Dinner at Lulu's 2

From our trip San Antonio trip in September, this photo is at the almost famous [1)Best Chicken Fried Steak in Texas according to Texas Monthly (at some point) and 2) 3 lb. cinnamon rolls] Lulus Bakery and Café. We ordered the regular chicken fried steaks because the large sizes were reported to overhang the plates on all sides. Even though our waiter told us Shaquille O’Neal came in and eaten three, we thought we would go with just the “regular.” The place was uninspiring from the road and if the hotel clerk at the Marriot hadn’t suggested it we never would have stopped. That would have been our loss - the food, atmosphere, service, and our friends made it an evening to remember.

Tech: Oly E-3 w/ 12-60 Zuiko @ f2.8 & 12mm, 1/80th @ ISO100, Aperture Priority Post Processing: Duplicate Background>High Pass Sharpen>Merge Visible to new Luminosity Layer w/ Topaz Adjust “Spicify” Preset>Merge Visible and Run CS3 “Diffuse Glow” Filter and use Gradient Filled Mask on top Third>Len Distortion Vignette

Alamo HDR

In early September my wife and I took a trip to San Antonio with two other couples and stayed at a hotel on the River Walk. Along with the camaraderie and enjoyment inherent in the association with long-time friends there were also lots of photo ops. And certainly nothing says San Antonio like the Alamo, probably one of the most known and easily recognizable landmarks in the US. Unfortunately it’s also one of the most photographed! Well here is yet another Alamo shot, my attempt at capturing the much publicized mission in a slightly different light.

This shot is a handheld nighttime HDR made up of three exposures of -1, 0, and +1. After combining the photos in Photomatrix I opened the TIFF file in PS2, use high-pass sharpening and a curves adjustment layer to enhance it. I then merged the layers to create a flat image from the visible layer and used Virtual Photography’s “Copper” preset at layer opacity 50% to warm up the image. I like the way it turned out and hope you do as well.