A Hurricane Ike Reminder

As you walk around Galveston, you do not see too many reminders of Hurricane Ike.  I did, however, notice this one the other day.  Although very simple, this little sign seemed to be very powerful.  

Enjoy.

Camera settings:  Nikon D3, Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 shot at 50mm, ISO 200, f/11 and 1/60^th of a second.

Post Processing:  

Lightroom—Set black and white points, increased mid-tone contrast and changed saturation of various colors.

What I Did on My Vacation—Part 10

As I was heading to the car and JD was trying desperately to “jump start” the economy with a little consumer spending, I saw this sign. I thought: “WOW!” A little philosophy of life on a caution sign—assess the possible outcome before you decide to jump. Not bad, not bad at all.

JD graciously stopped at every artist’s booth so that I could watch people and take some last minute photos. This artist is Max, a Native-American woodcarver from Montana. He does really fine carvings, one of which, I am now the proud owner, or should I say co-owner. Max and I talked for some time, but being the good capitalist that he is, he was always ready and willing to interrupt our conversation to answer any question from the lady who was waving “green backs” in front of his eyes.

His somewhat perplexed look might have been the result of someone, not sure who, saying that JD had been passing counterfeit $20 bills at all the stands. It is a shame that I did not get a photo of HER look at the same time.

Here I am presenting both a color and black and white version for your consideration. I am really not sure which one I like best. In the color version, there is a fine combination of complementary colors, however, in the black and white version, his expression seems to be even more evident. I also flipped the black and white version to show how the tone of an image changes simply based upon its orientation.

Enjoy.

In and Around Houston #5

After leaving the market, I headed north on Shepherd past 610 Loop. I wanted to take some photos of some light industrial plants in the area.

Along the way, I spotted this sign on one of the side streets. There was the sign and a building foundation. Nothing else. I wanted the photo to include the sign and the building foundation, but I could not find an angle that would eliminate all the clutter in the background. I finally settled on the sign with a simple background of tree and sky. To help simplify the background even more, I decided on using an aperture of f/4 to blur the background.

I wanted the photo to be simple and about the three primary colors—red, green and blue.

Enjoy.

Camera settings: Nikon D3, Nikon 28-70mm f/2.8 at 40 with a polarizing filter attached, shot at ISO 200, f/4 and 1/250^th of a second on a tripod.

Post Processing:

Lightroom—Set white and black points, added mid-tone contrast, clarity and changed hue of green.

Photoshop—ran nik Color Efex Pro tonal contrast filter on the sign to add contrast to shadows, mid-tones and highlights, decreased color saturation and added boarder using onOne Photo Frame Pro.