#541. ONE

Title: "ONE"

#540. Salvation Army Lady

Another shot taken Saturday at the Second Annual Rosenberg Railroad Festival & Hobo Days in Rosenberg, Texas. Unfortunately I didn't have time to discuss the character this lady was portraying but in my mind she is a depression era Salvation Army worker.

Title: "Salvation Army Lady"


Camera / Lens: Canon 5D Mark II / Canon 24-105mm L zoom

#539. Hobo

Taken Saturday at the Second Annual Rosenberg Railroad Festival & Hobo Days in Rosenberg, Texas.

Title: "Hobo"


Camera / Lens: Canon 5D Mark II / Canon 24-105mm L zoom
Post-processing: Adobe Camera Raw / Photoshop CS4 > Topaz Adjust plugin

#538. New Braunfels Carousel

Taken this past weekend in New Braunfels, Texas. I ran across this whimsical carousel in front of the Schlitterbahn Christmas Shoppe.

Title: "New Braunfels Carousel"


Camera / Lens: Canon 5D Mark II / Canon 24-105mm L zoom
Post-processing: Photomatix Pro to combine three exposures (-2, 0, +2 into one HDR (High Dynamic Range) photo > Photoshop CS4 > Topaz Adjust plugin

#537. New Braunfels City Hall

Historic New Braunfels City Hall taken this past weekend. I included a rollover in order to show the cloning work I did to remove unsightly details from the shot as well as to highlight the other work I did in post-processing.

Title: "New Braunfels City Hall" (rollover)


Camera / Lens: Canon 5D Mark II / Canon 24-105mm L zoom
Post-processing: Photomatix Pro > Photoshop CS4 > Topaz Adjust plugin > textures from flypapertextures.blogspot.com

#536. Henne Hardware

We were in New Braunfels this past weekend. One of the stops I made was at Henne Hardware. This store, originally a general store, was built in 1893 and when you step inside you can tell that much of the original construction has been well preserved. Going into Henne's is like entering a living history museum. Make sure you stop by if you're ever in New Braunfel's with some spare time.

Title: "Henne Hardware #1"


Title: "Henne Hardware #2"


Camera / Lens: Canon 5D Mark II / Canon 24-105mm L zoom
Post-processing: Photomatix Pro to convert three brackedted exposures (-2, 0, +2) into one High Dynamic Range (HDR) image > Photoshop CS4 > Topaz Adjust plugin

#535. Wasteland: Disused

This is a companion piece to the photo titled Wasteland that I posted in February this year. I showed Wasteland to a reviewer at a mock Fotofest review arranged by Houston Center for Photography last month and she suggested I try to develop a body of work around it. So having a place to start I'm finally getting around to a second step! The image underlying the rollover is straight out of Photomatix Pro.

Title: "Wasteland: Disused" (rollover)


Camera / Lens: Canon 5D Mark II / Canon 24-105mm L zoom
Post-processing: Photomatix Pro > Photoshop CS4 > Topaz Adjust plugin > textures from flypapertextures.blogspot.com

#534. Me - April 2010

I've been doing self-portraits occasionally ever since I took a street photography workshop from Craig Tanner (Radiant Vista back then but now called The Mindful Eye) a couple years ago. Craig made it an assignment to do a self-portrait each night of the workshop which we had to share with the other participants and I learned to appreciate how difficult they are to do and how much you can learn from the process. Try it yourself and see how hard it is to take a shot you are completely satisfied with. I'm not completely satisfied with this one but it's the best I could do in the one hour I allotted myself. :-)

Title: "Me - April 2010"


Shot data: 1/200s f/8.0 at 105.0mm iso200
Camera / Lens: Canon 5D Mark II / Canon 24-105mm L zoom
Lighting: Alien Bee 400 to camera left w/ 10% grid, Alien Bee 800 with silver umbrella to camera right
Post-processing: Adobe Camera Raw > Photoshop CS4 > Topaz Adjust plugin > Nik Viveza plugin

#533. Under Glass

A child looks longingly at a selection of cookies in a display case at a bakery in San Antonio's El Mercado.

Title: "Under Glass"


Shot data: 1/200s f/2.8 at 50.0mm iso1600
Camera / Lens: Canon 5D Mark II / Canon 50MM f/1.4 prime
Post-processing: Adobe Camera Raw > Adobe Photoshop CS4 > Topaz Adjust plugin

#532. Wrong Way

An urban sunset taken in San Antonio last weekend.

Title: "Wrong Way"


Camera / Lens: Canon 5D Mark II / Canon 24-105mm L zoom
Post-processing: Photomatix Pro to combine three handheld exposures (-2, 0, +2) into one HDR (High Dynamic Range) image > Photoshop CS4 > Topaz Adjust plugin > Nik Viveza plugin

#531. Emma on Mustang Island

Taken a few weekends ago on Mustang Island near Port Aransas, Texas. I used a new (to me) tool on this shot: Portrait Professional. I have been seeing Portrait Professional's advertisements in Shutterbug Magazine for a while and after reading a few reviews on-line I went ahead and purchased it. I haven't used the program much yet but in the early going I find I like it a lot; it is very easy to use and the slider bar interface it uses makes it possible to apply very precise adjustments. I hope you like the results here.

Title: "Emma on Mustang Island"


Shot data: 1/1000s f/10.0 at 275.0mm iso500
Camera / Lens: Canon 5D Mark II / Canon 100-400mm L Zoom
Post-processing: Portrait Professional > Photoshop CS4 > Topaz Adjust plugin > Nik Viveza plugin > texture from flypapertexture.blogspot.com

#530. Emma at Little Gretel

Taken this past weekend at a restaurant in Bourne, Texas called Little Gretel.

Title: "Emma at Little Gretel"


Shot data: 1/200s f/4.0 at 105.0mm iso2000
Camera / Lens: Canon 5D Mark II / Canon 24-105mm L zoom
Post-processing: Adobe Camera Raw > Photoshop CS4 > Topaz Adjust plugin > Red Paw Media Beautifier

#529. Steel Eel

This is another shot taken at Sea World San Antonio on Saturday. I didn't ride the Steel Eel but I was fascinated by its design. Since it kept going forward and didn't ever turn, at least not that I could see from my vantage point, it seemed to go on forever!

Title: "Steel Eel"


Shot data: 1/1250s f/6.3 at 50.0mm iso200
Camera / Lens: Canon 5D Mark II / Canon 24-105mm L zoom
Post-processing: Adobe Camera Raw > Photoshop CS4 > Topaz Adjust plugin > Red Paw Media Beautifier plugin

#528. Sea World Gate

Taken at Sea World in San Antonio last night. This view is from inside the park looking out almost at closing time.

Title: "Sea World Gate"


Camera / Lens: Canon 5D Mark II / Canon 24-105mm L zoom
Post-processing: Photomatix Pro to combine three handheld exposures (-2, 0, +2) into one High Dynamic Range (HDR) photo > Photoshop CS4 > Topaz Adjust plugin > Nik Viveza plugin

#527. Sea Creature

Another shot taken at the Texas State Aquarium in Corpus Christi two weekends ago. It's really nice that with today's digital cameras you can get a usable shot in an extreme low light situation, even with an f4.0 lens, by jacking up the ISO. This one was taken at ISO 3200.

Title: "Sea Creature"


Shot data: 1/80s f/4.0 at 24.0mm iso3200
Camera / Lens: Canon 5D Mark II / Canon 24-105mm L zoom
Post processing: Adobe Camera Raw > Photoshop CS4 > Topaz Adjust plugin > Red Paw Media Beautifier plugin

#526. Fishing Pier Tableau

Taken two weekends ago in Fulton, Texas. The old hand pump water faucet caught my eye and made me realize that there was a picture here.

Title: "Fishing Pier Tableau"


Shot data: 1/60s f/5.6 at 24.0mm iso400
Camera / Lens: Canon 5D Mark II / Canon 24-105mm L zoom
Post-processing: Adobe Camera Raw > Photoshop CS4 > Topaz Adjust plugin