CG TTL

Up in Smoke

2011-06-20T17:17:00.003-05:00

Here's the first image from my photo shoot this morning. It's part of what I'm calling my "Up in Smoke" collection.

Your interpretation of this abstract image is as good as mine. What do you see?

-CG TTL

Joey

2011-06-19T15:14:00.001-05:00

Joey has been a friend of mine for over 30 years. He was born with a relatively functional form of autism spectrum disorder, and he's a good guy to hang out with.

Joey and his dad stopped by yesterday, and Joey agreed to sit for a quick portrait.

Joey is lit with a close in, 30" x 60" horizontal soft box (see it in the catch lights in his eyes), camera right, and a 36" round white reflector, camera left. There is a Vivitar strobe, centered behind Joey about 36" above the floor, shooting up on the dark gray backdrop to provide some separation from the background.

Camera Data: Canon 5D Mark II, manual mode, ISO 100, 1/160 sec, f/5.6 at 105 mm lens focal length; auto focused on the camera left eye.

Post processing was done completely in the CS5 Camera Raw Converter 6.4.1, without opening the image in Photoshop.

-CG TTL

Adorable Little Girl

2010-11-04T14:25:00.003-05:00

I got a shot of this adorable little girl, as I was leaving a traditional Persian wedding in Southern California in October, 2010.

I'm no wedding photographer, but I took my camera and put together a short video montage of still images of the festivities, as a surprise for the bride and groom.

You can see it on YouTube at:

http://www.youtube.com/user/gcharlie1115#p/a/u/0/1ijEdNXkPcE

-CG TTL

Boston Harbor

2010-09-06T11:13:00.003-05:00

This view of Boston Harbor was shot hand-held, from the second deck of a moving tour boat in mid-afternoon light.

The resolution of the full-sized sensor on the Canon 5D Mark II allowed me to do this panoramic crop, without losing too much detail.

I shot this with a 24mm lens focal length at ISO 400, f/16, and exposed for -0.67 Ev at 1/640 second.

-CG TTL

Dinghy

2010-09-06T10:50:00.004-05:00

This working dinghy was tied up at a dock in the harbor at Rockport, Massachusetts.

This was shot near mid-afternoon in open shade provided by an adjacent building.

I shot this hand-held from a walkway above the floating dock, using a lens focal length of 67 mm, at ISO 800, f/16, and 1/100 sec.

-CG TTL

New England Lighthouse

2010-09-06T10:08:00.008-05:00

This New England lighthouse, silhouetted against the setting sun, marks the entrance to the Annisquam River from Ipswich Bay, near Gloucester, Massachusetts.

While I was framing the shot, a fishing boat conveniently appeared on its way home at sunset.

The shot was hand-held, using a 67mm focal length at ISO 400, F/16, and underexposed by 0.67 Ev at 1/250 sec.

-CG TTL

Budding Possibilities

2010-05-15T13:55:00.005-05:00

These buds among the colorful flowers remind me of the many budding possibilities in life and the fact that the universe seems to keep evolving pretty much as it should, without a lot of effort on my part.

This was shot handheld in available light at a distance of 1 meter with a lens focal length of 105 mm, at ISO 800, f/8, exposed for -0.67 Ev for 1/30 sec. Post processing was in CS5.

You might want to click on the image to see it larger.

-CG TTL

Flowers

2010-05-07T11:05:00.005-05:00

I liked the colors, shapes, and composition of these flowers I found in a hotel lobby.

This was shot, handheld in ambient light, at a focal length of 105 mm, at ISO 400, f/4.0, and exposed for 1/50 second.

Post processing was done in CS5.

-CG TTL

River Oaks

2010-05-05T20:44:00.006-05:00

River Oaks County Club in Houston provides an intimate environment for shooting professional tennis action.

These images were shot at River Oaks, during the US Men's Clay Court Tennis Championships held there in April, 2010.

Shooting under bright overcast skies and at close proximity (third row), I was able to stop the action with a 200mm f/2.8L lens at ISO 800, f/8, and exposed for 1/1000 sec. I found that I had to underexpose by a full stop to prevent the blinkies on those bright white tennis outfits.

-CG TTL

Indian Wells

2010-04-26T09:55:00.009-05:00

I shot these images at a semi-final match between Andy Roddick and Robin Soderling at the ATP tennis tournament in Indian Wells, California in March, 2010.

You may want to click on these images to see them larger. Mostly, I was trying to stop action on the ball.

-CG TTL

Rafa Nadal

2010-04-26T08:52:00.010-05:00

These action shots of Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal were shot in a semi-final match at the ATP tennis tournament at Indian Wells, California in March, 2010.

They were shot at a distance of 36.8 meters from my seat high in the stadium in very bright, early-afternoon, side light, using an effective focal length of 400mm at f/5.6, ISO 200, and exposed for 1/2500 sec.

My intention was to take advantage of the bright light to shoot at a fast enough shutter speed to freeze the movement of the ball.

I did the post processing, including some selective brightening of the harsh shadows, in Photoshop CS4.

-CG TTL

Joshua Tree Blossom

2010-04-14T06:14:00.003-05:00

This joshua tree blossom was shot in Joshua Tree National Park in California a couple of weeks ago.

I shot it in the late afternoon light at f/5.6, ISO 500, and exposed for 1/800 second with a EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM lens set at 70.0 mm at a distance of 2.5 meters from the subject. I was going for a sort of portrait look with a moderately narrow depth of field to produce a sharp foreground and a blurred background.

The image of the moon was shot at about the same time and with the same lens, but (...sadly) in a different image.

So, I'm officially fessing up here. This is not photo journalism. If I worked for The New York Times, I'd be fired. I composited the moon into the background of the blossom image, using Photoshop CS4.

-CG TTL

Joshua Tree

2010-04-13T11:13:00.004-05:00

During a recent trip to Palm Springs, I managed to slip over to Joshua Tree National Park for an afternoon photo shoot. This is the tree after which the park is named.

This was shot with an EF 17-40 mm f/4L USM lens set at 37 mm. The camera was set at f/16, ISO 200, and exposed for 1/80 second.

-CGTTL

Palm Desert

2010-04-10T16:12:00.002-05:00

I shot this image early one morning outside our time-share villa in Palm Desert, California, as the sun was coming up behind the camera.

Using a Canon 5D Mark II and an EF 17-40 mm f/4L USM wide angle zoom lens set at 28 mm, I shot four images at ISO 200 and f/16 with shutter speeds varying from 1/20 to 1/3 second.

To accomodate the high dynanmic range, I composited the four images manually, using CS4.

-CGTTL

Puerto Vallarta Video Montage

2010-02-28T17:50:00.003-06:00

Here's a link to a video montage of images I shot recently in Puerto Vallarta.

http://vimeo.com/9795524

Images were edited in CS4 and the video and audio were edited in Apple FinalCut.

-CGTTL

Restful Beach

2010-02-28T17:37:00.003-06:00

I shot this restful image of a beach at Puerto Vallarta, before breakfast one morning.

Shot data: Hand-held, Canon 5D Mark II, EF 24-105mm f/4 IS USM lens set at 105 mm, f/16, ISO 400, and under exposed by 2/3 stop at 1/100 second.

Post processing in CS4.

-CGTTL

Hotel Reflections

2010-02-28T17:24:00.002-06:00

This image was composed to take advantage of the reflection of the seaside hotel in the surface of the pool.

Shot data: Canon 5D Mark II on a tripod, 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens set at 32 mm, f/22, ISO 800, and exposed manually for 10 seconds through a graduated ND filter.

Post processing was done in CS4.

CGTTL

Lone Swimmer

2010-02-28T17:09:00.004-06:00

By shooting over the negative edge of this swimming pool at my hotel in Puerto Vallarta, I was trying to get a velvet look to the moving surf in contrast to the sharply smooth water of the swimming pool. In addition I was trying to get a silhouette of this lone swimmer, taking a dip just after sunset.

Shooting data: Canon 5D Mark II, EF 24-105 MM at 92mm, f/16, ISO 1600, exposed in manual mode at -2/3 stop for .5 seconds.

Post processing was done in CS4.

-CGTTL

Light Stars

2010-02-28T16:38:00.002-06:00

I got into shooting "light stars" around the pool at my hotel in Puerto Vallarta.

This image was shot from a tripod after sunset at ISO 1600, 28 mm focal length, f/16, and underexposed by 2/3 stop at 3.2 seconds.

Post processing was done in CS4.

-CGTTL

Light Stars

2010-02-28T15:58:00.005-06:00

I was trying to get a "light star" effect on the pool lights in this image. You may have to click on the image to see it larger in order to see the "light stars."

Shooting just before sunset from a tripod with a Canon 5D Mark II and my EF 24-105 mm f/4L IS USM lens, I turned off auto-focus and image stabilization on the lens and framed the shot at a focal length of 35 mm. Shooting in manual exposure mode, I set the aperture at f/22, ISO at 800, and manually underexposed the image by -2/3 stop at 1/25 second. To minimize motion blur, I tripped the shutter with a remote cable release.

Post processing was done in CS4.

-CGTTL

Sun Star

2010-02-28T15:07:00.004-06:00

While in Puerto Vallarta in February I went out by the pool at my hotel before sunset to get a "sun star" shot.

I picked a point of view that would allow me to frame the setting sun between back lit, silhouetted palm trees and have the middle ground reflected in the surface of the pool. I also liked the diagonal leading lines on both sides of the frame.

Shooting from a tripod with a Canon 5D Mark II camera and an EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS USM lens, I set the focal length to 24 mm. With image stabilization and auto-focus turned off and the camera in manual exposure mode, I set the ISO to 400, the aperture to f/22, the subject focus to about 2 meters, and the exposure to -2/3 at 1/15 sec. To help assure a tack sharp image, I tripped the shutter with a cable release.

Post processing was done in CS4.

-CGTTL

Young Vaquero

2010-02-18T20:30:00.006-06:00

This young vaquero was riding with his family in a parade in the streets of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico last week.

I shot this image in harsh mid-day sunlight. The young boy's sombrero provided just enough soft shade, so I could expose for his face and just allow the background to blow out.

This was shot with a Canon 5D Mark II and a 24-105 mm f/4L IS USM lens set at 105 mm, f/5.6, ISO 100, and underexposed by 2/3 stop at 1/160 second.

Post processing was done in CS4.

You can click on this image to view it larger, and see the quality of the hand work on his suede jacket and sombrero.

-CGTTL

Dodge Truck - Sepia

2010-01-29T00:50:00.005-06:00

Here's the sepia version of the dodge truck image I just posted.

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

-CGTTL

Dodge Truck

2010-01-29T00:23:00.002-06:00

I noticed this interesting old Dodge pickup truck on the side of highway 6, South of College Station, Texas.

This two-image HDR was shot in available afternoon light with a 24 mm lens at f/11, ISO 400 and exposed for 1/800 second.

-CGTTL

Red Tailed Hawk

2010-01-23T15:13:00.003-06:00

This beautiful red tailed hawk was being held by the woman who nursed it back to health for two years. She was saying goodbye, just before she released the bird back into the wild at Armand Bayou Nature Center in Houston today.

This image was shot handheld in available light with a Canon 5D Mark II and a EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens set at 105 mm, f/5.6, ISO 400, and underexposed by 2/3 stop for 1/400 second.

Post processing is in CS4.

-CGTTL

Jan

2009-12-30T20:43:00.003-06:00

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

2009-12-30T16:12:00.001-06:00

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

-CGTTL

Hibiscus

2009-12-30T14:42:00.003-06:00

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!

2009-12-23T14:28:00.003-06:00

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

Happy holidays everyone!

-CGTTL

Well Loved

2009-12-13T21:43:00.012-06:00

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

2009-12-07T00:15:00.002-06:00

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

2009-11-30T22:54:00.004-06:00

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

2009-11-30T10:35:00.005-06:00

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

2009-11-21T15:33:00.004-06:00

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

2009-11-20T11:46:00.003-06:00

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

2009-11-18T23:03:00.002-06:00

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

2009-11-17T10:16:00.003-06:00

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

2009-11-04T21:48:00.006-06:00

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

2009-10-25T22:32:00.003-05:00

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

2009-10-21T18:06:00.005-05:00

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

2009-10-20T00:04:00.009-05:00

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

2009-10-17T18:44:00.004-05:00

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

2009-10-17T00:46:00.004-05:00

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

2009-10-13T23:48:00.004-05:00

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

I'll let it speak for itself.

-CGTTL

Morning Prayers

2009-10-11T22:52:00.006-05:00

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

2009-10-09T13:46:00.004-05:00

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

2009-10-06T13:40:00.003-05:00

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

2009-10-06T13:04:00.005-05:00

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

2009-10-05T22:50:00.009-05:00

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

2009-09-29T23:19:00.004-05:00

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?

2009-09-29T07:30:00.003-05:00

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

2009-09-21T20:22:00.007-05:00

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

2009-09-15T11:10:00.004-05:00

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

2009-09-07T11:00:00.006-05:00

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

2009-09-06T23:10:00.006-05:00

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

2009-09-06T22:49:00.004-05:00

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

2009-09-05T13:31:00.006-05:00

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

2009-09-02T10:59:00.003-05:00

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

2009-09-02T02:49:00.003-05:00

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

-CGTTL

Waiting For The Train

2009-09-02T02:35:00.005-05:00

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

2009-09-01T21:48:00.007-05:00

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

2009-08-31T14:54:00.003-05:00

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

2009-08-31T13:27:00.011-05:00

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

2009-08-27T14:42:00.003-05:00

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

-CGTTL

Mecom Fountain

2009-08-26T17:09:00.004-05:00

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

2009-08-24T14:32:00.004-05:00

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

2009-08-23T12:57:00.003-05:00

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

2009-08-23T00:21:00.007-05:00

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

2009-08-20T16:41:00.000-05:00

Surreal tulips in my Grandmother's favorite color.

-CG

Take a Picture of My Brother!

2009-08-20T14:06:00.005-05:00

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

2009-08-19T23:05:00.007-05:00

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

2009-08-19T22:26:00.003-05:00

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

2009-08-18T22:44:00.004-05:00

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

2009-08-18T11:17:00.003-05:00

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?

2009-08-16T15:13:00.006-05:00

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

2009-08-16T13:21:00.009-05:00

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

2009-08-16T11:32:00.003-05:00

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

2009-08-14T14:41:00.004-05:00

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

2009-08-14T13:38:00.006-05:00

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

2009-08-13T12:32:00.005-05:00

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

2009-08-13T12:12:00.005-05:00

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

2009-08-13T11:56:00.002-05:00

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

2009-08-13T11:38:00.002-05:00

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

2009-08-13T11:22:00.003-05:00

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

2009-08-13T11:05:00.004-05:00

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

2009-08-13T10:31:00.009-05:00

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

2009-08-08T23:40:00.002-05:00

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.

La Conner Waterfront

2009-04-26T18:30:00.004-05:00

Here's a late afternoon shot of the waterfront at La Conner, Washington, looking back toward our hotel.

Shooting from a tripod on the end of a dock, I used my 11-18 mm wide angle zoom lens with both a graduated neutral density filter and a circular polarizer screwed on to the front.

-CG TTL

Animal or Vegetable?

2009-04-22T11:14:00.005-05:00

This fishy looking image is a composite made from a macro shot of the leaves of a succulent flower I saw in a hanging pot in Christiansen's Nursery, near La Conner, Washington.

The image was taken with a Canon 500D close-up lens screwed on the front of my favorite 70-200 mm zoom telephoto. The end of the lens was about 20 inches from the flower.

The image was edited in Photoshop for tonality, color, saturation, and sharpness. Then it was copied, flipped 180 degrees, both horizontally and vertically, and layered on top of itself at 50% opacity.

Who says a flower can't be made to look like a fish!

-CG TTL

Antique Note

2009-04-22T10:33:00.004-05:00

Here is another image taken at Christiansen's Nursery near La Conner, Washington. This is a layered composite made from several individual images:

The background is a close-up, multi-image montage of the flat leaves of a flower. The camera was rotated on my tripod just slightly between each of the four images.

The foreground is a shot of a hand-written note I ran across in the antique shop at Christiansen's. I have no idea what it says; it just looks old, French, and mysterious to me.

The outer frame I chose from PhotoFrames, a third-party plug-in that works with Photoshop. I picked the "torn paper" look to match the mysterious note.

-CG TTL

Butchart Fountain

2009-04-22T09:31:00.005-05:00

Here's an image I took last week of a small fountain in Butchart Gardens on Victoria Island in British Columbia.

I took this image in aperture priority mode, set at f/8.0 to get the sharp focus and a moderate depth of field. I put my camera on a tripod and placed a circular polarizing filter on my 70-200mm f/2.8 lens. This helped reduce the dynamic range and the specular highlights and extended the shutter speed (to about 1 second, as I recall) to give that "silky" look to the flowing water.

-CG TTL

General Motors Corporation

2009-04-16T00:12:00.005-05:00

Another old truck shot, this time without AEB shooting and HDR processing.

Imagine what this old GMC truck has been through in its lifetime.

-CG TTL

Keep On Truckin'

2009-04-15T23:02:00.012-05:00

I'm in Washington this week, about 80 miles North of Seattle, and the daffodils (...and a few tulips) are in bloom. I was shooting flower shots at a place near La Conner, Washington, called Christensen's Nursery, when these seriously old trucks were pointed out to me.

With a bright, overcast sky overhead, and dark shadows underneath, these trucks were good candidates for a High Dynamic Range (HDR) image. With digital cameras, you sometimes have to choose between lost shadow detail or a blown out, overexposed sky. Using HDR, you can sometime save detail in both.

Using Automatic Exposure Bracketing (AEB), I took three images, one exposed properly, one overexposed by one stop, and one underexposed by one stop. I then blended these three images together, using a specialized HDR software called Photomatix.

The blended HDR image was then converted to a simple TIF file and final editing was completed in Photoshop. HDR blending can produce some surrealistic, high contrast images with vivid colors. Typically they can produce a more "painterly" look than you might see with your naked eye. But, they can also produce an image that is closer to what your eye actually sees dynamically, with more detail in the highlights and more detail in the shadows than a digital camera can normally see.

Click on this image, if you'd like to see a larger version.

-CG TTL

Cheetah

2009-03-30T18:20:00.005-05:00

This cheetah looked like he was considering inviting me for lunch. His lunch!

This shot, taken on the sanannah's of Namibia... ...errr, I mean, the Houston Zoo, reminded me that most portraits are about the eyes. It also gave me some practice using selective focus to draw the viewer's attention to the face and eyes and to give the rest of the image a sort of out-of-focus, painterly look.

The watercolor framing was layered on top of the edited image, using PhotoFrame 2.0, another plug-in software used with Photoshop.

-CG TTL

Terrifying and Depressing!

2009-03-28T23:15:00.033-05:00

So, I got this complaint from my old friend Leon, who said the self-portrait I was using for my profile for this blog was "terrifying and depressing." He said he had known me since we were in Junior High School, and he'd never seen me frown. He ordered me to ditch that picture immediately.

Well, who am I to disappoint an old friend? So, I set up this new shot by staring directly into my Canon 580 EX II Speedlite flash with a Lumiquest LQ-119 Softbox III velcroed to the front of it.

I shot everything in manual mode, including the flash. In this case I triggered the camera with an electronic shutter release cable in my right hand. The flash was synched with a simple PC cord.

First, I set the camera sensor at ISO 100 (to minimize sensor noise) and the shutter speed at 1/250 second (the fastest available synch speed for flash on my Canon 40D camera). Next I stopped the aperture down to about f/5.6 to give me a moderate depth of field and to underexpose the ambient light on the background by maybe 3 stops. I wanted it dark. Then I set my flash manually by trial and error (flash meters are for sissies!), until my face was properly exposed. I just kept readjusting the manual flash intensity and checking the histogram on the back of my camera, until it looked about right. If you want to learn more about how to do this, check out Strobist.com.

After some minor touhch-ups in Photoshop CS4 (mostly because I needed a shave), I layered on one of the seriously cool frames available in OnOne PhotoFrame Professional (third party plug-in software that works with Photoshop CS4). In this case I was doing my photographer thing, so I picked a frame that made the image look like a strip of 35 mm film.

I posted this image on my Flickr site and got 36 viewings in the first two minutes. Interesting. Must be the frame.

-CG TTL

PS: In case you're interested, here's a link to that terrifying and depressing shot!

Flamingo

2009-03-24T17:54:00.008-05:00

Here's an image from my recent visit to the Houston Zoo. I was drawn to the shape of the bird's neck, and that interesting yellow eye!

Using a 200 mm telephoto lens stopped down to an aperture of f/2.8 to produce a very narrow depth of field, and using my tripod, I focused carefully on that eye and tried to leave the busy background as simple and out of focus as I could.

I cropped the image to draw attention to that primitive-looking yellow eye, by placing it at the upper right third of the image and by using leading lines in the background and that beautiful "S" curve of the neck.

I also tried to use the negative space shapes around the bird to provide some balance to the overall composition.

-CG TTL

Steve

2009-03-15T07:46:00.021-05:00

My old friend Steve (...and, I do mean old! We were Boy Scouts together in the 1950's!) was nice enough to let me click this head shot, while we talked recently.

It was near noon, normally not a good time for photo lighting, but the day was bright and overcast and the clouds acted like a giant soft box in the sky. While we talked, I asked Steve to move to a chair a few feet from a North-facing window, so the top of the window could create the rapid light fall-off across his face. This is known as Portico Lighting.

Steve is a kindly person. He's also very smart (...if you count a PhD from Stanford). And both these things show in his eyes. That's why I filled the frame with his face and positioned his eyes on the diagonals of the image, near the upper third of the frame. That's also why I selectively brightened, saturated, and sharpened his eyes a bit in post processing with CS4.

Also, notice that by cutting off the top of his head in the image, I both limited background distraction and created two, symmetrical, parenthesis-shaped, ( ), negative space shapes, which framed his eyes.

And finally, notice the backlight on both his shoulders that provides leading lines, which lead the eye towards the center of the image, then up the highlights on the nose toward his eyes.

-CG TTL

Bubbling Lemon

2009-03-09T10:19:00.008-05:00

This image was shot the same way as the bubbling orange, except I started with the yellow-purple complementary color pair. A lemon from the grocery store and a purple gift sack from the drug store did the trick.

Want to see how to do this kind of shot without a flash? See Bryan Peterson's cool YouTube video here.

-CG TTL

Bubbling Orange

2009-03-09T09:15:00.016-05:00

Doesn't this image make you thirsty for a cool summertime drink?

I visualized this image starting with the colors, in this case the orange-blue complementary color pair. I picked up an orange (...Hey,what's more orange than an orange?) at the grocery store for the foreground and a shiny blue sack (...the kind used for birthday presents) at the drug store for the background.

After suspending the orange slice in a small glass bowl with unbent paper clips, I got out my 60 mm macro lens, added Perrier sparkling water to the bowl and fired away!

The shot was lit with an AB800 monoblock flash (from above camera right) covered with a piece of white printer paper to soften it a bit. The clear glass bowl was sitting on a silver reflector to reflect light back up from below. Notice how the shallow depth of field of the macro lens (...at f/6.3, ISO 100, and 1/250 sec) kept the background nicely out of focus, so it wouldn't compete for attention with the orange slice and the bubbles.

-CG TTL

Jalapeno (Hal-ah-payn'-yo)!

2009-03-02T16:10:00.017-06:00

Hey! What can I say, I'm into complementary colors these days!

After a trip to Central Market on Saturday afternoon, I felt compelled to assemble this salad bowl full of color.

I shot this from above with my main "walking around" zoom telephoto lens, looking down on the bowl, while standing on a small ladder. The soft light comes from an AB800 flash, shot through a huge (for me) soft box, 45 degrees camera left. The bowl is sitting on a piece of black foamcore, used as a horizontal backdrop, and there's a piece of white foamcore used as a reflector on the back side of the bowl, camera right.

I like the complementary red-green color combination and the simple geometry of all these veggies.

-CG TTL