Deserts Around Big Bend_5

This shot is of the Lajitas Cemetery between Big Bend State and National Parks at Lajitas Texas. This should be my last archive shot, hopefully I be able to post some new stuff next week.

Deserts Around Big Bend_4

This shot was taken in a courtyard at a resort in Lajitas Texas in the summer of '08. As usual I don't know the variety but the flowers on this plant hung down from an overhead trellis and were absolutely beautiful.

Deserts Around Big Bend_1

Just found some shots from our summer of '08 trip to Big Bend I hadn't processed and thought this would be a good time to work on them. This one was taken near Lajita's between the State and National parks.

Fixxer Upper

Another old truck, this one was taken on our trip to LaJitas just outside of Big Bend National Park in West Texas last summer. We came across this truck while on a guided jeep trip up LaJitas Mountain in an area heavily mined for “quick silver” [mercury] at the turn of the last century. The old hand built stone building in the background would have been used as company store, a place where the thousands of mine workers would have been forced to trade their pay markers in for over priced goods from the mine owners. The circumstances leading to the truck winding up where it did would be anybodies guess.

Tech: Oly E-3, Zuiko 50-200 w/1.4 Converter @ 50mm, f6.3 @ 1/6400 and ISO 1250,-0.3, Aperture Priority Post Processing: Camera Raw: Crop>Clarity>Saturation>Convert to Grayscale >CS3: Duplicate Background> Levels Adjustment>Curves Adjustment Layer>Merge Visible>Mask Truck and Brighten Background w/Curves>Merge Visible>Copy Truck Mask>Add Diffuse Glow @ 57%>Add Solid Color [Black]Layer>Erase Center to Create Vignette @36%

Desert Repose

This is a shot of the Lajitas Cemetery in Lajitas Texas taken in June of last year. Lajitas is located between Big Bend State and Big Bend National Parks in far West Texas. It was interesting to see these old graves covered with piles of loose stone. I’m sure it’s hard work digging in this mostly stone country and the rocks on top are probably a practical maneuver to avoid as much digging as possible. I thought this shot of through the entry gate created a pretty good sense of the mood of the place.

Tech: Oly E-3, 12-60 Zuiko @ 19mm, f3.5, 1/5000 & ISO 1250, Aperture Priority Post Processing: Duplicate Background>Crop Square>Topaz Adjust “Simplify”>Levels>Curves>Merge Visible in Multiply W/ Mask to Preserve Sky and Lighten Center of Shot>Selective Color Sky to Darken>Lens Distortion Vignette

Lajitas Patio Brunch

This shot is another from our trip this summer to Lajitas in Big Bend country. It’s a table set for a mid-morning brunch on the resort restaurants eastern exposure. The shaded scene looked like a good place to take a little break from the 100 degree plus weather.

Tech: Oly E-3 w/ 50-200 Zuiko @ f2.8 @ 50mm, 1/6400th @ ISO1250, Aperture Priority Post Processing: Duplicate Background>Crop>Levels>Curves>Merge Visible>Len Distortion Vignette for Additional Darkening the Foreground