Saturday, March 7, 2009

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

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love photos like this one. When I was a kid I spent 3 weeks most every summer at my grandparents place in Devine, TX. There were neat places like this in town. I have the fondest memories of them.

I think the effect you applied adds a sense of old time realism. It definitely brings out some wonderful thoughts and emotions in me.

DHaass

Anonymous said...

A timeless image, especially if you cropped in on the right and took out the woman with the plastic grocery bag. I had no idea places like this are still in operation --- probably only in Texas! Great shot.

Cindi

Larry said...

Cool shot dude! A real piece of Americana here. Looks like something Norman Rockwell would have liked to paint.

Larry J. Patrick said...

Good subject matter; good capture; and good post processing. Not much more to day.

Good job

Barry Armer said...

Thanks Doug, Cindi, Larry, and Patrick!

Bandera is definitely one of the places we put on our list for a return trip! I hope to see myself seated at this bar for a strawberry shake when that happens! :-)

Cheers!
Barry

Anonymous said...

I love the way you capture the essence of our General Store. Personally, I like the lady with the plastic bag, it shows that even though it is modern day, we still have places that take us back to the "Good Old Days." Too bad they are selling. Just not enough business these days. The day of the old-town cowboy is waning. Again...great photo.

Thanks for this bit of Americana...Annette

Bandera General Store Owner said...

Barry, We are the owner's of Bandera General Store and love the picture! A customer told us about it last week and sent us the photo. Would love to know more if you could contact us. We have a webite banderageneralstore.com and a facebook page as well by the same name. Thanks so much and again, great work!!