Jan

I shot this image of Seattle photographer Jan Klier in Savannah last year.

It was shot at an effective focal length of 80mm in available light at ISO 100, f/1.4, and exposed for 1/50 sec.

Post was done in ACR and CS4.

Having him look past that vertical post seemed like a slick idea at the time. Now it just seems distractive.

-CGTTL

Life As We Know It

You can probably make up a better story than I can about this one.

-CGTTL

Hibiscus

Here's a shot from my neighbor's garden back in November.

This was shot in bright sunlight under a scrim with a Canon 500D close-up lens on a 24-105mm f/4 IS USM lens set at 105mm, f/4, ISO 400 and underexposed by 2/3 stop at 1/125 sec.

Post processing in CS4 included some darkening and motion blur on the background, high pass sharpening on the foreground, and selective hue/saturation adjustments to pop the yellow a bit in the foreground.

-CGTTL

Happy Holidays!

Here's a lensbaby shot, enhanced a bit with some extra radial blur.

Happy holidays everyone!

-CGTTL

Well Loved

This well-loved young man, receiving a grandmotherly kiss, was one of Cameron's special guests at her first birthday party last week.

This image was shot across a crowded kitchen full of relatives and assorted birthday party guests with a Canon 5D Mark II, using tungsten white balance and ISO 1600, in available, mixed indoor lighting with a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM lens set at 200 mm, f/2.8, and underexposed by 1/3 stop at 1/125 second.

Post processing was done in Adobe Camera Raw and CS4. Notice how the white balance set for the tungsten foreground lighting produced a complementary blue color cast on the natural white sunlight in the background.

You may want to click on this image to see it larger. I'm wondering if I should clone out one of the double catch lights in each of his eyes. What do you think?

-CGTTL

Cameron

I was invited to Cameron's first birthday party today. After her post-birthday-cake bath, she was drying off and checking out the soap container with her mom, while Uncle Charlie got this shot.

This image was shot in available light at 105mm, f/4.0, ISO 1600, and exposed for 1/80 sec.

Post in CS4.

-CGTTL

Bellagio 4

Here's a portrait of the popular animated tree in the gardens of the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas.

This two-image HDR was processed in Photomatix Pro 3 and edited in CS4, using traditional portrait retouching techniques.

-CGTTL

Small World

I ran across this image today at PhotoSig.com. It is amazingly similar to the Morning Prayers image I posted back in October.

Small world.

-CGTTL

Clif and Terry

This casual portrait of my friends Clif and Terry was shot during one of our motorcycle trips a few years ago at breakfast at Mariposa Ranch near Brenham, Texas.

I shot this in available light from the adjacent window camera left. It was shot with a 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM lens at an effective focal length of 120mm, ISO 200, f/4.0, and exposed for 1/60 second.

Post in CS4.

-CGTTL

Bellagio 3

I shot this image across the lake in front of the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. That's the Paris Hotel and Casino in the background, behind the Las Vegas version of the Eiffel Tower.

I shot it handheld (but supported on a stone fence) in available light just as the sun was setting behind the camera, using a Canon 5D Mark II and a Canon 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens zoomed in to 40 mm. It was shot in Av Mode at ISO 1600 and underexposed by 2/3 stop at f/7.1 for 1/25 second. Image Stabilization may have saved my bacon on this shot.

Post processing was done in Photoshop CS4.

I decided not to drag my tripod on the plane with me this trip, and I regretted it on this shot. I was pushing the edge of the capabilities of the 5D Mark II, shooting handheld at ISO 1600. A lower ISO and slower shutter speed might have helped reduce color noise in the sky.

You may want to click on this image to see it larger.

-CGTTL

Bellagio 2

This image was shot in a beautiful garden area in the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas last weekend.

I shot it handheld in available light in Av mode at 105mm, f/4.0, ISO 800, 1/200 sec, and under-exposed it by 2/3 stop.

Basic post processing was done in CS4.

-CGTTL

Bellagio 1

Here is the first of a series of images I shot in the gardens of the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas yesterday morning.

This was shot handheld in available light (open shade) at 105mm, f/4, ISO 800, and exposed for 1/100 sec.

Post processing was done in CS4.

-CGTTL

Marsh Grass

I shot this image of coastal marsh grasses in early morning light last Saturday at Galveston Island State Park.

It was shot at 105mm, f/11, ISO 640, and exposed for 1/80 sec through a Singh-Ray LB Color Combo Polarizing filter.

Post processing in CS4.

-CGTTL

Army

The US Army dropped in on the Houston Texans' football game this afternoon.

This was shot handheld at 105mm, f/18, ISO 400, and exposed for 1/40 sec. Motion blur added in CS4.

You may want to click on this image to see it larger.

-CGTTL

Versailles Ceiling

This two image, hand-merged, vertical panorama was shot in a ballroom in Versailles Palace outside Paris in 2007.

Can the French aristocracy do ceilings or what?

I shot the component images handheld in available light (...under the nose of an uppity French guard who wouldn't allow a tripod) at an effective focal length of 27mm, at ISO 400, f/4.0, and exposed for 1/30 sec.

After photomerge failed to produce a workable image, I resorted to hand blending in CS4. Whew!

I'm stuck by the marked drop-off in quality, when these large, raw, blended images are converted to lower resolution JPG's for display on the internet.

-CGTTL

Buckeye

I shot this image of a Common Buckeye Butterfly today on the North bank of Buffalo Bayou, just West of downtown Houston.

I shot it handheld in available light at an effective focal length of 105mm, f/4.0, ISO 400, and exposed for 1/400 sec, through a Singh-Ray LB Color Combo Polarizer filter. No close-up lens was used. I'd like to say I used a Lensbaby on this shot, but the radial blur on the background was done in CS4.

This very cooperative butterfly posed about 12 inches from the tip of my lens.

-CGTTL

Virgin Prairie

In the early 1820's new arrivals traveling from Galveston to San Antonio commented in their journals about the landscape they passed through: no trees and monotonous prairie day after day with grass as high as a horse's belly.

I shot this six-image, CS4 photomerged panorama this morning of some of the only virgin prairie left in Texas at the University of Houston Coastal Center, located between Galveston and Houston. The trees on the horizon are invasive Chinese Tallow trees.

The component images were shot handheld in available light at an effective focal length of 24 mm, using manual exposure, set at f/11, ISO 100, and underexposed by 2/3 stop for 1/160 sec.

Click on the image to see it larger.

-CGTTL

Giant Redwood

Just in case you missed this magnificent photo of a 300 foot tall redwood tree in the October edition of National Geographic Magazine, here it is. Click on the image to see the larger version.

This image was stitched together from 84 different images. Here's a link to the National Geographic video on how it was done.

-CGTTL

Loblolly

I suggest you click on this image to view it in a larger size.

I'll let it speak for itself.

-CGTTL

Morning Prayers

I shot this image very quietly from the back of a small chapel in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris in 2007.

It was shot in available light from a small tripod with a Canon 20D (1.6 crop factor) and an EF-S 17-85mm f/4.0 IS USM lens set at 17 mm, f/4, ISO 400, and exposed for 1/6 sec.

Because of dynamic range issues, I've never edited it until recently, when I finally used Photomatix Pro 3 to produce this three-image HDR version. Detailed edits of the HDR image in CS4 included skew transform and barrel distortion corrections, and adjustment layers for selective desaturation, selective black/white, selctive local brightness and contrast, selective vibrance , selective sharpening, and a dark vignette.

The challenge was to capture this image without intruding on the moment and without being disrespectful of the circumstances. As far as I could tell, I wasn't noticed by anyone.

-CGTTL

Sunflower

This may be my last sunflower macro image for a while.

This was shot pretty much like the others I have posted recently, but I processed it differently in CS4. I duplicated the background layer, made it a smart object, and added Gaussian blur in overlay blend mode, followed by a curves adjustment layer in luminosity blend mode to brighten the resulting image. A soft layer mask reduced the Gaussian blur and brought back a bit of sharpness around the center of the main subject.

I intentionally used an unconventional centered-subject, square crop in an attempt to take advantage of the leading lines in the flower petals and the S-curve provided by the background flowers.

-CGTTL

Color Burst

This burst of color is a slap zoom of a sunflower.

Canon 40D, available light, f/32, aperture priority mode, Ev=-1/3, ISO 100, EF 70-200 F/2.8L IS USM, 500D close-up lens, center focused and slap zoomed from 200mm during the 1/3 sec exposure.

Simple post processing in CS4.

-CGTTL

Fall Mushrooms

Lots of mushrooms popped up in the woods, after recent rains.

These were shot in available early morning light from a tripod using a Canon 40D camera, 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM and 500D close-up lens, set at 70mm in aperture priority mode, Ev=-1/3, cloudy white balance, f/8, ISO 400, 1/60 sec.

Post in CS4.

-CGTTL

Woolly Croton

I'm always amazed at the beauty and complexity of the natural world that continues to emerge, not only without the help of human beings, but in spite of everything we seem to do to screw it up.

This macro shot of this Woolly Croton was shot in available early morning light on an overcast day with a Canon 40D with a 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM lens and 500D close-up lens set at 145mm, f/8, 1/200 sec, at ISO 100, white balance set at cloudy, in aperture priority mode with auto exposure set at -1/3.

CS4 was used for post cropping, tonal adjustments, vibrance, sharpening, and a simple square vignette.

-CGTTL

Sunflower

I shot this sunflower this morning at the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center in available light under a bright overcast sky at about 8:30 am.

Camera Data: Canon 40D, 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM set at 70mm through a 500D close-up lens, f/2.8, 1/1600 sec, ISO 100, Av mode at Ev = -0.33.

Post: Square cropping, tonal adjustments, vibrance, and mid-tone contrast in Adobe Camera Raw 5.5. Highpass sharpening and framing of JPG in CS4.

-CGTTL

Water Snake?

Water snake?

Camera Data: Canon 40D, EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM, 500D, Av mode, f/2.8, 1/30 sec, ISO 200, Ev=-0.33, on a tripod.

Water snake? No, water hose.

-CGTTL

Yellow Trumpet Bush Flower

I got a shot of this lovely yellow trumpet bush flower in our garden, after a short rain late this afternoon. The actual diameter of the blossom is about 1 inch.

It was shot from a tripod in available light with an EOS 40D camera, through a 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM lens (plus a 500D close-up lens) set at 145 mm (232 mm equivalent), f/2.8, 1/50 sec, and ISO 100 in aperture priority mode at an Ev of - 1/3 stop. Cropping, tonal adjustments, selective lightening, and selective sharpening were done in post processing, using CS4.

The background is a black cloth vest hung from a coat hanger on a small flash stand about a foot behind the flower.

-CGTTL

Chimney Swifts

This image of hundreds of Chimney Swifts, returning to their current home in the incinerator chimney at Pershing Middle School in Houston, was shot between 7:45 and 8:00 pm last night.

This was shot from a tripod with a Canon EOS 5D Mark 2 at ISO 6400 and f/5.6 through a Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM lens with 2.0X teleconverter.

Hundreds of birds were moving very quickly into the top of the chimney as the final few moments of daylight rapidly faded away. This image is a layered composite of several shots of the birds, shot at shutter speeds varying from 1/60 to 1/8 sec as the light faded. That's why some of the birds show motion blur and some don't.

The Chimney Swifts will leave Houston and continue their journey South, about November 15.

-CGTTL

A Face Only A Mother Could Love

I wonder if this bird thinks my face is as ugly as I think his (or hers) is.

This was shot about half an hour before sunset in the gardens of a local restaurant in Houston.

It was shot from a tripod with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II in Av mode at f/8.0, 0.5 sec, and ISO 100 through an EF 70-200mm F/2.8L IS USM lens with a 2.0 teleconverter at an effective focal length of 255 mm.

Click on the image for a better look at that face.

-CGTTL

Swan Song - Flipped

Here's the same image I just posted, but I flipped it horizontally, so the bird is moving from left to right. In real life it was moving from right to left. Notice the signature is now backwards.

Which version do you prefer? Theoretically, It shouldn't matter, I suppose, but in this part of the world we're accustomed to things (...like words) moving from left to right. I prefer left to right, but that may just be my English-speaker's bias showing.

If this were photojournalism, we couldn't flip it. But since it's art, we're free to do anything we want.

Right?

-CGTTL

Swan Song

My wife and I had Sunday brunch at a restaurant in Houston today, and the view out the window included this wonderful swan. So I asked the manager if I could come back around twilight and photograph it. She agreed, and about half an hour before sunset I was back shooting this image.

This was shot from a tripod with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II at f/8.0, ISO 400, and 1/45 sec, cloudy white balance, in Av mode at -1.5 Ev, through a 70-200 mm f/2.8L IS USM set at 200 mm with a 2.0x teleconverter (effective focal length 400 mm).

Post processing in CS4: square crop, levels, curves, vibrance, selective unsharp mask, and a vignette. Oh, and I added my name at the bottom with a text layer with the opacity at about 20%.


-CGTTL

Sunken Gardens

This Photomatix Pro three-image HDR was shot in Butchart Gardens, near Victoria BC.

It was shot from a tripod with a Canon EOS 40D, set at f/8.0, 1/60 sec, and ISO 100, through a Canon EF-S 17-55 mm F/2.8 IS USM lens set at 17 mm (1.6 crop factor). Shooting in Av mode, AE bracketing was used at -2, 0, +2 Ev.

Post in CS4. I notice that significant sharpness and color vibrance were lost in flattening and converting this image from a PSD file to a small JPG file for the internet. Not sure what to do about that.

-CGTTL

Auto Motion

This was shot at ISO 100, f/8, and a 1/2 sec shutter speed from a tripod.

It may be fine art (...or not, depending on the eye of the beholder), except for the fact that it doen't meet the two major criteria I've decided determine what is and what isn't photographic fine art: 1. A square crop, and 2. A black and white conversion!

...of course an interesting subject may have something to do with it, as well. :-)

-CGTTL

Mecom Fountain Revisited

Here's another take on Mecom Fountain with the Zaza Hotel in the background.

-CGTTL

Waiting For The Train

I'm starting to get interested in images that imply motion. Let's see where it leads.

You may want to click on this image to see it a little larger.

-CGTTL

Mecom Fountain Revisited - Some More

Here's another try at improving the composition on the Mecom Fountain image I posted on August 26.

I re-shot it yesterday with very bright overcast skies in the early afternoon. It's a three-image HDR shot at 24 mm through a Singh-Ray Variable ND filter set at about 90% of maximum opacity.

I shot it at 24 mm with a full-frame sensor, so the original images had lots of wide-angle lens distortion. To get all the buildings standing up straight, I used Edit>Tranform>Skew and Edit>Transfrom>Scale in CS4 to get the vertical lines looking vertical.

I like this composition, but I'm about to decide using HDR and variable ND filters in combination is not my favorite look. Not in this kind of flat light, anyway. One or the other with a more interesting sky and a later or earlier time of day may be the ultimate answer.

Stay tuned.

-CGTTL

Beautyberry Bush

These are the berries of an American Beautyberry bush.

They were shot from a tripod this morning at the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center, using a Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera with a 24-105 f/4L lens (and a Canon 500D close-up lens in 500D), shot in Av priority mode, and set at F/8.0, 0.5 sec, ISO 100, and -0.67 Ev.

Lighting is early morning available light.

Post processing in CS4.

-CGTTL

Poke Salad Annie

These are the immature berries of a poke weed (Yes, as in Poke Salad Annie!), shot early this morning at the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center.

It was shot in available light with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II set in aperture priority mode at f/8.0, 1/10 sec, ISO 100, -0.33 Ev, using a 24-105 mm f/4.0L IS USM lens at 90 mm and with a Canon close-up lens 500D screwed on the front of it.

Post processing was done with CS4.

-CGTTL

Old Rice Dryer

This is an old rice dryer near Altair, Texas, about an hour West of Houston.

-CGTTL

Mecom Fountain

I went out this morning to try out my new variable neutral density filter. I shot this image of the Mecom Fountain in front of the old Warwick Hotel (...now the Zaza Hotel) in Houston.

This was shot with a Canon 5D Mark II on a tripod with a 24-105 mm f/4L zoom telephoto lens set at 24 mm and the camera set at f/22, ISO 100, and Tv= 1.0, 0.5, and 0.3 for three images. These images were combined into an HDR with Photomatix, then edited in Photoshop CS4.

The varying shutter speeds were accomplished in Av mode by darkening the variable ND filter over three successive shots. Based on the histogram on a couple of initial trial shots, the auto-exposure Ev was set at -0.33.

Autofocus can be a problem with a dark ND filter, so I focused on the lower edge of the fountain in autofocus with the ND filter opened up, then I switched to manual focus and left the focus the same for all three shots.

-CGTTL

Vibrant Tulips

These tulips were shot in the sunken gardens area of Butchart Gardens in Victoria BC, Canada.

I used a Canon 40D camera, EF-S 17-55 mm f/2.8 IS USM lens set at 51 mm (plus 1.6 crop factor), Av mode, f/4.5, 1/160 sec, ISO 100, Ev -0.33, in available light from a tripod.

Post processing is in CS4.

-CGTTL

Tulip Reflections

I loved the vibrant colors of these tulips shot in Butchart Gardens in Victoria BC.

A single tulip image was copied and reflected in CS4 from four different directions to form this abstract image. Perhaps this is what Heaven would look like, if God were a Tulip.

-CGTTL

Youngest Football Fan

The youngest fan at the Houston Texans home opener football game enjoyed the opening kickoff from the safety of her father's shoulders.

I shot this in available light with a Canon 5D Mark II full frame camera, using a 24-105 mm f/4.0L IS USM telephoto lens racked out to 105 mm, stopped down to f/8.0, at ISO 800, and exposed for 1/25 second, handheld (using Image Stabilization).

In Photoshop CS4 I did tonal adjustments, selective skin blur, selective brightening of the eyes (using screen blend mode), selective high pass sharpening on her eyes, mouth, and hair, a black and white conversion, and a 13% black vignette.

Her Mom in the lower foreground did her hair up fancy, so she'd look pretty for the big game.

-CGTTL

Grandmother's Tulips

Surreal tulips in my Grandmother's favorite color.

-CG

Take a Picture of My Brother!

I was having so much fun shooting images of kids playing in the park that I had kids coming up asking me to take their picture. This young girl actually went and got her younger brother and asked me to take his picture too. I think she was a bit more into it than he was. Having been jerked over in a headlock by his sister, he wasn't exactly sure about the white guy with the camera.

This image was shot handheld with a 50 mm f/1.4 prime lens stopped down to f/5.6 at 1/160 sec and ISO 400. I had a fill flash on an ETTL cord, handheld high camera left.

-CGTTL

Anita, U.S. Marine

This was shot in available light in an open area in a museum in Savannah. It was taken with a 70-200 mm f/2.8L lens set at 110 mm (1.6 crop factor) and stopped down to f/4.5 at 1/500 sec and ISO 400.

The background was a white stairway from the first to the second floor in the museum. The model, Anita, was a first-time amateur, who worked in a nearby restaurant. Her previous job was serving in the U.S. Marine Corps in Iraq!

-CGTTL

Acoustic Bass

While a band was setting up, preparing to play durng lunchtime in a square in Savannah, I asked if I could photograph their instruments on stage.

I got this shot of the fret board of a acoustic bass guitar with a 50 mm prime lens stopped down to f/1.4, shooting at close range in open shade.

I like the soft light, the crossing diagonal lines, the graceful, implied S-curve, the sharp focus on the strings and fretboard, and the narrow depth of field that helped blur the background.

-CGTTL

Altair Rice Dryer

I drove by a rice dryer in Altair, Texas today and took this three-image, handheld, HDR panorama from the window of my pickup truck.

I was looking for something to go with the dramatic, overcast sky.

-CGTTL

Surrealistic Rose

This abstract, impressionistic image was made from the previous rose image. That image was was duplicated and layered on top of the original background image, flipped horizontally, the opacity was dropped to 50%, and a highpass sharpening layer and a dark vignette layer were added on top.

-CGTTL

What's in a name?

What's in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet...

I think I'll not explain this image, unless somebody asks. Making some images is like making sausage. Just enjoy the results; don't ask how it was done. :-)

-CGTTL