Rockport Beach Park

This is a photo of Emma at Rockport Beach two weekends ago. It was cold and windy but we had a lot of fun just the same!

Title: "Rockport Beach Park"


Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom

La Belle

This model is located at the Texas Maritime Museum in Rockport, Texas. The ship is La Salle's ship La Belle discovered off the Texas coast in Matagorda Bay. The detailed craftsmanship displayed in the model's construction is amazing to me.

Title: "La Belle No. 1"


Title: "La Belle No. 2"


Title: "La Belle No. 3"


Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom

Iron Man Kite

Another photo from last weekends trip to Rockport, Texas. This time the kite is not ours but we still had fun watching!

Title: "Iron Man Kite"


Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom

Mickey Kite

We spent some time on the beach in Rockport this past weekend. There was plenty of wind so we decided to fly our sorry excuse for a kite. It is amazing how much fun you can have with a $2 inflatable kite when you fly it with people you love! If you're not doing anything this weekend...go fly a kite! :-)

Title: "Mickey Kite"


Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 100-400mm L zoom

The Pinta

This past weekend we visited the Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History. The museum owns replicas of the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria built by the Spanish government to celebrate one of the anniversaries of Columbus's voyage to America. The Santa Maria and the Pinta were both seriously damaged by a runaway barge a while back and had to be removed from the water and dry docked. The Nina was still floating and we were able to visit her where she was docked at one of the piers in Corpus. I liked the contrast of the old wooden Pinta replica and the newer steel construction of the bridge in the background.

Title: "The Pinta"


Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom

Port Aransas Sail

My daughter Emma and I took a "dolphin watch" boat tour from Port Aransas this past weekend. We saw a lot of dolphins and a lot of other beautiful scenery as well. I took this shot around 6:30 PM when we were just starting to see a little of the evening colors.

Title: "Port Aransas Sail"


Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 100-400 L zoom

The Owl and the Seagull

From this past weekend's side trip to Port Aransas, Texas. I think the purpose of these fake owls is to scare the other birds away? This is the shoreline version of a crow resting on a scarecrow :-)

Title: "The Owl and the Seagull"


Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 100-400mm L zoom

Mom's Bait Shop

Just back from another weekend of RVing. This weekend we went to Rockport, Texas with a couple of side trips to Corpus Christi and one side trip to Port Aransas. This shot was taken near historic downtown Rockport.



Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom

Post-processing: Photoshop CS3 > Topaz Adjust Plugin Custom Settings to adjust brightness, contrast, noise and color > Duplicated Layer and clone to remove dust spots > Merge Visible to New Layer > Gaussian Blur to smooth out the sky (by masking off all but the sky) > Merge Visible to New Layer > Add New Layer and paint with 5% white in overlay mode to lighten the transition between the brighter and darker layers which minimized some halos created in the earlier post processing

Brazos Bend Bird

A bird from our trip to Brazos Bend State Park last weekend. I don't know what kind of bird this is; I just found it interesting. Anyone know what it is?

Title: "Brazos Bend Bird"


Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 100-400mm L zoom

I Am What I Am

This is another shot from our side trip to Richmond, Texas this past weekend. This is the Flying Pig restaurant.

Title: "I Am What I Am"


Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom

Little Shop in Richmond

We made a side trip to Richmond, Texas while camping at Brazos Bend State Park this past weekend. One of our stops was this little shop where everything was displayed beautifully. I love the colors and textures included in this shot.

Title: "Little Shop in Richmond"


Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom

George Observatory

We took the RV up to Brazos Bend State Park in Needville, Texas this weekend. This shot is of the George Observatory located in the park. The weather was uncooperative so we weren't able to actually view any stars but we did enjoy a tour of the telescope and facilities.

Title: "George Observatory"


Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom

Flash Again

Here's one more shot from the my flash photography outing the other night. This one was completely Emma's idea.

Title: "Flash #3"


Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom
Post-processing: Photoshop CS3 > Duplicate Background Layer > Topaz Adjust plugin "Psychedelic" preset > Duplicate Layer > Diffuse Anisotropic > Duplicate Layer > High Pass Sharpening in Hard Light blending mode

Flash Fun!

Last night was the Bay Area Photo Club's Honor's Night where club members submit photos to have them critiqued and scored by a panel of three judges. The assignment this month was for "Photography with a Flash". I really wanted to step out this month and do something different and have a little fun. These two photos were the result! Both photos were given Gold Awards by our distinguished panel of judges! :-)

Title: "Pod Person"


This is a piece of plastic playground equipment. I placed a Vivitar 285HV flash inside it, mounted on a Gorilla Pod, with a white shoot through umbrella and fired it with a Pocket Wizard remote flash controller.

Title: "Into the Vent"


This is the air conditioning intake vent in my house. I placed a Vivitar 285HV flash inside it, mounted on a Gorilla Pod, with a white shoot through umbrella and fired it with a Pocket Wizard remote flash controller.

Bandera Parking Lot

Another shot from Bandera, Texas taken weekend before last. Create your own caption about horsepower! :-)

Title: "Bandera Parking Lot"


Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom
Post-processing: Photoshop CS3 > Topaz Adjust plugin "Dramatic" preset> Duplicate Layer > Topaz Adjust plugin "Vibrance" preset > Virtual Photographer plugin "Sepia" preset @ 42% opacity > Curves Adjustment Layer to improve overall contast > Merge Visible to New Layer > Nik Viveza plugin to add local brightness to shadow areas > Duplicate layer > High Pass Sharpening in Hard Light blending mode > Merge Visible to New Layer > Distort Lens Correction Vignette

Birdhouse

This is one of those shots that is impossible for a photographer to see and not photograph! Taken at Blanco Settlement in Blanco, Texas weekend before last.

Title: "Birdhouse"


Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom
Post-processing: Photomatix to convert three handheld exposures (-2, 0, +2) to one HDR image > Photoshop CS3 > Duplicate Background Layer > Topaz Adjust "Photo Pop" preset > Duplicate Layer > Topaz Adjust plugin DeNoise to reduce noise > Curves Adjustment Layer to improve overall contrast > Hue / Saturation to increase overall color saturation > Brightness / Contrast Adjustment Layer to brighten up the entire image > Merge Visible to New Layer > Nik Viveza plugin to improve local brightness on the birdhouse > Merge Visible to New Layer > Distort Lens Correction Vignette

Three Little Cabins

Taken in early morning light at Blanco Settlement in Blanco, Texas last weekend. Blanco Settlement has these small cabins for rent in addition to travel trailer hookups.

Title: "Three Little Cabins"


Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom
Post-processing: Photomatix to convert three handheld exposures (-2, 0, +2) to one HDR image > Photoshop CS3 > Curves Adjustment to improve overall contrast > Merge Visible to New Layer > Topaz Adjust plugin DeNoise to reduce noise > Add New Layer in Multiply blending mode and paint with yello to warm up the foreground (looking for better compliment to the cool tones in the sky) > Merge Visible to New Layer > Hue / Saturation Layer to brighten colors a bit with a mask to apply the effect in a controlled manner > Merge Visible to New Layer > Distort Lens Correction Vignette > Merge Visible to New layer > Nik Viveza plugin to improve local brightness on the cabins > Merge Visible to New Layer > High Pass Sharpening with mask to limit the sharpening to the cabins

Bandera General Store

Last weekend while doing our driving tour around the Texas Hill Country, we stopped at the Bandera General Store in Bandera, Texas. Back in the day I'm sure this soda fountain was the social epicenter of the town.

Title: "Bandera General Store"


Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom
Post-processing: Photomatix to convert three handheld exposures (-2, 0, +2) to one HDR image > Photoshop CS3 > Curves Adjustment to improve overall contrast > Merge Visible to New Layer > Topaz Adjust plugin "Dramatic" preset > Curves Adjustment to improve overall contrast > Merge Visible to New Layer > Topaz Adjust plugin "DeNoise" adjustment to remove noise > Duplicate Layer > High Pass Sharpening to increase sharpness > Black and White Adjustment Layer using Auto @ 31% Opacity to decrease saturation slightly > Brightness / Contrast Adjustment Layer to increase overall brightness

Life's Short...Eat More Pie

I took this shot as we were driving around the Texas Hill Country this past weekend. The shop is located in Kyle, Texas outside of Austin. I thought the slogan "Life's short...eat more pie" contained so much unbridled wisdom that it should be documented on my blog for all the ages! :-)


Title: "Eat More Pie"


Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom

New RVers #2

A shot of our camp under the oak trees at Blanco Settlement in Blanco, Texas this past weekend.

Title: "Under the Oaks"


Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom
Post-processing: Photomatix > HDR composite of three handheld shots with exposures of -2, 0, and +2 > Photoshop CS3 > Curves Adjustment Layer to improve overall contrast > Levels Adjustment Layer to set black point > Merge Visible to New Layer > Cloning to remove some high contrast distractions in the foreground and background > Duplicate Layer > Distort Lens Correction Vignette > Duplicate Layer in Screen Mode at 42% to increase overall brightness

New RVers #1

We're new RVers! This past weekend (back today) we took our new (to us) travel trailer to Blanco Settlement in Blanco, Texas. We used this location as a springboard to visit several towns in the Texas hill country that we had been wanting to visit for quite some time. Besides Blanco this trip included Kerrville, Bandera, Bourne, LaGrange and Bastrop. We didn't spend much time anywhere but we were able to identify places we want to visit again. This shot of our daughter Emma swinging with our trailer in the background at Blanco Settlement.

Title: "Blanco Settlement Swing"


Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom
Post-processing: Photoshop CS3 > Duplicate Background Layer and remove some background distractions (trash can, neighboring trailers,etc) > Merge Visible to New Layer > Topaz Adjust plugin "Vibrance" preset > Duplicate Layer > Blur Lens Blur with layer mask to allow the blur to only effect the background > Merge Visible to New Layer > Color Dodge blending mode @ 44% opacity > Merge Visible to New Layer > Distort Lens Correction Vignette

Houston Zoo #6

The last of my shots from the Bay Area Photo Club field trip to the Houston Zoo last weekend.

Title: "Cheetah"


Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 100-400mm L zoom