I guess.
Another Day, Another Dollar
Here is something a little bit different.. I took this shot outside of Union Station in Denver. There is a lot of work going on there to refurbish the place. I'll bet it will be great when they are completed.
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I don't like to get political with my little blog here, but since last night was such a huge night in the democratic process of this great experiment known as the United States of America, I thought I would just put my two cents in. Last night America spoke and we have re-elected our current president. The system worked and now we'll have to see where it leads. The right to vote is a valuable thing and exercising that right is what this is all about. If the outcome is what you wanted, congratulations. If it is not, better luck next time. Either way, I hope you voted. Otherwise, you really have no say. Now that it is over, we must pray for our president and more importantly, we must pray for our country.
Moon Balloon
Today's photo is in the same vein as the last few I have posted. While the previous ones were of hot air balloons as they were being raised, this is one that is actually in the air! I captured this shot on the way to Estes Park from Denver last month. I really liked how it floated in the sky with the moon by it's side.
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If any of you are just dying to get the latest and greatest from my blog when I post something, just sign up to the right of this post where it says "Follow By Email" and you will get an alert whenever something new pops up here! Thanks for following along!
More Fiery Balloon Shots
Here are a couple more balloon shots I took from the Georgetown Airfest this past weekend. I really enjoyed watching the balloons inflate. They brought out the little kid in me! Nothing better that those burners shooting flames and making that loud whooshing noise when they light up!
Forgive these shots a little for they have a bit of noise in them. It was still relatively dark and foggy when I took them so I had the ISO cranked up a bit. But overall, I still like them. I hope you do to!
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You may not think so, but this is an HDR composed of 7 brackets. I tried to process it to keep it as realistic looking as possible.
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I have a couple more shots of the Twins from different perspectives that I'll have to put out some other time. I'll probably save those for some time when I'm out of fresh material. ;-)
As always, I hope you enjoy the shot and come again!
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Hope you enjoy the shot and thanks for stopping by!
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This is an HDR that I converted to a monochrome. I tried to "Ansel Adams" it up a little even though I think he did mostly black and whites. Something about shooting mountains and clouds that just calls for either.
I hope you enjoy it and thanks for dropping by!
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I must say that the camera rules for the Broncos' stadium is pretty good. They don't really care what you bring in as long as is doesn't interfere with other fans' enjoyment of the game. I actually emailed them about what I wanted to bring which was my Nikon D300s, my all-purpose 18-200mm and my 10.5mm fisheye lenses and they wrote back and said (I'm paraphrasing), "No worries". I think if you even had the equivalent of an 18-300 for DX (APS-C sensors) cameras anyway, they wouldn't have any issues with that and you could get great shots from anywhere in the stadium. Just don't bring a tripod or monopod. Again if you aren't sure, just contact them. They are good about getting back to you. Also, you can't use the shots for any commercial purposes. You know, you need the "expressed written consent.." and all of that other stuff...
The shot below is a one shot HDR that was processed using Nik's HDR Efex 2. It really brought out the detail in everything. Even the flames shooting up from above the scoreboard at the other end of the stadium came out pretty well!
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Th shot below shows what you can do with HDR... The light was terrible. I was shooting into the sun and the sky was very hazy at the time. But, with 7 brackets, a little processing with Photomatix and some tweaking with Nik's Color Efex and Viveza, I was able to bring out some of the detail from the haze and the shadows to present something a little more interesting than just the original snapshot. Do you think it was worth it? I would love to hear your thoughts if this looks good, if it looks over done, or if it looks OK. Either way, I can take it! ;-)
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by!
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The pictures below are of the two best players in baseball right now. Justin Verlander, the guy throwing, is last year's AL Cy Young winner (for the best pitcher in the league), Most Valuable Player, and won the AL pitching triple crown; lowest ERA at 2.40, 24 wins and 250 strikeouts! Awesome! This year he's in line to win his second AL Cy Young award. He has a ton of other awards including the 2006 AL Rookie of the Year, the ERA title in 2007 and many others. He also has two no-hitters to his credit! The Tigers need to keep him forever!
The other guy pictured is Miguel Cabrera. He is this year's batting triple crown winner and will probably be the AL Most Valuable Player! No one has won the batting triple crown since Carl Yastrzemski in 1967. There were only 13 others to win it including Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams and Lou Gehrig. Pretty good company wouldn't you say?
These are two great players and it's hard to imagine they are on the same team, plus it's my favorite team to boot! Let's just hope they can win the World Series! Detroit Lions, are you watching?
About the pictures... I took these prior to the Tigers v Texas Rangers game on August 11th at Rangers Stadium in Arlington, TX. Unfortunately, the Tigers lost 2-1 in the bottom of the 9th, but Verlander pitched a great game even though they lost. Anyway, who's in the series now, Texas? ;-)
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Here's a little more about the hotel from their website:
"When precisely the strange events began happening at the Stanley Hotel has never been documented, but interesting occurrences are a part of the history of this beautiful hotel.
Miss Elizabeth Wilson was the chief housekeeper at the Stanley Hotel in its very early days. On the evening of June 25, 1911, during a storm, she was involved in an explosion that took place as she was lighting the acetylene lanterns that were the back-up system for the hotel’s electricity. Miss Wilson was shot down in the explosion from what is now Room 217 to the floor of the MacGregor Room. She was not killed, but her ankles were broken. From the 1950’s on, it has been reported that she might take special care of people that stay in 217. Sometimes guests staying that room encounter extra housekeeping services, including having their things put away or unpacked.
All of the rooms in the hotel have had out-of-the-ordinary experiences reported, including having items moved from place to place, as well as lights turning on and off. If you stay on the fourth floor, you just might get to hear the children of long ago running up and down the halls, laughing and giggling. Sometimes guest will be tucked-in at night, as that was the duty for the nannies to perform for the young children.
(The founders) F.O. and Flora Stanley are said to still spend time at the hotel. It is not unusual for guests and staff to catch a glimpse of F.O. walking the lobby, or hear Flora still playing her beloved piano in the Music Room. Remember, they loved and took pleasure from the hotel, and maybe they still do!"
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So, as I was saying, part of the NFL pageantry includes the cheerleaders. Most teams have them. The most famous are probably the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. However, there are some NFL teams that don't have cheerleaders, including the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Greenbay Packers (boo!!) and my very own Detroit Lions. I don't think there's anything wrong with having professional cheerleaders, but there's also something kind of special about not having them. What I mean by that is technically the Lions don't have "Lions" cheerleaders per se, but they usually have local high school cheerleaders come out to support the team. That has a nice hometown feel to it, don't you think? So I guess the Lions really do have cheerleaders, but it's so much more innocent and special. On the other hand, I kind of wish they had regular cheerleaders, because in some weird way I think that that would make them more a part of the NFL and maybe they would get better. Yes, that doesn't make sense, especially when you look at the Pittsburgh Steelers - the team with the most NFL championships and yet still have no cheerleaders - along with the hated Packers with their storied history.
Well anyway, you have to admit, pro cheerleaders add a certain "glamor" to the teams as you can see here. The Broncos Cheerleaders are certainly glamorous and can put on a show! I think I just got pretty lucky in the fact that I was able to catch them at the apex of one of their high-kicks! Can't beat it, can you?!
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We were very lucky to be able to drive up to Pike's Peak. We tried to go up in mid-morning or so, but when we got to the base, they had the road to the top closed due to fog and ice. So, we went over to the Garden of the Gods and spent some time there while we waited for the peak to clear up. Luckily from the Garden, you can see Pike's Peak. Around 1:00pm or so, it cleared and we were able to drive up. The drive up is a little scary, but fun at the same time. Great views, but if you suffer from a little vertigo, it could be a little nerve racking. Many places have no guard rails and there really are no shoulders once you are up beyond the tree-lines. The drop-offs are steep so it can make your stomach quiver a little. However, if you just keep your eye on the road, it's not too big of a deal, at least for the driver. The passenger on the other hand gets the curbside view!
This shot was taken behind the gift shop looking down towards Manitou Springs. As I said, it has great views, but as you can see from the snow on the ground, it was a bit nippy. Bring a jacket if you decide to go!
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It turns out that it's pretty easy. A fellow photographer that I meant while taking pictures at the San Jose Mission in San Antonio a few months back showed my how he does it. I wish I got his name, but I didn't. Anyway, here's what you do (this is mainly for Nikons, but I bet Canons can do something similar if you check out your manual):
1. Make sure you have a gray card or a gray piece of material, something that you can take a picture of that's gray. Whatever it is, as long as it's gray, you're golden (bad pun intended). Currently I have a gray microfiber cloth that came with my Ray Ban sunglasses that works quite well.
2. Set your white balance to "PRE" on your camera. Hold the WB button down until "PRE" starts flashing. When flashing, take a picture of your gray card or whatever you have that's gray. Make sure it fills the frame.
3. If the camera gets a good shot of the card (it doesn't have to be in focus), the display will flash "Good". If it flashes "no Gd", try step 2 again until you get a "good" result.
4. Change your WB setting to "d-0" and you should be good to go. Now you have a perfect WB setting for the light you will be shooting!
Easy-perfect white balance! That's what I like! Something to remember though; anytime you want to measure a new WB setting using the steps outlined above, it will always save to d-0. So any previous setting in d-0 will get overwritten. If you want to save what's in d-0, in the WB menu, go to "Preset Manual" and press the right arrow. Then, select a destination between d-1 and d-4, highlight "Copy d-0" and press "OK". Now to use the the WB that you saved, change the setting to d-1 or d-2, etc.. wherever you saved it.
Why I don't do this more is beyond me. Well, maybe not. Either I'm in too much of a hurry or I'm lazy. I like to think it's the previous, but it's really probably the latter.
That should do it. Try it! Take a picture with your camera set to "Auto" WB and then take a picture using this trick. It really made a difference for me. If you do, would you mind letting me know if it helped you?
Hope this helps and thanks for visiting!]]>
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According to things I've read about getting football shots, if you get a face and the ball in the shot, then it should be good. Well most of the shots I got didn't have either. I realized it's not easy to shoot football games, especially from the seats. However, this is one of the few shots that had both a face and the ball in it. It's not the greatest shot in the world because I would've preferred to see Peyton's number 18 as well, but overall it's not too bad. Here, Peyton's throwing the ball to the running back, Lance Ball, number 35, for a touchdown.
The game was an awesome one! Denver won 37 - 6!
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While we were there we went out to Estes Park and grabbed a sightseeing tour on the "Top of the World Tour" through a company called "Rocky Mountain Rush". It was unbelievable! We drove up Fall River Road - in a 16 passenger Toyota Landcruiser - which is a one way gravel road that takes you from the bottom of the park up to 11,796 ft to the Alpine Visitors Center. The road on the way up was a little scary as there were no guard rails protecting you from falling off the side of the road thousands of feet straight down and there were times you thought maybe the back wheels may slip off the side while turning through the switchbacks. However, we had total confidence in our guide, John, who was just the right guy for the job. He got us up the mountain and was a wealth of information when it comes to the local habitat and how it all works together.
We stopped at the Alpine Visitors Center and took in the gorgeous view of which you see here. The terrain we were in was called the "tundra". I didn't really know this, but according to John, tundra is the name of a type of fragile ecosystem that resides above the treeline and it is made up of grasses and a variety of wildlife. So, the more barren grassy portions you see here is the tundra. Then below where the trees are is an ecosystem called "alpine". And, the further down you go in the treeline, you hit another ecosystem called the "sub-alpine". I always thought those names were more descriptions than actual names of ecosystems. You learn something new all the time!
Anyway, back to this shot. As nice as this turned out, it doesn't do justice to what we saw. It was just an amazing view. As far as the shot goes, this is made up of 8 separate shots taken in portrait orientation with my Nikon D300s with my Nikkor 18-200 lens at 18mm and then merged together in Photoshop CS6 to make up this panorama. I then did a single image tone-mapping using the Graduated 1 landscape setting in Nik's HDR Efex 2. After that I just did a little bit of noise reduction on the sky and some sharpening on the rest. I also put a little Darken/Lighten Center filter in from Nik Color Efex 3. Really not much to it. I hope you enjoy it. Speaking of which, the next several shots I'll be posting here will be from our trip to CO, so stay tuned! Thanks for dropping by!
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O X O Companion (Looking Thru)
Today's shot is a companion to my previous post of an old-timey car that I shot while out at the Kingsbury Aerodrome. I tried to give it a similar treatment to the other. How do you like it?
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I tried to give it a little different look by muting the colors a little bit using Nik Color Efex and Viveza. I used the duplex filter in Color Efex and I used the control points in Viveza to desaturate the clouds in the sky as well as the grass. I kinda like how it turned out. Let me know if you do too, or even if you don't. I would just like your opinion.
Thanks for dropping by!
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I hope you enjoy the shot and thanks for dropping by.
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I took these at Dick's Classic Garage early this year. They are shots of the "Tucker" automobile. It's a pretty cool car, one that was ahead of its time, but could not survive with the likes of GM, Ford and Chrysler back in the late '40s. There's even a movie about it starring Jeff Bridges called "Tucker". It's a pretty good movie.
The following is from the Official Tucker Club of America's website:
"Preston Tucker was a car-crazy kid who hung around auto speedways and grew up to create an automobile--the Tucker--that was years ahead of its time. He was a man of pioneering spirit, ingenuity and daring, who revolutionized Detroit in the 1940s with his stunning "Car of Tomorrow." It was streamlined, futuristic and fast--the car every American dreamed of owning, at a price most people could afford. A man of endless enthusiasm, Tucker publicized his model all over the country to wild acclaim. He sold stock, set up a factory . . . and then the auto industry launched a devastating anti-Tucker campaign."
We all spent the whole weekend in Dallas, went to the game, visited and in general had an awesome time! We even met some new friends! The bad part was that Michigan got their @$$3$ handed to them in a 41-14 loss. It was awful. I was a little nervous for my boys in blue leading up to this game and unfortunately my fears came true. I guess that's part of the rebuilding process. They are still trying to get over the terrible "Rich Rod" years; the head coach that took the "Michigan" out of Michigan football. Now that Brady Hoke is the head coach as of last year, he's slowly getting them back to prominence. However, Alabama is pretty tough and it would be hard for anyone to beat them this year, as it looks. Oh well, like I said, it was a fun weekend anyway, especially since we were able to visit with family and friends.
This it a shot I took a few minutes before gametime as the University of Michigan Marching Band was on the field. I took this with my new fisheye lens as you can see. It's pretty fun to play with! It's nice to get a whole panorama interior shot of a sports stadium without having to take 7-8 separate shots and try to blend them together. I did notice that there is a little bit of purple fringing around some of the lights so I guess I'll need to be conscious of that in the future. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the shot and thanks for dropping by.
Update: I decided to try and remove the bad purple fringing around the lights on the opposite side of the field. I think I got most of it. If you have the right software, it can really be easy to do. I opened it up with Nik's Viveza, put a control point on the offending color, desaturated it and then brushed it in. Super easy! I love that Viveza! You can now see the result! I must say, it's not real obvious here, but if you roll your mouse over the picture, you will see the purple fringing on the lights that are across the field. Believe me, it was originally pretty bad. I just had to clean it up!
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I like this new fisheye lens for two reasons... It's slightly wider than the wide angle lens I have and it has some great funky distortion for a little different look. It's a nice little change of pace.
So, these two shots are in the portion of the Capitol called the "Capitol Extension". It's an underground portion of the complex that extends north and houses shops and offices. It also has some cool architecture. And I think it looks cool through the new lens.
Enjoy and thanks for dropping by!
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I liked this shot because it has this guy on a snowboard who looks as though he's thinking, "Should I go straight down this steep part right in front of me or should I take the long way like everyone else?" Not sure what he did, but since I had a bunch of camera gear with me, I took the long way. ;-)
Hope you like the shot and thanks for dropping by! Oh and with this heat were having this summer, as my favorite band Van Halen might say, "Stay frosty!"
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This means fall is right around the corner, cool weather is coming and we get to fulfill another check-mark on our bucket list! You see, our bucket list consists of seeing a football game in every NFL stadium. This year it's Sports Authority Field at Mile High in Denver to see the Broncos. Can't wait! The main reason we're going there this year is because Peyton Manning now plays for the Broncos. I guess he's all grown up now. Because that's what colts do, right? They grow up to be bucking broncos, yes? I know, it's a bad joke, but I can never come up with good ones. Anyway, it seems he's healthy this year and we can't wait to see him! Should be fun. And speaking of bucket lists, do you have one? If you do, what's on it? I'd love to hear what others would like to do during their lifetimes!
The shot below is from a pre-season football game we went to a while back where the Baltimore Ravens played the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, PA. It was fun even if it was pre-season. This shot I used my Sony DSC-HX9V and took about 7 shots in the portrait orientation from one end of the stadium to the other trying to carefully overlap each one by about 20% or so. Then I stitched them together in Photoshop CS5 and added a little more color to the sky with Nik Color Efex. It turned out pretty cool I think. However, if you look closely, some peoples' heads and seats got chopped up due to the stitching process in Photoshop. I guess it doesn't totally work every time, but I like the overall result.
I hope you do, too and thanks for dropping by!
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I had taken this during our ski trip to Whistler, British Columbia a couple of years ago. I was up on the mountain taking some shots that required my remote trigger cord and as I was walking around setting up for various shots (that you can see here if you wish), I accidentally fired off a few with the camera hanging around my neck. This is one of the accidents. I thought it turned out pretty nice! I did a little tweaking on the colors and saturation as well as cropped it a little.
I also thought of this shot because we are planning a ski trip for this winter to Jackson Hole, WY! So, my juices are flowing and I'm getting revved up about hitting the slopes! And also of getting some new shots in the Grand Tetons mountain range! It's gonna be great!
So if you are dreading the upcoming month of August much like I am, try to think cool and it might get over with quickly! At least that's what I'm hoping for!
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the shot and thanks for dropping by!
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All of this heat reminded me of a picture I took last year when Eileen and I went to Cape Cod, MA. In Provincetown, I saw these boats sitting on the beach and it made me wonder how they got there.. Did they have a hurricane which washed them up there? Did the owners put them there for some reason? Or, like here in Texas, did the water dry up and land-lock them? I doubt the answers to any of these questions are, "Yes", but it would be interesting to find out why there are there. Anyway, it's something to ponder.
As far as processing goes, I used Nik's HDR Efex 2 with the defaults and then I did a little manipulation with Nik's Color Efex... I used a little bit of the pro contrast filter, the darken/lighten center filter, the graduated neutral density filter and little white neutralizer filter on the boat on the right. I also used Nik's Viveza. I used a control point on the clouds in the horizon to add a little structure and make them pop out a little more. Gotta love the U-point technology!
Let me know what you think and thanks for dropping by!
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Here is some more info about the Hall from the Independence Hall website:
Constructed between 1732 and 1756 as the State House of the Province of Pennsylvania, it is considered a fine example of Georgian architecture. From 1775 to 1783 (except for the winter of 1777 - 1778 when Philadelphia was occupied by the British Army) this was the meeting place for the Second Continental Congress. It was in the Assembly Room of this building that George Washington was appointed commander in chief of the Continental Army in 1775 and the Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, 1776. In the same room the design of the American flag was agreed upon in 1777, the Articles of Confederation were adopted in 1781, and the U. S. Constitution was drafted in 1787. The building, inside and out, has been restored whenever possible to its original late-18th century appearance. Most of the furnishing are period pieces. The "rising sun" chair used by George Washington as he presided over the Constitutional Convention is original.
I don't have much more to say other than have a great 4th of July holiday, enjoy the fireworks, don't eat too much bbq and take care! Thanks for dropping by!
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The camera I used for this was my little Sony DSC-HX9V compact point and shoot. It has a built-in Panorama mode that makes taking these shots a snap. They turn out pretty good also. However, the shots come out VERY wide and NOT VERY tall because you can only do these shots with a landscape orientation. That's what panorama's are supposed to be, right? But, I like my panos to be a little taller to capture more in the shot. They usually end up with a fish-eye effect. So, instead of letting the camera do the work, I flip it to a portrait orientation and take several shots, being careful to make sure each one overlaps a little bit. Then I stitch them together in Photoshop's "Bridge" using the Tools | Photomerge function and taking the defaults after that. Wa-la! It's a little more work, but I like the results a lot better. Click here if you would like to check out some of my other panos. (Sung to Van Halen's "Panama") "Pan-o-ram, dun duhhh, dun-deh-dunn, Pan-o-rama!!" Yeah, that's bad.. I know...]]>
My favorite rock band in the world, Van Halen (along with special guests "Kool and the Gang"), played at the very hot AT&T Center in San Antonio on Friday, June 22nd. I couldn't wait to go for a couple of reasons... As I stated before, they are my favorite band and the other reason is that the band does not mind at all if you want to bring a camera. As a matter of fact, David Lee Roth stated in a video on their website that, "If you can carry it in, you can bring it!" However, the AT&T Center has a policy that cameras with detachable lenses are not allowed. Otherwise, they have no problem either. I brought along my little Sony P&S, but a new ILC with an APS-C sensor and a decent zoom would've been perfect. You could stuff those into the pockets of some cargo shorts and you could get some awesome shots, even if it is a detachable lens camera. You see, security didn't frisk for a change, so it would've worked. But my little camera did a pretty good job, so those are the shots you see here; straight from the camera no less, with no post-processing other than either cropping or lens corrections. Give it try sometime! I also want to pass along my thoughts of the show as well. So here we go!
It was a typical VH show in that all of the guitar virtuosity of Eddie along with the showmanship of Diamond Dave were on display just as the rock gods intended! VH didn't have the pyrotechnics one would see at say a KISS concert, but those weren't needed. Their talent provided all the fireworks and man, were there fireworks!
The crowd got warmed up with a raucous performance by opening act, "Kool and the Gang". I originally thought that was a weird pick as the opening act for a huge rock and roll band, but "the Gang" really got the party started. Not knowing many of their songs, I really had no idea what they opened up with. I'm guessing it was some pretty new stuff. It had a great beat and watching about 10 or so guys on stage grooving and dancing was pretty fun. The crowd sort of liked it a bit, but I got the feeling they were just trying to be polite. Then, as the lead singer said, they went "back to the '70s" and busted out some old hits such as "Ladies Night", "Get Down On It", "Jungle Boogie" and ended with the crowd favorite, "Celebration". I was skeptical when it started, but at the end of their set the whole venue was jamming with them! Those guys can put on a show! It turned out to be a great idea having those guys open and I'm glad I saw them!
After a quick removal of "the Gang's"stuff from the stage, it was Van Halen's time. Back when I saw them in the 1980's, there would be a PA announcer that would introduce the band by screaming, "Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome THE MIGHTY... VAN HALEN!" I was ready for that announcement this time! Instead, the lights dimmed, the crowd roared and Alex Van Halen took his seat behind the drums and fired away with a machine gun-like assault of epic proportions! Then we heard a high-pitched squeal and some rapid fire notes coming from Eddie Van Halen's guitar as he, lead singer David Lee Roth and Eddie's son Wolfgang Van Halen took to the stage. It wasn't the same intro as I remember, but it was awesome in its own way. After about 30 seconds, they jumped into perhaps the best opening song they have in their catalog with "Unchained!"
The show just got better from there. After "Unchained", the boys played "Running With the Devil" with Wolfgang banging out the opening notes while standing on the riser to the left of the drums. This is something that the previous bass player, Michael Anthony used to do with his teeth, but to be honest, I didn't miss that. Wolfie did a great job filling Anthony's shoes throughout the whole show that dare I say, I think he's a better player at the age of 21 than Anthony is in his 50s. I guess the music gene is well ingrained in this next generation of Van Halen.
After "Devil", they played a song called "She's the Woman" off their new album, "A Different Kind of Truth". It's a good song, one that you can tell was written in their heyday, but to me isn't the best one from that album. However, it was still fun to watch them play it! During the night they played three other songs from the new album as well; "Chinatown", "Tattoo" and "The Trouble With Never". I must say, I like them all OK, but if they would've played "As Is", "Outta Space" or "Stay Frosty", I would've been ecstatic. Oh well, can't have everything. They are probably saving those for the next leg of the tour.
The rest of the setlist included stuff from the first six studio albums with Roth, thank God! No Hagar material on this tour! Whew! The other songs that they played were as follows, but in not any particular order:
Pretty Woman
You Really Got Me
And the Cradle Will Rock
Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
Hear About it Later
Everybody Wants Some
I'll Wait
Hot for Teacher
Panama
Jump
Women In Love
Beautiful Girls
Ice Cream Man
Romeo Delight
Somebody Get me a Doctor
Dance the Night Away
At least those are the ones that I can remember for sure. You know, at my age, if I don't write stuff down, I might lose it after a night of sleep!
As good as the band members are when they play together, each of them other than Wolfie had his own moment in the spotlight. The first was the drum solo by Alex. He showed that he's as good a rock drummer as any out there. Not necessarily better than some, but as good as for sure. And it really wasn't a typical solo because he played with some jazz-like accompaniment. His solo was good and it was quick. It only lasted maybe 3 or 4 minutes. One thing that always cracks me up about drum solos, no matter who the band is, when they start, there's always a mass exodus for the bathrooms. This solo was no exception. Kind of funny to see that. Better to miss some drumming than a certain song, I guess.
Then there's Dave!
The next "solo" was by lead singer, David Lee Roth. He plays the acoustic guitar during the opening bit of "Ice Cream Man". Before this song, Dave came out with a guitar while the massive video screen behind the stage showed some black and white clips of Dave with his two herding dogs, Mike and Bennie. At least I think that's what he said their names were. Anyway, he spoke about going to different shepherding competitions and the logistics of those. He also spouted off some great one-liners.. One was, "Nothing like two dogs in a pickup to get that new car smell out!" That cracked me up! They then rocked into "Ice Cream Man"! Fantastic!
Speaking of one-liners, during one point in the show, Dave gave Wolfgang a little advice about women. While gearing up to play "Everybody Wants Some", Dave said to Wolf not to do what he did when he was in San Antonio a long time ago. He said he had a girlfriend named Evelyn. One night when he took her to dinner, "I meant to say to her, 'Honey, please pass the salsa', but what I accidentally said was, 'Bitch, you f***ed my whole life up!'" He brought the house down with that and I was rolling! Wolf was laughing and so was Eddie! It was hilarious! Check it out... Dave even said that was "the first time he introduced a song properly" on this tour. Usually one can't believe Dave when he says these kinds of things because he has a certain schtick for every show, such as forgetting the words and so on. But, I believed him this time! It was great!
Finally it was time for Eddie's guitar solo. Prior to this tour, Eddie used to drink before every show. It helped him get over stage fright. He recently said it started when he was 12 years old when he asked his dad what to do to get over feeling nervous before going onstage. His dad gave him a shot of vodka and the rest is history. Well, this tour is the first one he's doing totally sober. And, it showed in his playing, especially his solo. He practically burned up his guitar with his "patented" two-hand tapping technique, a flawless version of "Cathedral" and the crowd favorite, "Eruption." I think he is faster on the guitar now in his late 50s than he was in his 20s. I guess that's what alcohol will do. Also, when it came time for Eddie's solo, the arena seemed like it was 90 degrees in there. My wife and I and probably the rest of the crowd were burning up. However, we didn't mind and it didn't look like it affected Eddie during his solo or the rest of the band during the show. Thank goodness!
After Eddie's solo, the band went into one of my all time favorites, "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love". This song is just meant to be played live, from the guitar intro to the main riff and to the crowd-rousing "Hey, Hey, Hey's" just before the coda, you just can't beat it!
The last song they've typically played during this tour has been "Jump" and that was no exception during this show. "Jump" is not a big fave of mine, so we left when it started to beat the traffic. I was OK with that. I don't know if they played anymore after that, but I highly doubt it! I saw everything I wanted to see!
I saw Alex Van Halen tear up the drums and hold his own as one of the most solid drummers in rock history. I saw a new up and coming/very talented bass player in Wolfgang Van Halen, who from what I understand can play other instruments just as well. I saw Diamond David Lee Roth strut up and down the stage with his cock-of the-walk assured-ness that just commands the stage as well as all of his dance moves, kicks and comic one liners that should keep his reputation as "Entertainer-In-Chief" of all of Rock and Roll (I made that up :-)) totally secure, even if he can't quite sing songs live like he does in the studio. And lastly, I saw probably the most innovative guitarist in rock and roll history since Jimi Hendrix play better than he's played in decades. And sober!
It's been 28 years since I've seen this line-up and I can't believe it's over. If there were any lingering issues between Dave and the rest of the band that broke them up 28 years ago, I could not see it on this night. I hope it lasts and I hope they keep entertaining me and all of the other fans out there for years to come! Now I can't wait for the 4th of July although Van Halen should be the the show on the National Mall along with a little fireworks show. But, rumor has it that they will be the halftime show at the Super Bowl. We'll see!
One final thought I want to pass along to all of you has to do with my wife Eileen.. She really didn't want to go to this show, but because she knew I wanted to go so badly, decided to go with me! She is the best thing that ever happened to me and I'm so lucky to have her. Thanks for coming along honey and I hope you enjoyed yourself a little bit! I love you!
Update: I just read from the write-up at http://www.examiner.com/review/van-halen-kool-the-gang-celebrate-a-different-kind-of-truth that the reason it was so hot in there was that the air conditioning malfunctioned during "Kool and the Gang's" set. No wonder! I thought it was Eddie's playing! ;-)
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I must say one thing about this particular engine, however... It was in a white Ferrari on display at the show and I've got to say, it looked like some sort of hatchback or something. I don't know the model of it, but I can't say it had that classic Ferrari look to it. Oh, I'd take it if someone gave it to me, but not sure I'd buy it if at all possible..
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the shot and thanks for dropping by...
UPDATE: I just found out from looking at Top Gear's 50 Shades of Grey page that this is from a Ferrari FF. Kind of a goofy-looking car for a Ferrari, wouldn't you say? I'd still take one though if it was given to me! :-D]]>
I've seen some of Dave's auto detail work in the past and thought while I was at the Expo, I would try my hand at it. It didn't work out too well for me. I got a couple here and there, but I think this shot of a Ferrari's brake caliper as seen through its wheel was about as good as I could do. I would love to go back and try some more but alas, the Expo is over. Well, I'm sure there will be other opportunities.
Until then, I would love to see your thoughts and thanks for dropping by!
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So, seeing this car at the Formula 1 Expo at the Austin Convention Center brought back a lot of memories. I don't know if it's the same car I saw, but it is from that era. I also just noticed that it has the name "Mario" near the roll bar. After a little Googling, apparently this is a 1979 Lotus that Mario Andretti drove. Maybe that's why I liked it! Anyway, I just had to get a shot of it! Now, to find a new jacket...
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These cars are displayed at the Formula 1 Expo that took place at the Austin Convention Center here in Austin, TX. You see, in November, Austin will host a Formula 1 race at the new "Circuit of the Americas", the only Formula 1 or "F1" track in the States! It's pretty cool, I think. There will be Ferraris, Lambourghinis, Lotuses, McLarens and all sorts of other cars competing in the race. And to inaugurate the event, Austin held what they called the Formula 1 Expo this past weekend. There were all kinds of F1 race cars on display as well as production cars that the makers I mentioned previously displayed as part of the event. It was really cool to see all of those great European cars. Americans make great cars, but the Europeans have a certain design and class that really stands out.
F1 racing holds a special place in my heart as well. You see, today is Father's Day and one of the great memories I have of my Dad is that he took my brothers and I down to Detroit back in the early '80s to see an F1 race though the streets of Detroit. It was awesome seeing those cars go so fast through downtown! Plus, seeing the exotic teams such as John Player Special, Marlboro and others was totally awesome! Little did I know that those were cigarette makers, but I digress (I knew Marlboro was, but not JPS, hehe)... So, seeing the F1 Expo brought back a lot of memories, especially of my Dad, who's no longer with us. He's in a better place now, and he's always in my heart. I will never forget those days in Detroit or the other memories of the great man I call Dad.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the shot and thanks for dropping by!
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Sorry, no pic for today, but I will probably have one up sometime this weekend! Thanks for dropping by!]]>
Dammit... Just when I thought I had things figured out on what to spend my money on, Nikon goes and does this. They just came out with a new Nikon AF-S Nikkor DX 18-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR Lens today for their DX (cropped sensor) DSLRs. I've been wanting to get something that could reach out to 300mm, but I was thinking of getting a 28-300 FX lens in case I ever decide to go full frame someday. I've also been thinking of saving for a new mirrorless camera and even a Canon S95 or S100 compact because of it's size and versatility for certain situations. Crap! Now I also hear that Nikon may be coming out with a new DX camera that could have up to 24 MP! Well, I guess I'll just hold onto my money and see how all this unfolds. Sheesh!
Mission San Jose Exterior
Today's photo has been pulled from the massive vault inside the Evan's Expo compound and dusted off for your perusal. This is a shot I took back in 2010 at Mission San Jose in San Antonio. It's a great place to shoot if you ever get a chance to go down there. However, it's usually full of people so I'm not sure when the best time to go is. I just got lucky with this shot because most people were either in the church or wandering about elsewhere.
You can click here to see more of my Mission San Jose shots if you wish.
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I hope you enjoy the shots below and thanks for dropping by. I may post a few more sometime, so stay tuned!
Oh and to see the results Mike and Andy got from the walks, click the links below:
Andy's black and whites from UT
Mike's black and whites from UT
PS. The last shot below is obviously not a total black and white as I took some liberties with selective color of the door. Red doors are cool and I just wanted to emphasize it a little...
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As far as the picture goes, I took a few liberties with it. It's an HDR of course (speaking of which, you should read my friend Dave Wilson's article entitled "Why HDR Sucks". Awesome read...), and I tried to subdue some of the colors and fade it a little bit using various presets in Nik's Color Efex to give it a slightly dated/old look. I also added a vignette to draw your eye to the aircraft. Hope it worked. Let me know what you think!
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As far as the photo goes, it's just a single raw converted in Adobe Camera Raw with a little bit of Nik's Color Efex treatments. I used a graduated ND filter effect to darken the upper portion of the sky and then I used the Duplex filter on the grass to make it look a little less yellow.
How does it look to you?
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Enjoy the shot and thanks for dropping by. (Click the shot for a larger view)
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Let me know what you think and thanks for dropping by. (Click the shot for a larger version.)
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You can click on the picture below for a larger version of the shot and you can click here for the color version.
Thanks for dropping by!
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I hope you enjoy the image and thanks for dropping by. (Click on the picture for a larger view.)
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I guess that's about it. Thanks for dropping by and any comment is welcome!
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Hope you enjoy the shots and thanks for visiting!
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One cool effect that seems to be getting more and more popular is the "miniaturization" effect you can get from tilt-shift lenses. The effect can make subjects such as landscapes or cityscapes taken from above look as though they are much smaller, like you were looking at say, a miniature mock-up of a city on a table. Kind of like if you had a toy train set and took a picture of it with your aperture wide open. It's an effect I've been wanting to get for a long time. As a matter of fact, the new Canon PowerShot S100 has this effect built-in. It's a camera I've been looking at for a while now and that I would like to get. I could use it as an addition to my Sony DSC-HX9V (longer zoom than the S100) and as a backup to my Nikon D300s due to the S100's many controls such as aperture and shutter priorities, raw file capture and many other effects. Ah, I can keep dreaming. Anyway, until that time comes, I wondered if there was a way to get the miniaturization effect in Photoshop. After a bit of research and tinkering, I have found out how to do it. It's not too hard, but you do need to know your way around Photoshop a little bit.
First, pick a shot that would work for you. I selected this shot from the Empire State Building because it's really the only one I have shot from a high level that would work.
Open it up in Photoshop and click the letter "Q" for the Quick Mask.
After you select the "Gradient Tool", go the the toolbar just below the menu bar and select the "Reflected Gradient" as seen below:
Now, here is where you select the area that you want to keep in focus. At this point your cursor should look like a little pointer or dot on the screen. Select the point you wish to be in focus and draw a line straight up. I picked the "Flatiron Building" in the middle of the shot below. It's kind of hard to see, but the line is there.
After the line is drawn, you should see an area in the middle of your photo shaded in red as seen below:
Now, hit the "Q" key again to get you to selection mode and you should see two boxes of "marching ants" as seen below:
Go to Filter | Blur | Lens Blur so you get the Lens Blur window. Start playing with the sliders until you get the effect you want. I basically took the Radius slider and raised it from 15 to about 37. That's all I fussed with and then I hit the "OK" button:
That's basically it. Below, I added a Curves Adjustment Layer mask with the standard S curve adjustment as well as a Brightness/Contrast Adjustment Layer mask to brighten it up a little making the light look a little less natural:
Then I flattened and saved the image. That's it!
Again, that's all there is to "miniaturizing" something. It's lots cheaper than a tilt-shift lens or a new camera with that effect in it, don't you think? I hope to get some more shots some day to try it out more.
Oh, by the way, if you know of some place where I can get a good used Canon S95 or S100, let me know. I'm very interested!]]>
By the way, for you photographers out there, both of these shots are handheld HDR panoramas from a point and shoot Sony DSC-HX9V. Not too shabby, eh? OK, maybe a little, hehe.. Enjoy the read below and thanks again for dropping by.
Baseball's newest venue is officially open, and it's impossible to look at Marlins Park in Miami without thinking, That place looks like fun. The fish swimming in the backstop, the Jacques-Cousteau-meets-Timothy-Leary home run sculpture, the South Beach nightclub satellite behind the bullpen, the pop art installations scattered on the courses: Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria isn't kidding when he says the ballpark he helped conceive and build "is meant to make you smile." Loria spent enough on free agents this winter to sound believable when he says he wants fans to focus on the game and the team. But, just in case your mind wanders, he made sure that baseball is not the only entertainment option at Marlins Park.
Baseball's oldest venue is about to open for its 100th anniversary season, and it's easy to look at Fenway Park and think, What's so fun about that place? At first glance, there's little at Fenway to make the casual visitor smile. It's not easy to find in the labyrinth Boston calls a city plan. If you manage to get there by car, it's nearly impossible to park. If you tune in for the Red Sox' April 13 home opener, you'll see fans bundled up like it's a playoff game at Lambeau Field. They'll be crammed into seats made for 1912-sized derrieres, and most of their heads will be twisted at 70-degree angles to glimpse home plate. Anyone looking for fish will have to flip over to Wicked Tuna.
The first game at Fenway, on April 20, 1912, set the tone for the next 100 years: The Red Sox didn't even hold an opening ceremony -- "the real-down-to-the-book official dedication with the music stuff, the flowers and the flags," as the Boston Globe wrote then -- until May 17. The implicit message from the new Fenway to its fans: This is a baseball park. You are here to watch baseball.
Fenway has been dressed up over the years, particularly in the decade since John Henry and friends bought the Red Sox and committed to staying in the old yard rather than building a replacement. There are seats above the Green Monster, a bar on the right field roof, a food court beneath the bleachers. But the creature comforts still lag behind what can be found at the wave of mallparks that have sprung up around the majors over the last two decades. Forget aquariums and swimming pools and steakhouses. The main attraction at Fenway is the same as it was the day it opened: baseball.
In 2012, that simplicity, that purity of purpose, is as much of a novelty on the major league landscape as Loria's psychedelic sculpture. As much as the famous proximity of its seats to the field, it's what makes Fenway baseball's most intimate ballpark, and what connects fans there to the sport in a way that isn't possible anyplace else. In some ways, the experience of taking in a game at Fenway mirrors the experience of playing there. Fans who navigate narrow concourses to get to seats with too little legroom are watching players who dress in a cramped clubhouse, work out in a tiny (by big-league standards) weight room and are bedeviled by the strange hops and caroms created by the field's many nooks and crannies. Playing baseball is difficult, and requires a special commitment. At Fenway, the same goes for watching it.
Over the next six months we'll hear a century's worth of hosannas to Fenway Park, but the place hasn't always been beloved. Over the years pitchers fed up with its cozy dimensions and players and managers frustrated with its substandard facilities have taking turns suggesting that it be burned down (Sparky Anderson's choice) or blown up (Mo Vaughn, David Wells, John Lackey). Until the current ownership group spruced up the place with a series of renovations, there were strident calls from Boston fans and media for a new stadium to be built.
And yet, Fenway endured and now, on its 100th birthday, it thrives, a shrine to the game and to a simpler sports era. Ballpark fads come and go. Fenway has outlasted concrete contemporaries like Tigers Stadium and the original Yankee Stadium. It has surpassed the life spans of domed wonders of the earth and cookie-cutter, multipurpose ovals. And its allure will hold strong long after the novelty of retro chic and rightfield shopping districts and in-house marine life fades. For 100 years, the joy of Fenway has been the unadorned, uncomplicated joy of the game itself -- a joy that connects us to the thread of history like little else. Over the next few weeks, as 30 major league parks open for another season, cries of "Play ball!" will ring out in parks across the country. The message will be at its purest in Fenway.
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Also, South Congress Ave or SoCo as it's known in these parts has some eclectic (aka weird) shops and boutiques that the trendy patronize. It's an interesting area. Click here to see some examples to which I refer...
Enjoy the shot and thanks for dropping by!
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Thanks for taking a look at my little venture.
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It's funny, when I go out to shoot things such as wildflowers, my mind is also running around the landscapes I can see trying to find that "great shot". Sometimes it drives me crazy looking for a shot where ever I am because I feel it takes away from just enjoying what I'm seeing. Any of you have that dilemma? Don't get me wrong, I like to shoot photos, but once in a while it's just nice to enjoy where you are.
With that said, I hope you enjoy this shot and thanks for stopping by!
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Speaking of the Red Sox losing, they opened this season against my Detroit Tigers in Detroit and lost the first three games! Woohoo! I guess the new manager of the Red Sox, Bobby Valentine, hasn't quite done the trick yet!
I will say this about the Red Sox... I can understand why people love them, especially those in the Boston area.. Their stadium is great! There is so much history there and there are a lot of great stories about it. We took a tour of the place after we saw this game and it was incredible. And this year, it will turn 100 years old and become recognized as a national historic landmark. That means that from now on, no changes can be made to the stadium other than safety issues and the like. No more seats can be added, no changes to the dugouts or anything else you can think of can be done to it. That's pretty exceptional when you think about it! If you ever get a chance to see a game there, I highly recommend it!
Oh and one other thing.. If you do go, eat at the Bleacher Bar. It is a restaurant that sits behind the wall in left-center field and during practice, they have the windows open and you can see and hear the payers as if you were in the outfield yourself. During games, they close the windows, but you can still see the goings-on of the game! Awesome! You can see it in this shot.. It is the first opening in the wall to the right of the Hyundai sign. It's directly below the "m" and the "e" in the Bank of America sign and it's right down there on the field. If you click on the picture, you will get a larger shot and you'll be able to see it better.
PS.. I'm not real happy with how the sky turned out in this one, but it was the best pano of the night! Enjoy and thanks for dropping by!]]>
I got a GorillaPod for Christmas last year from my in-laws (thanks Paul and Barb!) and I finally put it to good use because of the idea above. For those of you who don't know, a GorillaPod is a sort of mini-tripod that you can use to stabilize a camera in one position, except the legs are flexible enough to bend, yet firm enough that they can hold onto almost anything once they are put in place. That's probably not a good explanation. I guess a better explanation is that it can allow you to attach a camera to a stationary object quite easily and it's easier to carry around than a traditional tripod. Check out their website for a better idea. Anyway, I attached the GorillaPod to the headrest on the passenger's seat of my car and shot a few pictures on the way to work using a remote trigger.
So here you have it.. I'm entering "hyper-drive" on the lower deck of IH-35 in Austin, Texas on my way to work!
Of course this shot wasn't quite that easy... I'll leave most of it to your imagination, but let's suffice it to say that yes, all of the shots were taken on this morning, it was a bit of a bumpy ride on the way in, and no, I don't really have a hyper-drive built into my car. But, maybe some day!
What do you think?
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by! (Click on the photo for a larger size.)
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Not much more to say other than hope you like the shot and thanks for dropping by! (click on the photo for the large version)
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I hope you enjoy this shot and the next few I post will be of similar shots I've taken while out in the hill country.
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Back to the subject at hand... I had to come in to Austin last Saturday night for work and when I finished up, I spent a few minutes on the 1st St bridge getting a shot or two of the Austin skyline and the lake. Here it is... Luckily, I think this one turned out nicely after a night of letting it cook. I don't know, maybe it's still rare and needs some more baking, but I'm gonna serve it up!
Thanks for your input and thanks for dropping by! (Click the photo for a larger view of the shot.)
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(Click on the shot for a larger view.)
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Recently I've been posting black and white shots of some photos I took while my wife and I visited Nantucket Island. The reason for this is two-fold... One is because I'm looking for some new material to post and the other is because I'm channeling my inner David Nightingale. If you've ever checked out his website, you'll see that he's a master at creating dramatic images. He's like one of my favorite photographers. Anyway, I'm trying to use some of his techniques to make my stuff a little more dramatic. Of course it helps to have a good subject to start with. His use of curves and masks really helps bring out detail in clouds and other areas of shots that may not be seen in regular processing. Sometimes using curves can get similar results as HDR without having to take so many brackets. And when converting to back and white, it gives the shot an extra dramatic/timeless appeal, at least to me. That's what I've tried for here. I can never tell if I've over done it or not, but I may have in this one. Maybe that's what dramatic means? ;-)
(Roll your mouse over the image to see the original straight from the camera.)
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(Click here for a larger version or roll over the shot with your mouse to see the original.)
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As always, let me know what you think and I thanks you for dropping by. (Click on the picture for a larger view.)
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I was a little apprehensive about posting this shot because I really couldn't find anything interesting to look at in it. So, I decided to give a little extra in the processing such as some vignette blur and a regular vignette, plus some emphasis on the neon sign and the menu. Still not sure I'm satisfied with it, but I think I'm done with it and figured it's time to find something else.
Tell me what you think and thanks for dropping by!
I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by! (Click on the photo for a larger view.)
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Hope you enjoy the shot and thanks for dropping by. (Click the photo to see a larger version.)
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So, this shot is of the exhaust and one of the spare wheels from a 1933 Duesenberg Model J Franay. Duesenbergs are arguably the best cars ever made and they are American of all things! The beauty of them is indescribable and even only portions of them have a class all their own. I tried to capture that with this shot. (Click photo for larger version)
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So with that, have a great weekend and click the picture below to see a larger version!
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Thanks for visiting and I hope you enjoy the photo. (Click the photo for a larger view)
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The shot below is of a 1959 Cadillac Series 60 Special Fleetwood. I just love the fins on those old Caddies. The time I was there, the sun was peering through the windows right on this baby so I tried to not pass up that opportunity.
I hope you enjoy this shot. If so, I have a few more shots, HDR and non-HDR, that I will post in the coming days. Thanks for dropping by and come visit again! (click on the picture for a larger view)
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As usual, I'm a little late to the party. A year and a day late. You see, I took the photo below on Aussie Day last year in Whistler, BC, CA. And, since Aussie Day is over by now in Australia, I'm a year and a day late. Oh well, better late than never. Anyway, on Aussie Day last year at Whistler, these guys were lined up outside of some club ready to have a nice quiet evening as you can imagine. Lots of Australian college students come to Whistler for work about half of the year, so half of the people working there have that great Aussie accent. It's pretty cool! They are a very subdued lot. Well, maybe subdued is not the word, but they do love to have fun!
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for stopping by.
Mouse over the shot to see what it looked like straight from the camera. Click here for a larger version.
]]>That being said, I thought I would pass along a shot I took on a recent ski trip that Eileen and I took to Durango, CO. It was a nice trip but too short as most trips always are. This one especially because we really only had two full days there. But it was worth it. There was no snow when we arrived, but the next morning the snow gods dumped about 4-5 inches in town and about a foot in the mountains so skiing was excellent! No complaints! Plus, since the snow wasn't great prior to when we got there, hardly anyone was on the mountain. Very small lift lines make for maximum fun!
So, the picture below is a view of the mountains across from Purgatory/Durango Mountain Resort ski area. I took this one with my Sony DSC-HX9V since I wasn't up to lugging the Nikon monster with me this time around. I took liberties with it as well because I think mountain shots sometimes look better in black and white. I hope you agree. You can mouse over it to see the original. Click here for a larger version...
Enjoy the shot and thanks for dropping by.
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]]>Thanks for dropping by and if I don't post anything beforehand, Merry Christmas to you and yours!
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Here's a shot I took while out waiting for the light to get right while shooting Austin from Lou Neff Point at Zilker Park with Van Sutherland. We were shooting right by the water and there were lots of ducks and other waterfowl around. Right in front of us came this big ole swan. He kind of shooed some of the other ducks out of there for a bit. Kind of cool to see.
Also as an extra, I'm trying something that David Nightingale does on his blog... David's blog shows the beautiful photos that he creates and at the bottom right of each, he has a link that states, "Show the original." From there you can see the pre-processed shot straight from the camera. On this page, if you mouse-over the picture, you will see the original shot as it was straight from my camera. The shot that you see when not mousing over the shot is my final version after some tweaks in Photoshop CS5 with the Nik Software Package. I would love to hear your thoughts on which shot you like better!
You can also click here to see a larger version.
I hope you enjoy the shot and thanks for dropping by.
]]>Comment on my shot below and I will randomly pick one of you to receive a free Apple AirPort Express. Contest only pertains to those inside the continental United States. Thanks for visiting and good luck! I will announce the winner next week!
Iconic Austin Buildings
Here is another shot I took while out with Van Sutherland a couple of weeks ago. As with my previous post, this shot was taken from Lou Neff Point at Zilker Park in Austin, Texas. It shows three of the most iconic buildings in Austin. They are from left to right, the Frost Bank Building, the W Hotel and the Austonian. They are quite new. The Austonian and and the W have only been around for a year or two whereas the Frost Bank building is creeping up around 6 - 8 years. Maybe longer, I'm not too sure.
The Frost Bank Building is mainly an office building, but it has a cool art deco look to it. Some people, including myself, think it looks like a giant nose hair trimmer. Other say it looks like an owl if you look at it directly from one corner. The Frost Bank circular symbol is on every side and resemble eyes. The portion on the top looks like an owl's comb and each corner has what can be seen as a beak just how it would look on an owl. If you use your imagination on this shot, you might see it. If not, go here. So there you have it.
The W Hotel - or as we say in Texas, the "Dubya" - or as they say in the part of town where the W is located (while sounding like Thurston Howell III) "the Double-U, lovey" - is a high-end luxury hotel with apartments/condominiums. It's also home to Austin City Limits. During this past summer, the glass between the railings and the floor of some of the balconies began to mysteriously shatter and fall to the ground below. It happened on three different occasions. After the third time, management decided to evacuate the building and replace all of the glass panels on each balcony. Apparently the glass was not tempered and the heating caused by the midday summer sun caused them to shatter. Luckily no one was seriously hurt or killed, but it did cause quite a commotion.
Lastly, the Austonian is full of upscale condominiums. From what I understand it is the tallest residential property building west of the Mississippi, or something like that. Someday I would like to walk through one of the condos there to see how the other half lives.
That's about it for now. I hope you enjoy the shot and thanks for dropping by!
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In a few days I will be announcing details to give away an Apple Airport Express! Anyone out there in need of one?
Austin Skyline
Last Tuesday, my good friend and co-worker Van Sutherland and I ventured out to one the of the better places in Austin to get a good shot of the skyline. This was from a part of Zilker Park called "Lou Neff Point". As you can see, one can get an awesome view. As we were shooting, lots of other people with point and shoot cameras and smartphones were shooting from the same vantage. I hope their shots didn't come out as good as ours because that would mean I don't really need this big-ass camera. Actually, that might be a good thing! They can get pretty heavy after a while! ;-) Anyway, Van and I shot here before a couple of years ago and we thought it was a good time to do it again. Last time the skyline was still changing a bit. Now, it's pretty much done for a little while. There are more hotels slated to be built so it will change again soon. When that happens, it will be time for new shots!
That's about it. Check out Van's site to see his shot as well! I think it's better than this one!
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I guess that's about it. I hope everyone that visits this blog, all one of you - hehe - have a great Thanksgiving holiday! Be thankful for what you have and for the many blessings received. That's what it's really all about.
Thanks for dropping by.
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I tried to make it look a little old with a sort of bleach bypass look. I hope it worked.
Enjoy the shot and thanks for dropping by!
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This shot is from the Plimouth Plantation in Plymouth, MA. Yes, I did spell the first Plimouth correctly. Not sure why the spelling is different, but that's the way it is. Anyway, Plimouth Plantation - where I also took this shot - has a replica of the first settlement of the Pilgrims after they arrived at Plymouth Rock along with a replica of a Wampanoag Indian settlement - the Indians that the Pilgrims had the first Thanksgiving meal with. It's a fascinating place if you ever get there. The Pilgrim portion has people dressed in period costume and act and speak as they did back in the 1620s. Some even play a few of the key figures from those that arrived on the Mayflower.
This particular person was playing the part of William Brewster who was a main figure of the Separatist Church back in Europe. The Separatists were persecuted and so they left on the Mayflower to setup their own colony, basically, and escape the persecution. He was one of the leaders of the group when they arrived at Plymouth.
Here is William basically sitting at his dining/kitchen table in his residence. This gentleman played the part quite well with a good English accent, saying things like the year 1621 as "sixteen hundred one and twenty" instead of saying "sixteen hundred twenty one" or "sixteen twenty one". Pretty fun! The houses everyone stayed in here were basically one room shacks for the most part. Some had two rooms, but those were for two families. They had fireplaces, sometimes just on the floor as seen here. There was also a bed in the room to sleep on. That was it. Nothing else to it. I can only imagine what it must've been like in the winters there, but at least this place gave you some idea. Very interesting.
I hope you enjoy the shot and thanks for dropping by.
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"Edward William Bok (1863-1930), American editor and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, was born in Den Helder, Netherlands, on October 9, 1863. He came to the United States at the age of six. Educated in the Brooklyn Public Schools, he became an office boy with the Western Union Telegraph Company in 1876.
Continuing his education at a night school, he began working for Henry Holt and Company, publishers, in 1882. Two years later he became associated with Charles Scribner’s Sons, publishers, eventually becoming advertising manager. He was the editor of The Brooklyn Magazine from 1884 to 1887. In 1886, he founded The Bok Syndicate Press, which led to the offer of the editorship of The Ladies’ Home Journal in 1889.
Under his management, The Ladies’ Home Journal became one of the most successful and influential publications in America and the first magazine in the world to have one million subscribers. Bok was a champion of social causes, a pioneer in the field of public sex education, prenatal education and childcare, and an environmental activist in public health and the saving of Niagara Falls.
Bok also had a great influence on American architecture. He was a leader of the Arts and Crafts movement at the turn of the century and was the first to call Victorian parlors “living rooms.” Frank Lloyd Wright Jr. was one of the new architects Bok promoted by making his house plans available to the public in the Journal.
After 30 years as editor he retired in 1919. A year later he published The Americanization of Edward Bok, which won the Gold Medal of the Academy of Political and Social Science and the Joseph Pulitzer Prize for best autobiography."
You can also read more about the tower here: http://boktowergardens.org/the-tower
Thanks for dropping by!
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And, with Veterans Day, take a moment to reflect on the sacrifices our veterans make for our freedom, especially nowadays because the wars we are engaged in are the longest lasting ones the US has ever been in. That has to take a toll on our vets and their families If you see a veteran, say thanks for a job well done. Plus, it doesn't have to be on Veterans Day, you can thank them anytime and I think they will appreciate it!
Thanks for dropping by and I hope you enjoy the photo!
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"Dream Garden is an enormous glass mosaic designed by artist Maxfield Parrish (1870-1966), and executed by Louis Comfort Tiffany and Tiffany Studios, for the lobby of the Curtis Publishing Building in Philadelphia — home of the successful magazines The Ladies' Home Journal and The Saturday Evening Post. The work was commissioned by Edward Bok, Senior Editor of the Curtis Publishing Company. Over a one-month period, prior to being installed in the Curtis Building, the work was exhibited at Tiffany Studios in New York City, attracting more than 7,000 admirers and garnering widespread critical acclaim. The Dream Garden took six months to install into its home in Philadelphia.
Measuring 15 by 49 feet, Dream Garden was produced by the Tiffany Studios in 1916, using over 100,000 pieces of favrile glass, each hand-fired to achieve perfection in each of the 260 colors. The partnership of Tiffany and Parrish had been called "one of the major artistic collaborations in early 20th Century America."
In truth, the relationship between Maxfield Parrish and Louis Comfort Tiffany was tumultuous, based on a rueful assessment of each other's artistic merit. While Parrish complained that Tiffany's translation of his design lacked subtlety and "painterliness," Tiffany countered that the design sketches were technically vague.
In June of 1998, Dream Garden was sold to casino owner Steve Wynn, who planned to move it to Las Vegas. Philadelphia historians, artists, activitists (notably the Arts Defense League), and press protested the proposed move — and the Pew Charitable Trusts agreed to provide $3.5 million to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in order to purchase the important work. The work is now owned by the Pennsylvania Academy, and is permanently installed in its rightful home in the Curtis Center lobby."
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Hope you like the picture and thanks for dropping by.
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I hope you enjoy this shot and thanks for dropping by. (click on the picture for a larger view)
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This picture shows the inside of what the Wampanoags call a "long house". It was made exactly how the Wampanoags of the 1600s made them. It's made of cedar posts to hold the structure up and elm bark for the walls and siding. It's sealed using a combination of pine tar and ash. That would help keep the rain out. These structures are so strong that they can withstand a small hurricane. As a matter of fact, this very structure survived the recent Hurricane Irene with no damage.
The gentleman in the wheelchair in this shot told us all about that. He also said that these long houses are basically the winter homes of the Wampanoag. One set of families will build several of them, up to nine, that are approximately a football field long lining up next to each other. Then families would occupy their own little portions of these. It was very fun to listen to him speak.
The plantation is a fascinating place and if you ever get to visit, please do. I don't think you'll be disappointed.
I hope you enjoy the shot and thanks for dropping in!
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Also, the funny thing was when we got there, I had a deja vu moment. I had stayed in this same exact hotel back in the late '80s when I was in the military while on business to the city. I had no idea when we booked it. So that made it even that much cooler! Brought back some memories.
Anyway, I hope you like the shot and thanks for dropping by. (Click on the picture to see a larger version)
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Anyway, one of our stops while sight-seeing was The Old North Church of the "One if by land, two if by sea" fame. It's pretty cool to see the place where the signal was sent to Paul Revere when he made his famous ride! This is the inside of the church here. I think it is still pretty much the same as it was back in the revolutionary war days. Plus, I think it is still a working church that has regular services. Wouldn't be cool to say you attend that church if you are of that persuasion?
Anyway, this shot was a little tricky to put together. It is six sets of 3 brackets set at -1, 0 and +1 EVs, merged and tonemapped in Photomatix and then merged as a panorama in Photoshop. I did all of this hand-held as well because I didn't want to lug the tripod along this day either. So there are flaws in this shot, but I still kind of like it. It might have been better had we been there when the interior lights were on, but you can't have everything!
Also, I don't remember the chandeliers being so low! :-)
I hope you enjoy the shot and thanks for stopping by!
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Anyway, I hope you enjoy the picture and thanks for visiting!
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We stayed in a condominium in Charlestown on the north side of town, just above the Charlestown River. And, from the Charlestown River bridge, you can see the river locks, the new bridge that's part of "The Big Dig" and TD Garden, home of the Bruins and the Celtics.
That's what you see here. I took this during a quick little self-imposed photowalk after we got back to the condo from a long day of sight-seeing. Lots of stuff to do there and I'll post more in the days to come. Thanks for dropping by!
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PS.. I'm a big Detroit Tigers fan so I'm glad they are in the playoffs! Beat the Yankees! It's on tonight at 7:30 CDT!
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Eileen and I met Dylan, his friend Connor and Dylan's Mom, Annette at a Round Rock Express baseball game out at the Dell Diamond a couple of weeks ago. We got to see the Express trounce the Albuquerque Isotopes 8-6! It was a great time and that's where I got this shot of Dylan. I tried to get a candid shot of him talking with Connor to get a natural look. Hopefully I succeeded.
Dylan is getting to that age where he knows some pro sports teams. And since he's from here, he's becoming a Texas sports fan. Nothing wrong with that, but... To his Mom's dismay, he's not a big Yankees fan, while Annette is! Back in May, we all went to see a Rangers - Yankees baseball game in Arlington and the Rangers won that one, I think by almost the same score as the Express game. Anyway, Dylan gave his Mom a hard time about that and I think he still does!
Eileen and I being his aunt and uncle are trying to get him to like some of the teams we like. Eileen is a big Dallas Cowboys fan and I like any team out of Detroit, yes, even the Lions. Speaking of which I am a big Michigan Wolverines fan, so I try to get him to go for the blue team whenever Wolverines football is on TV. Of course, he always asks me about "the blue team" which is funny, but he's getting there! Hopefully he'll start liking one of the teams we do, but I bet he will eventually like the Cowboys since they are a Texas team!
Anyway, that's a little bit about the guy you see here! I hope you enjoyed reading a little about him and I hope you enjoyed the shot. It's not a type of shot I normally post, but I had to put this one out there because it's Dylan! Thanks for dropping by!
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Thanks for visiting and I hope you enjoy the photo!
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Also, soon, Eileen and I are traveling to Boston and other parts of the east coast. We will be staying in Plymouth and in Charlestown. Any suggestions on what to shoot there? This could help me get some motivation back and you could help me get inspired! :-)
With that, last weekend my sister Elizabeth came to town for an excellent visit. She had a symposium to attend in San Antonio. However, with the extreme drought we're having here, we had a hard time trying to think of things to do. We tried Volente Beach, but that was a bust, food was not very good, and we also tried Rio Rio on the Riverwalk. Again, food no good. We still had a great time and it was great to see her! She's lots of fun and we're lucky to have her in the family! Anyway, Eileen and I joined her down at the Westin on the Riverwalk. It's a very nice hotel, I must say. While we were there, I grabbed a couple of shots from the balcony of our hotel room. This particular one is of the Tower Life Building (I think). The following about the Tower Life Building is from Wikipedia:
The Tower Life Building is a landmark and historic building in San Antonio, Texas.
Construction of the tower began in 1927 and the building rises 403 feet (123 meters) and has 30 floors. The building, which opened in 1929 was originally named the Smith-Young Tower and is the central component of a partially completed development called the Bowen Island Skyscrapers. The eight sided, neo-gothic brick and terra-cotta tower (complete with gargoyles) was designed by noted local architectural firm Ayers & Ayers (Atlee & Robert B. Ayers). The building also housed San Antonio's first Sears, Roebuck and Company store in its lowest 6 levels.
The other completed building in the development is the former Plaza Hotel (also designed by Ayers & Ayers), which opened in 1927. The property became the local outlet of Hilton Hotels in 1956 and was converted into the Granada Apartments in 1966. Subsequent structures in the development were never built as a direct result of the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression.
In the 1940's the building was renamed the Transit Tower for the San Antonio Transit Company, which the Smith Brothers purchased in 1943. In 1953 a television transmission tower was added to the structure. Renovations in 2010 removed the obsolete television mast in favor of the tower's original design, a copper tophouse with a 100ft tall flagpole.
The building is now named for its current owner, Tower Life Insurance Company.
In 1991 the building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
One thing that's difficult about one of these rallies is the noise! Those things are LOUD! You definitely have to bring hearing protection. If it was outdoors, it would probably be a different thing, but in a closed arena where the noise reverberates all over the place, you definitely need hearing protection. Luckily, we all had it and thank goodness we did!
So the picture below is of King Krunch and Grave Digger! I don't know much about King Crunch, but I HAVE heard of Grave Digger. That truck is probably the most famous of all the monster trucks. And, according to the announcer, this is the 16th version of this truck that the driver made himself. Pretty incredible. He was awesome! However, and I don't know if this was fate or what, but right and the end of the show, Grave Digger was going through the freestyle event, which is where the trucks basically jump and pound stuff for a timed 1 minute, and right at the end, Grave Digger lost his right rear wheel. It just broke off. He was the last contestant and it was what closed the show! Pretty cool! Love a little mayhem!
That's about it! We all had a great time! The only thing is that the center was a little small for something like this, so it made it a bit cumbersome for safety's sake, but it was still a blast. If you have a chance, check it out sometime!
To relieve some stress recently, my wife and I took a little weekend trip to Granbury, TX and stayed at a nice bed and breakfast called the Baker St Harbour Waterfront Bed and Breakfast. It's a big old Victorian house sitting on some land right on Lake Granbury. We stayed in the downstairs room called the "Dr Doyle Suite".. It was great! We had our own private entrance off the porch as well as a door to the rest of the house. The innkeepers, Perry and Terry were wonderful as well. They really made us feel right at home. As a matter of fact, Terry made our room extra cozy with some nice lace and rose pedals on the bed and candles at the foot. Of course, the candles were electric... Don't want to have a chance of starting a fire in the place, totally understandable. Oh, did I mention that the reason Terry did that was because it was our 18th wedding anniversary that weekend? 18 awesome years! Can't imagine spending those years and future years with anyone else! Anyway, like I said, they made us feel very welcome. They are also great cooks and will do up a very generous breakfast for you in the morning and they will also do some great afternoon snacks. If you ever go to Granbury, check them out!
The picture here is our view from the Dr Doyle Suite, just outside our door. It has a nice cozy, country feel to it and it has the look of relaxation, doesn't it? Eileen and I really enjoyed our stay.
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I hope you enjoy this shot and thanks for dropping by.
Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy the picture.
Yes, I took the advice of most of the guys from this post and pulled the trigger on this lens. Anyway, that was my main lens for our excursion and I must say, it is pretty fun to play with. As you can see in the shot below, it has great bokeh and it's incredibly sharp. I just have to get used to such a shallow depth of field, but it is fun to blur the background for a different look. Getting pics during the rally was interesting since I was playing with the new lens. Most of them are trash, and really this one isn't great, but I like it none the less.
Oh, and about the rally... I've never seen so many bikes on one place before in my whole life! Supposedly there were 45,000 - 50,000 at the rally! As a former biker, I was in hog heaven! It really makes me want to get another, but not sure I ever will.
Well, thanks for dropping by and if you ever want a good prime for your Nikon, get the Nikkor 50mm f1.4D!
As always, thanks for dropping by and let me know what you think!
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]]>I hope you like it and thanks for the visit!
Image of DMC-TZ5 courtesy of www.dpreview.com
Now, I'm looking at a couple of new compacts and I think I have it narrowed down between the more up-to-date Lumix DMC-ZS10 and the new Sony DSC-HX9V. From what I've read, they both have a longer 16x zoom lens than my old Lumix, but the image sharpness on the Sony is a little better. They also are priced the same. So, I just need to look at the specs a little more for each and go from there. I see a few different sites are out of stock on the Sony one, so that might either mean it's a better camera or people just like to buy the latest and greatest thing out there.
If anyone out there knows of a good compact with an excellent zoom that can also auto-bracket exposures, let me know. I'd really like to see if there's anything out there that's worth looking at that is similar in size to these. I really value your opinions, so let me know and thanks for dropping by!]]>
Good luck Van and I hope you keep shooting!]]>
Anyway, if anyone has an opinion as to which might be better for my Nikon D300s SLR Digital Camera, I would love to hear what you have to say. Help!
Thanks for dropping by!]]>
My wife Eileen and I traveled to Whistler with some friends, and we all wanted a decent group shot. In the village, there are the Olympic rings from the 2010 Winter Olympics. That makes a great shot, yes? However, I wanted the picture to look kind of nice and not just flat from my on-camera flash. So, I decided to take several brackets of the rings with no one in the picture and then one shot with everyone in the picture using the flash. In post-processing, I created the HDR shot without anyone in it and then I masked in all of us from the single group shot. I think it turned out quite nicely considering I don't have any kind of off-camera flash or anything like that. You can see the result below:
Give it a try sometime. I think you might like the results! Thanks again, Mike, for the post! And, thanks Doug, Tricia, Valerie and Theresa! We had a great time and let's do it again!]]>
Do Not Rent From Payless Car Rental in Orlando, FL
First is, if you ever go to Orlando, FL., do not rent a car from Payless at the airport! They are a bunch of scam artists there. We rented a car and when we picked it up, they said we could not use our own insurance to cover their car, we could only use their's. They would not do "transfers." We got pretty upset about that and insisted we use our own, but the man at the counter said, "No." We didn't want to spend anymore time there so we relented and got our car. Subsequently, we called Payless customer support and they said it was not right. However, they said we had to call the manager of the office where we rented the car from. We contacted her and she would only give us a couple days off our rental since we called them a couple days after the fact, but would not refund the rest until she saw the video tape. She also asked if we called previously. No, we did not, but that sent up a red flag with us because it sounds like other people have called with this same complaint. After she looked at the video, she said we never said we didn't want their insurance. We told her we would never rent from them again and the we would let everyone know what happened. It's a shame, too because we've rented from Payless in Detroit as well and they were great there. Long story shot, we will never rent from them again, anywhere! Also, if you do a google search with the words "Payless car rental orlando scam" there are quite a few hits with it and the Toronto office. May want to steer clear of that one as well.
Spaceship Earth
The next thing is about this shot... When you can't use a tripod because of stupidity like I did, leaving the quick-release plate at home, you are relegated to taking everything handheld, and probably in the middle of the day. That's what I had to do with this shot. This is what's called "Spaceship Earth" at Epcot in Orlando. I took this with my 18-200, wide open in the middle of the day. I shot it from across the lake that's located in the middle of the park (World Showcase Lagoon). I must say, I'm relatively happy with the way it turned out. It just would be nice if it could've been at sunset and I had a tripod, though. Oh well, live and learn.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for visiting.
Thanks for dropping by.
Which brings me to how this shot was taken... When I got to Orlando, I had my tripod with me so I could take some excellent sunset shots and some great HDRs. Well a couple of weeks before, I took my camera out to take some non-HDR photos and I took off the plate that connects the camera to the quick release portion of the ball head on the tripod. Of coures as forgetful as I am, I forgot to put it back on the camera when I was done and subsequently left it at home. So, my tripod was no good. Lesson: if you take the quick release plate off, put it right into the holder on the tripod, so if you do take your tripod, you'll have everything you need when you are ready to use it.
That being said, I had to take everything on that trip handheld at a relatively high ISO in the middle of the day so I could get some decent brackets. I also merged them to HDR using Photoshop CS5 since it's alignment engine seems a little better than Photomatix's. Then, I subsequently tonemapped them in Photomatix.
So, that's what this shot is. It's basically a panorama from the top to bottom of the inside of the Fez House. It's comprised of a total of 30 shots... 6 sets of 5 brackets merged and tone-mapped into 6 separate HDR images and them stitched together for the panorama or vertarama (since it's vertical) with CS5. It was a fun shot to put together, but I think if the day was closer to sunset to bring out the lights in the Fez House, it would be awesome.
Anyway, I hope you like the shot and thanks for visiting.
If you want to check out some mad and creative ways to make photos more interesting in a non-HDR way, check out Erik Johannson from Sweden. He takes ordinary shots and twists them up through some cool Photoshop manipulations that may inspire one to do something a little bit different. I don't think I have a favorite because all of his stuff is pretty cool, but Vertical Turn and Melting Point kind of stand out to me a little.
The other thing I wanted to mention was this bald eagle webcam from Decorah, IA. There's webcam on an eagle's nest (or is it an aerie?) that runs 24 hours a day. The eagle in it just hatched her babies and now she's caring for them. It's very cool, if you can get past the ads.. Check it out here.
Well that's about it. I hope to have some new content up here in a few days. Thanks for dropping by!]]>
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for dropping by!
As I said, this particular establishment is on 6th street and when Van and I went up the stairs to see what may be happening, it was completely dead. The two artists - at least I think that's who they were - were sound asleep on two couches in the place. Maybe business didn't pickup until later? I don't know, but we decided to leave and on the way downstairs, the "TATTOO" on the wall made for a cool shot. Both of us shot it. You can see Van's here.
There's always something to shoot on 6th Street. I'm gonna have to get out there again soon to try and get more unique stuff.
Oh, and I forgot to mention, this is just a straight up shot. No HDR on this one. Just little Nik Color Efex, curves and some masking.
Thanks for stopping by.
Now, onto the two shots below... Each were taken while walking 6th St during South By Southwest. You see all kind of people and happenings during that time. The first is from the interior of "The Bat Bar" I think. The guy outside the door was quite intimidating to look at because he's a rather large guy compared to myself, but he was very welcoming and did not mind us taking pictures. I thought the silhouette of him at the doorway looking out was kinda cool.
The next one below is similar because the subject here didn't mind his picture being taken either. Obviously he was one of the artists outside of one of the tattoo parlors on 6th Street. Intimidating as well because of all the tatts, but a very nice guys as well. I should really try to get people's names when I shoot them shouldn't I!
One place we ended up at on 6th street was this place called the Beale Street Tavern. Looks like a pretty cool place. They have a big sign just outside their door all lit up with "Elvis Was Here" and they have a big statue of Elvis above the bar. What can't be cool about that?
In this shot I tried to mainly get the old jukebox in the seen along with the performer in the background. I'm not exactly sure what my intention was here, but I still kind of liked how it turned out. I guess my subconscious was telling me it liked the old jukebox as the subject along with the live performer as some sort of irony. Plus, I just happen to like old jukeboxes. However, this one isn't really that old because it plays CDs. Oh well, what are you gonna do?
The guide for our tour was the owner of Whistler Discovery Tours and he is an excellent nature photographer. His name is James Fougere and you can see his work here. Check it out if you have some time. He really does nice work and if you ever go on one of his tours, he will be happy to give you pointers on photography. Very nice guy!
So, this past Friday, my wife and were going to attend a happy hour with some friends after work in Austin. That's quite a ways from Georgetown and since Eileen works close to home, there was no reason for her to drive me in to work then drive all the way back up near Georgetown to again come back in to pick me up and go to the happy hour. And, it didn't make sense for me to do the opposite. So, I decided to try the train. The only problem with the train is that it takes me an about an hour and a half to get to work versus my usual 35 - 40 minutes. But, like I said, with the price of gas going skyward, what the heck?
I must say, I was quite pleased with the ride. Therefore, I'm going to experiment with taking it once or twice a week for a while and see how it goes.
I took this shot while waiting to get on the train at the Leander Station. I got there quite early so I had plenty of time to shoot a few shots. I have a couple more that I'll put out in a few days.
I hope you enjoy it and thanks for stopping by!
Oh, and if you are interested, check out the schedule for the train. Maybe you'll find you can take it to work as well!]]>
Also, I rode up a chairlift with a member of the ski patrol while I was there and we struck up a conversation about photography. Turns out, the guy I was riding up with was a videographer who did a lot of the training videos for the ski patrol there at Whistler. He said if I wanted, I could go down with them during the sweep of the mountain at the end of the day and take any kind of sunset photos I wanted. (The sweep is when they close the mountain down for the day and make sure all skiers are down off the mountain.) I thought that would've been awesome, but I had enough shots by then and besides, by the time they do the sweeps, I'm pretty beat from a full day of skiing. So, if any of you ever make it out there, get with the ski patrol and see if you can go down during a sweep. The ski patrol member who told me this said they kind of even encourage it because it's more publicity for them. Pretty cool I must say!]]>
I also decided to use Scott Kelby's blog post on how to make a poster with your name and stuff on it and applied it to this shot. It's pretty easy and kinda cool. However, if you go to his blog and watch the video, the HD is turned off so it's kind of hard to see him do everything. But, you can hear him talk about it and you can get the idea for the most part. Here's how mine turned out below:
I think if you click on it you can see a larger size to get a better idea of how it turned out. Check out Scott's post and give it a try. I really like the look of it.
Hope you like it and thanks for visiting.]]>
If you like tea, Davids Tea is a cool little store my wife Eileen discovered while at Whistler. They sell some great tea and have a ton of flavors. They have lots of great doodads to make tea with as well. We bought these tea cups that have a little strainers that fit inside of them to make one cup of tea perfectly. According to the person who waited on us there, the store in Whistler has only been open a few weeks and apparently the company has only been around a year or two. I think it will go over big. If you like tea, check it out!
7th Heaven
This is the sign that you see once you get off the 7th Heaven lift on Blackcomb Mountain. There is a lot of skiing to be had on this side because it seems that side of the mountain has hardly any trees which means there is a ton of real estate to ski on. However, I found that lift quite busy so I didn't spend a whole lot of time there.
I like the overall look of this shot, but it really doesn't follow a lot of the rules of photography, i.e., leading lines, rule of thirds, etc. But, I like how you see how the sunlight illuminates the snow and rocks in the foreground and yet the background is dark due to the clouds in the valley over the village. That sums up the weather during most of our trip. Sunny at the top, yet cloudy and dark down below.
I also tried out one of David's sample tutorials - the "Tonal range and the Curves tool" one to be precise - on his website at www.chromasia.com. He really explains the powerful Curves tool quite well. From what I've heard, he taught Curves as well as other stuff in the subsequent Creating Dramatic Images portion of his workshop that I could not attend. I really wish I could have, but maybe next time.
In this particular shot I used two curves adjustment layers to help with the color and the detail. However, I did have a hard time getting the saturation of the color in the background a bit so I used a saturation adjustment layer for that. I'm sure if I gave the brackets to David, he could make something extraordinary out of this, but I'm pleased with what I have here. The thing I'm amazed about the most is again, no noise reduction was needed on this as far as I could see. So, it made the course worth it for me. I did sharpen it a little with Nik Sharpener, however.
Now, should I spend the cash for his other tutorials? Hmmmm....
While in the Admirals Lounge, we had a great view of some of the aircraft at their respective gates and I thought this would be a great time for a shot. This here is a 757 - I think - at gate D23. It wasn't ours but we flew one just like it. I guess as far as anyone has to know, it WAS ours!
As much as I can't stand to say it, congratulations must go out to the Green Bay Packers. They beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in a great Super Bowl. I can't stand the Packers, but I have some good friends who are Packers fans, so I'm happy for them. Otherwise, screw it. Also, the other reason I'm upset is now I have to slog through 7 months or so of no NFL or college football. The horror... the horror...!
Chairlift Under Mountain
Here's another in my Mountains of Whistler series. I took this on one of the peaks, either Blackcomb or Whistler, I can't remember which, while enjoying a nice day of skiing. I really like how the scale is represented here with the size of the mountain in the background versus the size of the chairlift in the lower left corner. It really gives you a sense of the magnitude of the mountains there.
As usual, I'm a little late in posting something relevant to the day's events, but this non-secular American holiday known as Super Bowl Sunday cannot go unnoticed! Personally, I don't have a dog in this hunt. I hate the Packers because they always beat my lowly Dee-troit Lions (Losing Is Our Name, Sir) plus, I think the Steelers have way too many Super Bowl wins. BTW... I didn't like the Steelers back when they used to beat the Cowboys all the time in the '70s super bowls. So, I really don't care who wins. I just hope it's a good game. Good luck to whomever.
Bald Eagle
With that mention of the American holiday, I thought I should throw in a picture I took on my recent trip to Canada. It doesn't get more American than bald eagle does it? It's not the greatest shot in the world, but I like it. If only I had a Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VRII to shoot this with instead of an 18-200 3.5 - 5.6. This would've been quite a bit better. Oh well. Anyone know where I can get one.... for free? ;-)
Yesterday was an interesting day. I scheduled time off work to attend the HDR Crash Course workshop by David Nightingale. It was an awesome, quick, down and dirty intro to Photomatix. I've been using Photomatix for about a year and a half, but still did not know what all of the sliders and controls were for. He really explained those quite well. He even gave some tips on clearing up noise, how to better read histograms and a few other things. I also met some other photographers interested in HDR taking the course. They all were very talented and I enjoyed talking with them. Dave Wilson organized this whole thing and he did a great job! Thanks to both Daves! Today and tomorrow, David Nightingale is putting on his advanced two-day post-processing course with instruction in Photoshop. I would've really liked to have attended this as well, but it didn't work out this time. If he comes back, I will have to find a way to get to it.
Another thing about yesterday was that our class was supposed to start at 9:00am. However, we received a little snow here the night before and the course had to be pushed back a couple of hours. No biggee because a portion of the time was allotted for heading to the capitol and shooting there. We ended up shooting just across the street from where the course was located. This made it really a crash course. However, I don't feel as though I missed out on anything. It was still worth it! One good thing about the snow is that it closed down a LOT of businesses including mine, so it looks as though I didn't have to take time off after all! Pretty cool!
Inside the Peak 2 Peak Gondola
This shot here is from the inside of the "Peak 2 Peak" gondola that spans Blackcomb and Whistler Mountains in Whistler, BC, CA. It's a huge gondola holding upwards of 28 people or so and holds all kinds of records. You don't even have to ski to ride it. I think it was made for the Olympics in 2010 so it's still quite new! The views from this thing are spectacular as well. Also, once in a while, when the clouds are low, you can end up going through clouds which makes you unable to see anything and gives a weird sensation of floating. Oh, and one other thing... they have a couple glass bottom gondolas that allow you to see everything below as you are riding. Some friends that went with us to Canada took it and really loved it. If you ever get out there, I highly recommend trying it out!
This is one of the many views from the top of either Whistler or Blackcomb Mountains. I think it's Whistler Mountain that I took this one from. Either way, this is a shot of the mountains behind it. It's a great place to shoot from because I think the whole time we were there, there were always clouds above and below the mountains... for the most part. Have to watch out for the wind though.. pretty breezy up there! Some spectacular vistas for sure, though.
Here I tried to channel my inner Ansel Adams and converted this one to black and white. The final shot was pretty monochrome to begin with due to the gray skies and the white snow. I don't think it comes close to what Mr. Adams might get, but I like it nonetheless. What do you think?
Last week, my wife, some friends and I took a ski trip to Whistler, Canada, site of the 2010 Winter Olympics. What a beautiful place!
Whistler resides about 2.5 hours north of Vancouver by road in the temperate part of western Canada. As a matter of fact, the road that takes you to Whistler from Vancouver was recently expanded for the Olympics and came in at a cost of about $1 billion. It's a very scenic drive, that's for sure!
This area is also known for it's native populace... the Squamish and Lil'wat nations. They have a great cultural center there that tells you everything you need to know about these indigenous peoples. Some of these Native Americans used reference points on their routes to help navigate long distances which are called "Inuksuks" (plural inuksuit). That's what you see here. According to Wikipedia, "The inuksuk may have been used for navigation, as a point of reference, a marker for travel routes, fishing places, camps, hunting grounds, places of veneration, drift fences used in hunting or as a food cache. The Inupiat in northern Alaska used inuksuit to assist in the herding of caribou into contained areas for slaughter. Varying in shape and size, the inuksuit have longtime roots in the Inuit culture." This was also used as the symbol for the 2010 Winter Olympics. This particular one is located behind the Roundhouse Lodge on Whistler Mountain.
All in all, the scenery is great there and the town has lots to do, but I'm not sure I would recommend anyone go there, at least right now. Everything was expensive due to the weakness of the American dollar and the weather didn't cooperate for us. Of course, it's hard to do anything about the weather. We had two good days of skiing and two or three not so good. As you can see in this picture, the clouds were below us, but that's also where some of the runs were. So, it made it hard skiing through the fog. The other thing is that there was a lot of rain while we were there. Mostly in the lower elevations, but that didn't make it too fun either. I imagine now that we're back, they are probably having wonderful skiing there! Isn't that the way it always works? However, we did like it enough to maybe go back in the springtime since the bears will be out and apparently they have some great springtime foliage!
Lastly, since that's where we've been for the last week, that's what I mostly have pictures of now. So, the next few posts on this blog will be shots from there. I hope that you enjoy them and I hope you enjoyed looking at and reading about this one. Thanks for stopping by!]]>
I think the shot below is one of the arcades. From the inside it looks like an area where you would present your ticket to gain entrance to the plaza, but an arcade would be a good second. Other than that, I really don't know what it is. However, I liked how the arches framed the lights out in the plaza. Pretty cool look!
I'm pretty psyched today... I just finalized paying for an upcoming workshop put on by David Nightingale and organized by Dave Wilson. If you've read my review of David Nightingale's "Practical HDR" book, you'll see that I'm a big fan. His Chromasia website is awesome as well. Can't wait to find out how this guy thinks.. And, thanks Dave W. for putting this together!
S-ing to Downtown BW
Last Friday I was out trying to get some new content for the site here and I went to one of our train stations on the east side of Austin, Saltillo Plaza to be exact. I shot a lot of stuff, but as usual, most of the stuff I captured was so-so. But, there was something about this shot with the tracks forming an s-turn and heading into the heart of Austin that I kind of liked. The big building on the left is The Austonian, which is purportedly "the tallest residential building in Texas".
I decided to give it the old black and white treatment to give that more timeless look. Does it work? Times like this I like you to be the judge. Let me know what you think.
I processed this the usual way with some extra Nik Color Efex vignetting and Bi-Color User Defined filters to punch up the sky and the hay a little.]]>
I love this time of year! NFL playoffs are great! In a way it's kind of sad, too because now that the playoffs are here, that means the season is coming to a close. Then it's a long 6 months until football is back. But, the reason I write this is that when there are playoffs happening, it makes taking and processing pictures a little more difficult. Hence, the shot in today's post...
Astor Hotel
This is a shot of the Astor Hotel sign from the other side of Canal St in New Orleans. It's a grand old hotel right in the French Quarter that has this timeless look to it. I bet it's a great place to stay if you can. There's a certain charm these old hotels have that you just don't get in a new Holiday Inn or some place similar. Probably a certain price per room as well, but that's a subject for a different blog, hehe.
This photo was taken straight from the camera, converted into black and white with Nik Color Efex with negative control points on the red in the sign. That isolated the red. That's it. A non-HDR shot. I liked it this way because I think the silhouette of the three palms turned out nice in the black and white conversion. Also, I took this shot while walking, handheld. Makes it tough to do HDRs that way!
For the new year, I thought I'd try and experiment and post my shots a little bigger to see how they look and to ask you for feedback on whether the bigger ones are better than the size of the photos in previous posts. What do you think?
Bike On Stand
The photo here is a shot inside a bike shop on the east side of Austin called "Eastside Pedal Pushers". The guy working there (sorry, I forgot your name.. let me know and I'll publish it..) let me take a few shots in his establishment. This one isn't the greatest, but I think it's the best of the bunch. The shop is located right across from the Saltillo Plaza train station on E 5th St. Check them out if you need bike parts, work or even want to rent a bike. Cool place!
If you haven't seen these before, check out the "Excellent Photography Blogs" column on the right side of my page. There are some really good blogs out there and these guys know their stuff! I recently added a couple more: Brian Matiash's Blog and Mike Criswell, aka Theaterwiz. Very cool stuff!
cheese steaks burgers dogs #19
This is a companion shot to my previous "Vicious Pig" post. This is another food stand in the same place as the Vicious Pig and others. I had a few questions about how the food was at the Vicious Pig, but I had to tell everyone, "I don't know, I ate somewhere else." Well, this the "somewhere else." They have great cheese steaks here. If you are in the area, check it out!
I processed this one with my usual workflow, merged with Photoshop CS4, tonemapped with Photomatix 4 and post processed in Photoshop CS4 with the Nik plugins. This time I used the bleach bypass, duplex, tonal contrast and vignette filters to varying degrees. The I bumped up the saturation overall, reduced the noise with Noiseware Pro and then sharpened everything but the sky with Nik Sharpener.
Oh and one other thing, the brackets for this shot were all jpgs straight from the camera instead of raws.
Other settings include:
Other settings include:
Camera: Nikon D300s
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM Autofocus Zoom
ISO: 500
Aperture: f16
Exposure Bias: +0.00
Shutter: 1/125
Focal Length: 10mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 7 jpgs (normal setting) exposures with EVs ranging from -3 to +3 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-30 Remote Release Cord]]>
This shot was processed using Nik Software's HDR Efex with the Granny's Attic preset. I like that preset for this shot because it was kind of a gloomy day and this is sort of a grungy/gloomy place. I thought it worked well for it. I added a little vignette and some tonal contrast with Nik Color Efex and then I just did a little noise reduction of the sky with Noiseware Pro and sharpened with Nik's Sharpener Pro.
Other settings include:
Camera: Nikon D300s
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM Autofocus Zoom
ISO: 500
Aperture: f11
Exposure Bias: +0.00
Shutter: 1/320
Focal Length: 10mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 7 exposures with EVs ranging from -3 to +3 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-30 Remote Release Cord]]>
For all those who check my little blog here, have a happy, healthy and safe New Year! Thanks for stopping by and I appreciate your patronage.
Parking Lots In Austin
Austin is a weird city. There's no doubt about that. It even prides itself on staying weird. "Keep Austin Weird" is one of the local mantras. However, I have seen that mantra in other cities, such as Portland Ore. So, I guess the more Austin tries to stay weird, the more it stays the same. That brings me to the shots below... Downtown, underneath the interstate between 6th and 8th streets lies a free parking lot. It's been that way for years. It's like the last place where you can park in downtown Austin for free. Well, not much longer. Someone in their infinite wisdom decided to tear these perfectly good parking lots out to put in, you guessed it, new parking lots.. with less parking I might add. There was nothing wrong with the old ones! Plus, these lots are no longer free, either. It's enough to tee of the main man at the Vatican.
Well, along with the new parking lots, someone put in these weird lighting monstrosities that give off less light that what they had before. I guess that's good for photographers like me, but it stinks for those wanting to head downtown for a little entertainment and not get mugged. Anyway, these lights are red and blue and give this strange look to the place. As you can see, the yellow lines that designate areas where one cannot park now look pink. It's bad. Also these shots make the light look brighter than it really is. The lighting is actually quite dark. If you look at the shadows in the second shot, you can see that more light is coming off the lamps above the interstate than these new... things. Maybe that's what being weird in Austin is all about... gouging more money out of the local populace while making them less safe all in the name of weirdness. Hey, I'm all for being a little different, but look at these things... Seriously?
Sorry for the rant, but sometimes I just have to let these things out.
Lastly, I put in two shots of these lights to see what you think. One's an HDR and one's not. Can you tell the difference? Let me know what you think. And, am I wrong about all this weirdness stuff or should I lighten up a little? Thanks for reading....
As usual, I'm a little late to the party. Nik Software's HDR Efex has been out quite a while now and there are a lot of reviews of it already. Money and time prevent me from getting the latest and greatest software out there as soon as it's released, but I finally had a chance to get the new HDR Efex from Nik Software and I must say, I'm quite impressed.
The shot above is nothing to write home about or even blog about for that matter, but it's one that I thought I'd use with HDR Efex. The version I have is the Photoshop plugin. To use it with Photoshop you just do the following:
Open up Bridge, select the brackets for your HDR and select Tools | Nik Software | Merge to HDR Efex Pro. You will get a dialog that pops up asking about the brackets you want to use, strength of ghosting, etc. I just used the defaults there and clicked on OK. When it's done doing it's thing, you will get the standard Nik window with your merged image and many presets to the left. I then go through and pick the preset I like most for the particular shot I'm working with. For the Senate Chairs shot above, I used the "Vibrant Scenery" preset. That's it!
This is the how the shot looked after I completed that process with no noise reduction or sharpening done to it afterwards like I normally do. I'm not sure if HDR Efex does that automatically or not, but it sure looks clean and sharp to me. Maybe those things won't be needed anymore! The other thing I like about this, just like with Photomatix, is that it keeps most of the EXIF data of the shot in the final image, unlike Photoshop which strips it out when you merge to HDR.
I highly recommend it and will have to play with it a little more to see what else it can do. Check it out!
As far as the shot above goes, this is inside the Senate Chamber in the Texas Capitol Building. I'm not sure who these chairs are for. Maybe pages or aids of the senators when it's in session. Who cares. Anyway, like I said, the shot isn't that great, but I thought it worthy of posting since I used the new software. Gotta get out and get some more stuff!
Other settings include:
Camera: Nikon D300s
Lens: Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II
ISO: 200
Aperture: f3.5
Exposure Bias: 1.67
Shutter: 1/8
Focal Length: 18mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 5 exposures with EVs ranging from -0.33 to +3.67 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-30 Remote Release Cord
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
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Grace Heritage Center
This is a shot of the Grace Heritage Center just off the square in Georgetown, TX. I liked this shot because of the lines in it. I converted it to black and white because it already had a monotone look to it in full color and the black and white treatment made it look even better in my opinion.
Stagecoach Inn Porch
This is the old Stagecoach Inn in Salado, TX. It has a great history and is a great subject for photography. I really liked how this porch shot turned out after the HDR process. It has that "painterly" look to it.
Texas State History Museum
I think what I like about this one is the way the words "Texas State History Museum" look when lit up at night.
MetroRail at Downtown Station
This year, the agency I work for, Capital Metro, launched the new commuter rail system. This image is of the train stopped at our Downtown Station. It is one of my faves for a couple of reasons... For one, Capital Metro liked it so much that they bought it from me. That was my second sale of anything as far as my photography goes, minus some little microstock stuff. Also, this shot made the cover of the 2011 American Public Transportation Association Calendar.
Moon Over Texas State Capitol
This is a shot that I didn't think would turn out because I messed up on the quality settings in my camera. However, it still turned out really nice with the moon and the lighting around the capital.
Bluebonnet Sunset
Springtime in Texas is beautiful and an area in Georgetown just off the Texas 130 toll road has one of the best bluebonnet fields in Central Texas. This shot was recognized by meteorologist Jim Spencer on his blog and during his evening weather forecast on KXAN in Austin, Texas.
Metro Streak
I took this shot on the Metro in Washington DC. The streak of the train going by at this stop worked well here.
Amante's Restaurant Bar
Last January, the owner of Amante's Restaurant in Georgetown, Kim Daskam, asked me to shoot her restaurant for her website and other marketing ideas. It was a great experience. It was the first time anyone contracted with me to shoot anything of theirs and it was the first sale I ever made. Unfortunately, the restaurant did not make it, but I really appreciated the opportunity!
The Old Coffee Pot
Speaking of restaurants, this is the inside of "The Old Coffee Pot" in New Orleans, LA. They server a killer eggs creole! Check it out if you ever get there.
Superdome Panorama
Lastly, I like to shoot panoramas sometimes and the Superdome in New Orleans was a great subject for this. My panos don't always turn out, but I think this one did.
Well that's my picks for 2010. I really enjoy doing HDR photography, but I think I might try some other styles in the new year. I'm not quite sure what those will be yet, but I'm slowly getting some ideas. We'll see what the new year brings. Have yourself a great finish to 2010 and have an even better 2011! Thanks for visiting.]]>
From the back of our house to the whole of yours, Merry Christmas!]]>
At lunch last Thursday, my friend and co-worker Van Sutherland and I took a quick trip to the Texas Capitol to see if there were any good Christmas shots we could get. First we went to the Senate chamber and it didn't have anything in it, although we both took a couple of shots. Then we traveled to the other side into the House and sure enough, it was decorated with a great tree! I tried various angles to try and capture it since I only brought my 18-200 lens with me. But, I wasn't too satisfied with those so I thought it was time to try an HDR panorama. That's what I have here. It's a two show pano with five brackets each. I kind of like it, but the final shot doesn't follow some basic photography rules such as the rule of thirds. Oh well. It was still fun to put it together. Maybe in the future I'll try some more panos.
To see this shot bigger, click on the picture which will take you to my flickr site and once you get to flickr, go to Actions | View all sizes and click on the original.
This shot was processed as usual. But, I put together two shots using Photoshop CS4's automerge function.
Other settings include:
Camera: Nikon D300s
Lens: Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II
ISO: 200
Aperture: f16
Exposure Bias: 1.00
Shutter: 4 & 0.8
Focal Length: 18mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 5 exposures with EVs ranging from -2 to +1 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-30 Remote Release Cord
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
This is a shot of the south side of the Texas Capitol from about one block away on Congress Avenue in Austin, Texas. As you can see, it's decorated with a Christmas tree as well as a menorah to celebrate the upcoming holidays. Of course the tree and menorah are on the sidewalk outside the grounds for some reason. I'm not sure if it's because of the politically correct climate we now find ourselves in these days or if it's just because of some other reason. At least, however, they are there and that's a good thing.
I think the thing I like most about this shot is the two cops on bicycles waiting for the light to change. I didn't even realize they were there when I took this shot. Plus, like good bicyclists, they are observing the rules of the road! That is another thing that is not often seen by your humble blogger here. I'm pro-bicyclist but when they don't observe the rules of the road, yet expect automobilists (a new word I just made up) to do so, it drives me crazy! OK, maybe that's not in the spirit of the season, but it feels good to get that off my chest!
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the photo and thanks for visiting!
This shot was processed as usual.
Other settings include:
Camera: Nikon D300s
Lens: Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II
ISO: 200
Aperture: f11
Exposure Bias: 0.00
Shutter: 2.5
Focal Length: 32mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 4 exposures with EVs ranging from -2 to +1 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-30 Remote Release Cord
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
I had to dig into the vault to pull this one out, but it seemed appropriate for the holidays. It's also appropriate since I really haven't been out to shoot a whole lot of stuff lately.
So I took this shot down in San Antonio, Texas at the Mission San Jose. Very picturesque place it is. It's on of a few missions down there that are pretty close together. Sometime I'll have to get back down there and shoot the others. As far as I know, this is the only one that still has an active church in it. The other missions have churches, but I'm not sure if they still have active congregations. Anyway, it's a great place to visit if you are ever in San Antonio.
The following is from the mission's website:
"Known as the "Queen of the Missions", this is the largest of the missions and was almost fully restored to its original design in the 1930s by the WPA (Works Projects Administration). Spanish missions were not churches, but communities, with the church the focus. Mission San José shows the visitor how all the missions might have looked over 250 years ago."
Sorry, but I don't have the exif data or the info on how I processed this one because I'm currently trying to clean up space on the old hard drive here and I deleted the brackets since I'm pretty happy with the final result. However, I'm pretty sure I processed it the usual way.]]>
The Seton Family of Hospitals has branches all over the Austin area. My wife Eileen now works at the Williamson County location and thought I might like to shoot there. I was up for that!
This location opened about a year or two ago and is very close to our home; 6 miles to be exact. It's very convenient for Eileen! I wish I could find work so close. It beats the 28 mile one-way commute I have to endure. Waaa. Anyway, the hospital is very nice and new and, as you can see here in the lobby, they have a couple of white Christmas trees set up with red bulbs on them. I remember those kind of trees from the 1970s. I guess they are coming back.
One other thing that's cool about this place is that Seton is a Catholic institution and there are crosses everywhere, yet they are subtle. I'm sure you can find a couple in this shot.
Lastly, I wish this would've come through in the photo, but the green portion of the wall behind the counter in the back of the shot is a waterfall. It's very cool, but you wouldn't know it from looking at this shot.
This shot was processed as usual.
Other settings include:
Camera: Nikon D300s
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM Autofocus Zoom
ISO: 200
Aperture: f11
Exposure Bias: +0.33
Shutter: 1
Focal Length: 11.5mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 5 exposures with EVs ranging from -2 to +2 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Manual
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-30 Remote Release Cord
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
Just off the south side of the Texas Capitol Building lies a Christmas tree and a Menorah for the holidays. They are on the sidewalk that passes in front of the Capitol on 11th Street. I tried to get a good shot of the Capitol with some of the lights and stuff from the tree but I don't think my Sigma 10-20mm was quite wide enough. I guess a panorama was needed here. Oh well. Something to think about for next time.
Thanks for dropping by and see you next time!
This shot was processed as usual.
Other settings include:
Camera: Nikon D300s
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM Autofocus Zoom
ISO: 200
Aperture: f11
Exposure Bias: 0.00
Shutter: 3
Focal Length: 12mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 5 exposures with EVs ranging from -2 to +2 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-30 Remote Release Cord
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
This is another shot I took last year, but I thought it was worthy of posting. The old Williamson County Courthouse has multiple levels inside and each level has a balcony looking down to the ground floor in the middle. The tree they put in every year is tall enough to reach from the ground floor up to the third level and is very pretty with the red ornamentation they put on it. This shot is looking up from the bottom floor.
I can't remember for sure how I processed this one, but I think I used Topaz Adjust more than anything. I hope you enjoy it.
Other settings include:
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM Autofocus Zoom
ISO: 200
Aperture: f11
Exposure Bias: 0.00
Shutter: 3
Focal Length: 10mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 5 exposures with EVs ranging from -2 to +2 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Release Cord
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
This weekend, Eileen and I went up to Dallas on Saturday to see a show up there. We went to see a show put on by a couple guys from a cable news outfit. I won't bore you with the details about the show. However, getting TO the show was a scary adventure. It was at the Music Hall at Fair Park. Fair Park is where the Texas State Fair is every year and also home to The Cotton Bowl. It was only about 6 miles from where we stayed. But, we didn't have directions so we asked the person who checked us into our room how to get there. She pulled up some directions off of Google, but those directions didn't take us to Fair Park. The route took us by there, but we ended up off of Dolphin and Spring roads. You talk about a scary neighborhood. Imagine the south side of Chicago or maybe Compton, CA. Those places seemed like Beverly Hills compared to where we ended up. Needless to say we got the f*** out of there in a hurry! We proceeded to stop at a gas station to get directions and the nice gentleman working behind the bullet-proof protected counter told us two ways to get there; either take this one road or take the highway which was backed up due to Big 12 Championship traffic (I think). He recommended the highway because he didn't like the neighborhoods. No sh**! Well, we took the first way anyway because we didn't want to end up in traffic. That was a bad area, but not as bad as where we came from. AND, it didn't take us to Fair Park, it just took us back to the highway. So, we got on the highway, found Fair Park and made it to the Music Hall. When we got to the Hall, we subsequently did a post-mission check of our vehicle for bullet holes, dents, and just general damage. Thankfully, none found. OK, we didn't really do that, but looking back, it seemed like we should've. ;-)
That brings us to the picture. The hotel we stayed at was the Hyatt Summerfield Suites on Harry Hines Blvd. It was a very nice place and if you ever go to Dallas, I would recommend it. Just don't get your directions to anywhere from anyone working there! They have a parking garage there which is about 4 levels high. That's where this shot came from. It's the view of Dallas from there. Just out of the shot to the right is the American Airlines Arena. I would've tried to shoot that, but it was obscured by trees, powerlines, etc.
This isn't the greatest shot I've taken in the world, but I liked the way it turned out for the most part and I thought it might be worth throwing up on the old blog, especially since I haven't gotten anything that new lately. Time get back out there!
Thanks for stopping by!
This shot was processed a little differently... I merged 5 brackets in Photomatix 4 and used the Fusion mode versus the usual tonemapping with details enhancer. It looked better. Then I opened it in Photoshop CS4, reduced the noise with Noiseware Pro's Weaker setting and did some tweaking in Nik Color Efex 3.
Other settings include:
Camera: Nikon D300s
Lens: Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II
ISO: 200
Aperture: f4.2
Exposure Bias: 0.00
Shutter:0.8
Focal Length: 34mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 5 exposures with EVs ranging from -3 to +3 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-30 Remote Release Cord
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
Well, I hope everyone out there had a great Thanksgiving! I must say that ours was great. Eileen's Aunt Betty and Uncle Sam came down for a visit along with their daughter Melissa and her family. It was a great visit with all of them and as it always does, time just flew by way too fast! We all had a great time! But, with the great time comes lots of food and that's something Eileen and her family can do, put out LOTS of food! We are still eating and will be for days. Nothing like Thanksgiving leftovers!
Speaking of leftovers, this shot is a leftover from last year. Our tradition is that after Thanksgiving, the holiday decorations come out. We decorated the house already. So, as a reflection of that, I thought I need to put some holiday shots on the old blog. However, I don't have any new stuff yet. Well, I thought a holiday leftover would suffice. This is a shot from a visit to the Schlitterbahn waterpark we went to last year. They decorate the whole place with lights, put out an ice skating rink and really make the place Christmassy. It's a fun place to shoot if you can get there. I have one or two more that I will put out in the coming days. In the meantime, I guess that means I need to find some new holiday content, so I will see what I can come up with.
Anyway, let me be the last to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving and the first to wish you a Merry Christmas! Thanks for visiting and get your shopping done soon!
This shot was processed as usual.
Other settings include:
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM Autofocus Zoom
ISO: 400
Aperture: f11
Exposure Bias: 0.00
Shutter: 1.6
Focal Length: 19mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 5 exposures with EVs ranging from -2 to +2 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Release Cord
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
I love getting shots of old rusted out cars, trucks, gas pumps, etc... It seems the rust just pops in HDR! Of course, playing with Nik Color Efex a little helps. I'm not sure if this is a bus or an RV, but it's definitely seen the end of the road. I would love to see what it looks like on the inside, but who knows what one might find. That could be a scary thought indeed.
This will probably be my last post for the rest of week. Thanksgiving is rolling around and we have many people to see and visit with! It's gonna be great! With that, you all have a great and happy Thanksgiving and thanks for reading my silly little blog!
This shot was processed as usual. In addition, I added the duplex filter from Nik Color Efex and added the darken/lighten filter twice to darken the areas around the edges of the shot to draw attention to the vehicle itself.
Other settings include:
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM Autofocus Zoom
ISO: 200
Aperture: f11
Exposure Bias: -0.67
Shutter: 1/30
Focal Length: 11.5mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 5 exposures with EVs ranging from -2 to +2 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Release Cord
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
At 6th and Rio Grande here in Austin, is a restaurant called Katz's. It hails out of NYC I believe and are open 24 hours a day. The owner, Marc Katz recently ran for political office here, either mayor or governor, I can't remember which. It could even be both. Anyway, out in front of his deli sits this great old 1970s era Cadillac. It's in pretty decent shape, but it could use a little work. However, I thought it would be a cool subject to try and capture. I hope I was able to a little here.
Another note about this place.... When my wife and I got married, we had our reception at Scholz's Garten. The reception went into the wee hours of the morning. Once it was over, we and a few friends decided we needed more to eat, but everything around Scholz's was closed. So, we thought maybe we could get something on 6th Street. Well, everything was closed except for Katz's. It was a long hike, but we made it. Not to mention we were in no shape to drive, hence the hiking. Anyway, we got there at something like 3:00 am and we still had to wait for a table. I ended up laying down on the floor and taking a nap because I was so tired. Yes, tired. Nothing else. Tired is the word. We did finally get a table and ate, but oh what a night!
This shot was processed as usual. However, this time I downloaded Photomatix 4 and merged the brackets there instead of using Photoshop CS4's merge to HDR engine. I think I might start using this more because it has more built-in presets for tonemapping and fusion, and it's de-ghosting capabilities are pretty cool. Not to mention, I don't lose the EXIF data when I merge with Photomatix! Cool!
Other settings include:
Camera: Nikon D300s
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM Autofocus Zoom
ISO: 500
Aperture: f11
Exposure Bias: 0.00
Shutter: 0.8
Focal Length: 11.5mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 7 exposures with EVs ranging from -3 to +3 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-30 Remote Release Cord
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
The University of Texas recently celebrated it School of Architecture's 100th anniversary and to mark the occasion, they lit the tower orange and the windows with "100". It was a pretty cool sight to see on my way to work. I just wish that when I had gotten there, it would've been a little darker out to emphasize the lights on the tower a little more. I didn't know about this celebration until I drove by and by then it started getting light out. Plus, I didn't have the time to find a great composition, but I wanted to get a shot of the tower lit this way since it doesn't happen too often.
This shot was processed as usual. However, this time I downloaded Photomatix 4 and merged the brackets there instead of using Photoshop CS4's merge to HDR engine. I think I might start using this more because it has more built-in presets for tonemapping and fusion, and it's de-ghosting capabilities are pretty cool.
Other settings include:
Camera: Nikon D300s
Lens: Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II
ISO: 640
Aperture: f8
Exposure Bias: 0.00
Shutter: 1/5
Focal Length: 50mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 7 exposures with EVs ranging from -3 to +3 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-30 Remote Release Cord
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
Prescott Arizona is home to some great Wild West history. There's a street nicknamed "Whiskey Row" which has bars and saloons on it that date back to the 1800s. Some of these places have seen their share of characters from the old west. This shot here is of the back of "The Palace". Here's some more info from The Palace's website:
"The Palace Bar first opened its doors in September 1877. Although Whiskey Row was known for its many saloons. The Palace was much more than a fancy "watering hole". Men came in to check for notices of work available; it served as an election central for several area political races and cattle spreads; and mineral claims were bought and sold over the bar. The Palace is still the oldest frontier saloon in Arizona and the most well-known and historic restaurant and saloon in the state.In the late 1870's, Wyatt Earp, Virgil Earp and Doc Holliday were patrons of The Palace. Virgil and his wife Allie lived in Prescott where Virgil owned a saw mill at Thumb Butte and was Town Constable. Wyatt and his other brother, Morgan, visited Virgil in Prescott before they left for Tombstone. Doc was on a winning streak on Whiskey Row (possibly at The Palace) where he won $10,000 in Poker. He joined the Earp's eight months later in Tombstone.
On July 14th, 1900, The Palace was destroyed by the Whiskey Row fire. The ornately carved 1880's Brunswick Bar, which is still in use, was carried to safety across the street to the plaza by patrons.
In order to rebuild, the owner Bob Brow formed a partnership with Ben M. Belcher and Barney Smith, owners of the former Cabinet Saloon, also destroyed in the fire.
By 1901, The Palace Hotel and Bar, complete with Chinese restaurant and barber shop, was back in business. Today's Palace owners have done extensive remodeling to restore the Palace to its grandeur of 1901. Although still a frontier saloon, the addition of dining makes The Palace the gathering place it once was."
This is a non-hdr shot with a little Nik Duplex filter thrown in.
Other setting include:
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Nikkor AF-S DX 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR
ISO: 1600
Aperture: f3.5
Exposure Bias: -0.00
Shutter: 1/20
Focal Length: 18mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: None
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: None
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
This is the shot I was after in my last post where I discovered a half '52 Chevy Deluxe. It's another one of my Parking Garage Views of downtown Austin. This was on Henderson by Lamar and 9th. It's always fun to try and find some good skyline shots that haven't been already published by other photographers. At least I don't think this view has been shot by anyone else that I know of. Let me know what you think and thanks for dropping by.
This shot was processed as usual.
Other settings include:
Camera: Nikon D300s
Lens: Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II
ISO: 200
Aperture: f4.2
Exposure Bias: 0.00
Shutter: 1/13
Focal Length: 36mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 7 exposures with EVs ranging from -3 to +3 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-30 Remote Release Cord
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
I'm not sure what the deal is here, but I saw this while adding more shots to my "Parking Garage Views" series. One morning on my way to work I decided it was time to see if I could find more views of the Austin skyline and this time I headed west on 6th street to Lamar. I turned right on Lamar and then another right onto 9th and then another right onto Henderson. This garage was the first one on the left. As I walked to the stairs to go to the top, this unusual sight befell me and I thought it very interesting. I can't imagine why someone would do that to a car like this one. As a matter of fact, my friend and co-worker, Darrell Jourdan has one just like this, except it is whole. I guess this is another one of those weird things that Austin is trying to be famous for but has yet to get there.
This shot was processed as usual.
Other settings include:
Camera: Nikon D300s
Lens: Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II
ISO: 200
Aperture: f8
Exposure Bias: 0.00
Shutter: 0.8
Focal Length: 27mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 7 exposures with EVs ranging from -3 to +3 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-30 Remote Release Cord
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
A few days ago my friend, co-worker and fellow HDR enthusiast/photographer Van Sutherland took some great shots of the Texas Rowing Center located off Lady Bird Lake here in Austin, Texas. I marveled over his shot of the boat house. He said he wanted to go back out there again and asked me to tag along. I'm not one to turn down an invitation like that, so off we went. We went during our lunch hour on Tues this week and spent about 20 minutes or so there. This shot is probably the best of the bunch that I took. I guess that's not saying too much because I'm not sure if I like this one. I think I cut off the boat on the right a little, but it was hard to get a good angle. Let me know what you think..
One other reason I was happy to go out with Van was because I went to the next model camera up the Nikon food chain and purchased a D300s and this gave me an opportunity to work it out. So far I like it and I hope to not have to get another in a long while. Some of the reasons I purchased it are (not in any particular order):
1. Up to 9 shots for auto-bracketing (excellent for HDR)
2. Magnesium body (weatherproof)
3. Save as tiff
4. 51 focus points vs 11 in the D90
5. Dual card slots, 1 CF and 1 SDHC (so I can auto backup photos as I go)
6. 7 fps native and up to 8 with the battery pack
The ergonomics on it are great and getting to shoot a set of brackets without having to change settings after three shots and then shoot again is nice! I also got the Nikkor 18-200 lens so the options are even better! I probably should have waited for the next version of this camera, the oft-rumored D400 or something since this model has been around for over a year, but the price from B and H Photo for the D300s is pretty good right now and it has all of the features I want and then some. Plus, I'm sure the successor to this will cost a few hundred dollars more.
The best reason I got this camera is that part of it was a birthday gift from my wife and her parents, so it's very special in that regard! What an awesome gift! Thanks again guys! Love ya!
This shot was processed as usual.
Other settings include:
Camera: Nikon D300s
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM Autofocus Zoom
ISO: 200
Aperture: f16
Exposure Bias: 0.00
Shutter: 1/160
Focal Length: 11mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 7 exposures with EVs ranging from -3 to +3 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-30 Remote Release Cord
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
From the Department of Veterans Affairs:
World War I – known at the time as “The Great War” - officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, in the Palace of Versailles outside the town of Versailles, France. However, fighting ceased seven months earlier when an armistice, or temporary cessation of hostilities, between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. For that reason, November 11, 1918, is generally regarded as the end of “the war to end all wars.”
The United States Congress officially recognized the end of World War I when it passed a concurrent resolution on June 4, 1926, with these words:
Whereas the 11th of November 1918, marked the cessation of the most destructive, sanguinary, and far reaching war in human annals and the resumption by the people of the United States of peaceful relations with other nations, which we hope may never again be severed, and
Whereas it is fitting that the recurring anniversary of this date should be commemorated with thanksgiving and prayer and exercises designed to perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations; and
Whereas the legislatures of twenty-seven of our States have already declared November 11 to be a legal holiday: Therefore be it Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), that the President of the United States is requested to issue a proclamation calling upon the officials to display the flag of the United States on all Government buildings on November 11 and inviting the people of the United States to observe the day in schools and churches, or other suitable places, with appropriate ceremonies of friendly relations with all other peoples.
The picture above is of the entrance to the Arlington Memorial Amphitheater at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington DC. I thought it an appropriate shot to post in recognition of the upcoming Veterans Day. The amphitheater sits next to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. If you see a veteran, please take a moment to thank a him or her and also, please take a moment to reflect on the sacrifices our vets have made to keep us free.
Thanks for visiting.
This shot was processed as usual.
Other settings include:
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM Autofocus Zoom
ISO: 640
Aperture: f5.6
Exposure Bias: -0.67
Shutter: 1/2500
Focal Length: 17mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 5 exposures with EVs ranging from -2 to +2 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Release Cord
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
I have two things I'd like to share with you today... The photo above is one I took back on April 1st where the photo gods played a little trick on me and made me take some shots of the Texas capitol with my camera on its basic jpg quality setting. They turned out quite well for the most part, but if only the image quality setting was the highest. Those shots are my Capitol Blunder and Capitol Blunder Companion shots. You can read about what stupidity befell me on this particular morning in those posts. So, this was the last in that series that I took that fateful morning. Anyway, this shot above is what's known as the "Underground Rotunda" at the Texas State Capitol. It's at the end of the extension that sits on the north side of the Capitol grounds and it's pretty cool to look at. This view is pretty much street level looking down into it. It almost looks like some sort of Roman coliseum or something. I thought it looked pretty cool and worth a post. I'm hoping to get out pretty soon and get some new content. So stay tuned.
As far as the video below is concerned, I thought this might be a good time to post it. A friend of mine sent me the link and I thought it was fascinating. It's a Russian biker who commutes some 25 odd miles to work and he does some death-defying feats on the way there. He weaves in and out of traffic, pulls wheelies and basically puts his life in serious risk of being snuffed with his drive to work. Check it out. I suppose if I had a bike and drove this fast on my way to work, I would have more time to check my camera settings and not make so many blunderous mistakes. Of course, what I would really do is sleep in longer, then drive like a nutcase, and still screw my camera settings if I decided to stop and shoot. What would you do? Check it out and let me know what you think. Also, I just want to add, this guy is an idiot, I don't condone it, and he's probably dead now. Still it's a fun watch...
The shot above was processed as usual.
Other setting include:
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM Autofocus Zoom
ISO: 320
Aperture: f11
Exposure Bias: -0.00
Shutter: 11
Focal Length: 10mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 5 exposures with EVs ranging from -2 to +2 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Release Cord
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
Lately I haven't been able to get out and shoot any pictures. More about that in another post sometime, but for right now I thought I'd put up a shot from my recent trip to New Orleans. This is the Royal Praline Company located right in the French Quarter. It was one of the many places we stopped while wandering around there. Pralines are a "cookie-sized candy made of brown sugar and butter and pecans" (according to wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn) that is big in the south, if you like that sort of thing. Myself, I'm not too particular to them. However, I do like pecan pie. Weird? I think so, but that's me. Anyway, while my wife and friends were in there checking everything out, I decided to get a shot of the place. Here you go and thanks for visiting.
This shot was processed as usual. However, this was only a 3 shot bracket due to the fact that right after I took the first set, a bunch of people started milling around the entrance obstructing my shot. Doggone tourists! Wait... nevermind.
Other setting include:
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM Autofocus Zoom
ISO: 200
Aperture: f11
Exposure Bias: -0.00
Shutter: 1/10
Focal Length: 10mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 3 exposures with EVs ranging from -2 to +2 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Release Cord
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
Just wanted to say Happy Halloween to those of you who enjoy this day. This is an old shot of an attempt at carving something different from a few years ago. Why not the demon from the band KISS? Seems somewhat appropriate!
Have a great day and thanks for taking a look!
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com ]]>
Halloween is coming and I thought it a good time to post a shot I took in a place called "Voodoo Blues" somewhere around Decatur St and Iberville or Bienville in New Orleans. It's one of those touristy t-shirt and bead shops you can find all over the place down there. But, they have some cool things adorning the shops and this skeleton playing the piano jumped out at me. I had to get a shot of it. If only that magazine rack wasn't behind the skeleton.
Anyway, have a Happy Halloween everyone and thanks for dropping by.
This shot was processed as usual. In addition, I added the Darken/Lighten filter from Nik Color Efex to kind of isolate the skeleton a bit.
Other setting include:
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Nikkor AF-S DX 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR
ISO: 640
Aperture: f11
Exposure Bias: -0.00
Shutter: 0.6
Focal Length: 25mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 5 exposures with EVs ranging from -2 to +2 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Release Cord
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
Before I get to this shot, I wanted to let you know that the lens I just purchased from 42nd Street Photo just came in and it does have the 5 year warranty. They honored their word and I'm pretty happy about that. However, I'm not sure I can buy from them again since the products they advertise on their site is not necessarily what they will send. If you do decide to purchase from them, be sure to talk to a salesman to find out exactly what you are getting before you make the final purchase. I think I got lucky. Read my previous posts for more info.
Pretty exciting, eh? Dumpsters. It doesn't get any better than this! This is that shot I mentioned in the my 7th Street Garage post. It's not super exciting, but there's something about it that I like. I guess it's the grunginess.
This is another shot that I took in the morning on the way to work. You know, I only have so much time to get a shot before I get to work and I don't want to get up at an ungodly hour that's worse than what I get up to already. I really wanted to try to get an alley shot and this wasn't the first. The other shot that I wanted was pretty cool, but as soon as I had all of me gear setup, the Waste Management truck came in a screwed it all up. It might have been good if the Waste Management truck was an actual trash truck, but this one was just a regular pickup truck. Nothing interesting there. So, I went across the street and found this shot. This actually turned out better I think because the lighting was brighter, but it would be cool to get a trash truck, especially in HDR. Oh well, someday maybe. I guess I can always dream of trash. Wait... Nevermind.
This shot was processed as usual.
Other setting include:
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM Autofocus Zoom
ISO: 400
Aperture: f11
Exposure Bias: -0.00
Shutter: 1.6
Focal Length: 12mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 5 exposures with EVs ranging from -2 to +2 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Release Cord
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
I was perusing the vault located on the compound here known as Evan's Expo and discovered a relic of a shot from days long ago.. April of this year. OK, maybe not that long ago, but it's a shot that I processed from my trip to DC and forgot to put out there. Not sure if I really forgot, or if I subconsciously refused to put it out because I thought it not blog-worthy, but the more I look at it, the more I like it. It's a shot of the National Cathedral I took while waiting to go in for the tour. This was the driveway that rolls up on the side of the place. I think it's where dignitaries and such drive up and go into the place.
This shot was processed as usual.
Other setting include:
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM Autofocus Zoom
ISO: 200
Aperture: f11
Exposure Bias: -0.67
Shutter:1/320
Focal Length: 10mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 5 exposures with EVs ranging from -2 to +2 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Release Cord
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
In an effort to keep this blog relatively fresh, I have to - obviously - keep putting out some new photos. One way I like to do that is to head to downtown Austin and try to find something to shoot. This time I tried to take a different tack on my parking garage series and actually get a shot of the inside of a garage. So that's what we have here. I'm not sure of its photographic value as far as all the rules are concerned, such as leading lines, rule of thirds, etc. I'm not even sure if it is that interesting. Sometimes things I find interesting, others don't and vice-versa. I thought this one was kind of interesting because of the air vent that travels along the ceiling. I thought it gave the shot a little uniqueness and sort of leads the eye around the shot a little bit. Am I in the ballpark on this or totally off-base?
Anyway, this particular garage is located on 7th Street in Austin right behind the Driskill Hotel. There are lots of things to shoot there, but nothing beautiful. It's kind of a grungy part of the downtown area. I have a shot of an alleyway with a bunch of trash bins that I will post in the coming days. They're fun subjects to shoot, but some might think, "Seriously, trash bins and parking garages? Can't you come up with something else?" Not right now. ;-)
This shot was processed as usual except for a couple things... The light behind the pillar in the middle of the shot was rather greeen so I had to use Viveza to control that. Same goes for the bumper on the Explorer on the left. I also cranked up the saturation on the Explorer with Viveza and also cranked up the saturation of the overall shot with CS4 by about 21, um, percent, or Photoshop units...whatever they are. In other words, I used the hue/saturation adjustment and cranked the saturation slider up by 21.
Other setting include:
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM Autofocus Zoom
ISO: 400
Aperture: f11
Exposure Bias: -0.00
Shutter: 0.3 Focal Length: 12mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 5 exposures with EVs ranging from -2 to +2 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Release Cord
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
I took this shot up at Fort Hood with my wife Eileen and my nephew Dylan. Dylan wanted to see the tanks so we took him up there. He thought they were "Awesome!"
This is a World War II-era tank located at the 1st Cavalry Division Museum. That's a great place to visit because not only do they have old tanks from World War II, but they also have some pretty new stuff as well. The tank with the desert color camo on it on the left behind this one is an M-1 Abrahms tank which is what we use right now. There are also Soviet military vehicles there, some of which were capture in Iraq. Cool stuff!
This shot may not be as awesome since I took it with my Lumix DMC-TZ5 point and shoot. But, it has auto-bracketing on it and it works pretty well once in a while. It can only shoot 3 brackets and the widest EV it can do is -1 to +1. That's OK. And the other thing is that it only saves shots as jpgs. That's fine also.
I know one thing, I'm gonna hafta go back up there with my DSLR and get some better shots of some of these things some day. I think there are some great possibilities there!
This shot was processed as usual. However, I think I also used the duplex filter in Nik Color Efex and sampled the light green color of the tank with a layer opacity of around 20%.
Other setting include:
Camera: Lumix DMC-TZ5
Lens: Built-in 28 - 280mm (35mm equiv.)
ISO: 400
Aperture: f8
Exposure Bias: -0.00
Shutter: 1/800
Focal Length: 28mm (35mm equiv.)
Mode: Normal
Bracketing: 3 exposures with EVs ranging from -1 to +1 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: None
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
Sure enough,a couple hours later, someone from their shipping dept called and went over my info. He asked if I would like to buy an extended warranty and I said no, I'll just stick with the Nikon US model 5 year standard warranty. He said that it didn't come with that, it was just a 30-day warranty. If I wanted to buy a warranty it would cost something like $79.99. I told him that ALL US model Nikon products come with a 5 year warranty and I purchased a US version of this lens from their website. He came back and said that I bought the "non-retail" version or something like that and the "retail" version of this lens comes with the 5 year warranty and it sells for $799.00. I told him I would like my money back. He then said he would check a few things out first. He proceeded to try to sell me a 7 year warranty for $49. I said I wanted my money back. The phone went silent for a few seconds, I asked if he was still there and he came back and said that he wanted to keep my business and that he'd send me the "retail" version for the price that I paid for the "non-retail" version, which was $709.00. I said OK and now my fingers are crossed hoping that is in fact what I will receive in a few days.
That's still a great deal, but the their site is a bit misleading. If you do decide to go with them, keep this story in mind and be ready to haggle if you have to. I didn't think I would have to when I bought this lens but I should've known something was up with that great price. I hate haggling if I don't have to. However, it worked out in this case.
If I run into any more interesting little tidbits from this retailer, I will definitely post it.
Caveat emptor.
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
I've been waiting a while to find a good price for this lens because I thought the original $850 price when it came out was a bit much. I even thought about getting a refurb or demo out of Adorama or B&H for around $600 but I just couldn't do it. Those either come with only a 90 day warranty or no warranty at all.
Needless to say, I'm pretty happy and I can't wait for it to get here in about 10 days or so! If you are in the market for one of these, check it out!
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
Many things need to happen for the buses at the agency where I work to keep them on the road and getting the masses from point A to point B in their daily routines. Everything from driving, to dispatching, to security, to customer service, to marketing, to planning, to IT, etc., must all work together everyday to get the bus to where it has to go. There are so many things that happen harmoniously from day-to-day that it sometimes make my head spin. One of the most vital things is, of course, maintenance of the vehicles, and that's where this shot comes in. This is one of the main maintenance bays where the vehicles get serviced. It's pretty impressive to walk through there and see these massive machines up on lifts getting worked on. The buses look sort of like they're lined up like patients in hospital beds where the "doctors" make their rounds and get the "patients" back to health. It's one facet of what happens here, but it's a lot more interesting that shooting a rack of servers or some file cabinets in an office, even though those things are equally important.
This shot was processed as usual except for one thing... The light at the top center of the shot had sort of a red hue to it. To correct that, I opened Nik Viveza 2, put a control point right on the light and adjusted the color and hue to give a slight electric blue/green hue, yet keeping it mostly white.
Other setting include:
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM Autofocus Zoom
ISO: 200
Aperture: f11
Exposure Bias: -0.00
Shutter: 0.8
Focal Length: 10mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 5 exposures with EVs ranging from -2 to +2 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Release Cord
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
First of all, before I talk about the shot above, check out the panorama of the inside of the Superdome I took during the Panthers v Saints game that I put out on Flickr. I would have posted it here, but panorama shots don't seem to work too well on the old blog. As you can see, we were pretty high up. As matter of fact, we couldn't get any higher. We were in the very last row on the highest level, some where around the 25 yard line. My nose just stopped bleeding. ;-) Still, it really wasn't too bad and we had a great time watching the game from there. One of the good things about the seats at the Superdome at that level is that the bathrooms were right behind us. How convenient!
Now, on to the shot above. Across the street from Cafe Du Monde sits Jackson Square, and through Jackson Square sits the St Louis Cathedral. It's one of the most famous landmarks in the French Quarter of New Orleans. It's the oldest catholic cathedral in the US and Pope John Paul II spoke there back in Sept., 1987. It really made for a nice shot.
It was a little too dark for my liking when I took this one, but I think it worked out pretty well. I processed it my usual way, but I added a little Nik Viveza 2 to the cathedral itself to brighten it up a little bit. I don't think the cathedral is really lit up at night, I just think that the lights around Jackson Square reflect off the building so it was a little dark in the initial processing.
Other settings include:
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Nikkor AF-S DX 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR
ISO: 800
Aperture: f11
Exposure Bias: -0.00
Shutter: 1.6
Focal Length: 50mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 5 exposures with EVs ranging from -2 to +2 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Release Cord
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
If and when you visit New Orleans, stop at the Cafe Du Monde and try their world famous beignets. They are these donut-like rectangular pastries covered with a ton of powdered sugar that are out of this world. If you like donuts, you'll love these. They may not be good for you, but man, they are good! We stopped by there our first evening and had a couple with some hot chocolate. We could've had cafe au lait but then we'd be up all night. This was the shot I took right before I went in. My wife and friends were already there. We sat right behind the pillar where the waiter there is taking a break on the left.
I just processed this shot as normal. However, I did have to mask in the patrons from one of the middle brackets since HDR doesn't process moving people too well.
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM Autofocus Zoom
ISO: 800
Aperture: f11
Exposure Bias: -0.00
Shutter: 0.8
Focal Length: 15mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 5 exposures with EVs ranging from -2 to +2 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Release Cord
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
The French Quarter in New Orleans is a very unique place. Parts of it, such as Bourbon Street are famously seedy and touristy with its ration of bars and strip clubs, while other parts are quite nice with art galleries, restaurants and quaint little shops. All of the areas have this great architecture similar to what you see here. Most of the buildings are two to three stories in height and have balconies with the iron railings. The decor on a lot of them are full of beautiful plants ranging from hibiscus to ferns. This building is located on the corner of Dumaine and Royal streets in the heart of the French Quarter. This one stood out to me because of the architecture and all of the great ferns hanging over the balconies. They all look so well kept and all are about the same size. It really adds to the look of the place. I could spend weeks down there shooting and never even scratch the surface of all the great opportunities there. I'm not even sure I did so well on this shot, but I'm OK with the result for the most part. I just wish I was able to capture more of the very top of the building, but you get the idea of what it looks like for the most part.
I processed this shot as normal.
Other settings include:
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Nikkor AF-S DX 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR
ISO: 640
Aperture: f8
Exposure Bias: +0.00
Shutter: 1/400
Focal Length: 18mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 3 exposures with EVs ranging from -2 to +2 at 2 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: None
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
This past weekend, my wife, a few friends and I went to New Orleans to see a Saints game! Boy, was that fun! The "Who Dat Nation" was rockin'! Those people are nuts! We had a great time there and I have discovered that New Orleans is a photographer's paradise, especially for HDR. I just wish I had more time to shoot stuff there. I did get some shots that I'm happy with, but mostly I fell flat on my face as far as my shots turned out. I'd love to go back and try again some day.
This is one of the shots that I think turned out pretty nice. It's inside a place in the French Quarter called, "The Old Coffee Pot". It's a nice little restaurant we found while looking for a place to have breakfast on the Monday after the game. It was excellent! It's located right next to Pat O'Brien's on St Peters. I had the eggs creole I think it was called. One of our friends had the 'eggs conti' with chicken livers and loved them! I think it must be an acquired taste.
So, this shot is of the bar and the kitchen. Our table was just to the right of where I was standing when I took this shot. I really liked the look of the place with its French decor, like the copper awning above the opening looking into the kitchen. I Just wish I had the wide angle lens for this, but I was traveling light that day so I just shot this hand-held with my trusty 18-105 kit lens.
So, if you are ever in New Orleans and looking for a place for breakfast, check out "The Old Coffee Pot". They even advertise themselves as having "The Best Breakfast In The French Quarter".
I just processed this shot as normal.
Other settings include:
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Nikkor AF-S DX 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR
ISO: 640
Aperture: f8
Exposure Bias: +0.00
Shutter: 1/15
Focal Length: 18mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 3 exposures with EVs ranging from -2 to +2 at 2 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: None
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
The same morning I took my Moon Over the Monarch shot, I grabbed a quick shot looking south down Lavaca St. I kind of like this one because it shows the Frost Bank Building on the left with the four red lights at the top as well as the new Austonian, the skinny building to the right of the Frost Bank Building. I'm not sure what the main building is in the middle with the lit green top, but it looks pretty nice whatever it is. The only thing I wish I would've done during the shot was try to get the light streaks all the way down the street, but no time and little traffic blew that for me.
I really don't have too much more to add about this shot except in it's processing... I changed it up a little bit. Instead of my usual way of processing, I merged and tonemapped it all in Photomatix and then did my Nik Color Efex thing. I added one more filter from Nik Color Efex; I added a layer of the Midnight filter. However, I brought down the blur to zero and I think I set the opacity on the layer to somewhere between 40-50%. I removed the noise and sharpened as normal.
Other settings include:
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM Autofocus Zoom
ISO: 200
Aperture: f11
Exposure Bias: -0.00
Shutter: 10
Focal Length: 16mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 5 exposures with EVs ranging from -2 to +2 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Release Cord
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
Today was the first really nice day in Austin that we've had in months. A nice cool front blew in yesterday and it dropped the temps to the low 80s today and the humidity went way down as well. That means it was a great day to get out and do some shooting. As nice as it was, I was pressed for time because the only time I could really go shoot was during my lunch hour... again.
I wanted to head down to the banks of Lady Bird Lake (aka., Town Lake) and get a shot of one of the boat houses down there. There's a club that rents out those long skinny rowboats, but I forget what those are called. Anyway, when I got there, it was closed. So much for that idea.
The next idea that came to mind was to shoot the underside of the 1st Street bridge. I've seen some cool HDRs of that from some others and I thought that would be something worth shooting. I trudged on over and when I got there, I heard some really cool harmonica music emanating from behind one of the bridge pillars. Well, I thought I'd just get a shot of the underside of the bridge, but I'd ask the gentleman playing if I would be disturbing him, after all, he was there first. He was OK with it.
I took my couple of shots and then we struck up a conversation. Dan Kaplan is his name and he's a local artist who does lots of things from playing the harmonica to making sculptures. He has a pretty cool web site called paper harmonica.com. Check it out some time of you like. Dan was a very nice guy to talk to. It turns out that he has an album of his music coming out pretty soon. He said he has about a month to finish it up and it will be out sometime after that. Pretty cool!
Well as you can see, before I left I asked Dan if he wouldn't mind if I took a shot or two of him, So, here you go. I debated on whether to turn this into a black and white or not. Maybe some day I'll post another, but I kind of like how this turned out. I hope Dan does.
Like I said, it was a great day for photography weather-wise, and great because I met Dan and he let me take a couple of shots of him.
This shot was processed the usual way.
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM Autofocus Zoom
ISO: 200
Aperture: f11
Exposure Bias: -0.00
Shutter: 1/80
Focal Length: 18mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 5 exposures with EVs ranging from -2 to +2 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Release Cord
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
Many years ago, I served in the Air Force and did a couple years overseas in England. While I was there, I had some friends who had MGs like these here. Of course those over there were right-side drive cars as opposed to these American versions. It was fun.. We always used to tell the Brits there that they drove on the wrong side of the road and we over here drove on the "right side" of the road. They would retort with, "No, we drive on the proper side". Good times.
So seeing these rusted out MGs at a salvage yard near Belton, Texas reminded me of that and I had to get a shot. Nothing like rust and HDR.
This shot was processed the usual way.
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM Autofocus Zoom
ISO: 200
Aperture: f11
Exposure Bias: -0.00
Shutter: 1/125
Focal Length: 17mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 5 exposures with EVs ranging from -2 to +2 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Release Cord
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
Before I talke about this shot, I wanted to mention one little thing... The previous three postings were from the last weekend's motocross shoot. I posted some of the better shots I took that are not HDRs in my Zenfolio gallery if you are interested in seeing them. If you aren't interested, that's fine also.
You know, sometimes when you are having a hard time thinking of something to shoot, interesting things may actually be closer than you think. I work at the local transit agency in Austin, Texas called Capital Metro and there are some great photography opportunities there. Recently I've been plagued by the "photographer's block" bug and at lunch today, I decided to try and break out of it a little. So, I grabbed my camera and headed out the maintenance garages located behind the administration building where I work. The possibilities are endless in there, even if I did get weird looks from some of the mechanics.
Lunch seemed to be a good time because most of the guys there were gone leaving me to do my work. However, like I mentioned, the few passersby that did see me gave me that, "What the he--?!" - kind of gaze. Anyway, I snapped off a few here and there and of the ones I took, this one jumped out at me because of the way the bus sat with the tool cabinets around it and with the bus up on the lift. It just looks cool to me, like more work is ready to be done.
This shot was processed the usual way.
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM Autofocus Zoom
ISO: 200
Aperture: f11
Exposure Bias: -0.00
Shutter: 0.4
Focal Length: 10mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 5 exposures with EVs ranging from -2 to +2 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Release Cord
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
It's been a little while since I posted anything and I was hoping to have more material by now, but alas, I haven't had a chance to get out there and shoot anything, much think of a good subject to shoot. So, I thought one more shot from my recent outing with Pete Talke at the Austin - Del Valle Motocross Park was in order.
Of the three shots I've posted so far, I noticed that whoever the rider with the number 5 is, he must be pretty good because he's the subject of two of them. He was buzzing around the track like a madman flying in and out of the turns and doing some cool tail-whips off the jumps. I'm not sure of he one his races or not since Pete and I were all over the track, but I'm sure he didn't do too badly.
This is an HDR using the suggestions Pete gave me that I pointed out here. Give it a try some time, it really works!
The exif info for this shot is broken out very well on Flickr if you want to take a look. That's one good thing about doing single HDRs.. that process doesn't remove the exif info like my usual process.
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
Like yesterday's post, this was shot at Austin - Del Valle Motocross Park in Del Valle, Texas. It was processed the same way as well. It's a single shot turned into an HDR. It's not too hard to do.
I really don't have much info to add regarding this particular shot other than, if you ever get a chance to go out there, go! It's a lot of fun to watch these guys tear up the track. Plus, the little kids that ride are fun, too. Some of those little guys and girls are really pretty good. You'd be impressed!
Lastly, I have quite a few more photos from the day, but only a few are probably worth spending the time to process into an HDR. I will probably sporadically put a few more out here and there in the days to come, especially if I don't have anything else worth blogging about. That's the case right now, unfortunately. However, I hope to get more stuff soon. Thanks for dropping by.
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
As a kid, I always wanted to race motocross. A lot of my friends did it. The one thing that kept me back was that I didn't have a motorcycle. That's an important piece to have if you want to race. Without it, I guess it would be called cross-country racing. But, I did have a bicycle, so I raced BMX instead. I did that a few times over the course of a couple of years. The best I ever did was a couple of 4th place finishes in the novice class. Not too bad I guess. Fun stuff! So, when Pete Talke of Talke Photography invited me out to Austin - Del Valle Motocross Park, I jumped on it.
We went out on Saturday the 18th of September and shot the place up! Pete was able to get us access to the whole track. We were able to go anywhere and get any angle of the riders we could think of. It was really cool. I hope to do it again sometime and thanks Pete for putting this together! It was a great time and it was great meeting you as well!
This was shot during the first race of the evening right after the start. This probably isn't the best composed shot I took during the excursion, but I like how it sort of shows the movement of the bikes and the dirt flying, but yet you can see the eyes of the rider on the number 5 bike.
Pete gave me some great tips for shooting action like this. One thing he does is shoot jpg instead of raw. The camera can work fast to save the data of a jpg than a raw so you can get the max frames per second your camera can put out. The other tip he told me is in his processing of single shots; instead of making a separate copy and adjusting the exposure in Adobe Raw, he makes 4 copies, pull the 5 shots into Photomatix and then adjusts the exposure there when Photomatix asks you what the exposure spacing is. I did that on this shot, made 4 copies, pulled all 5 into Photomatix and told it that the spacing was 1 making the EV range -2, -1, 0, +1, and +2. I am pretty impressed. Then I just processed as normal.
Other settings include:
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Nikkor AF-S DX 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR
ISO: 200
Aperture: f5.6
Exposure Bias: +0.33
Shutter: 1/60
Focal Length: 105mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: None
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: None
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
Last weekend my wife Eileen and I took a trip up to Michigan to visit my side of the family. While we were there, we had the privilege of seeing a University of Michigan football game courtesy of my sister, Elizabeth and her significant other, Jack. My brother Tom also went to the game as well as some of Elizabeth and Jack's friends who were very fun people.
This game had Michigan playing the University of Connecticut Huskies - boooo!! Needless to say, Michigan clobbered the Huskies 30-10. And, Michigan's quarterback this year - Denard Robinson - looked awesome! He broke Michigan's single game record for total offense with 383 yards and he also broke the single game rushing record by a quarterback with 198 yards. The dude is awesome! Oh, and I forgot to mention, he doesn't tie his shoes! I just hope he can do something against Notre Dame tomorrow. It will be on NBC tomorrow at 3:30 EDT if you are interested. I know I'll be glued to the TV for this one! Especially after what happened last year!
I had been to Michigan Stadium one time before when I was very little. My Dad took me to a Michigan v Michigan State game - I think - but that was so long ago that I can't remember who Michigan played for sure. This year, Michigan rededicated the stadium to show off some of it's new construction that was put in place during the last two years. It is definitely a huge place! One other record that was set was the attendance record which was 113,090! And I can say for a certainty that not all the seats were filled. We sat where some season ticket holders normally sit but they don't show until conference games. So, this number is short by at least two or three. Wait until the Michigan State game this year!
This shot here is a panorama of 8 pictures taken with my handy-dandy Lumix DMC-TZ5 stitched together in Photoshop CS4. Other than the stitching, no other alterations were made to this shot. The only thing about this picture I'm not happy about it the field on the right side. Photoshop wasn't able to stitch it together too well there, but I'm happy with the results everywhere else. I really just wanted to convey the size of the stadium and hopefully I was able to do that here. If you want to see a bigger shot of this, click on the picture above which will take you to my flickr site and then go to "Actions", click on "All sizes" and check out the original.. That will give you a better idea.
Let me know what you think and thanks for taking time to visit.
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
This is the front of the Omni Hotel which is part of the Austin Centre in Austin, Texas. I wanted to get a corner shot of this hotel from an adjacent parking garage, but the garages close to this place were not easy to find access to the top floors. So, I was relegated to shooting it from across the street in front of the Central Presbyterian Church on 8th Street. I'm kind of glad it worked out that way because this shot really shows the expanse of the inside through the glass. I just wish the interior was lit up a little more.
If you are curious as to what the inside of the hotel looks like, check out my other posts here. Looks like it would be a very nice place to stay.
I did my standard processing for this shot and I had to skew the shot a little bit due to the distortion from my Sigma 10-20mm lens.
Other settings include:
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM Autofocus Zoom
ISO: 640
Aperture: f11
Exposure Bias: -0.00
Shutter: 1.6
Focal Length: 10mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 5 exposures with EVs ranging from -2 to +2 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Release Cord
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
Saturday night was a little bit of a slow night in the Gearing household and I was itching for some picture taking, but I lacked any ideas. Eileen, my wife, said, "Why don't you try heading up to Belton and see if there's anything up there?" So, that's what I did. I jumped on I-35 and headed north. It's only about a 30 minute drive from Georgetown. Pretty close to Belton, I saw a salvage yard on the southbound side and I thought that might make for some interesting stuff. Old rusted cars and such make really good HDRs IMO. Regretfully, I didn't get the name of this particular one, but the old-timer hanging out in front had no problem with me shooting up his yard. That's where I found this shot. It's one of the better ones. I can't really remember what kind of car it was, but I think it's the inside of an old Chevy. Maybe some of you car buffs out there can help me out on this one. Gotta love rusty, crusty stuff in HDR.
I processed this the usual way, but I did give an extra push with the bleach bypass filter in Nik Color Efex to give it a more dated, washed out look. I think I pushed that layer to about 40% opacity or so.
Other settings include:
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM Autofocus Zoom
ISO: 200
Aperture: f11
Exposure Bias: -0.00
Shutter: 1/25
Focal Length: 13mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 5 exposures with EVs ranging from -2 to +2 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Release Cord
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
A great American icon, Harley Davidson! It doesn't get any better than that! There was a day when I owned a 2005 1100 Sportster Custom, all black with the Skull accessories. Oh, it was great!! 2005 was a year or two after Harley came out with the rubber-mounted engine to cut down on the vibration that earlier sportsters had. Man, that was fun to ride. But alas, an unfortunate mishap while riding to work curtailed my use of the bike as a viable commuter option. So, I sold it. However, I still miss riding it and maybe some day I'll get another.
Anyway, this is the entrance to the "Horny Toad" Harley Davidson dealer up in Temple, Texas. It's a relatively new building that they are in now and the place has the look of a factory. This is the long entrance in front.
I did my standard processing on this.
Other settings include:
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM Autofocus Zoom
ISO: 200
Aperture: f11
Exposure Bias: -0.00
Shutter: 0.5
Focal Length: 10mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 5 exposures with EVs ranging from -2 to +2 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Release Cord
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
I love making HDR images, but sometimes it's nice to shake things up a bit. I drove through Salado last night after trying to get some pictures in Belton and Temple and the old City Garage was lit up and begged to have its picture taken. Right next to the garage sits this old pickup truck underneath a lamp. I thought the light and the way the truck sat there would work for a nice black and white. I took my usual brackets for an HDR thinking I would convert it to BW after the processing was complete, but instead I used one single exposure and converted it. I liked how the background disappears in BW and I just like the overall look. I'm not sure about the composition though. It's close to my vision on how it should look, but it seems like it could use something else. Just not sure what that would be.
Believe it or not, I did not use any Nik Software in this image. I converted it in Photoshop CS4 and also used Topaz Clean to, yes, clean it up. I thought it needed a little bit of that.
Any opinions/comments would be appreciated.
Other settings include:
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM Autofocus Zoom
ISO: 640
Aperture: f11
Exposure Bias: -0.00
Shutter: 2.5
Focal Length: 12mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: none
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Release Cord
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
Yawn, ho-hum. Or, in the words of the late, great Chris Farley, "Whoop-dee-friggin'-do!!" It's another shot of the capitol. But, I've found a new vantage point to shoot from during my little self-imposed parking garage excursions. From the Chase Bank garage at 9th and Lavaca you get the view seen above. It's an angle I haven't seen yet. And, with the scaffolding around the dome, it makes the shot a tad more interesting, even if it is another boring shot of the capitol.
Something else about this shot that I wanted to point out is in its processing. I did the usual hdr stuff; I made two merged shots, one in Photoshop CS4 and one in Photomatix. Then I tone-mapped them both in Photomatix to see which ones I liked better. I wasn't particularly pleased with the results of either so I thought a LOT of masking was going to be needed, especially for the sky. So, I brought in the one from Photomatix and layered in one of the brackets to start on the sky. But when I was fiddling with the menu in Photoshop, I found something called "Auto-blend". I thought, "I wonder what that does?" and kicked it off. It started cranking out all kinds of wild masks and things and what I ended up with was basically what you see above. I did a little noise reduction, sharpening and color corrections in a couple of spots, but for the most part this is what came out. I'm rather impressed as this was better than what I had from my tone-mapped shots. The sky came out really nice especially around the scaffolding and the flagpoles. Those types of things can be problems during the tone-mapping process as you HDR guys out there know. I guess auto-blend has been around since CS3 but it isn't something I've messed with. From what I've read on the web, it's meant to be used in conjunction with "Auto-align" for stitching photos into a panorama, but it seems to work well for combining shots in layers as well. The following is from Adobe's website regarding auto-blend:
"Use the Auto-Blend Layers command to stitch or combine images with smooth transitions in the final composite image. Auto-Blend Layers applies layer masks as needed to each layer to mask out over‑ or underexposed areas or content differences. Auto-Blend layers is only available for RGB or Grayscale images. It does not work with Smart Objects, video layers, 3D layers, or background layers.
Among the many uses of the Auto-Blend Layers command, you can blend multiple images of a scene with different areas in focus to achieve a composite image with an extended depth of field. Similarly, you can create a composite by blending multiple images of a scene with different illuminations. In addition to combining images of a scene, you can stitch together images into a panorama. (Although, it might be better to use the Photomerge command to produce panoramas from multiple images.)
Auto-Blend Layers applies layer masks as needed to each layer to mask out over‑ or underexposed areas or content differences and create a seamless composite."
It's a pleasant surprise and something I will have to remember as I process stuff in the future. Another thing to play with!Among the many uses of the Auto-Blend Layers command, you can blend multiple images of a scene with different areas in focus to achieve a composite image with an extended depth of field. Similarly, you can create a composite by blending multiple images of a scene with different illuminations. In addition to combining images of a scene, you can stitch together images into a panorama. (Although, it might be better to use the Photomerge command to produce panoramas from multiple images.)
Auto-Blend Layers applies layer masks as needed to each layer to mask out over‑ or underexposed areas or content differences and create a seamless composite."
Other settings include:
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Nikkor AF-S DX 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR
ISO: 200
Aperture: f11
Exposure Bias: -0.00
Shutter: 2
Focal Length: 75mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 5 exposures with EVs ranging from -2 to +2 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Release Cord
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
My little project of getting shots from different garages around town has been pretty fun. It was cool this week too, since the moon was full during one of my expeditions. This is a shot of the Monarch building with a full moon right next to it. If you aren't familiar with Austin too much, the Monarch is the one with the arch at the top that is lit with blue lights. I think the lighting up there changes color every few minutes to give the place a different look. That seems to be a fad these days because not only does the Monarch do that, but so does the Austonian as well several others downtown. The Monarch as well as the Austonian is one of the new new-fangled condos springing up like weeds around here. I'm not sure if it is considered a luxury condo building like the Four Seasons Residences, but I have a feeling it is.
I got this shot at the Chase Bank parking garage at 9th and Lavaca. That one also has elevators that make getting to the top quite easy and sweat-free. Very nice for getting to work without smelling like I just got in from the gym. The co-workers appreciate it.
I processed it the usual way, but I did mask in the sky from the 0.00 EV bracket and masked in the moon from the -2.00 EV bracket. I also adjusted the moon's color with Nik Viveza 2 to give it a more natural color than the ugly yellow that came out during the processing.
Other settings include:
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Nikkor AF-S DX 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR
ISO: 400
Aperture: f11
Exposure Bias: -0.00
Shutter: 5
Focal Length: 99mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 5 exposures with EVs ranging from -2 to +2 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Release Cord
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
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What is HDR?
High dynamic range photography is a process in which multiple exposures are captured, aligned and merged to generate a single image that enables a much wider range of colors and tonality. HDR techniques are typically used to enhance landscape, architectural, nighttime, and artistic photography.
The garage at 12th and Lavaca and Guadalupe provided this view of the capitol with the First Methodist Church below. It's another in my quest to find different angles from some of the parking garages in Austin. Luckily with this garage, I found the elevators so I didn't have to climb 7 or 8 flights of stairs. That makes things a little easier and also makes getting the shots a little faster so I don't get to work late. ;-) At the Capitol, you can see they are doing some restoration on the dome, so someday I may have to go back and get a shot from here when that stuff is gone.
I processed this the usual way, but I did figure out something that helps a little. Usually I merge 5 brackets inside Photoshop CS4 and then tonemap the result in Photomatix. I think CS4 aligns the shots better than Photomatix and I like the result it gets. However, it doesn't seem to work as well for the skies, especially if the sky is cloudless like this one here. I end up getting lines in the sky instead of a gradual, smooth change in color from the top to the horizon. So, I did another merge in Photomatix and then masked in the sky from the Photomatix-merged result with the rest of the one from the Photoshop CS4. It's a bit more time-consuming, but I think the result is worth it.
Other settings include:
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM Autofocus Zoom
ISO: 200
Aperture: f11
Exposure Bias: -0.00
Shutter: 5
Focal Length: 18mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 5 exposures with EVs ranging from -2 to +2 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Release Cord
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com ]]>
One month ago today, I took a trip to Auditorium Shores to see what I might get. It wasn't the best of ideas, though, because the light at that time of day was getting bad. Plus, the humidity of that morning really made it quite hazy. But, since I was there, I tried to take a few shots anyway and see if I could do something with them.
Initially, I didn't like this shot, but the more I worked with it, the more it grew on me. I processed it the usual way, but I tweaked the sky to give it a purple hue and warmed up the ground with a sort of orange-ish color. I think I used the bi-color filter in Nik Color Efex to achieve this. My goal was to sort of pay homage to Stevie and his idol, Jimi Hendrix. SRV used Hendrix as his inspiration and he played "Voodoo Chile" better than Hendrix, IMHO. However, Jimi's version was a little more raw which gave it a less polished, but still excellent sound. But, I digress. I thought with the "purple hazy" sky and the statue of SRV, it kind of pays tribute to both.
One thing I've noticed about this shot that I wish I would've done better was frame his head and hat better between the buildings in the skyline. Always have to think about composition down to the last detail. That's one thing I'm not talented enough to do in post-processing!
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this shot and thanks for visiting!
Other settings include:
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Nikkor AF-S DX 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR
ISO: 200
Aperture: f16
Exposure Bias: -0.00
Shutter: 1/50
Focal Length: 38mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 5 exposures with EVs ranging from -2 to +2 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Release Cord
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
Well, I began my quest to scale the parking garages in downtown Austin to see what kind of views I could get. My first stop was the garage on the corner of Brazos and Cesar Chavez. There are actually two garages sitting right next to each other. I found the first one across from the Hampton Inn to be a little difficult to find any access to the upper level by stairs or elevator, so I made my way to the next one and had a little more luck. I found the stairwell and hauled up 9 flights of stairs in record time. You see, I did all this on my way to work so time was of the essence. Oh, and even though it was morning, it was still hot due to the humidity, even if it was a crisp 84 degrees out. ;-) So, I worked up a pretty good lather during my trek. Good for the co-workers when getting to work. Hehe. At the top, there are some pretty good views. One I thought particularly striking was the view of the new Four Seasons Residences Building on Cesar Chavez seen here. These are luxury condos that have gone up recently and look rather, um, luxurious. There are so many of these places springing up in Austin now but I'm not sure how well they are selling. They started before the economy took a sh-- so it could be a little dicey for the developers now. Anyway, I liked the view of the building just before the sun came up. It worked out well. The only thing I'm sorry about is I didn't have enough time to get a good exposure for some decent light trails in the traffic below. But, this isn't too bad I guess. Oh, and lastly, once I shot this, I had to haul ass to my car. Luckily I found an elevator to help expedite the ass hauling. I did get to work 5 minutes late, but no one needs to know that.
I did my standard processing on this one with a little Nik Viveza 2 on the building to brighten the windows and the brick color facade in the middle.
Other settings include:
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM Autofocus Zoom
ISO: 200
Aperture: f11 Exposure Bias: -0.00
Shutter: 1
Focal Length: 13mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 5 exposures with EVs ranging from -2 to +2 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Release Cord
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
It's getting to be that time again where I try to get some shots in the morning while on my way to work. However, with only a few minutes to spare, I find it hard to think of where to go to get something interesting. The warehouse district in Austin is an area I've thought about, but a lot of that area is made up of bars and clubs which of course are closed. But, behind those places are alleys that provide an interesting perspective of the city. I may try to work in that area little more to see if anything else strikes me as interesting.
Another thing I thought about trying is to scope out some of the parking garages downtown and see what kind of view of the city they may have. I've been pretty lucky with the view at the parking garage at Brackenridge Hospital, except for the rent-a-cop that tried to show me who was boss. Obviously he was, so I didn't give any lip on that matter. Hopefully I won't run into those sorts of problems at other garages. The Littlefield garage across from the Driskill was another nice one, but I never did go all the way to the top on that one. Maybe that will be a good place to start. Anyway, it's something to try since I would like try some unique angles of the city here.
This shot is an alley behind Fado's Irish pub and other bars in the warehouse district with the Frost Bank building in the background. To me that building looks like a giant nose-hair trimmer. It's still a nice looking building.
I used my standard processing for this shot. Other settings include:
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM Autofocus Zoom
ISO: 200
Aperture: f14
Exposure Bias: -0.00
Shutter: 3
Focal Length: 10mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 5 exposures with EVs ranging from -2 to +2 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Release Cord]]>
Like my previous three posts or so, this shot was taken during a photowalk with good friends Van Sutherland and Mike Connell. It's the Austin, Texas skyline from the Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge taken just after sunset.Just after sunset is a great time for photography, but the light goes quickly. There's only a 15 minute window or so from when the sun dips beneath the horizon to when the glow on the buildings disappear. We had to hurry to get the shots off in time. Van wrote about it much better than I could and he has an even better shot of the skyline than this one if you wish to check it out. Check it out if you have a moment.
This shot use my standard processing with a Viveza 2 tweak on the sky to darken it a tad.
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Nikkor AF-S DX 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR
ISO: 200
Aperture: f8
Exposure Bias: -0.67
Shutter: 2.5
Focal Length: 92mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 5 exposures with EVs ranging from -2 to +2 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Release Cord]]>
I'm really starting to like black and white shots, but not due to the subject matter of this particular one, contrary to what you might think. ;-) Like the 'Bongo Bangin'' shot I posted, black and white shots seem to have a timeless feel. At least they do to me. They also add an element of mystery that makes the shot a little more interesting.
However, one thing I've found is that they are much more difficult to process. I use the bw converter in Nik Color Efex. Funny thing is, to change the tones in a black and white picture, you change the color filter that the converter uses. Different color filters used in the processing of a black and white shot changes whether things in the original color picture that you've converted end up dark or light. It's weird, but it's fun playing around with it. I find myself going back to a picture time again because it looks good one way, but better yet another. It can drive you crazy!!! Anyway, I finally got to a point with this one that I think looks good.
Sometime I will have to publish the settings in Nik Color Efex that I use when I convert one. I just know that there's no simple answer or workflow that will work with each shot because every shot will be so much different each time you convert.
This shot here was another one of my attempts at 'street photography' and as such, it is just a single raw that I converted in Nik. It's not HDR.
This was taken on the Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge in Austin, Texas.
Other settings include:
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Nikkor AF-S DX 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR
ISO: 200
Aperture: f5.6
Exposure Bias: -0.67
Shutter: 1/800
Focal Length: 92mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: None
White Balance: Auto
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
Across the tracks from the old Amtrak station in Austin lies this abandoned building which appears to have been some sort of warehouse or something at one time. Now it is covered with some very impressive graffiti, if one is impressed by that sort of thing. This is a shot of that building as the sun begins to set. It's the side that faces the old station. I think the word shown is "Must", but I don't translate graffiti too well. On a side note, what is the deal with graffiti 'artists' anyway? I mean, do they all go to the same place to learn their particular fonts they use while spraying whatever it is they spray onto the side of a building? It looks like everywhere you go, the same style is either used in marker or spray paint, whether it's on a wall or a street sign. Not to mention, it's the same in any part of the country! I guess they all go to "Street U. - Gangsta" or someplace like that. Well, I don't get it. But, I digress.
While wandering around this place, I found an outbuilding that had broken windows in it. I peered through and found what appeared to be a residence of some of the local homeless population. There was an old mattress, blankets, an ashtray full of cigarette butts and other things strewn about. it was pretty nasty in there to say the least. I figured there must of been someone close by however, because there were a couple of half-filled Ozarka water bottles in there that looked pretty new. Needless to say, I tipped the heck out of there.
This was shot was taken during Saturday's photowalk with friends Van Sutherland and Mike Connell, two very good photographers in there own right. Check out their blogs if you get a chance.
This HDR used the same workflow I always use, but I switched it up a little here. I tone-mapped it in Photonmatix once using the 'high' light mode setting and saved it as a tiff, and then tone-mapped it again using the max setting and saved it as another tiff. Then, in CS4 I masked in the sky from the max tiff to the tiff with the high tone-mapping. Then I did the usual after that. I think the sky looked a little better that way.
Other camera settings include:
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM Autofocus Zoom
ISO: 200
Aperture: f22
Exposure Bias: -0.67
Shutter: 1/80
Focal Length: 10mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 5 exposures with EVs ranging from -2 to +2 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Release Cord
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
Sunset on a Saturday night in Austin, Texas can be an interesting time. Over Lady Bird Lake (aka Town Lake) one can see kids jumping into the water from the underside of the Lamar Blvd bridge, kayakers out for an evening row down on the lake, or a bongo player pounding away on the Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge. This gentleman here was kind enough to let me take a couple of pictures while he banged, but I don't think he was real happy about it. He said it was OK though. So I snapped away and I think this was the best of the bunch. This shot is not an HDR though. It's straight from the camera, raw of course, and converted to black and white in Photoshop CS4 with the NIk Color Efex bw conversion filter. I also did a little brightness adjustment with Nik Viveza 2. I took this while on a photowalk with Van Sutherland (Exile Imaging) and Mike Connell (TX Shooter). It was a nice time and it gave me chance to hone my street photog skills, which I realize still need a lot of work. But, it's nice to do something a little different for a change.
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
This is another shot I took while in Driftwood, Texas a few weeks ago. It's an old Texaco gas station and what used to be a country store that is now - from what I've heard - someone's actual home. It certainly would make a unique home to say the least. In a way, I'm kind of sorry that it's no longer a store because it would've been fun to go inside and take a look around. But, it was not to be.
Another reason I posted this shot is to bring attention to a little tool I've discovered recently. A few months back, Adobe released Photoshop CS5. I currently own CS4 and am very happy with it. However, CS5 has one thing that I would like to have that CS4 does not have. It is the new "Content Aware Fill" tool. It lets one remove watermarks and other unwanted items from a photo with relative ease. Below is a little video of what content aware fill can do:
Isn't that cool? Man I would love to have that. However, to upgrade to CS5 costs about $200. So, I went looking for an alternative and sure enough, I found one that works with the Gimp program.
If you haven't heard of the Gimp, it's basically a free program that does a lot of similar stuff that Photoshop can do, but mainly just the basics. It's like Microsoft's 'Paint' on steroids. It's actually a pretty good program for the price... free! With the Gimp, there are oodles of plug-ins you can download from various sites to do certain things, all of which are free as well. One of the plug-ins I found was something called 'Resynthesizer' written by Dr. Paul Harrison. It is basically the content aware fill that CS5 has, but, again I like to talk about price, it's free! Check out the next video of what Resynthesizer with the Gimp can do below:
Very nice, huh?
I used it for the Driftwood photo above. In that photo, there were powerlines that went across the top portion of the shot and distracted from the photo. So, I used the Gimp with Resythesizer the get rid of those from the sky and from the building. A caveat with the Resynthesizer tool is that it seems to work best when removing small objects from an area that has a solid color background, like a piece of trash from the grass or stuff from the solid sky like in the video above. Removing powerlines from in front of the brick or the "Texaco" sign did not work well at all. Resynthesizer could not recreate the structure of something with distinct lines or geometric shapes once the offending portion of the shot was removed. It did work OK when removing the powerlines from the cloudy sky, however. But, I did need to go back with the healing tool in CS4 and make the clouds where the powerlines were a little more natural. After using Resynthesizer to remove the lines from the front of the building, I had to go into CS4 and use the clone stamp tool to make the brick look a little less discombobulated. Anyway, the original shot with the powerlines in it is below:
So as you can see, it's not too bad for free. It's not perfect, but it might work for you if you want to move that leaf from an otherwise pristine lawn or remove that unsightly piece of trash from an untouched sandy beach. I'm not sure how it compares to CS5's tool, but I'm pretty sure it's probably not as good. If the Gimp's clone tool is any indication as to how other tools are, CS5 is probably much better. But for the price, I'm not complaining and it worked OK in this little test.
If you would like to try it, here's what you need to do to get it (this is for Windows users, but I'm sure you Mac users out there will be able to "translate" these instructions to get it to work on your machines):
1. Download and install the Gimp from http://www.gimp.org/. I'm running the current stable release version 2.6.10.
2. Get the Resynthesizer plug-in from http://registry.gimp.org/node/9148. The files inside the zip file will go into your profile in Windows, and into the .gimp-2.6 folder. For Windows7 users, the path would be c:/users/your_username/.gimp-2.6. For XP users, I think it's c:/documents and settings/your_username/.gimp-2.6. Inside that folder are two folders, 'plug-ins' and 'scripts'. Put the resynth.exe from the zip file into the plug-ins folder and put the smart-enlarge.scm file into the scripts folder. There is one other file in the zip file called smart-remove.scm, but that does not work right and needs to be replaced.
3. Get the correct smart-remove.scm script from http://registry.gimp.org/node/15118. Put the file into the scripts folder mentioned in step two.
If you had the Gimp open while installing the plug-in or the scripts, close it and open it back up again and everything should be there.
That's it! Now just follow along with the second video above and you should be on your way to removing stuff from your photos for free!!!
I do ask a favor; if you try it out, let me know your results. I'm curious to hear other opinions. Thanks!
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com.]]>
Oh, to be this guy. To make along story short, he found some long lost Ansel Adams glass negatives that could be worth up to $200 million! And get this, he only paid $45 for them. Talk about turning a profit!!! Check out the story here. On another note... Do you think Ansel Adams could be considered the first HDR photographer? With all of the post-processing he did, I wouldn't bet against it.
OK, on to the photo above. I took this one on the 4th of July this year while wandering around Lake Georgetown. I walked the hiking trail that makes its way around the perimeter of the lake. I came upon this little alcove with a nice rocky little beach on it. Everything there was kind of bleached out from the sun and water and I thought it would make a nice little shot. The light wasn't quite right because the sun was still a little high, but I didn't have time to wait for it to go down, because we were going to watch the fireworks later that evening. Anyway, I still like the way it turned out.
I did the standard processing for this, but I did have to mask in the little waves lapping up on the beach due to the ghosting that happens during the HDR process.
Other settings include:
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM Autofocus Zoom
ISO: 200
Aperture: f11
Exposure Bias: -0.67
Shutter: 1/320
Focal Length: 10mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 5 exposures with EVs ranging from -2 to +2 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Release Cord
From the blog at http://egearingphoto.blogspot.com]]>
My wife and I got back from our trip to Iowa on Tues and on Weds I had a couple of Tammadge Market Research Studies to participate in. If you never done one, they will pay you around $100 - $150 for your opinion on anything ranging from cat food and radio stations to virtual computers and remote access to servers. Very cool stuff! You can sign up at their website if you are willing to participate in any of those. I had a study in the morning located at their main office off of Riverside and Congress. So I thought I'd grab the camera and snap off a few shots to see what I could get.
Well, by the time I arrived at Auditorium Shores, the light started to get bad and the haze made it look worse. I thought I would give it a shot anyway. I did the 5 bracket thing here using my D90 and the kit 18-108 lens. When I processed the brackets, they turned out ok, but I didn't think it was anything special. But, when I hit the black and white converter filter in Nik Color Efex, I liked the change it made. I also added a little old photo filter to it and them masked in the previous sky. After that, I left it alone. I didn't do any noise reduction or sharpening on it. I think it looks pretty good the way it is. It does have halos around the statue and the buildings, but the haze and the sun resting behind those buildings sort of gave it that look anyway. I think the black and white just accentuated it.
Other settings include:
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Nikkor AF-S DX 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR
ISO: 200
Aperture: f16
Exposure Bias: 0.00
Shutter: 1/125
Focal Length: 30mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 5 exposures with EVs ranging from -2 to +2 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Release Cord]]>
Dusk on a mid-summer Sunday in Independence, Iowa is an interesting time. Most shops in the main part of town are closed, yet there is still quite a bit of activity happening. I noticed people fishing and jet-skiing in the Wapsipinicon River by the mill, kids on bikes riding through the park and an unusual amount of traffic running though town. Even some restaurants that one would think should be closed were open and doing well. Granted, the town probably wasn't hopping as much as a Friday evening, but for a Sunday I thought it was pretty good. I tried to capture some of that activity in this shot. The motorcyclist were having a meal in Chinese restaurant just to the left of the shot and the light streaks represent the cars cruising up and down the main drag through town. The long exposure to get the light streaks made the people on the sidewalks disappear, however.
I used my standard processing on this shot. Other settings include:
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM Autofocus Zoom Lens
ISO: 200
Aperture: f16
Exposure Bias: 0.00
Shutter: 2.0
Focal Length: 16mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 5 exposures with EVs ranging from -2 to +2 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Release Cord]]>
Just got back from a great trip to Independence, Iowa to visit family on my wife's side. It's always fun to visit as there's never a dull moment. And as always, our hosts, Sam and Betty Miller, were just as welcoming and great as ever! Thanks again guys!
The last day we were there, I had a chance to take a few photos downtown. The most interesting place there is the Wapsipinicon Mill. There are a lot of different angles that I shot from and the next few photos I post here will be of the mill. It's located just off the main road going through town. This shot was during sundown so I had to take quite a few different exposures to get the mill exposed properly along with the water. Then I masked in the water due to all of the artifacts created on the water during the HDR process in CS4 and Photomatix. I'm pretty happy with the result. Other than the extra exposures, I followed my standard processing for this photo.
Here is more info on the mill from the Buchanan County, Iowa Historical Society website:
"The mill you see today was built in 1875-76 by Samuel Sherwood and it is the foremost cornerstone of our community. The six story structure is 112 feet long by 62 feet wide by 102 feet tall and was used at first as a flouring mill. The superstructure was constructed using a heavy timber frame encased with a brick wall 8 inches thick. The interior of the building reveals hand hewn timbers and superb craftsmanship. Mortise and tenon construction was used throughout the building, complete with square nails and large wooden pegs.
Bread in all times and in most cultures is considered the staff of life. Therefore, grinding the settlers’ wheat into flour and other grains into various mill products for a fast-growing population was of the utmost importance. The Wapsipinicon Mill served in this capacity for over 100 years. As wheat production slowed down, it became more economical to produce “Wapsi” brand poultry and stock feed.
It still resides in its original location but has since received several cosmetic reconstructions. Surrounded by several eateries and just over the bridge from our historical downtown, the Wapsipinicon Mill serves as a substantial tourist attraction and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places."
Other camera settings include:
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Nikkor AF-S DX 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR
ISO: 200
Aperture: f22
Exposure Bias: -0.67
Shutter: 1/500
Focal Length: 18mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 9 exposures with EVs ranging from -3 to +5 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Release Cord
]]>Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Nikkor AF-S DX 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR
ISO: 200
Aperture: f22
Exposure Bias: -0.67
Shutter: 1/500
Focal Length: 18mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 9 exposures with EVs ranging from -3 to +5 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Release Cord
This is one of those shots that I thought needed the old black and white treatment. As you can see, it's a set of four tombstones at the Driftwood Cemetery in Driftwood, Texas that are starting to succumb to the weeds and ivy. That's all I know about it. I'd love to know the story behind the ones buried there, but that will probably never come to pass. All I know is that when I finished processing this shot, it seemed to lack something. When I hit the bw conversion filter in Nik Color Efex, that seemed to do the trick. I think it adds a creepiness factor and makes it a little more timeless and interesting. I also added a little vignette to draw the eyes in. Not sure if it works or not. What do you think?
If you haven't seen my blog before and would like to know how I process, please check out my work-flow.
Other photo info includes:
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM Autofocus Zoom Lens
ISO: 200
Aperture: f11
Exposure Bias: -0.67
Shutter: 1/200
Focal Length: 15mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 5 exposures with EVs ranging from -2 to +2 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Release Cord
This will be the last post for about a week and a half to two weeks. Heading north to see family. Thanks for reading and keep shooting!]]>
This is gonna be a quick post, but if you've read yesterday's post, you'll know I went to Driftwood, TX over the weekend to get some shots. As the title states, this is the old Texaco gas station and country store. I'm not sure if it is open anymore since it was the middle of the afternoon on a Saturday. Perfect time to be open if it could be. But, maybe it's closed it's doors for good. Not sure. Anyway, it looks like something that belongs on Route 66 somewhere. Pretty nostalgic looking. I tried to capture that in this shot, but after looking at it a little longer, I'm not sure if I did. The good news is, I have a couple more shots of the place that I might put out here and see what you think of those instead. Sometime I'll have to get back there when the sun is going down. This middle of the day stuff isn't great, but HDR helps that a long a little I think.
I did the old standard processing for this, but I put an ND filter on the lens to see what difference it might make. I think it made the sky bluer, but it slowed the exposure and kind of made the clouds stack up a little between brackets. Not good for HDRs. Live and learn.
Other settings include:
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM Autofocus Zoom Lens
ISO: 200
Aperture: f11
Exposure Bias: 0.00
Shutter: 1/40
Focal Length: 10mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 5 exposures with EVs ranging from -2 to +2 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Release Cord]]>
Yesterday was another one of those days where my wife went shopping with her Mom and sister. Therefore, I was able to spend a little time practicing my limited photography skills. Since we were down in the South Austin area towards Kyle, I decided to head back out to Driftwood to see what I could find.
Driftwood has a pretty cool old Texaco gas station and a church with a cemetery across from the Texaco. I took some shots of those two places and then trekked on out to the Mandola Winery. That's a very nice Tuscan-looking place. I wish I liked wine because I think I could've stayed there a while trying all of their different vintages. Oh well, it was not to be. But, I took a couple shots from there as well.
On the way back from Driftwood, I saw a couple of places in downtown Buda that looked very interesting. One was a building that was all decorated with stars and stripes and red, white and blue pinwheels. It was very "Americana". It looked like the 4th of July threw up all over it... in a good way. ;-) Another place I found was an old antique store and I think it is called "The Cimarron Rose". I'm not really sure because I couldn't find a sign outside, but I did find the building on Google and that's the name that came up. So, I'm guessing that's what it is. It's a pretty big place and it's full of old stuff. Everything from old Nat Geo and Time magazines to old razor blades, furniture, postage stamps and just about anything else you can think of. There's no air conditioning in this place so they keep the doors open for cooling. Of course, in Texas when you have to leave the doors open, you get lots of dust and none of this stuff looked like it had been dusted in decades. What a great place for HDR photography.
This shot was taken in the back of the store and it really shows some of the stuff they have there. You can really see the dust on the glass enclosed shelves on the left. I didn't take a lot of shots there as I didn't want to overstay my welcome there. Actually, the proprietor didn't know I was shooting, but had she known, I don't think she would've minded. She was a very nice lady and she saw me with my camera and tripod wandering around. She asked if I got any nice pictures and I said, "I think so." She was happy with that. I asked her how long she had been open and she said since about the 1970's and business has been OK for the most part.
I have a couple more shots inside the "Rose" that I may post at a later date, but I think this is my favorite for now. I will also post some of the other shots I took around Driftwood and Buda in the coming days. However, I will be leaving for a trip to Iowa on Wednesday, so the old blog here might be idle for a week or two.
Thanks for reading and let me know your thoughts or critiques.
I did the old standard processing for this one, but I did crank up the bleach bypass layer from Nik Color Efex to about 35% opacity to give it more of an old antique look. I thought it went with the subject well.
Other settings include:
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM Autofocus Zoom Lens
ISO: 200
Aperture: f11
Exposure Bias: -0.67
Shutter: 1
Focal Length: 10mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 5 exposures with EVs ranging from -2 to +2 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Release Cord]]>
This is the inside of what's called the Granary at Mission San Jose in San Antonio, Texas. It housed the grain used to feed the inhabitants of the mission and could hold up to a year's worth.
The granary, along with the rest of the mission was restored back in the 1930's with what could be called "stimulus money", but was better known as the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The granary was the first of all the structures to be restored as it was on the verge of falling down. But, now as you can see, it is fully standing and is now one of the more interesting parts of the mission. Also, inside the granary is a miniature mock-up of the entire mission to give one a birds-eye view of the place.
I used my standard processing for this shot. Other settings include:
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM Autofocus Zoom Lens
ISO: 200
Aperture: f20
Exposure Bias: 0.0
Shutter: 2.5
Focal Length: 15mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Bracketing: 5 exposures with EVs ranging from -2 to +2 at 1 stop intervals
White Balance: Auto
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Release Cord]]>
As with most holiday weekends, I found myself having a little extra time to go shoot. The problem is that I sometimes have difficulty figuring out where to go and what to shoot. Well, one place that I've shot before are some of the old buildings in Granger, TX. Last April, the Coen Brothers decided to use Granger as a set for one of their new movies, a remake of "True Grit", called, naturally, "True Grit". I had heard about this and I also heard that Granger may try to make a tourist attraction out of the set. Now, since all of the filming has been done for months, I thought I'd go out there and take a look.
On the way there, I stopped on a little side road and took a shot of the sky over the cornfield there. As soon as I got setup it started raining. I took this one and packed everything back in to the car and proceeded on.
Well, When I got there, it looked like everything from the movie was pretty much gone. It didn't look any different from when I was there last. I imagine some of the locals could say what's from the movie and what isn't, but I couldn't tell. So, I left to find something else. I drove all over the place trying to find something interesting, but my imagination and eye for that failed me the rest of the day. So, from all of that came this shot. It's the only one I shot Saturday, but I'm OK with it.
This one use my standard processing, but I had to mask in the corn from one of the brackets because there was just too much movement from the wind.
Other settings include:
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM Autofocus Zoom Lens
ISO: 200
Aperture: f11
Exposure Value: -0.7
Shutter: 1/160
Focal Length: 15mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Release Cord]]>
Better late than never, but Happy 4th of July to everyone out there. Hope you have a great day and as always, keep shooting1]]>
My last post talked about something I wanted to investigate at the Texas State Capitol. Well, it was a fruitless endeavor. It had to do with the legislatures back in the Reconstruction Era. On the ground floor, there are posters that show all the members of each legislature in Texas' history. Most of them are there, but there are a few missing and I was researching to see who was in some of them. However, the ones I was searching for are not on the wall. Maybe someday I will find them, but for now I will call my search off. If I ever decide to try again to find what I'm looking for, I will certainly post it here and let you know the outcome. Also, I only had a limited time to search, so I didn't have time to shoot anything new there.
So, in that vein, here's another shot from my outing with Van Sutherland taken the same day as my previous post. This is another shot that has a soft spot in it that does not seem to be as bad as I once thought. This is the area underneath the rotunda on the ground floor. This is a place where the State puts on various art exhibits and other things. It's kind of a cool thing and it;s an area less traveled by tourists in the Capitol. Most tourists don't know about it so it's not hard to get some nice shots on the ground floor.
Standard processing worked for this one. One other thing I used was the White Neutralizer filter in Nik Color Efex. That really does a nice job of getting the white balance almost perfect. Other info includes:
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM Autofocus Zoom Lens
ISO: 200
Aperture: f8
Focal Length: 12mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Release Cord]]>
Friday I found out something about the Texas Capitol that I want to explore to find out if it's true. That will take some time, but I hope to get out there this week. If I find out what I heard is true, I will try to capture it and put it out here. In the meantime, what I heard inspired me to put out a shot of the capitol that I haven't posted. This is a shot of the ground floor that often goes unnoticed by most tourists. There's not much to it, but it has it's own uniqueness that I think is pretty cool. I posted a similar shot of the ground floor under the rotunda a while back and this shot here is one of the hallways that extends from there. I took this shot while on a lunchtime jaunt back in February with friend and co-worker Van Sutherland.
I haven't posted any of the shots I took with him from that day because I noticed after the shoot that all of the shots I took were at an aperture of f8, this one included. What I found with my sigma 10-20 wide angle that I used that day is that it has a soft spot in it at f8 and larger apertures. When I shoot at f11, it seems to be sharp everywhere. It's a shame as it was a hard lesson to learn, but I still like how this shot turned out. I'll leave it up to you to see if you can see where the softness is. If it's hard to see where, then maybe I'll have second thoughts about using f8 again, but then again, probably not.
Standard processing worked for this one. Other info includes:
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM Autofocus Zoom Lens
ISO: 200
Aperture: f8
Focal Length: 11mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Release Cord]]>
This is the inside of the church at Mission San Jose in San Antonio, Texas. It's still an active church there, I think the only one of all the missions down there. The missions down there were like miniature cities, very self sustaining. The inhabitants grew and stored their own food, raised their own kids and spread Christianity to the local indigenous population. A couple things there that amazed me was the mill where they ground their grain into flour and the granary where they stored it. Apparently, they could store enough grain to feed everyone on the mission for one year. Pretty incredible since the mission had living quarters for up to 85 families, if I remember correctly. I have a picture of the granary that I may post at another time. Anyway, I really enjoyed shooting the mission and getting this shot inside the church. I hope to get down there again to shoot the other missions.
You might notice one other thing about this shot... it's a little bigger than the others that I've posted here. The reason for that is because I link these shots to my flickr account and flickr has changed their format. They have more sizes that one can display his/her photos, and the format of how you can apply different settings has changed as well. I'm sure most of you flickrites have probably noticed the difference by now, but I think they are growing on me. I like the new sizes and I like the way you can add photos to sets and groups now. Especially with groups, you don't have to add the to one group at a time. What a time saver! All I can say is it's about time!!!
I used my standard processing for this shot and other camera settings are as follows:
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM Autofocus Zoom Lens
ISO: 200
Aperture: f11
Focal Length: 12mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Release Cord]]>
Lake Georgetown sure seems like a nice place to be. I don't get out there much, and living so close to it makes me think I need to make a better effort to get there. I bet there's lots to explore. I took this shot during a Sunday night last month in an effort to get more shots for my portfolio. This was taken from atop the dam overlooking some live oaks while the sun went down. Unfortunately, I couldn't stay much longer because the custodians of the dam were getting ready to close up for the evening. It would've been nice to get another shot with the sun a tad lower, but this turned out OK for the most part. I think the possibility of being stuck on the dam for the rest of the evening hastened my departure quite easily. That took a little more priority than getting the "perfect shot". ;-)
I used my standard processing for this one and also added a little Nik Viveza to the sky to bring out the blue and to the trees to make those stand out a little more. All you have to do with Viveza is put a control point on the color you want to modify, like the sky in this situation, and then adjust the hue and saturation. Wa-la! It's an excellent product! It sure makes life easier.
Other settings include:
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM Autofocus Zoom Lens
ISO: 200
Aperture: f16
Shutter: 1/125
Focal Length: 16mm
Mode: Aperture Priority
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Release Cord]]>
I really need to get out and shoot. Why? Because I'm starting to run out of things to post and plus I haven't been out in a while to get anything worthwhile. The problem is I can't think of a good place to go. Not to mention, I have some other projects around the house going on and those have focused my attention. But, maybe soon I'll get some inspiration from somewhere. With that being said, this is one of the last shots from DC that I have. I have quite a few more, but they really aren't very good. Maybe someday I'll come back to them and try to make something of them.
Anyway, this is another shot from inside the National Cathedral. I'm not sure what the room is for, but it has some beautiful mosaics on the walls and I really like the gothic architecture of it all. I call it "The Sitting Room" because of all the chairs, but I bet it has something to do with either Bible study or Sunday school or something along those lines.
I used the old standard processing for this one.
Some of the specs for this shot are as follows:
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM Autofocus Zoom Lens
ISO: 200
Aperture: f11
Mode: Aperture Priority
Tripod: Induro AB0
Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Release Cord]]>
Last weekend was the big Republic of Texas Biker Rally held here in Austin Texas. This is one of the cool custom bikes that came in that weekend. I'm not sure where these people were from exactly, but I thought this was a cool looking bike. When I saw it, I was on my way home from work. Luckily, I brought my little point and shoot Lumix DMC-TZ5 that day because I had to snap a couple of things for work and I didn't want to lug the D90. For what I needed to do, the D90 wasn't necessary. So, as I headed home, I pulled up next to them a popped off a couple of shots all while keeping focused on the road ahead, of course. Of course. Ahem. Anyway, I flashed them the thumbs up and they gave me a cool sideways peace/victory sign, smiled and took off.
Since this was taken with the old point and shoot, there really are no camera settings to point out here. However, I did do a little work with it using the Nik Color Efex too, mostly with the Pro Contrast, Tonal Contrast and Darken/Lighten Center filters. I also tried out the new version of Topaz Denoise 4 which worked out quite nicely. It seems much better than their previous version. The previous version seemed to leave little square artifacts on most of the various presets in it, but this new version blends much better. I'll have to try it on my more artsy-fartsy stuff sometime soon.]]>
This weekend was kind of sad for me. You see, back in January, one of the owners of Amante's Restaurant here in Georgetown, Kim Daskam, saw some of my work on Flickr and contacted me to take some shots of her establishment. It was the first and only time anyone hired me to do any commercial work. That was really cool! Well, on Friday I found out that they had to close their doors. Things didn't work out for them for various reasons. What a shame. I hate to see things like that happen to really cool people. Hopefully they will find other endeavors that will turn out better for them. Good luck Kim and thanks!
This is one of the shots she bought from me and they used on their website. It's probably my favorite of the bunch. I used my standard processing for this one. Other camera settings are:
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM Autofocus Zoom Lens
ISO: 200
Aperture: f11
Mode: Aperture Priority
Tripod: Induro AB0]]>
Dave Wilson conducted a photowalk a few weeks back here in Austin and the oft photoed Capitol building was one of the main subjects. I've taken quite a few shots in there previously and really enjoy shooting in there. It's very photographer-friendly there. However, now they have installed magnetometers at the entrances due to a shooting a few months ago. Nobody was hurt btw, but in this day and age, prudence has become the better part of valor as far as security goes most anywhere. Hence, the mags. I don't know how easy it will be to go in there and shoot anymore, but I'm sure I will find out someday. As I was saying, I've shot the dome before, but not with the light shining in at the time of day I shot this one. I like how it turned out.
I used my standard processing on this one along with the usual camera settings..]]>
When we arrived at the National Cathedral on our last day of touring DC, we got there a little early. So we hung out right in front of the place and I snapped this off. It's very impressive from the outside and reminded me a lot 0f Westminster Abbey from when I was stationed in England many moons ago. Since the Cathedral was just finished in 1990, it makes me think that this is what those old medieval Cathedrals must've looked like back in the 14/15th centuries once they were completed, before pollution and weather wore them down. The Cathedral used 14th or 15th century craftsmanship to build it which leads me to that conclusion. You can read more about the place here.
I used my standard processing except for a couple minor tweaks. Instead of using about 67% opacity with the Pro Contrast filter in Nik Color Efex, I kept it at 100%. The original tone-mapped image was quite dark and this opacity level turned out perfect. The other tweak was that I had to use Nik Viveza 2.0 to lighten the sky in the upper left corner to lighten the sky a bit. Lastly, I had to fix the perspective with the lens distortion tool in Photoshop and I had to use the warp tool because I guess I really had a bad angle or something when I took it. It now looks pretty normal.
Some of the specs for this shot are as follows:
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM Autofocus Zoom Lens
ISO: 200
Aperture: f11
Mode: Aperture Priority
Tripod: Induro AB0
One last thing... Since most of the pictures I take now are HDR and I like to use at least 5 brackets most of the time, I'm thinking of upgrading to a Nikon D300 instead of a D90. The D90 only lets one take 3 brackets at a time whereas the D300 lets one take up to 9 brackets, I believe. It's a pain in the butt to change settings in the middle of a shot to get more than just 3 brackets, but the price of the D300s is a little high. But, it also has a magnesium body and other cool things. Is that worth it? If so, anyone have a used D300s for sale? Any thoughts would be most appreciated. Thanks!]]>
This is a shot of the White House that I took on my recent trip to DC. It's the front of the house from what used to be the sidewalk on Pennsylvania Avenue. Cars used to be able to drive on Pennsylvania Ave before 9-11, but now it's close to traffic other than pedestrian. Here, I broke out the tripod, stuck the lens through the fence and snapped away.
We tried to get a tour, but it's not as easy as it used to be. Back in the day, all you had to do was buy a ticket at a place on the Elipse just south of the White House, line up on the east side of the White House, and go in at the time stated on your ticket. At least that's the way I remember it. Nowadays, it's not that easy. You have to go through your representative's office 6 months in advance, give them a range of dates you would like to go and then wait until 10 days prior to the dates you told them just to find out if you've been accepted or denied. We, of course, were denied. I'm not sure of the reason, whether it was because those days were already booked or because we were from Texas and our rep doesn't like the present occupant too much. Either way, it's total BS. We traveled all that way and did everything by the book and requested the tour as far in advance as possible and we still got denied. It's a shame. My wife and I had seen it before, but we brought my wife's Mom and one of her Mom's old friends who really wanted to see it. They didn't get that chance, and I don't know if they will again.
This final product is a mish-mash of all kinds of processing to kind of give it some pizazz. Not sure if I made it better or worse, but it's growing on me a little. I can't really explain everything I've done, but I can tell you the programs I've used. Those include my normal ones plus a new one that I haven't talked about before. The normal ones are Nik's Color Efex 3.0 Pro, Viveza 2, and Sharpener Pro 3, Imagenomic's Noiseware Pro, and the new one I used was Topaz Remask. Topaz Remask is one I haven't tried before but since I bought the bundle a while back in which this was included, I thought might as well try it.
The original tone-mapped image was pretty blah and I didn't like how the White House looked in it. So I took one of the original brackets and masked in the White House. It's pretty easy to do in Topaz Remask. You just trace around the portion you want to mask, fill in the area with a solid red or green depending on if you want to keep it or lose it and hit OK. Remask does the rest. It's not perfect, but neither am I and I still have to read up on it and play with it a little more to really learn the intricacies of it. After that, I just went crazy with a bunch of filters in Nik Color Efex including, Darken/Lighten Center, Indian Summer, Pro Contrast, Tonal Contrast, BiColor Filter (I think it's called). I used this with varying opacities and positive and negative control points. I also used various control points in Viveza to change some brightness on the tree to the right, some of the sky, etc. I still think I need to do something more with the sky, but I'm getting kind of tired working on it. You can compare what I've done above to the original tone-mapped image is below:
Sorry my explanations weren't much better, but like I said, I've done so many different things to it that I just basically lost track. One thing I have learned from these programs is that the more I use them, the more I know what look I can achieve while composing the original shot. I guess that means I'm growing? Either that, or I'm really learning how to make my picture even worse than when they came out of the camera. ;-)
Anyway, what do you think of my final shot, at least compared to the original tone-mapped one above? Don't hold back. If you think it looks good, great. But if not, tell me what you don't like and let me know what you would do to improve it. BTW, I already know that the masking isn't perfect on the left side. I'm always open to suggestions. Thanks!]]>
Sometime back I wrote a review of Trey Ratcliff's, "A World in HDR." It's a very good book in it's own right, but I found it simply a regurgitation of his very good StuckInCustoms website. So, I thought I'd write up a little something regarding a couple other books I've used to understand the "mechanics" - for lack of a better term - of HDR. One of those books is "Practical HDR" by David Nightingale .
It's comprised of six chapters; Understanding Dynamic Range, Shooting for HDR, Merging Your Bracketed Sequence, Creating Photo-realistic Images, Creating Hyper-real Images and HDR Post-production.
In the first chapter, "Understanding Dynamic Range", Nightingale talks about what HDR is and what the photos we call HDRs really are. The final products that we achieve with the HDR process are really low dynamic range images or LDRs for short. This is because computer screens and printers basically cannot reproduce the range of an HDR image properly, so the HDR image needs to be tone-mapped. When you tone-map, you reduce the range of the image, thus producing an LDR shot. I've never hear it called this before, but he explains it very well. He also gives some great info about how to use the histogram for shooting these types of shots.
The second chapter involves the kind of gear one should use, how to meter a scene, and the bracketing sequence. He states that you can use the minimum 3 brackets from -2 to +2 EVs, but you really don't quite get all of the light much of the time and that it's better to take more brackets at 1 stop EVs instead. Depending on how many brackets you should take for particular scene will depend on what you see in your histogram. Great stuff. I probably need to work on that a little more because I'm kind of lazy when it comes to the histogram. I really only use 5 exposures from -2 to +2 at 1 stop intervals. It seems to work for me most of the time, but once in a while the tone-mapped shot does not look right because I haven't gotten enough light at one end of the scale or the other.
The next chapter, "Merging Your Bracketed Sequence" involves some of the different programs that merge brackets into an HDR image. He mentions Adobe's "Photoshop", "Photomatix" and "FDR Tools". Each one works for different types of shots. Most of us have one version of Photoshop or another as well as Photomatix, but learning about FDR Tools was pretty cool. That piece of software is really good for things that have a lot of lines such a cables from a suspension bridge, the underside of a pier or tree branches that can make the background behind look light on one side of the branch or cable and dark on the other. FDR Tools cleans that up.
The two following chapters involve ways of processing your shots to make them look realistic or for getting more of an artsy look to them. I like both because sometimes I want the picture to look like what I saw when I was there and sometimes I want to add a mood to it.
Lastly, David talks about good ways to remove noise and halos, improving contrast, creating HDRs from a single shot and merging two HDRs. It's interesting info, but I must admit, I haven't tried any of those techniques. But, it's an interesting read.
Spread throughout the book are pictures from the author as well as other well-known HDR artists such as Ben Willmore, Trey Ratcliff and Pete Carr. David Nightingale is no slouch either. I really like the shot of the train tracks on page 127. Very dramatic and a ton of detail.
So as you can see, there's plenty of information in this book to really help one understand what it takes to produce fantastic HDRs. This was the kind of stuff I was hoping would've been in Trey Ratcliff's, "A World in HDR", but this makes a great companion to that book. I highly recommend it!]]>
As stated in the image above:
"They fought together as brothers in arms, they died together and now they sleep side by side. To them we have a solemn obligation." -Admiral Chester Nimitz]]>
This is a section inside Arlington National Cemetery located just across from the amphitheater of the Tomb of the Unknowns. The whole cemetery is something incredible to see. It really makes one understand the sacrifices these men and women made for the cause of liberty and freedom. I don't think this picture does it justice, but I thought it appropriate for this Memorial Day weekend. Everyone gets so caught up in having three days off, going to all of the great sales and maybe taking a little quickie vacation, we sometimes lose focus as to why we can do those things. Let's hope the real reason for Memorial Day never gets lost. The fallen deserve it.]]>
In honor of the upcoming Memorial Day weekend, I thought I'd post some of the last pictures I took in Washington DC of the various memorials there dedicated to our heroes of the military.
The Vietnam War Memorial is a very powerful place. To see all of the names on the wall, 58,000 of them, really brings home the huge sacrifice made for the cause of freedom. Those who served there did so honorably. I just wish those that sent them had that same honor.
The day I was there, the wall had been decorated every 10 feet or so with single roses. The few other times I have been this site, there were usually small US flags, wreaths and various military memorabilia laid as tributes to those whose names are inscribed. But this day, all that were there were the roses. I'm not sure what the significance of that was, but it made for a very powerful shot in my opinion.
This shot isn't an HDR. This is just a single raw that I had tweaked using the various Nik Software plugins, Viveza 2 and Color Efex 3.0 Pro. I tweaked all kinds of stuff to make it look better, from the black on the wall to the green leaves on the rose. To be honest, I've done the modifications to this shot over the course of a couple of days, experimenting with the various filters. So, I can't really say what I've done exactly. However, one thing that did help is that I bought the Official Nik Software Image Enhancement Guide. That thing is packed with great information. I had seen the book before. My friend and co-photog, Van Sutherland let me borrow it once before, but I really didn't get the info in it at that point. But when I saw the demo at the recent photo expo, it really opened my eyes. It almost helps to the point where if you have a really good single shot of something, you might be able to get it to where it looks as good as an HDR. I love this stuff.]]>
Towards the end of my photo-drive in Georgetown the other night, I made one last stop at a gravel company. The name of the company eludes me and I'm not really sure it was even a gravel company. The only clue I had was that one of the trucks had the name of a gravel company on it. Plus, most of the trucks here were dump trucks, so I put two and two together. Whether my conclusion is correct or not is up for debate. Anyway, the Freightliners and Kenworths in this shot along with the fiery looking sky at sunset just made for a shot that I knew I just had to get. There's just something about trucks that says, "Take an HDR of me!" I may have to go back there another time to see if I can get something a little more creative, but I really like how this particular one turned out.
As usual, I used my standard processing for this shot. A couple of extra things I had to do were dodge and burn the grill on the white Freightliner with Photoshop as well as adjust the contrast on it with Nik's Viveza. It really needed evening out from the tone-mapping process in Photomatix. I also had to clone out a power line that went all the way across the middle of the sky. One last thing I did was add a darken/lighten filter to it with negative control points on the white truck to make the gravel a little darker.
Other info includes ISO 200, aperture of f11, focal length of 12mm and shutter speed of 1/8 sec.]]>
My previous post mentioned that I took a trip out to Lake Georgetown to get some sunset shots. This is one of the better ones from that little trip. It's not bad, but I was hoping to be able to get another similar shot only with the sun behind the clouds. It was almost there, but a guy wearing a red vest while riding a moped sped by saying that they were going to close the gate soon. I wasn't sure what capacity he played at the dam there, but I didn't want to take any chances getting stuck out there on a Sunday night.. Son of a...!
I used my standard processing on this shot. However, I merged a three shot bracket from -2 to +2 at 2 stop EVs, and I merged a 5 shot bracket from -2 to +2 at 1 stop EVs. The 5 shot HDR had a lot of ghosting in the sky, so I masked in the sky from the 3 shot HDR. The other thing I did was brighten the road with Nik's Viveza 2 demo. I just dropped a control point on the road, bumped up the brightness a smidge and saved it. Love that Viveza! Other settings include ISO 200, aperture f16, focal length of 15mm, and shutter speed of 1/80.]]>
Sunday evening I took a self-imposed photo-drive around the Georgetown, Texas area to see if I could scare up something nice to post since I have been anxious to get something new. I started out by going to Lake Georgetown to see if I might get a good sunset shot or two. On the way, I stopped at a law firm that had an old firetruck and farm equipment in front. Yeah, I don't get why either, but it made for some nice HDR possibilities. After that stop, I did make it to the lake and got some shots that I'm still debating on. Lastly, on the way home, I stopped by a place that looked like a grain elevator with a bunch of dump trucks parked next to it. I don't think it was a grain elevator though because the trucks had the name of a gravel company on them. That was my first clue. I guess it was maybe a gravel elevator? I dunno, but I grabbed some shots of the trucks. I kind of liked this one because of the great chrome and the reflection in the wheel of the dump truck next to it.
I took this shot at ISO 200, aperture of f18, focal length of 14mm and I shot 5 brackets in raw format ranging from -2 to +2 at 1 stop EVs. I used my standard work-flow for this one with the exception of bumping up the bleach bypass filter layer to 25% opacity. I also added a couple of negative control points on the sky and on the wheel to keep some of the color of the sunset.]]>
Mission San Jose in San Antonio, Texas is a very picturesque place. I had mentioned before that a lot of couples come there to get there pre-wedding shots taken. I think one of the reasons may be because of the way the crosses on the grounds are decorated. They really look nice with the white flowing material and the lilies hanging on them. It really adds something to them.
This picture has been driving me a little batty. Once I was finished, it has some great color and I kind of like the composition, but I really didn't feel like the cross stood out like it should. I thought that cross should be the focal point of the shot. So, I took what I learned at the recent photo expo and tried to see if I could make it any better. So, along with my standard processing, I added a bw conversion layer in Nik Color Efex, and put in a couple of negative control points on the shrubs and on the limestone walls. Once I clicked OK, Nik added another layer on top of my original. From there, I masked in the cross with the white material hanging from it and then bumped up the brightness, contrast, lightness and hue until I got what you see here. I think it makes the cross stand out a little more and gives the whole overall shot a unique look.]]>
Shelby Wood Design specializes in interior design for private and commercial enterprises as well as art direction for films and print. If you check out the resume on her site, you'll see why I just had to blog about this. She's done some commercial work for some big names out there ranging from Bank of America, Lowe's and Volkswagen to magazine print work featuring Tom Cruise, Harrison Ford and Gene Simmons. Pretty cool stuff! Shelby said she would send along some shots of my work hanging there when she gets them matted and framed. I'll post them here when I get them.
Speaking of the prints, she wanted the prints signed. So, they were sent to me first for my signature and then forwarded on to her firm. They were printed on 20 x 30 inch metallic paper from MPix and I must say, for pictures like these, metallic is the way to go. The colors really pop on it and everything just had a really cool look to it. It's hard to describe, only that if you've never printed anything on metallic, give a try and see what you think next time you need something printed. I don't think you'll go back to anything else. I'm very impressed. I'm also very happy with how well everything showed up at that size from a little APS-C sensor on my D90. I think I may not need to worry about upgrading to a full-frame anymore, especially since my lenses are only for APS-C cameras anyway.
Speaking of the prints, she wanted the prints signed. So, they were sent to me first for my signature and then forwarded on to her firm. They were printed on 20 x 30 inch metallic paper from MPix and I must say, for pictures like these, metallic is the way to go. The colors really pop on it and everything just had a really cool look to it. It's hard to describe, only that if you've never printed anything on metallic, give a try and see what you think next time you need something printed. I don't think you'll go back to anything else. I'm very impressed. I'm also very happy with how well everything showed up at that size from a little APS-C sensor on my D90. I think I may not need to worry about upgrading to a full-frame anymore, especially since my lenses are only for APS-C cameras anyway.
Well, even with things like this happening, I don't think I can quit my day job, although that's still somewhat of a dream for me. But, you just never know what may happen.
Now, to think of some more stuff to shoot....
One last thing, please check out my HDR work-flow if you would like to know how I process my shots...
]]>One last thing, please check out my HDR work-flow if you would like to know how I process my shots...
Lately I've been posting stuff of a religious nature. That's really unintentional, but it's what I have as of late. So, as far as content, I'm not trying to push any particular message or anything like that. I just happen to like these shots, but I hope to get some new material soon.
Anyway, this one was taken during my recent trip to Washington DC. We toured the National Cathedral and this subject is located in one of the three chapels below the main level called the "crypt level". This chapel is called the Resurrection Chapel and has this beautiful mosaic located behind the altar. It shows Christ rising after his crucifixion. It's very intricate and has great color. I hope my processing gave it some justice. The Cathedral is definitely a place I recommend you see if you are ever in the DC area, whether you are religious or not. They are very camera friendly there as well as long as there aren't any services going on.
For this shot, I used my standard work-flow, but I masked out the mosaic during the sharpening phase. I think when it sharpened that portion of the shot it looked too weird, like each individual tile in the mosaic stuck out versus the tiles working together to show the final image conveyed. Does that make sense? It's hard to describe, but anyway, it looked better without that portion going through the sharpener.
Lastly, in a bit of other news, I 'm gonna publish a couple of quick little reviews of two of books I used to help get me started in this HDR stuff. I already put out a review of Trey Ratcliff's "A World in HDR" book if you are interested in my take on that one. However, there a couple other books that get into more of the "nuts and bolts" or maybe I should say "tones and brackets" of how to get good HDRs. Stay tuned...]]>
Well, as I walked around, the sales guy from Nik Software was making a presentation. Now, I'm not trying to sell the stuff or anything like that, but after his presentation, I must say I think I've been doing everything all wrong for a long time. I do use some of their stuff, the Color Efex package and the Sharpener package which work great. However, I really didn't understand the U-Point technology built into it. My friend and co-worker Van Sutherland let me borrow a book from Nik he bought called The Official Nik Software Image Enhancement Guide but I really didn't quite get what U-Point technology was about from the book. Now that I've seen it first hand from the sales guy, all I can say is WOW! The stuff that software can do when one really knows what he is doing is simply incredible. It really makes things easy. It makes multi-step manipulation in Photoshop take one or two steps. Here's an example:
One thing I've always wanted to do is isolate a color from a shot and make the rest black and white. With Photoshop, you have to select that color with the magic wand or another section tool, feather it, make another layer of it, desaturate the layer beneath it merge the layers and then you are done. Well, really that's quite easy. But, with Nik's BW filter in Color Efex, when you have your shot open, click on the BW filter, put a negative control point on the color you want to keep and bingo, you are done! You can see what I mean in the two pictures below:
Holy crap that it easy! That's just one example. You can do that with everything they sell, from the noise-reduction tool to the color enhancement tool. Now that I have a greater understanding of how it works, I feel I can take my game to another level, I hope. Then the guy busted out what he could do with Viveza 2. Let's just say, that's the next software I'm gonna have to get. You can manipulate colors with that so easy without having to mask or anything. You can make some colors darker while making others brighter, adding more pizzaz to the shot. All using this U-Point technology. It was really incredible seeing it in person. He took this picture with a blown out sky and brought out all of the colors of it with one click on the U-Point. It's hard to describe with out seeing it for yourself, but I was blown away. I should've bought everything on the spot as they had a pretty good deal going on, but I didn't have the cash for it at the time. However, I will really have to get it sometime soon. When I did get home, I got on Amazon and bought the book. Since I've seen the stuff work, I'll have a better idea of what's going on in the book.
That's about it. I don't think I'll change up my work-flow any time soon since I like the results I get from it. But now that I know how to be more selective with it, hopefully that will make my stuff that much better.
It was a productive day at the expo and I hope to go to more sometime soon.]]>
From http://www.lsjunction.com/facts/missions.htm:
"Soon after the building of the Alamo, a second mission was founded in 1720 about five miles downstream. Named San Jose, this new mission was established by Fray Antonio Margil de Jesus, who had previously left a failed mission in East Texas. A model among the Texas missions, San Jose gained a reputation as a major social and cultural center. Among the San Antonio missions, it also provided the strongest garrison against raids from Indians."
The church on the mission is a still a functioning church and people are encouraged to attend. Me, I'm just happy I didn't get struck by lightning by entering, but I love shooting the interiors of these churches. The architecture is so interesting. And, in HDR, they really look amazing.
I processed this shot using my standard processing. The only thing I did different was use the bleach bypass filter in Nik Color Efex at about 20% opacity in Photoshop CS4.
Along with the trusty Nikon D90, I also used my Sigma 10-20mm wide angle, I used an aperture of f11, I shot 5 brackets from -2 to +2, and I think I used an ISO of 200, tripod mounted of course.]]>
I follow a few photoblogs and you can click on some of them in the right column of this blog. Pete Talke and Trey Ratcliff are a couple of them and they are very good photographers, but what makes them more enjoyable is that they have a HUGE repository of shots from all over the world that they can post. I'm not sure how they are able to travel the world as they do and it makes me wildly jealous, especially now that I'm getting into this photography thing more. Me, I can only post the same relative stuff until I run out. If you've followed my blog or my flickr stream you'll know that recently I've been posting a lot of Washington DC stuff. Well, I'm starting to get low on the DC shots, but I will probably save a few for later on... Maybe special occasions like Memorial Day coming up. I hope this doesn't bore too many of you out there, but it's what I have. I think I'll just need to keep getting out there and hone my style to get more of a variety of images to post. With that said...
This shot was taken on the first evening of my recent trip to DC. Right after we checked into the place we stayed, we put on the walking shoes and hit road. We made our way to the Mall and walked all the way down to the Lincoln Memorial. This is the statue of President Lincoln inside the memorial. I took a variety of shots inside, but most were filled with high school kids during their field trips. I think all high school kids from the US were there. Well, at least it seemed like it. So, with all of those kids loitering around, I had to get a little creative. I took one from the side with the Sigma 10-20mm wide angle lens, which worked out well. For this one, I slapped on the kit 18-105mm and barreled my way to the front for a quick set of brackets. I had to be quick about it because I really didn't want to stay in the way of all of those kids, so I'm happy with the result.
I used my standard processing for this one, with some additional modifications. Once I was done with the workflow, I still had a really bad yellow cast on Abe's torso and knees. So in Photoshop CS4, I had to meticulously select those areas with the magic wand and desaturate and color balance them until it looked a little more like the rest of the statue. It still has a little bit of that yellowish in it, but the light there is a little yellow and I wanted it to show some of what you see when you are actually there. That's about it.
One last thing.. If you ever go to DC, don't go during the 2nd half of April, unless you like roaming everywhere with every high school kid in the country. Fall would probably be better since they SHOULD actually be IN school then. JK of course. ;-)]]>
This is a synopsis of how I GENERALLY process most of my pictures. There will be times when this processing does not work and a different approach is needed, but I find this really works for me most of the time. Before I get started, I must point out a couple of quick caveats to this. First, everyone's camera is different and what comes out of it may a look a little different than what comes out of mine. I haven't processed anyone else's shots using my formula so I can't guarantee you will get the same look. However, I think you will get something quite close. The other caveat is that the processing I use here will strip off the exif data from your final product. It actually happens during the "merge to hdr" process in Photoshop CS4. I'm hoping the new version, CS5, will mitigate that problem since I hear it has a more robust HDR processing engine in it. However, I don't know for sure if it is fixed or not, but I hope to find out someday when I upgrade. Lastly, I usually take 5 bracketed raws ranging from -2 to +2 EVs in 1 stop increments. The minimum of three will work fine as well, but I prefer 5. With that said, on to the workflow...
Tools I use are as follows:
Photoshop CS4
Photomatix Pro 3.2.6
Nik Color Efex Pro 3 Complete
Nik Sharpener Pro 3
Imagenomic's Noiseware Pro
1. Merge photos in Photoshop CS4
A. Open Adobe Bridge and select all brackets to use. Open all in Adobe Camera Raw. Make any adjustments you see necessary. I usually click on auto white balance. That's about the extent of it for me. Then click done.
B. With all of the brackets selected, go to Tools | Photoshop | Merge to HDR... I feel the alignment engine in Photoshop works better overall than it does in Photomatix. This is a trick I learned in Scott Kelby's CS4 book. Once the merge is complete, save it as an .hdr file. This is the process that strips the exif data that I mentioned in the caveats earlier. It sucks, but I live with it...
2. In Photomatix, I open the .hdr file I just created with Photoshop and tonemap it with Details Enhancer. The settings I use are as follows (but sometimes I will vary them slightly, but these are usually what I use):
Strength: 95
Color Saturation: 76
Luminosity: 9.1
Microcontrast: 0.0
Smoothing: put a check mark in Light Mode and select better look between High and Max
White Point: 0.111
Black Point. 0.111
Gamma: 1.00
Temperature: 0.0
Saturation Highlights: 0.0
Saturation Shadows: 0.0
Micro-smoothing 2.0
Highlights Smoothness: 0.0
Shadows Smoothness: 0.0
Shadows Clipping: 0.0
The only things I really vary here are 'Color Saturation', 'White Point', ' Black Point', and 'Micro-smoothing'. People say to adjust the white point and black point until the the flat portion of the bell curve at both ends are gone, but I really adjust it until I think the shot looks most natural. I also check the difference between 'High' and 'Max' smoothing and pick the better of the two. Sometimes I use High and sometimes I use Max. Just depends on the shot. Color Saturation does what it says and just lets you put more or less color into your final product by adjusting the slider. The micro-smoothing does a good job of removing halos and getting rid of some noise by moving the slider to the right and increasing the value, but it will also makes the shot duller the higher the number you go. So, I usually keep it low and let Noiseware take care of it later on. I really don't mess with the other sliders. Save the file as an 8-bit tiff (you can use 16-bit, but I want to save space on my hard drive).
3. Mask if needed. This portion may need to be done more than once depending on how many areas need to be corrected. I usually do the sky first, especially if it's a night shot and then I will mask in people/objects after that (I got this trick from Trey Ratcliff's HDR tutorial and modified it slightly):
A. Open _tonemapped file in Photoshop CS4. Here is where I mask in or out anything that really didn't turn out too well during the merge process. So, if I have people that are ghosted, a noisy sky, or anything else that doesn't look nice, I go find one of my raw brackets that looks the closest and the best for what I would like to see in my final shot. How I do this is first, copy the background layer (CTL-J) and then layer the raw bracket in between the two layers. Open the raw bracket that I wish to mask in, hit CTL-A, CTL-C and then go back to the tonemapped shot and hit CTL-V. That will put the bracket at the top of the layer stack. With the cursor, left click and hold that layer and drag it in-between the background layer and the copy. Now, create a layer mask by highlighting the top layer, then go to Layer | Layer Mask | Reveal All. With the brush tool, use one of the round ones and set the opacity somewhere around 50%. Make sure the white mask thumbnail is selected on the top layer and make sure the slider on the color palette is all the way to the right so that the color is back. Now, on the picture on the top layer, I'll start painting out the areas of the tonemapped shot that I would like to see corrected. Around the edges that I want to keep, I vary the size of my brush and the opacity of it to make sure they blend properly. In areas that are not close to the edges, I usually go 100% opacity to make the job go a little quicker.
B. Once I have all the areas masked in, I adjust the bracketed raw layer to make it looks more like the tonemapped layer. To do this, I usually adjust the brightness/contrast and hue/saturation. Click on the the middle layer and open Image | Adjustments | Hue/Saturation and adjust to get it the masked in portion to look as close to the tonemapped portion as possible. Once complete with that, open Image | Adjustments | Brightness/Contrast and adjust until it starts to blend with the tonemapped layer until it looks like it's part of the picture. Usually I will have to adjust these down quite a bit, but it will all come back later in the Nik Color Efex portion of the workflow.
C. Once I'm done with this, I merge all the layers by right clicking on a layer, select Merge Visible. Then I'll restart the process again if I have other areas to mask in.
4. After masking comes the part I really enjoy and that is the Nik Color Efex portion:
A. I use the Nik Color Efex (Nik CE) plugin for Photoshop (PS). I think the stand alone works similarly to the plugin, but it may be a pain to keep going back and forth between PS and Nik CE. The first filter I go for is the Pro Contrast filter. Open Nik and go to Pro Contrast and click OK. It will create a layer on top of the original background layer. Sometimes Nik can go a little too far when adjusting the colors so I like to keep some of the original colors and tones in it. So I usually start by adjusting the opacity to 67% generally. This is just a good reference point that's pleasing to the eye. Depending on the shot, I may add more or less opacity. Again, 67% is a good general starting point. Next, I use Tonal Contrast the same way as the Pro Contrast. I go about 67% with that as well. Everything begins to look a little noisy there, but that will get cleaned up later on. The last filter I use is Bleach Bypass, and I blend that in at about 10-15%. Again, this is generally speaking.
B. Once this is all done, I will merge the visible layers by right clicking on the layer and selecting Merge Visible.
5. Now it's time to remove noise and sharpen it up:
A. Here I use Imagenomic's Noiseware Pro. It installs as a plugin and works really well. So, create a layer by hitting CTL-J. Then go to Filter | Imagenomic | Noiseware. I mainly use either the Default or the Weaker Noise setting. If there's not too much noise and a lot of detail, go with the Weaker Noise setting. The thing is phenomenal. Sometimes I will even adjust the opacity of the layer to keep a little more detail. After this, merge visible layers again.
B. Now to sharpen it up. Nik Sharpener looks and works similarly to Color Efex. I just use Output Sharpener and the defaults on that portion. It will add another layer, but it's a little funky when it's done because the sharpener layer sometimes goes away when it's done, even though the image will be sharpened. So, I usually go to Edit | Step Backwards in PS to get that layer back and then adjust the opacity down to around 85%, generally speaking again.
Now here, sometimes I'll mask out the sky with the previous layer because I usually like the really smooth look that Noiseware gives to skies, whether they are clouds or clear. When Nik sharpens them, it can give the sky a sort of jpg "blockiness" for lack of a better term. So, I use the same technique discussed above for masking in people or objects, only I do it with the sky here.
Merge the visible layers once more.
6. Lastly, I'll do something I like to call "lifting the mist":
What I do is, I adjust the exposure in Photoshop ever so slightly. I create a layer (CTL-J) and then go to Image | Adjustments | Exposure. The settings I generally use are as follows:
Exposure: +0.08
Offset: -0.0020
Gamma: .96
These are all a general starting point for me and sometimes I'll adjust the opacity of the layer if it's too much. Mainly this darkens the darks a little bit and brightens the brights just a hair. Really, it darkens more than brightens and your mileage may vary. But, once I do this, my shots usually get some added depth to them, like you could almost jump into them. Be advised, you may lose some detail in your darks and some may not like that, but I prefer the overall look to the shot instead of having the slight detail in the dark areas. To me, it looks as if the fog or mist has been lifted, hence my little term "lift the mist".
Merge the layers.
7. I then usually save the file as a tif and then save another copy as a jpg for posting.
That's it!!! Thanks for reading and let me know what you think! If you try it all or a portion of my work-flow, please let me know how it worked for you. I'm really curious to see if others get similar results.]]>
While wandering the grounds of Mission San Jose in San Antonio, Texas this past Saturday, I discovered something very interesting. It seems that place is very popular for those getting ready to tie the knot or have graduation pictures taken. The mission does make for a great backdrop. I must've seen 2-3 couples during the hour I spent there getting their wedding pictures taken. I also saw a group of girls don their graduation gowns to get their pictures taken. According to another photographer I met there, the amount of people getting the pictures taken was low on this day. Well, as I was getting ready to leave, a beautiful woman in her wedding gown and a few photographers walked in to take some pics of the lovely bride. I guess the groom must've been busy drinking or something like nervous grooms tend to do. I, on the other hand did no such thing before my wedding, but I hear it happens.. ;-) Anyone believe me? But, I digress... So, I grabbed my camera, slapped on the kit 18-105mm lens and snapped a few off. I didn't think that was an opportunity I should pass up. I probably should've gotten a little closer or something, but it happened quite fast and I was pressed for time. This is what I came up with. The moment captured here is just before they started shooting. I guess this means it's wedding season at the missions. I never would've guessed that but it makes sense.]]>
A few weeks ago, I posted a shot of the Texas Capitol under a full moon with a story of how I kind of screwed the pooch with that particular shot. Well this is the other shot of the Capitol I took on that fateful morning, doing the same stupid thing I did with the previous one. However, I think they both turned out pretty nice considering. I just HAVE to keep remembering to check my settings like I discussed in the post mentioned previously. I still find myself forgetting to do that. I think it's a bad habit left over from my point and shoot days. Old dogs and all that...
Processing this shot was pretty standard for me. I think the main thing I did was mask in the sky from the longest exposure bracket and I also cloned out something that looked like a black rubber band that was laying on the glass of the extension.
Speaking of processing, I'm very close to publishing my HDR processing workflow. I hope to have it out by the end of the week. It's basically an explanation of the general settings I use for about 75% of the shots I process. I hope once I put it out there, you all will take a look at it and ask questions or provide suggestions to help make it a little better. Currently, it's just a written document stating what I do. I don't have any screen shots except for maybe one showing my tonemapping settings in Photomatix. I'm debating whether to leave that in there or not because just writing the settings down would take up less space than the screen shot of the settings. That's the whole reason for not having screen shots... I think they may take up way too much space, but I might add some in later on if people think it would help. I like to think the explanation/instruction of what I do will be good enough, but I'm definitely willing to change it.
So, stay tuned and thanks for reading!]]>
Yesterday I took a trip to San Antonio for a little personal photowalk of one of the missions down there. I've never been to any of them other than the Alamo and it's been many years since I've been to that one. I ended up at Mission San Jose. It certainly has a lot of photographic possibilities. Plus, the day was overcast so that made for interesting skies. But, the exterior shots I took I'm not real happy with. Instead I thought I'd post some an interior or two. This one here is by the entrance to the church there where offerings can be made. These votive candles are lit by parishioners as "a reminder that their prayers continue even after they leave the church." - from AmericanCothlic.org Not being a particularly religious person or a Catholic, I had to look that one up. But, I love the history and the architecture of these old missions. The mission is still an active parish. It's also a big place for couples to get wedding pictures taken there. There must've been three groups of photographers with either couples or brides getting their pictures taken. Very pretty place for that.
Click here for more info on Mission San Jose.]]>
"When George Washington lived here, Mount Vernon was an 8,000-acre plantation divided into five farms. Each farm was a complete unit, with its own overseers, work force of slaves, livestock, equipment, and buildings.
The farm where Washington and his family lived was called the "Mansion House Farm." This is the part of the plantation that visitors see today. Washington developed the property's 500 acres to create a fitting setting for a country gentleman. He designed the grounds to include a deep border of woods, rolling meadows, serpentine walkways, a pleasure garden, a kitchen garden,and groves of trees. Between the Mansion and the shores of the Potomac River lay an extensive park.
As nearly as possible, Mount Vernon was a self-contained community. Nothing was purchased that could be produced on site. Yet the Mansion House Farm was so well designed that the service lanes did not intrude upon the area reserved for the enjoyment of Washington, his family, and their many guests. From the Potomac River on the east to the Estate's west gate entrance ran the pleasure grounds and wide vistas; along the north-south line were the outbuildings, or dependencies, where much of the work was done. Over the past 150 years, George Washington's architectural achievements at Mount Vernon have been painstakingly preserved and restored for visitors to appreciate both in person and via our virtual tours."
This picture proved a bit tricky for me, so I cheated a little bit. It's a 5 shot bracket that I used my standard processing on, but the sky was totally clear that day. I thought some wispy clouds might add a little something to it. So, I decided to try my hand at some masking using something other than just the paintbrush tool. Instead I used the magic wand and selected the sky, inverted the selection and hit the quick mask. I used this b17 shot for the sky and then adjusted the opacity to about 40 to make it blend in with the sky from the original. I thought that would make it a little more natural. I think it looks pretty good considering the original was a little blah. At least there's a little more pizazz to it. Let me know what you think.]]>
Washington National Cathedral is the sixth-largest cathedral in the world and soars higher than a thirty-story skyscraper. Embellished with over two hundred stained-glass windows, a fifty-three-bell carillon, and a 10,647-pipe organ, this Gothic masterpiece can accommodate more than three thousand worshipers.
It took 83 years to build: September 29, 1907, to September 29, 1990.
It is the only Gothic Cathedral built in the 20th century. It was built using the same techniques as those in the 15th century.
This is a 5 bracketed raw shot using my standard processing that I will publish soon.
Hope you enjoy this shot of the nave.]]>
One of our greatest combat soldiers from World War II was Audie Murphy. He was the most decorated soldier from that war and went on to become a movie star and successful business man. He earned the highest military honor, the Congressional Medal of Honor for combat. If you are not familiar with him, go to http://www.warfoto.com/AudieMurphy.htm and you can find out everything there is to know about this hero. The following is from his citation from his Medal of Honor:
"I.. MEDAL OF HONOR. - By direction of the President, under the provisions of the act of Congress approved 9 July 1918 (WD Bul. 43, 1918), a Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty was awarded by the War Department in the name of Congress to the following-named officer:
Second Lieutenant Audie L. Murphy, 01692509, 15th Infantry, Army of the United States, on 26 January 1945, near Holtzwihr, France, commanded Company B, which was attacked by six tanks and waves of infantry. Lieutenant Murphy ordered his men to withdraw to a prepared position in a woods while he remained forward at his command post and continued to give fire directions to the artillery by telephone. Behind him to his right one of our tank destroyers received a direct hit and began to burn. Its crew withdrew to the woods. Lieutenant Murphy continued to direct artillery fire which killed large numbers of the advancing enemy infantry.
With the enemy tanks abreast of his position, Lieutenant Murphy climbed on the burning tank destroyer which was in danger of blowing up any instant and employed its .50 caliber machine gun against the enemy. He was alone and exposed to German fire from three sides, but his deadly fire killed dozens of Germans and caused their infantry attack to waver. The enemy tanks, losing infantry support, began to fall back.
For an hour the Germans tried every available weapon to eliminate Lieutenant Murphy, but he continued to hold his position and wiped out a squad which was trying to creep up unnoticed on his right flank. Germans reached as close as 10 yards only to be mowed down by his fire. Be received a leg wound but ignored it and continued the single-handed fight until his ammunition was exhausted. He then made his way to his company, refused medical attention, and organized the company in a counterattack which forced the Germans to withdraw.
His directing of artillery fire wiped out many of the enemy; he personally killed or wounded about 50. Lieutenant Murphy's indomitable courage and his refusal to give an inch of ground saved his company from possible encirclement and destruction and enabled it to hold the woods which had been the enemy's objective."
His marker is located just across from the amphitheater of the tomb of the unknown soldier. It is the second most visited grave-site other than the Kennedy area. The pennies left on top of his marker is a tradition from the Jewish faith showing that one has visited his site.
He was one incredible person.
As a bonus shot, I'm adding this shot of the entrance to Arlington. I just love the how the clouds turned out. Hope you like it too...
In the interest of efficiency, not to mention that I think both of these shots are kinda cool with the clouds and all, I thought I'd do a two-for-one deal. Plus, I promised to bore everyone with more of my DC shots. So here you are..
The shot above is one taken at the World War II Memorial over looking the Mall towards the Lincoln Memorial at Sunset. It had rained about two hours prior to this show, but it still wasn't quite dry yet when I took this. I think that helps add a little drama to the shot. While we were there, I was taken by a part of the memorial that show a lot of gold stars. I wasn't sure what they represented, so I looked it up. On that wall there are 4000 stars each on representing 100 killed during the war. It's pretty powerful to see as is the rest of it. I'm glad we finally have something to represent "The Greatest Generation."
This was taken while strolling the ground of the Capitol (obviously). It has a few flaws as I took it hand-held and has a little noise in it, but I really like how the overall look came out after the processing. I think the clouds really add something to it, like whatever it is they are doing in there is bringing on a bad storm.
The top shot was a 5 bracketed raw shot taken with a tripod whereas the bottom one was a 3 shot bracket taken hand-held. Other that that, my usual processing took place which I hope to elaborate on sometime soon. I do have a work-flow document in the works to reference in the near future. It still needs some work, but it should be out there soon.
Thanks for following and I hope you enjoy these shots.
As a side note, anyone have an idea why I called the capitol shot "Punchbowl" on my flickr site?]]>
This past Friday, April 30, 2010, a very good photographer that I've been following named Dave Wilson organized a local photowalk here in Austin. A few of us showed up and had a very good time. We started out from Auditorium Shores on Lady Bird Lake (aka Town Lake) and made our way up to the Capitol. We stopped at the Austin City Hall for a few snaps and then strode Congress Ave to our final destination. I have a few shots of the capitol already, but I was always fascinated by one of Dave's shots in particular. I asked him if he did a panorama of it or something and he said that all he did was use his D90 and Sigma 10-20 lens vertically. Duh, I should've thought of that, but I just didn't think it would work for some weird reason. So, while we were there, I thought I'd give it a go. Here's the result.
Funny thing is, almost everyone left while I was taking this shot. I However, I did walk back up Congress with two other stragglers and we had a nice conversation. Those two were Claudia Cobianchi and William "Whey" Johnson. I guess the three of us were just too slow. We did catch back up with the main group. That was about the extent of the walk for me. I was too tired to stick around any longer after putting in a full day at work and then walking in the hot, yet not summer hot, heat.
Thanks again, Dave for putting this together!]]>
Well, this shot, like my US Capitol Art shot was fused in photomatix instead of merged in Photoshop CS4 and tonemapped in Photomatix. I tried doing the merge to HDR and tonemapping, but the clear blue sky just doesn't turn out right when doing that. So, I fused it and then did my Nik Color Efex thing as well as the Noiseware and Nik Sharpener thing. Sometimes the fusing just works better. I'm glad it's an option.
Oh, and one thing I forgot to add, this was taken hand-held. It was 3 raw brackets from -2 to +2 at 2 stop intervals using my handy-dandy 18-105 kit lens. ISO was 200 and aperture was f11. I took this hand-held because I REALLY got tired of lugging the backpack and the tripod around while on our little expeditions. There's got to be a better way, I just don't know what that would be. Maybe a little Rascal scooter or something. Well, maybe not...]]>
The Washington Monument is the most prominent structure in Washington, D.C. and one of the city's early attractions. It was built in honor of George Washington, who led the country to independence and then became its first President. The Monument is shaped like an Egyptian obelisk, stands 555’ 5 1/8” tall, and offers views in excess of thirty miles. It was finished on December 6, 1884.
Taken during our first trek along the mall on our way to finding a place to eat. We ended up in Chinatown at Fado's Irish Pub where everyone was watching the Capitals play the Canadiens. Good times.
I used the trusty old 18-105 kit lens for this one. It is comprised of 5 bracketed raws ranging from -2 to +2 EVs at 1 stop intervals. I merged it in Photoshop CS4, tonemapped it in Photomatix and post-processed it in CS4 with the Nik Color Efex plugin, using the pro contrast, tonal contrast, bleach bypass and a little white neutralizer at varying opacity level on the layers. I also used Noiseware Pro on the weaker noise setting and adjusted the opacity to 50% on a layer and the sharpened with Nik Sharpener at 85% opacity. Whew.]]>
Abe Lincoln was one of our greatest and the things he had to endure to keep our great union together was really amazing. He was truly one of a kind.]]>
From the Brochure of the National Cathedral:
The somber mural tells the story of Jesus’ entombment following the crucifixion. This chapel and Resurrection Chapel are primarily built in the Romanesque (or Norman) style of architecture featuring rounded arches and a heavier “feel” than Gothic architecture. The use of this style here imitates the medieval custom of building a Gothic cathedral over the crypt of an earlier, Romanesque one.
I used my Sigma 10-20mm wide angle for this one. I also did my standard processing but I bumped up the bleach bypass filter for this one to 25% opacity to give it a more gothic look. I hope it worked.]]>
This was 3 brackets from -2 to +2 taken with my Sigma 10-20 and all of the usual processing.]]>
This one was taken using my Nikon D90 on Aperture Priority mode, Nikkor 18-105 kit lens at 18mm, is comprised of 5 bracketed raws ranging from -2 to +2 EVs at one stop increments, ISO of 200, aperture of f11. I merged it in Photoshop CS4, tonemapped it in Photomatix and post-processed in PS CS4 using the Nik Color Efex plugin's pro contrast, tonal contrast and bleach bypass filters at varying opacity levels. I cleaned it up using Noiseware Pro and sharpened with Nik Sharpener.]]>
This is a shot I took on our third day there. We just finished a tour of the US Capitol and we started heading back to the place we were staying. On our way out, this lady sketching the Capitol caught my eye, so I asked her if it would be OK if I could take her picture while she was drawing. She agreed and I fired off a couple. This one turned out the best I think. But, after looking at it a while, it seems a little weighted to the right. I will have to add that to my book of things to remember while shooting. However, I kind of still like this shot.
This one is three raws taken at f11, ISO 800, bracketed at -2, 0, and +2 EVs, handheld. I did something a little different with this as I did an exposure fusion (courtesy of Michael Tuuk) in Photomatix instead of a tonemapping and then I post-processed in Photoshop CS4 using the Nik Color Efex plugin's pro contrast, tonal contrast and bleach bypass filters at varying opacity levels. I removed the noise with noisware pro and sharpened with Nik Sharpener.]]>
I think maybe I underestimated the place because there was an area setting up for a wedding later that afternoon. I think it must really be a nice place. I just wish I had more time there.
I had second thoughts about posting this shot because I wasn't sure if it was really worth it, but the more I look at it, it's beginning to grow on me. What do you think? I guess what I'm saying is, I'm looking for some constructive criticism here. Sometime I'd like to get into people shots, but in a discreet sort of way. Let me know if you think this is any good or not.
This was processed with my standard work-flow, of which I hope to publish relatively soon. The only difference is, this one was 3 raw brackets instead of 5. I merged it in Photoshop CS4, tonemapped it in Photomatix, and post-processed it in Photoshop using the Nik Color Efex plugin. I used the pro contrast, tonal contrast, bleach bypass and glamour glow filters at varying opacity levels. I cleaned it up with Noiseware Pro and sharpened with Nik Sharpener.
Lastly, I think this will be the last of my posts for the next two weeks or so as I'm heading off to Washington DC for a few days next week. Thanks for reading and I'll see you soon!
Oh, and don't forget to check out my new store. If there's something on this blog that is not there, email me at egearing at gmail dot com (I spelled it out so as not to get slammed by spammers) and I will be sure to post it!]]>
In a bit of other news, I'm currently documenting my work-flow to give you a better idea of how I generally process my shots. I know I sort of describe some of the things I do each time I post a new image (or at least I try to), but that really doesn't spell out everything in one post. So, I thought if I can do that, I could refer to it in subsequent posts and then just touch on anything I may have done differently for the image in question. It's in a very raw, draft form right now, but I try to work on it when I can. There is one thing that will hinder that operation; I'm getting ready for a trip to Washington DC in about a week or so. I'm really looking forward to that, but like I said it will slow the time it will take to get my work-flow documented.
Lastly, as some, if not most of you may already know, Adobe is releasing Photoshop CS5. And, from some of the reports I've read, it has a really robust HDR engine in it that will give Photomatix a run for its money. That interests me quite a bit since I currently use Photoshop CS4 and Photomatix. If I can reduce the amount of software I need, I'll be happy as a clam! The only thing I wonder about is how the Nik plugins will work with it or if I will have to wait and upgrade those as well. I think I will wait on CS5, but I'm looking forward to hearing more about what it can do.
Well, I guess that's about it for now. Again, please take a look at my gallery and I will be posting more images there as well as here soon. Thanks!]]>
blogs.kxan.com/2010/04/12/bluebonnets-to-satellites/
Thanks to KXAN for providing the video for me to post here. Pretty cool. If you have some nice photos of wildflowers, send them in to [email protected] and you might get Jim to mention yours as well!
Springtime in Texas is a great time of year. That's when the wildflowers put on an amazing show. These flowers here are known as bluebonnets and are the Texas state flower. This year has been a great year for wildflowers more than others because of the cold and wet winter we had this year. Last year was such a disappointment since it was so dry and hot the last couple of years. Some are saying this may be the best year yet. However, the place I took this had an even better display two years ago. They were even more dense than this. Anyway, this field is just on the edge of Georgetown where 29 and TX 130 meet. There's a Nazarene church there and this field is right behind it. Pretty spectacular I must say. But, in a few short weeks, these will be gone and it will be hotter than... um, something that's really, really hot.
This shot is a sort of mixture of traditional photography and HDR. It's three bracketed raws taken from -2 to +2 at two stop intervals. I merged them in Photoshop CS4 and tonemapped it in Photomatix. However, when I opened it back up for post-processing in CS4, I decided to take a different tack. I grabbed the brightest bracket and masked in the flowers in the foreground and then masked in the darkest bracket for the sky. The only thing left over from the tonemapping in Photomatix are the trees. Once I did that, I did my usual thing with Nik Color Efex using the pro contrast, tonal contrast and bleach bypass filters. I even brought in the graduated neutral density filter to darken the sky a little bit more. I cleaned it up with Noiseware and sharpened it with Nik Sharpener.]]>
This one was processed my standard way. I really need to document my work-flow. I guess that should be the next priority. Anyway, tomorrow I'm gonna try to take a couple hours in the middle of the day to try and find something to shoot in S. Austin. I just have no idea what that will be. If anyone out there has any suggestions, please comment here and I will check it out. Thanks!]]>
This shot was processed using virtually my same workflow of merging in Photoshop CS4, tonemapping in Photomatix and tweaking in CS$ with the Nik Color Efex plugin, specifically the pro contrast, tonal contrast and bleach bypass setting. I then cleaned it up with Noiseware Pro and sharpened with Nik Sharpener. I also masked in the sky from one of the raw brackets to help cut down on the noise these night shots get when tonemapping in Photomatix. It really helps.
Camera settings include 10mm focal length, ISO 200, aperture f11, and shutter of 0.8.]]>
Anyway, I took this early morning shot with my D90 and Sigma 10-20 lens, at f11, ISO 200, 5 bracketed raws from -2 to +2 at 1 stop intervals, merged in Photoshop CS4, tonemapped in Photomatix and tweaked with Nik Color Efex using the pro contrast, tonal contrast and bleach bypass filters.]]>
This shot is 5 bracketed jpgs this time... but unlike my blunderous previous post, this was purposeful. I have been experimenting with shooting fine jpgs vs raws for my brackets and most of the time, I really can't tell much difference. However, with Adobe Camera Raw, while you can still open jpgs with it, processing raw files gives you a bit more flexibility. It's much easier to change white balance and other things. Overall raw is better, but fine jpgs are also a pretty good way too.]]>
As you can see, this is a shot of the Texas State Capitol that I took on the morning of April 1st, 2010. I was pretty excited about getting it because, as you can see, the moon was full and the clouds were really moving fast so as to not totally obstruct the light from the moon. I set up my gear and took some brackets here and there all the while thinking to myself that these are gonna turn out really awesome when I'm done! I couldn't wait to process them!
After work, the time came to load them up onto the the computer and make some magic! But wait, the file sizes were only about a tenth of their normal size and the extension was .jpg instead of .nef! NOOOOOOOOO!!! I mistakenly left the quality setting on my D90 at BASIC, the smallest resolution setting on it! What a bonehead/rookie mistake! You see, a couple days before, I had to take a couple of snapshots for work that didn't need any serious resolution, and basic was all that was needed. Well, I forgot I did that and forgot to go through my WHIMS (thanks Scott Kelby) before I shot. WHIMS stands for:
* W: White Balance
* H: Hightlight clipping warning
* I: ISO
* M: Mode (JPEG or RAW)
* S: Shooting (Resetting to the right shooting mode for the subject: Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, Manual, etc.)
Had I done the WHIMS before I started shooting like Mr. Kelby recommends, I would have noticed the mode was on basic and I would've changed it back to raw. Stupid, stupid, stupid (picture me doing the "I could've had a V8" thing to my forehead)!
I'm wondering, since I took this one on April 1st, was my mind playing a cruel subconscious April Fool's joke on me? If so, not very funny, but I digress once again...
Anyway, I decided to process the shot anyway and I must say, I'm not too disappointed in how it turned out. I think I probably lost a little detail here and there and maybe the highlights in some areas are a little too blown out, but overall I'm pretty happy with it. Let me know what you think.]]>
For this shot I used my Nikon D90 with the Sigma 10-20mm lens. I pretty much did my standard processing on this one. One thing I've noticed though, is that night time/early morning shots don't work well with the workflow of mine. They end up quite noisy. So, right after the tonemapping process in Photomatix, I open them up in Photoshop and mask in the sky from one of the bracketed raws. That really seems to help clean up the images.]]>
This one I processed a little differently than most of my others. I did the 5 brackets from -2 to +2, but I merged and tonemapped it in Photomatix. I then tweaked it in Photoshop just using the bleach bypass filter at about 45% opacity. I cleaned it up with Noiseware on the weak noise setting and sharpened it with Nik Sharpener.]]>
This shot was taken with my Nikon D90 on Aperture Priority mode and its 18-105 kit lens, aperture of f11, focal length of 28mm, and ISO 320. It's 5 bracketed raws with EVs ranging from -2 to +2 at 1 stop increments, merged in Photoshop CS4, tonemapped in Photomatix and post-processed/tweaked in CS4 with the Nik Color Efex plugin. Noise reduction was accomplished with Noiseware Professional and sharpening was done with Nik Sharpener.
]]>
This shot was also processed the same as the two previous as well.
One thing I 'd like to ask you're opinion on, especially for the guys in the Austin area is, any good suggestions on what to shoot in the pre-dawn hours that's easy and quick? I'm running out of ideas. Thanks,]]>
This one was processed exactly like my yesterday's as well. I used my Nikon D90 and Sigma 10-20mm lens at 10mm, ISO 200, aperture f11 on Aperture Priority mode. I merged 5 bracketed raws (yes, I'm going back to raws, and the hard drive space on my computer hates me again) with EVs ranging from -2 to +2 at 1 stop intervals, merged them in Photoshop CS4, tonemapped it in Photomatix, post-processed in CS4 with the Nik Color Efex plugin using pro contrast, tonal contrast and bleach bypass filters, mixed in one of the original raws with the color preset in CS4, removed noise with Noiseware Pro and sharpened with Nik Sharpener's output sharpener setting. The final thing I did was adjust the exposure like in my lift the mist post. Whew. That's about it.]]>
This shot presented some challenges when I merged and tonemapped it. I originally merged 5 raws ranging from -2 to +2 at 1 stop EVs, but that didn't turn out too nicely. Lots of noise in the sky and such. So I just did 3 brackets from -1 to +1 and merged those instead. I then did my usual Nik stuff using pro contrast, tonal contrast and bleach bypass. Oh, and I really had to mask out the sky with one of the original raws because it still presented quite a bit of noise. Anyway, after that, I mixed in one of the originals with the HDR and mixed them using the color preset in CS4. It kind of brought out some more of the tones in the star and the building. It was kind of subtle, but it added a little pop to it.
The website for the museum is here.]]>
It follows the same processing as other shots of mine, but I think I had the ISO at 320 and the aperture at f11. That's about it.
One other thing I'd like to mention about this place is that the owner is very nice. My wife and I are not wine drinkers, but as a thank you to my sister and aunt and uncle for their hospitality during a recent trip to Florida, we thought we'd get them both a bottle of wine. We heard the Winery was a good pace to get wine, so we stopped there. We found a couple of nice bottle stoppers and a couple nice bottles of wine to get for them. However, we wanted to ship it to them, but weren't sure how. Well, he told us he was an authorized shipper and he took care of all of that for us. We paid for the shipping and he boxed it up and sent it off for us. He said he doesn't make any extra money off of this service, he just does it to keep business. That's pretty cool. So, if you want to ship some wine somewhere, stop by the Georgetown Winery!]]>
This one was taken with my Nikon D90 and my Sigma 10-20mm wide angle lens. I bracketed 5 jpgs from -2 to +2 EVs at 1 stop increments. I then merged them in Photoshop CS4 (using Bridge) and then tonemapped it in Photomatix. Lastly, I post-processed them in CS4 with the Nik Color Efex plugin. I used the pro contrast filter at about 35% opacity, the tonal contrast filter at about 65% opacity and the bleach bypass filter at approx. 15-20% opacity. I cleaned up the noise with Imagenomic's Noiseware using the weaker noise setting and then sharpened it with Nik Sharpener at about 60% opacity. Last thing I did was adjust the exposure to +0.08, the offset to -0.0020, and the gamma 0.96. That's just about my standard work-flow. I will vary from picture to picture, but that's pretty much my normal routine.However, the most notable thing in this one is that the pro contrast filter in Nik had to be reduce to 35% opacity whereas I normally use about 65%. Not a big deal, but like I said, it can vary from shot to shot.]]>
Still no shots though. So, I decided to go to one of my favorite and close locations... the square in Georgetown. It's such a nice and quaint place and at the time I decided to go, the sun was just setting. So, I snapped off a few. The name of this store is called "Tribal Impressions" and they sell all kinds of Indian leather stuff.For a better look at what they sell, check out my flickr shot called "Anything in This Window, Please". Looks like a cool store, but I have yet to go in there and see what they have.
Hopefully, this will give me some more inspiration to get back out there. I really look forward to getting together with those guys in Austin. Hopefully we'll find another date that will suit all of us and the place we go to won't be too crazy.]]>
Last year while looking for some inspiration, I decided to take a drive to Taylor, Texas to see what I could find. I really wasn't sure what I would see when I got there, but while driving around, I ran across the rail yard. What a cool opportunity! Not only were the trains there, but the sky was nice and gloomy-looking to add some great mood to the shot. I must say though, I had no problems wandering around taking pictures there. There was a maintenance guy who saw me, but he didn't leave his truck and let me pretty much do what I please. However, if you click on the picture above and read the comments on this on flickr, some people aren't too pleased with what I did here. They think we photogs could be ruining their chances of getting close to trains or something. Not really sure what their beefs are, but I get the feeling they like to get close to the trains, but just not take shots of them or something. But, I digress. Trains are cool for HDR, especially when it's cloudy out.
I'm not really sure what I did to process this one as it was quite a while ago when I shot it. However, I think it probably falls in line with my standard processing I've used on previous shots posted in this blog.
Even though this shot is old, I wanted to add a little something else about it. It turns out that the owner of a company called Night Light Designs discovered it one day and she asked me if she could use it. I told her that it would be fine as long as she used my name on it. And, she gave me three free night lights with my pic on it. Granted, it's not much, but it's a little more exposure than I had before. I guess someone out there likes my stuff. Check my night light out! Help out their company and get one for your kid!
The moral of the story is, keep posting stuff! You never know what will happen. Something similar happened to me with some shots in Georgetown, Texas that I took and you can read more about that in my Photography and Social Networking post. Maybe someday, I'll espouse on that a little further. Hence the title in parentheses and the moral: Keep posting stuff!]]>
So this is the University of Texas Tower peaking out of all the parking garages located downtown. I thought it was kind of a cool shot, but it might've even been better had the Tower been lit orange. Oh well.
I used my Nikon D90 with it's 18-105mm kit lens for this one. It was processed as 5 bracketed jpgs from -2 to +2, ISO 250 at f11. I merged them in Photoshop CS4, tonemapped them in Photomatix and post-processed in CS4 with the Nik Color Efex plugin.]]>
Anyway, this was taken with my D90 and Sigma 10-20mm lens, ISO 200 and an aperture of f11. I merged it in Photoshop CS4, tonemapped it in Photomatix and post-processed in CS4 using the Nik Color Efex plugin, specifically the pro contrast, tonal contrast and bleach bypass filters. Here's something I haven't mentioned previously, but I clean it all up using Imagenomic's Noiseware Pro, and sharpen with Nik Sharpener. If anyone cares, maybe I'll put out my standard formula for how I do this.
Anyway, let me know if you like the guy on this shot or not. If not, any recommendations on how to clone him out? I 'm not sure of I could do it without it looking too crappy.]]>
This shot was originally a color hdr, but it seemed like it was lacking something. So, in my processing, I decided to see what the black and white converter in Nik Color Efex would do and it really made it look cool, I think. I like how it made the blue sky really dark. It gives it more of a haunting look.
It's a five bracket jpg exposed at f11 from -2 to +2 exposure values at one stop intervals, merged in Photoshop CS4, tonemapped in Photomatix and tweaked/converted in CS4 using the Nik Color Efex plugin, specifically, pro contrast, tonal contrast, bleach bypass and bw converter.]]>
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Finally, as part of a intro promotion surrounding the new release of Topaz Adjust 4, the coupon code NEWADJUST will not only save $10 off a new purchase of Topaz Adjust, but will also save 20% off of any bundle purchase or Adjust->Bundle upgrade. This coupon code will expire on March 15, 2010.
Enjoy the upgrade and have a great day]]>
I took this with my Nikon D90 and Sigma 10-20mm lens. The settings were ISO 200, aperture f11, 5 jpg brackets ranging from -2 to +2 at 1 stop intervals. I merged it in Photoshop CS4, tonemapped it in Photomatix ,and post-processed it in CS4 using the Nik Color Efex plugin, specifically the pro and tonal contrast filters and the bleach bypass filter.]]>
Anyway, I used my standard processing with this one, 5 brackets at -2 to +2, merged in PS CS4 and tonemapped in Photomatix. Then post-processed in CS4 with NIk Color Efex.]]>
This shot was processed the same as my previous post as well. 5 bracketed jpgs ranging from +2 to -2 EVs at 1 stop intervals, ISO was 250, aperture f11 and I used my Nikon D90 with my kit 18-105 lens. I then merged it in Photoshop CS4, tonemapped it in Photomatix and post-processed in CS4 using the Nik Color Efex plugin's pro contrast, tonal contrast and bleach bypass filters at varying opacity levels.
Also, to setup for night time shots, I try to takes some test shots and play with the right ISOs until my longest exposure is just under 30 seconds. I explain it all in my Night HDR post.]]>
This is a 5 shot jpg bracket from -2 to +2 taken with my Nikon D90 and my Nikkor 18-105 kit lens. I merged it in Photoshop CS4, tonemapped it in Photomatix and tweaked it in Photoshop with the Nik Color Efex plugin using Pro Contrast, Tonal Contrast and Bleach Bypass.
Also, to setup for night time shots, I try to takes some test shots and play with the right ISOs until my longest exposure is just under 30 seconds. I explain it all in my Night HDR post.]]>
This was in between rain showers and I managed to not get too many spots on the lens. Thank goodness. I think used the trusty Sigma 10-20 at the full 20mm. ISO was 200 and it's a five exposure bracket from -2 to +2 at f11 and tonemapped in Photomatix with some tweaks done in Photoshop with the Nik Color Efex plugins.]]>
"The Rod and Gun Club was originally built upon a foundation set by the first permanent settler whom founded the historical city in 1864. By 1922 Barron Collier purchased the Rod and Gun Club. He catered to many famous, notable guests and operated the club as a private establishment.
Half a century later in the year of 1972 the Rod and Gun Club was purchased by the family whom owns it to this day, the Bowen family! Throughout the years the Bowen family has maintained the Rod and Gun Club's old frontier values and rustic charm! The Rod and Gun Club does not cater to the needs of all vacationers but to those whom are seeking to experience a piece of history!
The first settlers in these parts were the Mound Builders. They were followed by the Caloosa Indians, the Spanish, and the Seminoles. When the braves retreated into the wilds of the Everglades after the Seminole War, a trading post was established at the site of what is now called Everglades City.
In the 1920's the wealthy industrialist Barron C. Collier swept into southwest Florida and bought up everything in sight. He carved out Collier County and planned to make Everglades City into another Miami. One of his first purchases was the old Allen House, built on the foundations of the first home put on the south bank of the river. The Allen House had been gradually enlarged over the years to house the fishermen, hunters, and yachtsmen who came through the city. Collier converted the building to a private club where he entertained the mighty and the wealthy, including a few presidents."]]>
I did my standard hdr stuff with the 5 brackets for this one, but I changed it up a little and used Topaz Adjust for the final tweaking. Sorry, but I don't remember the exact settings I used for it. I really need to remember to write the things down. Sometimes though when I'm processing, I think, "Whoa, that turned out nice. Now, how did I get there?" Another time maybe...]]>
This shot I converted to black and white using a trial version of Nik Silver Efex. I used the high contrast green filter. It really does a nice job of getting some great black and white effects from your photos. However, one thing that bothers me about this particular plugin is that it slowed CS4 to a crawl. I mean a craaaawwwlll. It was really annoying. It starts as soon as I open CS4. So, I may have to just set CS4 to not load the plugin at startup and see if that helps. If not, anyone out there have any suggestions?]]>
It's a 5 bracketed shot from -2 to +2 EVs, merged in Photoshop CS4 and tonemapped in Photomatix. I then used Nik Color Efex to do my normal treatments and subsequently used the BW converter effect. Once I converted it, I went back and did one more bleach bypass layer at about 30% opacity.
I may post the color version another time, but I kind of liked the way this one turned out. What do you think?
Other settings include:
Aperture: f11
ISO: 200
lens setting: 10mm]]>
This one was a bit tricky to process. The light on the right in the picture had a green cast to it that I tried to adjust and mask out. I think I got most of it. The original was really bad, but this version was about as good as it was gonna get.
Anyway, same processing applies with this one as the others pretty much; 5 brackets, -2 to +2, iso 400, f11, I think.]]>
This is a 5-shot hdr with the original jpgs bracketed from -2 to +2 EVs at 1-stop intervals, merged in Photoshop CS4 and tonemapped in Photomatix. I then post-processed in CS4 using the Nik Color Efex 3.0 plugin and specifically used the pro contrast, tonal contrast and bleach bypass presets at varying levels of opacity for the layers the presets created. I probably should have masked some of the people, but I kind of like the look this achieved, plus I'm a little lazy. Besides, the guy sitting down in the middle at the bottom took a flash picture while I was taking my brackets and his flash gave a cool little look after the hdr process.
Also, my camera is a Nikon D90 and I used a Sigma 10-20 lens.]]>
This shot was 5 bracketed jpgs from -2 to +2 evs, tonemapped in photomatix and tweaked with the Nik Color Efex plugin in Photoshop CS4.]]>
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What I did for this particular shot was process a single raw in photomatix and then did some minor tweaks in photoshop. The main thing I did was add a vignette with Nik Color Efex to just really highlight it's eye. I really wanted that to pop. I hope I accomplished that with this one.]]>
One other bit of interesting trivia surrounding this area... Apparently the Seminole Indian tribes used to inhabit these parts. I can't imagine the rigors of primitive living in this environment, but I guess it can be done.]]>
66% opacity of pro contrast, 66% opacity of tonal contrast and 10% opacity of bleach bypass. Then I do some minor exposure corrections as mentioned in a previous post.
Anyway, there you are and I'll put out more soon.]]>
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When I see a really good shot of a city, landscape or an interior, they would all look very nice. The lighting would be nice, the angles and perspective/composition would all be good, but they are traditional photos. Nothing wrong with that. Just nice. However, HDR could make them spectacular!
I hope I'm not trying to sound like my stuff is better, because that's up to someone other than me to decide. I think I still need to work on my composition skills as well as what I can and cannot do with my camera. However, I do feel I have a pretty good handle on how to process an HDR photo. When I see a shot of some mountains or a shot of city lights from the street or a high-rise, or a shot of an airline terminal taken with just one shot and good lighting, it all misses something. They seem flat and boring. You can't see everything in all the shadowy nooks and crannies, the textures don't jump out as much, and they just seem to lack that pizazz that HDR brings.
I guess HDR is really beginning to evolve photography, at least in my eyes. There are still those that think HDR is fake or manipulated and that what you get out of your camera is what the shot should look like But, anytime you use a flash, put a graduated ND filter on your lens or adjust the metering in your camera, the final shot has been manipulated. A traditional shot does not capture everything the normal human eye can capture so already the traditional photo is not totally realistic. But, with HDR more of what the eye can see in the scene you are trying to capture will show in the final shot. To me that is more amazing and more realistic]]>
After taking the obligatory shots at the Texas Capitol the other day, I decided to explore some places there I haven't been. One shot I got was the art exhibit shot and this one. Both were taken while exploring the ground floor. There isn't really too much down there, but there are some interesting things if you happen to see them. These are the doors at the top of the stairs that connect the ground floor to the first floor. Behind these doors is the 1st floor and out of the picture to the left are the stairs leading down to the ground floor. It looks kind of like a bunker or a dungeon doesn't it? Anyway, my goal was to get something interesting and something you don't usually see. Oh I'll post the "obligatories" sometime, but anyway, as they say on the Flying Circus, "Now for something completely different."]]>
During my stroll Saturday with Van, a pro-life rally happened. There was a parade down Congress Avenue that lead to the Capitol in Austin, TX. Waiting for the marchers were a few pro-choice people protesting the pro-life people. This, I thought, would be a good opportunity to try and see if I have any photo-journalism chops. I think I'm better off doing HDRs, but I thought it would be nice to post something a little different for a change.
Also, I'm not trying to put my thoughts on this issue out there. However, the yin and yang of the people separated by the Peace Officers I thought was rather interesting. Not to mention all of the name calling.. "You're a nazi!", "No, YOU'RE a nazi!!", "Oh yeah, well you're the NAZI!" It just kept going. There were some chants also, but I don't remember those. Exciting to say the least.]]>
My last couple shots talk about shooting the Omni Hotel in Austin, Texas with Van Sutherland. Well, here's one of them from there. It kind of gives you an idea of the size of the place. The hotel portion is on the left side and the right side houses offices of some sort.]]>
Yesterday, Van Sutherland and I took a little trip to the Capitol and the Omni Hotel in Austin, Texas. On the ground floor of the Capitol building, just below the rotunda, was this room which had an art exhibit going on. My lack of detail forgot to get the name of the artist whose works was displayed, but as you can see it was very nice.]]>
Today, Van Sutherland and I took a little photowalk to the Omni Hotel and the Texas State Capitol Building here in Austin, TX. While traversing between the two places, we stopped by St Mary's Church to see if we could get a couple of shots inside of it. Well, at that time there was a service going on. So we trudged on to the Capitol from there. Well, later in the day at the capitol, we went our separate ways, but on the way back to my car, I decided to try St Mary's one more time. The main door was locked, but a side door was open and I snuck in. When I began to take my brackets, there was no one in the sanctuary. In the middle of my brackets a gentleman came in and sat in the pews and he didn't mind my shooting, so I kept on. However, I beat a hasty retreat as I didn't want to upset anyone or maybe get caught by security. So, here's what I was able to get from there.]]>
Last summer, Trey Ratcliff had a photowalk in Austin, TX that I attended. However, to attend, he asked that everyone RSVP thru his Facebook page. So, in order to RSVP through Facebook, I had to setup an account. Ugh. I really didn't want a Facebook account because I thought Facebook is just a giant popularity contest. Everyone are friends and the more friends you have the more...whatever. Reluctantly, I set one up with the complete intention of not checking it. I used a different email account other than my main ones. I only set it up to RSVP the photowalk, which I did and then I went on my merry way.
Well, here I am six months or so later and I'm now checking it on a fairly regular basis. "Why" might you ask? One reason is that I actually got some photography work out of it. The owner of a restaurant in Georgetown, Texas called "Amante's" saw one of my shots on Flickr and then subsequently found my facebook page and sent me a message. The owner really liked my work and asked if I could take some shots of her restaurant. I did, she liked them, and the villagers rejoiced! Pretty cool!
Not only did I get some work, but I'm also catching up with some old friends and making new ones. It's kind of cool.
So, I guess Facebook is not just a huge, totally massive popularity contest (sorry, I still think it kind of is), but it actually helps put people together. And with my little hobby of photography, it has actually helped me get some of my work out there. Not to mention the fact that I got a little more cash for photo toys!
My day job is in IT, but photography is my hobby. I'm on computers all day for work and with digital photography, I'm on the computer a lot to process pictures. I like computers, but too much can be very tiresome and in turn can be bad. Now, Facebook comes along which is starting to keep me attached to the computer a little more. Bad. That, this blog, my Flickr page, regular email, web surfing, et. al., could begin to drive me crazy! But, the good thing is, I've also learned that it can connect me to some very wonderful people and help me get my name and work out there for a little extra fun with my hobby. Good!
So, as I said, I'm beginning to see the light. It's a really good thing. Now if I can find a good balance, I will be set.
Now, does this mean I should start a MySpace page, and a Twitter page and God knows what else? Aarrgghhhh! Baaad???!!!
]]>
Since I had today off, I decided to get some shots since I hadn't been out in a while. Wasn't sure where to go, so I hopped in the car thinking I might go to Walburg, but Salado just kind of popped into my head. So that's what I decided to do and this is what I got.
This shot is the porch of the famous "Stagecoach Inn" in Salado, TX.
Constructed during the 1860s, the Stagecoach Inn was known as "Salado Hotel" and as "Shady Villa" before the current name was adopted in 1943. Military figures George Armstrong Custer and Robert E. Lee, and cattle baron Shanghai Pierce are among those thought to have stayed here. A good example of frontier vernacular architecture, the Stagecoach Inn features a two-story galleried porch with a second-story balustrade. -From the Texas Historical Marker in front of the Inn.
Also, if you ever eat there, they have more of the history of who has stayed at the Inn on their placemats. If I remember correctly, it is thought that the James Gang stayed here once or twice.]]>
Now that I'm really vested in to the whole HDR-thing, I wanted to pass along a little tip that I use when I'm just about finished with my post-processing. I do something I personally call "lift the mist".
With HDR photography, the finished product always looks a bit flat to me. I think this is because all of the brights are darkened and the darks are brightened. It almost looks as if there a fog or a mist that covers the image. So, I've found a step that really helps make my stuff a look a little clearer (at least to me). It's a very slight adjustment and you can really see the difference in a full-res image. I'm not sure if my example below will convey the difference because of its size, but I'll put it out there anyway. You may want to click on them to get the bigger resolution and that may help. So, as an example, I will use my Georgetown, Texas Corner shot:
Before
After
So what I do as a last step in my post-processing is, I adjust the exposure in Photoshop ever so slightly. I create a layer and then go to Image | Adjustments | Exposure. The settings I generally use are as follows:
Exposure: +0.08
Offset: -0.0020
Gamma: .96
These are all a general starting point for me and sometimes I'll adjust the opacity of the layer if it's too much. Mainly this darkens the darks a little bit and brightens the brights just a hair. Really, it darkens more than brightens and your mileage may vary. But, once I do this, my shots usually get some added depth to them, like you could almost jump into them. Be advised, you may lose some detail in your darks and some may not like that, but I prefer the overall look to the shot instead of having the slight detail in the dark areas. To me, it looks as if the fog or mist has been lifted, hence my little term "lift the mist".
Give it a try and see what you think.]]>
This was another shot taken during my lunch break the other day. It was a pretty fun looking statue out in front of the Georgetown Winery in Georgetown, Texas. I couldn't resist.
It is a 5 bracketed shot from -2 to +2 with some post processing using Nik Color Efex in Photoshop CS4.]]>
Well I finally got out and did a little shooting in the new year. I took a brief respite during my lunch break from my real job and went into town for this particular one.
I was inspired to take this shot by a couple of people.. Van Sutherland and Russ Barnes. Van for the church itself since we were talking about a shot of his the other day, and Russ due to his great black and whites. I don't think this measures up to any of theirs, but here's what I was able to come up with.
Anyway, this is a shot of the front the Grace Heritage Center on Main Street in Georgetown, Texas.]]>
Instead of creating the initial 32-bit HDR merged photo in Photomatix Pro, create it in Photoshop CS4 and then save it as an .hdr file. Then do the tonemapping portion in Photomatix.
I wondered why he recommended this because I really couldn't find a justification as to why. But, I think one of the reasons was because Adobe's alignment "engine" (for lack of a better term) is much better than Photomatix's. For an example, I'll use a part of my Williamson County Courthouse and Tree shot that you can see on Flickr:
Shot 1 above is the shot after it was created in Photomatix and shot 2 below is the one created in Photoshop. Check out the difference in alignment! Most of my shots are like that toward the edges and it's been bugging me for quite a while. I just can't get over how much better it is!
Shot 2.
However, I noticed that the colors in the shot created by Photoshop are not quite as vibrant, but I think that can be overcome with a little post-processing. Also, there are some artifacts that are dealt with a little differently, but nothing that the normal post-processing won't take care of as well. The only other downside is that it takes quite a bit longer for Photoshop to merge the shots than Photomatix, but the wait may certainly be worth it. Scott Kelby is THE MAN!
I'm certainly happy I got this book and can't wait to try it on some new shots. Now, to find the time and the place to get out and shoot. Hmmm... Where to go...?]]>
If there's anyone out there who reads this silly little blog, thank you and Merry Christmas. My wife and I wish you all the best during this holiday season.]]>
Trey Ratcliff, aka StuckInCustoms, finally released his new book, "A World In HDR". Ever since he announced that he was writing a book, I couldn't wait to get it. I've been following Trey on his website and drooling over some of his wonderful images he's taken during his travels for quite a while now. I even use some of the techniques he discusses in his tutorial, which has really helped my processing. He's a big influence on my work. I think I signed up to get it on Amazon back in August. It finally came on Friday last week and I just finished reading it a day or two ago. Now take what I'm about to say with a grain of salt. This is my first book review and I still consider myself an intermediate photographer. With all of that said, here's what I think:
Overall, I'm a little disappointed. Maybe my expectations were way too high, but I really don't think so.
The book starts out with a chapter on what High Dynamic Range photography is and how your brain interprets light. He explains that the eye darts around quickly, taking in different levels of light and how your brain puts the different light levels together in a sort of snapshot, giving you a vision of the scenery around you that a normal camera cannot possibly express in one snap of the shutter. The next chapter quickly explains how art forms evolve, such as music, and how HDR is evolving photography. In these two chapters, he uses words such as "synethesia" and "eleemosynary" and speaks about art quite well, but that's not for my taste. I'm pretty simple and just want to get to the meat and potatoes of how to do it. Time to break out the dictionary. He then very quickly begins his showcase of amazing images and where he was when he took them.
The photography is stunning to say the least. He is certainly a pioneer in this medium. Some of my faves include, "The Magic of Disney", "The Icy Pit to Hell", and "Hong Kong From the Peak on a Summer's Night." Shots such as these fill the pages through chapter 4 and make up the bulk of the book. The descriptions of his images are a fun read. Trey has a wry sense of humor that I enjoy. When he talks about his Russian tent-mate Yuri or explains the steps you need to take to get a shot inside of a cathedral, I snickered a little too loudly.
Also included with the image on each page is a little technical blurb in red italics that tells you what he did in that particular photographic situation as far as f-stop, iso or even possibly processing. However, it's not too in-depth and most of this technical info does not explain the actual settings he used in the software, save for maybe a couple of shots. He really wants you to try to figure it out on your own for the most part. I was hoping for more things like how much luminosity he used, did he used LucisArt in this one, did he use other software in that one. Again, great shots, but not much technical info.
Speaking of technical, chapters 5 and 6 go into his tutorial and other software recommendations. His tutorial in chapter 5 is fantastic. After his instruction, one could really process photos into HDR quite easily. However, it's the one you can get on his website for free, except for a couple of minor updates. That was another little disappointment. The only new thing I found here is that he changed the opacity of the brush tool for masking from 30% on the tutorial on his website, to 50% in the book. He also explains double-tonemapping, which is new as far as I can tell. That's about it. Chapter 6 also reviews some other software that he uses and those reviews can be found on his website as well.
That's it! No conclusion or anything. So overall, I think it's a good book, but disappointing at the same time. I think the tutorial should've been more toward the beginning of the book. I think this would help prepare the reader with a foundation of what he did in some of the images where he actually does talk a little about the processing he performed. Also, I really expected this book to include more about the actual settings he used in the software while processing each image and what other camera settings he used. I remember watching one of his videos in Atlanta where a person he was with asked him what bracket settings he would use in a particular situation. He would say something like (I'm paraphrasing), " I would bracket at -1 to +1 here because of this type of light." THAT's the kind of stuff I was looking for! I also really didn't care for all of the artsy-fartsy references to Monet, Renoit and the like. But, this is an art form and I can't really ding him for this. It's just a little too high-falutin' for me.
I guess I expected a technical book and what I got was an art book. My first clue should have been the title, "A World In HDR". That is a good title since it really discusses just that.
It's a great coffee table book and a great book for those getting started in HDR photography or have never heard of HDR photography. But, for those of us who have been doing this for a little while now, you can get just about everything in the book from his website. Not that that's a bad thing, but unless you want to help him by buying his book as a thank you for the work he's brought to the world, you may just want to stick with his StuckInCustoms website.]]>
Before work Wednesday morning, I decided to grab the camera and head to the square in my hometown of Georgetown, TX and try to get some shots before the streets started filling with cars. The square is a beautifully typical small town in Texas with the old courthouse in the middle and old western storefronts surrounding the courthouse on all sides. Some of the stores have great displays in their windows for the Christmas season and leave their lights on all night. It's perfect for the photographer. This is one of those storefronts. As you can see, it's the Georgetown Antique Mall with a wonderfully decorated Christmas tree and other holiday props. I just couldn't pass this one up.
It's a 5 bracket HDR from a Nikon D90, -2 to +2 EV at one stop increments. Other stats include ISO 200, f13 exposure, 11.5 mm.]]>
The Schlitterbahn water-park in New Braunfels, Texas has an event going on right now called the "Hill Country Christmas". They've decked out the whole park with lights, put in a skating rink and opened a couple water slides to be used as "alpine slides".. It's a great time for photos, but unfortunately while I was there, the rain drizzled, so some shots I took are quite worthless. However, some aren't too bad and I'm posting those. This is a shot of the entrance to an area where they have snow-making machines and a big indoor eating area for private parties. You can see a couple of water spots on the lens. It was all I could do to keep the lens clean. I should invent some sort of anti-water spot lens device like an internal lens heater to keep this from happening... Yeah, that's it!... On second thought, nah.]]>
The DxO Labs team is pleased to inform you that DxO Optics Pro version 6.1 for Windows is now available!
Get professional-level image quality thanks to DxO Optics Pro.
Photographers the world over have recognized DxO Optics Pro's unique and automatic corrections for a large selection of DSLR cameras. In order to appeal to a broader user base, version 6.1 offers an even more intuitive user interface, more presets, and progressively more support for "advanced compact" cameras designed for the most demanding amateur photographers. DxO Optics Pro brings excellent results to photos shot with these cameras, in terms of both RAW conversion and optical corrections.
In addition to its large array of supported DSLR cameras, beginning with version 6.1, DxO Optics Pro now supports the Canon G11. DxO Labs will shortly add support for the Canon S90 in the days to follow, along with the Panasonic Lumix Lx3 and GH1 (slated for the beginning of 2010), as well as for other models in the advanced compact category.
Complete list of new features in v6.1 :
- Support for the following cameras: Canon G11, Canon 7D, and Nikon D3000;
- 56 new DxO Optics Modules for the following cameras: Canon 7D, 400D, 450D, 500D, Nikon D3, D300, D300s, D40x, D3000, Olympus E-30, E-420, E-510, E-620 and Sony A300;
- Even more improvements to the user interface, include full-screen mode for easier photo viewing;
- 6 new presets, including one that simulates HDR rendition—all from one shot and in one click!
Here's another shot of the tree in the lobby of the Driskill. I think this will be the last of that as there are only so many angles and such, plus it's getting tiresome. It would probably be better to get this shot at night so there isn't so much daylight coming through, so I'll look forward to seeing other shots from the thing on Weds.]]>
If you are interested they are offering a huge discount thru Scott Kelby's blog. You can get the $179 Bundle for $119! Pretty good deal. I may get it for that! The coupon code is SCOTTKELBY and is good thru midnight Sunday. Almost can't pass that one up!
I'll have some more pics soon.
-Evan]]>
Well, this past weekend I thought that I would take a trip to the Driskill Hotel on Monday during my lunch hour. Since it's beginning to be that time of year, I figured they they would have some nice decorations up. They sure do. It's looking very nice there.
Little did I know on Monday after I got back, I received Trey Ratcliff's newsletter stating that his book party was going to be at the Driskill with a photowalk there as well next week! Oh well. At least this way I got some shots without lots of photographers milling about. I still don't know if I can go or not. Also, one bad thing about going during my lunch hour is that I was a little rushed with all of my shots and the comps aren't the greatest. I'll have to go back another time and get some more when I have more time, whether it's Trey's party or not.
This is a shot on the mezzanine level, one floor above the main lobby.
One last thing I want to add here is that I processed these using PS CS4 and the Topaz Plugin Bundle. I'm trying these out as a possibility. I like Nik's software, but I've been using trial modes of those and they are oh so expensive. I think I get very similar results from Topaz and it's so much cheaper. I was wondering if anyone would like to tell me what you think, Topaz or Nik?
I have a couple more shots on my flickr photostream if you would like to take a look.
Thanks.]]>
Another shot of Austin, TX as the sun slowly faded out.
It's cool how many different shots you can get from the same vantage point as the sun sets. Colors change, lights come on and the whole picture becomes a whole new animal. This picture taking stuff gets pretty fun at those times! My Austin Over River post and my Austin At Dusk post prove that point. This one here was taken just a few minutes before those others and they are all so different. Of course, changing aspects make them different as well, but you can really see the color changes.
Like I said, fun stuff!]]>
This is a wide angle shot of the Austin, Texas skyline from Louis Neff Point overlooking the convergence of Barton Springs and the Colorado River.
It's another in my Louis Neff Point series that you can check out on my flickr photostream. It was a fun night. I went with my friend and co-worker, Van Sutherland after work and took some shots of Austin as the sun went down. We both got some great shots. Hopefully we'll do it again soon!]]>
This is the ramp leading up to or down from (depending on which way you are going) the Pedestrian Bridge by Lamar Blvd in Austin, TX. It's part of the famous "Hike and Bike Trail" that winds its way around Lady Bird Lake.
It's funny how I got this shot. I was able to shoot this from the end of the Pedestrian Bridge that overlooks the ramp and of course there's a railing on that part of the bridge just like you see on the ramp. However, to get the shot, my tripod wasn't tall enough to get the camera over the railing without getting some of the railing in the shot. So, I had to kind of lean the tripod over on two legs and lean it up against the railing so it was peering thru the slats that are further apart, again just like in the picture. It wasn't the most stable, but it worked and wa-la!
On another note, I received an email from Topaz Labs stating that they have a new version of Remask out. I'd like to try it sometime as masking is something I'm not great at and I think that program would help a great deal. I'm also interested in their Photoshop Bundle. Remask is included in it plus a whole bunch of other plugins for Photoshop that might give Nik software a run for their money. Especially since it's cheaper! We'll see.]]>
Last Thursday I had the pleasure of going on a mini photowalk with my co-worker and fellow HDR enthusiast Van Sutherland and we took a trip out to Louis Neff Point in Zilker Park. It's on the Colorado River in Austin, TX. We got some great dusk shots of downtown Austin. We also went over to the Pedestrian Bridge on the "Hike and Bike Trail" - which winds it's way around Lady Bird Lake (aka the Colorado River).
This shot was taken just as the sun was almost down, but left a little bit of light to catch some of the foliage on the side of the water, yet I could still get the lights of the buildings. It's almost a surreal shot and I'm not sure if it's too much, not enough, or just right, but it's growing on me. It almost looks like a painting or something. I mostly use Nik Color Efex's Pro Contrast and Tonal Contrast settings on this one to get this look. Since it is an HDR, I also used Photomatix. I used Photoshop CS4 for other post-processing.
What do you think?]]>
This is the "Experimental Aircraft Association's" B-17 called "Aluminum Overcast" as seen from the aft. Taken at the Georgetown, TX Municipal Airport.
For this shot I processed it with 3 bracketed shots with -2, 0, +2 EV in Photomatix. I then opened it up in Photoshop CS4 and used the Nik Color Efex 3.0 plugin on it. I used tonal contrast at about 60% opacity, pro contrast around 10% opacity, and bleach bypass at about 67%. All of these opacity levels are approximate.
After that I sharpened it with Nik Sharpener and cleaned it up with Imagenomic's Noiseware.
This really gives the shot that painterly look, but sometimes I think it may look a little too over processed. I like the look that it achieves, but sometimes think some of the detail gets lost. Overall I'm happy with the results though.
Sometime I will process a shot and put down the exact steps of how I get there since this is sort of from memory. Anyway, this gives you somewhat of an idea how I get the shots I get.]]>
A few months ago, my wife and I decided to take a trip to Prescott, AZ. We had never been before but heard it was a nice place. We based that on trips to Flagstaff many years ago and friends told us Prescott was quite similar. We loved the time we spent in Flagstaff and we enjoyed Prescott just as much. It's a great all-American town. There is some beautiful scenery to take in while you are there. Just outside of Prescott is an area called the "Granite Dells". It's a photographers oasis!
Unfortunately I didn't have too much time to get the perfect shot, but I had time to get a few decent ones. This is one of them. It's an HDR shot from one raw converted into three tiffs at -2, 0 and +2 exp. comp, merged in Photomatix and a little post processing in Photoshop.
One more thing... While we were there we found a nice art gallery called the "Ian Russell Gallery" right off the town square and it happened to be the place where Rich Charpentier works! He is an amazing photographer and has an excellent portfolio of HDR work. He has a blog called "The Airstream Chronicles" and it has a great deal of information on photography. His gallery in Prescott is quite impressive also. I recommend it if you are ever in the area.]]>
WWII era Royal Canadian Air Force plane from the Commemorative Air Force.]]>
Here's another shot I took of EAA's B-17 bomber called "Aluminum Overcast" as it was getting ready to taxi to the runway. I found this while I was out looking for something to take a picture of today and this flew overhead. I went to the Georgetown, TX airport and what do you know, there it was. What a lucky day!
You can see more of this beautiful aircraft at www.b17.org.]]>
Today in Georgetown, TX, the EAA was flying their B-17 called "Aluminum Overcast" out of the local airport. I just happened to see it as I was out trying to get some landscapes, but this looked way more interesting. This is a shot of the propeller on engine #1 I believe. If you go to EAA's B17 website, you can see more info about this beautiful aircraft.]]>
Hamilton Pool 01, originally uploaded by EvanGearing.
Hamilton Pool is a swimming hole west of Austin, TX by about 30 miles or so. From what I gather, it was an underground lake or river in which the roof of the cave that it was in fell in and left it looking like so. Pretty cool place I must say.
This shot made it as an Editor's Pick on the HDRSpotting website. It's also pretty popular there as it's hovering around #9 or #10 overall. HDRSpotting is currently having a contest in November for the most popular HDR. If you win, you get $100. Check it out if you have time. There are some great HDRs there and you can see this Hamilton Pool shot on HDRSpotting here.
In Granger, TX there's an old building that once was the Alamo Hotel. Next to it sat this old gas pump as well as an old tractor and other things. The hotel is abandoned now from what I can tell, but I thought this would be a cool picture, especially since it seemed kind of out of place. I tried to give it that gritty sort of look.
One thing that helped me get that gritty look is thru a Photoshop plugin called Nik Color Efex 3.0. You can get some really cool effects from it. You can add graduated filters to your shots, change colors of foliage, add fog, vignettes and all sorts of other things. One of my favorite settings in it is called "Bleach Bypass". It kind of washes out the shot, in effect "bleaching" it. It kind of fades the lighter colors but leaves the darker colors alone a little bit. I like to use this setting on old grungy things, especially if there's rust anywhere in the shot. It seems to really bring it out. I used it in this shot and it really accentuated the rust in the gas pump. It brings out that texture and makes it look maybe even rustier than it really was. Just click on the Bleach Bypass setting and it will create another layer in Photoshop and then I'll just adjust the opacity until I get the look I want. Pretty easy. I'm all about easy.
I use Nik Color Efex 3.0 on almost all of my shots in one capacity or another. It's getting to be almost a necessity. There are a few different versions of this plugin, but of course all of the best settings are in the most expensive version which is Pro. Anyway, I have a couple other favorite settings in Nik and I'll publish some examples of those in a subsequent post.]]>
There will be times when you want to take an HDR but can't for whatever reason. Maybe you don't have your tripod, maybe you don't have enough space on your camera's card or maybe something else. In my case, I was traveling and I didn't want to take many exposures of one subject and fill up my SD card on my D90 too fast. So, one thing that you can do is to take a single raw shot and process it into three tiffs and then process it as an HDR in Photomatix. I learned this trick in Pete Carr's book called HDR Photography Photo Workshop. Basically what I did was open the raw file in Adobe Camera Raw (ACR), save it as a tiff, open it again in ACR, adjust the exposure to -2, save as another tiff and do it once more with an exposure of +2. After that, I tonemapped the three tiffs I just created as an HDR in Photomatix and tweaked in Photoshop.
It's pretty easy to do, but one thing I want to make clear is that when you know you want to make an HDR photo and have the circumstances that allow you to, take at least three bracketed shots, preferably 5. You can make an HDR from one, but it introduces more noise and just does not work as well. However, I think you can get better looking photos by making an HDR from a single shot than you can by just taking one non-hdr shot and not doing anything else with it, if you are an amateur like me. ;-)
This particular shot is the caboose of the Verde Canyon Railroad train located in Clarkdale, Arizona. It takes you on a nice scenic ride though the desert canyons and mountains in Northern Arizona where you can see amazing landscapes and wildlife. It was a winning entry in a contest they had on flickr and one of my first tries at an HDR from a single raw. Oh and BTW, my Lanterns shot was also a winner.
Please visit my Flickr stream when you have a chance.]]>
This was shot early in the morning before sun-up. I was asked how I got this particular shot because night HDRs can be full of noise.
It was a normal 5 bracketed shot with -2, -1, 0, +1, +2 exposure values. Usually, when I take my shots, I use an ISO of 100 or so. At least the lowest ISO as possible. I also like to set an aperture of somewhere around f/8 to f/11 to get everything in focus. In this case since it was a night shot, that ISO was too low for the aperture of f/8. The problem I have with my Nikon D90 is that the longest the shutter will stay open is 30 seconds unless I go full manual or bulb mode. The shutter stays open longest at +2 EV and at ISO 100, it stayed open longer than 30 seconds. That didn't make for good varying exposures at those different EVs. Most all of them exposed the same because the shutter stayed open for only 30 seconds during most of the brackets. So, I had to figure out what ISO speed would work. So what I had to do was adjust the ISO and take a few single test shots at +2 EV to find out which ISO kept the shutter close to but below 30 seconds. It turned out that ISO 640 worked. Then I could set my normal brackets and take my shots since the the rest of the EVs are less than +2, they would all be less than 30 seconds. That seemed to do the trick. The results are pretty good as you can see, but the full res shot still has a few artifacts that could stand a little more work. Overall though, I'm pleased.
I suppose I could've gone full manual and tried to experiment with different exposure times in bulb mode to get the right exposure, but I was pressed for time. So the ISO explanation above worked a little quicker for me. I was on the way to work and I didn't want to be late! ;-) Plus, the Nikon D90 has pretty good noise reduction up to about ISO 1600.
One other thing that I use to help clean things up is Imagenomic's Noiseware plugin for Photoshop. It works wonders. Here is a review of Noiseware and you can purchase it from Imagenomic here.]]>
Here in Georgetown, TX, we have a new bar/restaurant that just opened called "Hardtails". It's built and owned by the same people who run "Hog Alley" which is a Harley Davidson parts and service center, but not affiliated with Harley. The restaurant is a nice place and they have this HUGE ceiling fan that I heard about and that you can see in the picture. It looks like some sort of giant aircraft propeller. I suppose most ceiling fans do, but this one just has that look like it belongs on a C-130 or something similar. At least I thought it was cool.
It was kind of hard to get this shot because the manager was a little scared that the competition would come in and take shots of his restaurant, so they were kind of leery letting me setup my tripod for some HDRs. They let me take a couple of quick handhelds and this is what I ended up with. It's a single raw that I tried to give the old HDR treatment to. It could've been better I suppose had I been able to do the whole tripod thing, but I wasn't gonna argue too much. Maybe someday I'll be able to go back and they'll be a little more accepting of the idea.
My goal with this blog is to post my work and share the techniques of how I get the shots that I get. I'm also very new to blogging so I would welcome suggestions and advice on how to make this a little better.
Anyway, that's it in a nutshell. I hope you enjoy what I put here.
Thanks,
evan]]>