In and Around Houston #6

I saw this fabrication shop that had lots of cool equipment setting outside. I located the owner and told him what I was trying to do. He liked the idea and immediately showed me around his shop.

Over in one corner of the shop I found this portion of a boat that they were repairing. Two things struck me about the hull—its texture and the light that was streaming from a crack in the door. I walked around the hull several times before I settled on my perspective. I then took several shots at different settings. I settled on setting that would effectively underexpose the image by about three f-stops. I photo to be all about the light revealing the texture and I thought that underexposing the image did this the best.

Enjoy.

Camera settings: Nikon D3, Nikon 28-70mm f/2.8 at 70mm with a polarizing filter attached, shot at ISO 200, f/13 and 1/500^th of a second on a tripod.

Post Processing:

Lightroom—Set white and black points, added mid-tone contrast, clarity.

Photoshop—used nik Color Efex Pro tonal contrast filter to add contrast to shadows, mid-tones and highlights and then converted the image to black and white using nik Silver Efex Pro.

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.

In and Around Houston #4

Not far from Alice’s Cafe is Henderson Food Market. The second that I saw it, I thought of the many small neighborhood markets that were around Fort Smith, Arkansas when I was growing-up. I think the signs on the Henderson Food Market say it all about what is important: Beer Cigarettes Grocery.

I wanted the photo to look like it might have been taken 50 years ago—when the signs would have read considerably different. I thought that a boarder would help achieve this look. As I was working on this one, I thought that it might be very interesting to see photos of the market taken every five years since it was originally built.

Enjoy.

Camera settings: Nikon D3, Nikon 28-70mm f/2.8 at 70mm with a polarizing filter attached, shot at ISO 200, f/9.5 and 1/125^th of a second on a tripod.

Post Processing:

Lightroom—Set white and black points, added mid-tone contrast, clarity.

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

In and Around Houston #3

My next stop was the sixth ward—which is just a little north and west of downtown Houston. I headed down Washington Avenue and various side streets looking for some old, interesting buildings. After about ten minutes, I found this old restaurant—Alice’s Café. I remember that some of my co-workers used to go here for lunches back in the late 70s, but I do not think that I had ever eaten at Alice’s.

As I was assessing the scene, I knew that I had a washed-out sky to deal with. I tried a few close-up shots of the building, but, in all honesty, they lacked the impact that the whole building had. So, I decided that I would shoot the whole building and apply a grunge look to the image in post-processing. I felt that the washed out sky would then become part of the overall look that I was using for the photo. I wanted the photo to have surreal look that would hopefully add to its aged and weathered appearance.

Enjoy.

Camera settings: Nikon D3, Nikon 28-70mm f/2.8 at 70mm with a polarizing filter attached, shot at ISO 200, f/11 and 1/90^th of a second on a tripod.

Post Processing:

Lightroom—Set white and black points, added mid-tone contrast, clarity.

Photoshop—ran nik Color Efex Pro tonal contrast filter on the buildings and trees to add contrast to shadows, mid-tones and highlights and then sharpened buildings and tree about 20-30% more than normal using the high-pass filter in hard light mode, and increased the saturation of red, greens, cyan and blues.

In and Around Houston #2

After the Kemah sunrise photo, I headed to downtown Houston. I wanted to take a few photos of the Houston skyline and/or some of the individual buildings. Since it was still relatively early in the morning, most of the city had a nice natural glow to the light reflecting-off the buildings. I shot several buildings and then noticed how the light made the sandstone of the church turn a nice soft orange. I wanted the photograph to be totally about the light and the complementary colors of the blue sky and the orange light on the church.

Enjoy.

Camera settings: Nikon D3, Nikon 28-70mm f/2.8 at 42mm with a polarizing filter attached, shot at ISO 200, f/11 and 1/180^th of a second on a tripod.

Post Processing:

Lightroom—Set white and black points, added mid-tone contrast.

Photoshop—sharpened church using the highpass filter method in soft light mode and increased saturation of blues and orange in an adjustment layer.

In and Around Houston #1

A few weeks ago at a meeting of the Bay Area Photo Club, I walked into a conversation that went something like this:

Member #1: “There is just not much to photograph in Houston. I am planning a trip to Place X next month. Really looking forward to working on some new techniques I have been reading about.”

Member #2: “I know what you mean. I have not taken a photo in Houston that I think is very good in over a year. I plan on going to Place Y next week. There are so many good photographing opportunities there.”

Member #3: “I wish I was going some place, but just cannot get away anytime soon. Larry, how about you?”

Larry: “Daaaa. I don’t know. I haven’t really thought about it.”

I have been thinking about his conversation a lot over the past few weeks. During the Next Step workshop last year, Craig Tanner said that he felt like great photos come from within the photographer and that by allowing your photography to be dictated by what you were shooting, limits you as an artist. I then recalled my experience in Naches, Mississippi last year (written about on my December 4, 2008 blog).

By no means do I want anything that I write to be interpreted as being a put-down of anyone in the conversation. But, I decided that my fellow members were talking about “taking photos, rather than, making art.” Here, I use a very loose definition for “art”—to me, “art” in photography means putting my own unique interpretation on what I am photographing.

With all this in mind, I decided to give myself an assignment: spend a day photographing Houston and publish at least five photographs on my blog. I decided that I would limit myself to one lens, use only available light and not photograph any people (because you could photograph people anywhere); however, I would not limit the post-processing of my images to Lightroom only—any and all post processing will be on the menu.

As I drove around looking for places to photograph, I found several locations that would make for good photographs, but not in the current light. Since it was my assignment and I could do what I wanted, I changed the rules to ten photographs over a two-day period.

A project like this must start with a sunrise photo. What makes a good sunrise photo? Sun, clouds and water. So, my first photo comes from Kemah area. Luckily, the sun was cooperating when I got to Kemah. I took several shots, including some bracketed shots for HDR processing and thought that I was finished, when this bird landed on a piling. The bird made a good anchor for the photo’s foreground. I wanted the photo to be very traditional landscape photo with a foreground anchored by the bird, a middle ground anchored by the pilings and finally the background of the sun hid by the clouds. Overall, I was happy with the results, but I did wish that there was more orange in the sunrise, but decided that I would not change that aspect in the post processing.

Enjoy.

Camera settings: Nikon D3, Nikon 28-70mm f/2.8 at 30mm with a polarizing filter attached, shot at ISO 200, f/13 and 1/180^th of a second on a tripod.

Post Processing:

Lightroom—Set white and black points, added mid-tone contrast, clarity.

Photoshop—ran nik Color Efex Pro tonal contrast filter to add contrast to shadows, mid-tones and highlights to the water and added a curves adjustment to the sky for overall contrast.

Friendswood 4th of July Parade #5

No parade is complete without a full array of people having fun and we had loads of them at THE PARADE!

By the way, how many parades have patriotic dogs? Only in Friendswood, and only on the Fourth of July.

Enjoy.

Friendswood 4th of July Parade #4

“You cannot play in Texas without a fiddle in the band” and you cannot have a parade in Texas without some horses. Our little parade is blessed with some of the most outstanding horses that any parade has. The only problem I have with them is that I start watching them and forget to take any photos.

Of course, even in Texas, we have some people who think that the horses need a little “fashion” when they go to a parade.

Enjoy

Friendswood 4th of July Parade #3

Of course, every parade must have great floats, The floats are designed by mass teams that spend millions of hours working on their design and then even more hours construction them. Some parades even have giant balloons that float above the crowd.

Well, THE PARADE has great vehicles (all shapes and sizes) and even giant balloons (remember everything is relative) floating effortless over the streets.

In these photos I wanted the down-to-earth nature of the parade to be presented. I tried to select vehicles and, of course, giant balloons, that demonstrated what the parade seems to be all about--love of America and Texas and the hometown nature.

Enjoy

Friendswood 4th of July Parade #2

The first thing that every great parade must have is precision marching bands decked out in their finest uniforms, and our little parade has that it spades. OK. Maybe they do not have fine uniforms and maybe their precision is a little off, but, the music is good and they are having a great time.

I wanted these shots to be a little different "take" on a marching band. I tried to use some unusual perspectives and views to give you another look at what you have seen many times.

Enjoy.

Friendswood 4th of July Parade #1

On Saturday, Janice and I headed to our usual haunt on the Forth of July—The Friendswood 4^th of July Day Parade. For those of you who have not gone to THE PARADE, you do not know what you have missed. It is a real parade. It is a parade of the people, by the people and for the people. It is an all-American parade.

I photograph the parade every year. I do not consider it a source of great photographic art; rather, I think of it as a throwback to when I was growing-up in Fort Smith, Arkansas. It is all about the community and the people who live in it.

My approach to the parade was simple: Nikon D3, Nikon 70-200 f/2.8 VR with polarizing filter attached. Post processing was just as simple: Lightroom processing only. Almost all of the photographs were taken from the same place--on the median with me either sitting down or kneeling as I was taken the photo. I might have liked a less busy background, but I selected this place because I had no trees in the median that would block my view down the street.

I do not think that the individual photographs are anything special. In fact, I really do not think of them as individual photos. I think of the total of the photographs as summation of what the parade is all about--flags, streamers, people, floats, bands, et al.

Today’s photos are some shots of some of the high fashion fans who aligned the parade route. Most people do not know that Friendswood, Texas is the new fashion capitol of the world. Sorry, Paris. Sorry Milan. Sorry New York. Sorry Tokyo. I wanted these photo to show the people who came to the parade and a little of their enjoyment during the parade.

Enjoy.

Special Holiday Edition

For some time, I have been reading about Olivewood Cemetery. This historic cemetery in Houston sixth ward has been recently resurrected after years of neglect and is home to the rumors of paranormal activity. Houston's first black alderman, Richard Brock, purchased the six-acres of land in 1875, which reportedly had been formerly used for slave burials. In 1877, he opened it as a cemetery for black Methodists, making it one of the first known graveyards for blacks inside Houston's city limits. The cemetery would become the final resting place for the rich and influential, as well as the poor members of society. Burials continued here until the 1960s when it was abandoned and left at the mercy of the elements.

In 2003, a nonprofit organization by the name of the Descendants of Olivewood was established to take ownership of the grounds and restore and protect its historical significance. After doing away with the overgrowth and helping clean and restore the various grave markers, they hoped to one day re-open the grounds as a park where people can come for the peace and quiet and reflect on the cemetery's history. They have done a lot of work but much more work is needed.

Last week I visited the cemetery for the first time. It has many interesting graves, but one grave caught my eye, that of: Lawrence Cook, Texas, Private, 165 Depot Brigade, November 16^th, 1936. Why did this particular grave catch my eye; because of the newly planted American flag at the base of the tombstone. None of the other graves in the cemetery seemed to have had any attention in some time. Why did someone plant a flag on this particular grave?

I did a little research on the Texas 165 Depot Brigade and leaned that it was an integrated brigade that fought in France during World War II. Not a lot is written about the brigade, but it does really seem unusual for the time.

My visit and subsequent research provided me with two pieces of information that I did not know: Houston had a black alderman in 1870, which was very shortly after the Civil War and Texas had one of the first integrated brigades in the US Army. So much for the stereo-types about Texas.

I wanted a photo of the flag and the tombstone and tried various approaches. I finally tried a slap-zoom while using a flash to freeze the flag in the image. This is a technique that Craig Tanner recently described in one of his videos.

Enjoy.

Camera settings: Nikon D3, Nikon 300mm f/8, shot at ISO 200, f/9.5 and 1/10^th of a second on a tripod with a SB-800 with a snoot aimed at flag and triggered by Nikon CLS.

Post Processing:

Lightroom—Set white and black points, added mid-tone contrast, clarity, added vegnetting and cropped image to move flag off center.

Face to Face

This butterfly was so interested in this flower that he did not care about anything else. I wanted the photograph to be about the details of the butterfly, so I added an extension tube to my 105mm Nikon Macro lens to focus on the details. The hardest part of the photograph was dialing down the flash to the point where we would not blow-out the details—Cole did a great job!

Even at an aperture of f/16, I was able to get only his right eye in focus. I think that the shallow depth of field helps focus the viewer's attention on what I thought was the real subject of the photograph.

Cole somehow escaped the wrath of his sister while we were taking this one. Rather, it was Grandpa that felt the sting of "Little Grandma." The comments went something like this:

Chloe: "Grandpa, you are getting to close to the butterfly. You are going to scare him or hurt him. Back up."

Grandpa: "I am not going to hurt him; and, if he gets scared, he will just fly away."

Chloe: "I THINK you should STOP getting so close to him."

(Cole smiling off to the side)

Chloe: "Cole, make Grandpa stop getting so close to him."

Cole: "I want to see him fly off."

Chloe (as she is storming off): "Guys, I am going to tell Grandma that you are scaring the butterfly. She is going to put you guys in time out."

Cole and Grandpa (setting in time out): "Grandpa, you got me in trouble!"

SILENCE from Chloe and Grandma.

Enjoy.

Camera settings: Nikon D3, Nikon 300mm f/4, shot at ISO 200, f/16 and 1/60^th with a SB-800 on a softbox and triggered by Nikon CLS.

Post Processing:

Lightroom—Set white and black points, added mid-tone contrast, clarity.

Photoshop—ran nik Color Efex Pro tonal contrast filter on the butterfly to add contrast to shadows, mid-tones and highlights.

Simple Light

As we approached this butterfly, all I could see was the beam of light behind the butterfly that was falling on the flowers behind him and on the ground. I wanted to put just enough light on the butterfly to make him set out from the flowers, so my expert VAL Cole pointed the light about a foot above the butterfly so that the light would feather gentle on the butterfly’s wings. Our reflector lady was too busy picking flowers for Grandma to be much help on this one.

Once again, we had some editorial comments by my staff that went something like this:

Chloe: "Grandpa, the flowers and the butterfly are so pretty."

Cole: "Blah, blah, blah."

Chloe: "Cole, I am not talking to you. I am talking to Grandpa."

Cole: "Blah, blah, blah."

Why do I feel like I am listening to some of our current politicians?

After seeing this one on my monitor, I tried various crops, including one that was just above the flower on the left side, which eliminated much of the negative space above the butterfly and flowers. After looking at this crop, I felt that the negative spaced added to the overall composition, but I could not decide why it added to the image. What do you think about the crop?

Enjoy.

Camera settings: Nikon D3, Nikon 300mm f/4, shot at ISO 200, f/8 and 1/180^th with a SB-800 on a softbox and triggered by Nikon CLS.

Post Processing:

Lightroom—Set white and black points, added mid-tone contrast, clarity.

Photoshop—ran nik Color Efex Pro tonal contrast filter on the butterfly to add contrast to shadows, mid-tones and highlights.

Butterfly on Cornflowers

The entire production crew really like how this butterfly was setting on the cornflower. Whatever there was that drew him to the flower, he was determined that a Bollywood production crew was not going to get him to move. Every once in while he would fly around for short while and then come back to the same blossom.

Every time the butterfly would fly away, there was a discussion that went something like this:

Cole: "Chloe, you scared him away by putting the reflector too close to him."

Chloe: "No, I did not. You scared him away with your bright light."

Cole: "No, I did not. Grandpa, is he coming back?"

Butterfly would land again. Shooting would resume--to be followed by another take-off, discussion and landing.

Here we place the light behind the butterfly so the at we could get nice even lighting on his wings and we placed our reflector to the right side about even with the butterfly so that we could get some light on the backside of the flower he was setting on.

Enjoy.

Camera settings: Nikon D3, Nikon 300mm f/4, shot at ISO 200, f/9.5 and 1/250^th with a SB-800 on a softbox and triggered by Nikon CLS.

Post Processing:

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

Photoshop—ran nik Color Efex Pro tonal contrast filter on the butterfly and flower to add contrast to shadows, mid-tones and highlights.