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

Leading Edges

I liked the elegant diagonal lines along the leading edges of these rose petals.

This shot was set up in my kitchen. I bought roses at the my local grocery store and bungee corded one of them to a small light stand. The dark background is a black vest suspended from a coat hanger behind the rose.

The soft light almost directly above the camera is provided by one of those new screw-in florescent light bulbs mounted in an inexpensive aluminum clamp-on reflector purchased at Home Depot. In addition to having the light close to the subject (maybe 18 inches away), I gaffer taped a piece of white printer paper across the face of the light fixture to act as a diffuser.

The way it looks here is pretty much how it looked in the camera, except for a bit of added contrast, vibrance, an edge vignette, and some selective high pass sharpening along the leading edge of the biggest rose petal, all done in Photoshop CS4.

The original image was shot from a tripod, using a Canon 70-200 mm f/2.8L lens (at 200 mm, F/8, ISO 100, in manual mode and manual focus) with a Canon 500D close-up lens screwed on the front of it.

-CGTTL

Lake Arthur Morning

On a recent boat trip that took us to South Louisiana, and among other places, up the Mermentau River to a place called Lake Arthur. We were met at the dock of the Lake Arthur Yacht Club by a group of happy cajuns, who not only helped us tie up, but invited us to join in the Friday afternoon cooking and consumption of a feast that ended early Saturday morning, only after we had sung every song the guitar player knew.

This Saturday sunrise shot was taken with a wide angle lens in camera raw. In photoshop I saved a normally exposed version, a bright version, and a dark version of the same image to be sure all the tonal ranges were covered. Then, I combined these three images into one HRD image, using PhotoMatix. I saved the HDR image and edited it in Photoshop for perspective distortion, selective brightening, selective vibrance, and selective sharpening.

-CGTTL

Repetitious Shapes

I was drawn to the repetitious V shapes and the complementary colors in this image. I also like that there is a distinct foreground, middle ground, and background, and the lightest area in the subject is at the lower right power point in the middle ground.

Because of the bright, high contrast backlighting, I did a two image HDR processed in PhotoMatix. Tonal and color adjustments, clarity, highpass sharpening, and vignetting were done in PhotoTools 2.0.

This image was shot in the early afternoon in the Garden of the Gods, using a 70-200 mm f/2.8L lens on a tripod.

-CGTTL

Impressionism

This abstract image started as a side lit shot of a natural rock surface in the Garden of the Gods.

The impressionistic look and the fade to white vignette were rendered in post using Photoshop CS4.

This image is best viewed at higher resolution. Just click on the image to see it larger.

-CGTTL

Out of Practice

This young woman told me she hadn't climbed in a while, and was a bit rusty. As you can see in the second image, she seemed to make it up this spire in the Garden of the Gods, near Colorado Springs, in good form.

These images were both shot hand held, near mid-day, with a 50 mm f/1.4 prime lens, using aperture priority set at f/8 and ISO 100.

It was thoughtful of her to wear a blue outfit that nicely complemented the orange color of the rocks!

-CGTTL

Rock Climbers

In the first image two rock climbers start up a spire in the early afternoon in the Garden of the Gods. In the second image you can see they made the climb successfully.

Both images were shot with a 70-200 mm f/2.8L zoom telephoto on a tripod.

In the first image the tree branches are a bit distractive in the foreground, but at least they're out of focus. The back lighting on the second image added drama, but it also made it difficult to bring out shadow detail.

Click on these images for a higher resolution look at them.

-CGTTL

Evening Approaches

A lone rock climber descends the face of a rock wall, as evening is rapidly approaching.

This was shot with a 70-200 mm f/2.8L zoom telephoto lens on a tripod. It was shot from about 300 yards away in manual mode, using f/8 and ISO 800.

-CGTTL

Rain in the Mountains

An approaching, late-afternoon rainstorm caught my attention in the mountains, near Colorado Springs.

This was shot with a 70-200 mm f/2.8L zoom telephoto, handheld in aperture priority mode at f/8 and ISO 400.

-CGTTL

Portrait of a Pine Tree

I was drawn to this pine tree by the soft natural light coming from high camera left. It looked like a good opportunity to do a portrait of a pine tree, using natural Rembrandt lighting!

This was shot with a 70-200 mm f/2.8L zoom telephoto on a tripod from a distance of about 100 yards. It was shot in Aperture priority mode set at f/8 and ISO 400.

-CGTTL

Morning in the Garden of the Gods

This multi-image panorama was shot at the Garden of the Gods, near Colorado Springs, in the early morning light. The rising sunlight was coming from behind the camera.

Five images were blended to make this panorama, using CS4 photomerge.

-CGTTL

Evening in the Garden of the Gods

The back lit rock formations silhouetted in the foreground in this panorama are part of the Garden of the Gods, near Colorado Springs.

This is three images shot with a 50 mm prime lens and then merged together, using Photoshop CS4 photomerge.

Click on the image to view it in a larger size.

-CGTTL

Wes

Wes has a different do rag for each day of the week. This is his Thursday model.

Wes looks a bit like a bad biker dude. But looks can be deceiving.

Wes bakes chocolate chip cookies for folks he has even met yet. And since he retired from his former gig, teaching anatomy to aspiring medical students, he has become a model, a photographer, and a dispenser of elder wisdom, not necessarily in that order.

The big soft key light camera left for this street portrait was a plate glass window in the front of a cafe in Savannah. The background light was light from a street sign reflected off the wall of the cafe. The narrow depth of field was produced with a 50 mm prime lens shot at f/1.4 and 1/400 sec (at ISO 1600).

Post processing was with Photoshop CS4 and PhotoTools 2.0. I was going for a 1930's film noire look.