#781. Cummins Creek Bridge

Taken last weekend near Fayetteville, Texas. Closed to traffic of course and nearly overgrown with trees so that you might not even notice it from the nearby "new" bridge built in 1931. Here's a really cool photo of the old bridge under construction.

Title: "Cummins Creek Bridge"

Camera / Lens: Canon 5D Mark II / Canon 24-105mm L zoom
Post-processing: Photomatix Pro to combine three images into one HDR (High Dyanmic Range) image > Photoshop CS4 > Nik Viveza 2 plugin > NiK Silver Efex 2 plugin

#766. The Old Bridge

This particular old bridge, located near Ammansville, Texas, was closed when we came upon it a few weeks ago, blocked to vehicular traffic from one end by a felled tree and from the other by a large pile of gravel. I guess after more than a century of service (signage dates it to 1884) the county finally deemed it to be unsafe. Kind of makes me wonder if it was really OK the last time we drove across it a couple of years ago?

Title: "The Old Bridge"

Camera / Lens: Canon 5D Mark II / Canon 24-105mm L zoom
Post-processing: Photomatix Pro to combine three exposures into one HDR (High Dynamic Range) image > Photoshop CS4 > Nik Silver Efex 2

10 Ton Bridge

Taken last Saturday in Baytown, Texas. What makes this bridge seem unusual to me is that it is a pedestrian bridge in a city park; it has a sidewalk leading up to it, not a road! Isn't a pedestrian bridge with a 10 Ton capacity overkill? Did the engineer that designed it really envision having to accommodate fifty 400 pound joggers at once? More likely this was some city politician's payback for a generous supporter that owned a bridge building company? :-)

Title: "10 Ton Bridge"


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

Richmond Railroad Bridge

Taken in Richmond, Texas this past weekend.

Title: "Richmond Railroad Bridge"


Shot data: 1/125s f/8.0 at 58.0mm iso100
Camera / Lens: Canon 5D Mark II / Canon 24-105 L zoom
Post-processing: Photomatix Pro to combine three handheld images taken with exposure bracketing (-2, 0, +2) into one HDR (High Dynamic Range) photo > Photoshop CS4 > Topaz Adjust plugin > Virtual Photographer plugin

Wilson's Bridge - Maryland

We stopped to look at this historic bridge in Maryland on our recent trip to NY.

Here is a bit about this bridge I copied from Wikipedia:
Wilson's Bridge is a bridge near Hagerstown, Washington County, Maryland, United States. It originally carried the Hagerstown and Conococheague Turnpike, the National Pike, across the Conococheague Creek seven miles west of Hagerstown. The five-arched structure, the longest of the county's stone bridges, is 210 feet in length and is constructed of coursed local limestone. The bridge was erected in 1819 by Silas Harry, who had built similar bridges in Pennsylvania.

Title: "Wilson's Bridge"

Newfield Bridge V2

Here's a different version of the Newfield Bridge that I posted a pic of earlier today. Doug and Shirley wanted to see a version with more of the entrance visible and I do think this works better! Thanks Doug and Shirley!

Title: "Newfield Bridge V2"

Newfield Bridge

I took this photo while on vacation in NY last week. Here is some info about the bridge I grabbed off of the Internet:

This bridge, built in 1853, is the oldest covered bridge in daily use in New York State. It was constructed at a cost of $800. The distinctive diamond pattern of the "town lattice truss" is pinned together with tunnels of "tree nails." The roof and siding serve to protect the structure from the ravages of nature. Popular in the 1800's because of plentiful and inexpensive timber, covered bridges or "timber tunnels" became places for social gatherings.

The bridge underwent major restoration in 1972 by Milton S. Graton, a nationally renowned preservationist. Much of the local work in preserving this treasure before and after the major restoration came from Thompkins County residents Marie and Grant Musser. In 1998 the bridge overlook area was named in their honor and a plaque placed nearby declaring these local volunteers, "Keepers Of The Covered Bridge."


Title: "Newfield Bridge"


Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom
Post-processing: Photomatix to combine three handheld exposures (-2,0,+2) into one HDR Image > Photoshop CS3 for various contrast and tonal adjustments

What's to like?

This is one of the shots from my trip to Liberty, Texas a few weeks ago. I have to admit that this is a shot I suspect some (maybe most) folks will not appreciate. If I can't readily identify what I like about a shot I just don't think I can expect anyone else to like it...but I I can't help it ... I like it anyway. :-)

Title: "Long Shadow"


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

Clearance

Another shot from the trip I took to Liberty, Texas a couple of weekends ago. This is the old Highway 146 bridge over the Trinity River.

Title: "Bridge Clearance"


Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 17-55mm zoom
Post-processing: Photoshop CS3 > Duplicate Background Layer > High Pass Sharpening > Merge Visible to New Layer > NIK Viveza plugin to locally brighten the sign and bridge elements > Merge Visible to New Layer > Distort Lens Correction Vignette

Old Liberty Bridge

Here is another shot of the old Highway 146 bridge taken on my trip to Liberty, Texas a couple of weeks ago.

Title: "Old Liberty Bridge 2"


Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom
Post-processing: Photoshop CS3 > Duplicate Background Layer > Topaz Adjust plugin "Dramatic" preset + custom DeNoise to reduce noise > NIK Viveza plugin to locally increase brightness of the bridge > Duplicate Layer > Topaz Adjust plugin "Color Blast" with mask to block the effect to all but the warmer tones > Merge Visible to New Layer > Distort Lens Correction Vignette

Old Liberty Bridge #2

Here is another shot taken on my trip to Liberty, Texas last weekend.

Title: "Old Liberty Bridge #2"


Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom
Post-processing: Photoshop CS3 > Black and White Conversion Layer to convert to Black and White > Merge Visible to New Layer > Topaz Adjust pluging to adjust exposure to reveal some detail of the structure under the bottom of the bridge > Merge Visible to New Layer > High Pass Sharpening > Levels Adjustment Layer to set black and white points

Old Liberty Bridge

I took this photo on a trip to Liberty, Texas last Sunday. I have always thought this old bridge, which sits next to the new bridge, has a lot of character.

Title: "Old Liberty Bridge"


Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom
Post-processing: Just the highlights today as my complete workflow included a lot of steps that I didn't end up using in the final image or that just didn't have much of an impact. The main points to the image are that the work was done using Photoshop CS3. I used NIK Viveza plugin to add brightness to the shrub in the foreground and the bridge in the distance. I selected the top half of the photo and copied it to a new layer and used Transform Scale to make the bridge larger which made it appear nearer to the foreground shrub (this was done to make the image appear more as I envisioned it when I took the shot). Finally I merged all the previous work into a new layer and used Virtual Photographer plugin "Reminiscing" preset to create a B&W version that was blended with 75% opacity with a mask to keep the filter from effecting the foreground shrub and bridge. The really neat part of this work was the use of the Transform Scale function of Photoshop CS3. Without being able to re-scale it, the image wouldn't have matched my vision at all. I am including the original image below so you can see where I started.

Another San Marcos River Bridge

After I shot the pedestrian bridge featured in yesterday's posting I was able to turn around and shoot this bridge!

Title: "San Marcos Bridge 2"


Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom
Post-processing: Photoshop CS3 > Duplicate Background Layer > High Pass Sharpening > Merge Visable to New Layer > Topaz Adjust plugin "Spicify" preset @ 80% Opacity > Curves Adjustment Layer to improve overall contrast > Black & White Adjustment Layer at 17% Opacity to tone down colors > Merge Visable to New Layer > Cloning to remove a distracting background element > Black & White Adjustment Layer at 17% Opacity to tone down colors > Curves Adjustment Layer to improve overall contrast > Levels Adjustment Layer to set black, white, and grey point > Selective Color adjustment to remove green color cast > Nik Viveza plugin to darkin portions of the foreground and highlight portions of the bridge > Distort Lens Correction Vignette