Industrial Rainbow

A temporary job assignment had me on the road for a few trips and I passed this scene on the way back from making sales calls in Northern Louisiana. This mill was located in the Northern part of the Texas Piney Woods, but I don’t remember exactly where. I spotted the arc of water in the air from a ways down the road but decided I had to stop when I spotted the rainbow.

Tech: Panosonic Lumix Super Zoom DMC-FZ50 @ 25mm, f5.0 for 1/640 at ISO100 & -1.33, Raw, AP Post Processing:Crop>Duplicate Background>Clone out Unwanted Elements>High Pass Sharpen>Curves/Brightness Adjustment Layer>Merge Visible>Lens Distortion Vignette>Topaz Adjust “Simplify”

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

Tinkering with CS3

Tech: Oly E-3, 12-60 Zuiko @ 60mm, f4.0, 1/800 & ISO 100, Aperture Priority Post Processing: Duplicate Background>Threshold Adjustment Layer in “Multiply”>Merge Visible>Levels>Merge Visible>Find Edges Darken Mode & 48% Opacity
I had this kind of flat image of a coal processing unit on the backside of the Champion Paper Plant at the Washburn Tunnel in Pasadena that I wanted to try and pep up. The subject was already mostly white vessels, and black structure and product so a B&W conversion seemed like the way to go. To boost the blacks I created a layer then selected the dark colors using a “Threshold” Adjustment Layer. I selected as much of the color range as I could, sacrificing some detail, to attain what I thought would add interest and boost contrast. I then change the mode of this layer to “Multiply” and merged the visible layer to a new layer. I also used “Find Edges” on a second layer in “Darken” layer mode at 48% to highlight detail having the effect of a quasi sharpening effect. The combination of these two techniques gave the image a moderate posterizing effect that I ended up like for the image. I’ve included the before and after shots here.

Tech: Oly E-3, 12-60 Zuiko @ 60mm, f4.0, 1/800 & ISO 100, Aperture Priority Post Processing: Duplicate Background>Threshold Adjustment Layer in “Multiply”>Merge Visible>Levels>Merge Visible>Find Edges Darken Mode & 48% Opacity

Winter Blossom

I don’t know what this bloom is but is on a plant that’s on my breezeway. I know about 3 to 5 plants by name and this isn’t one of them. My wife alerted me to the bloom earlier today and I thought I would give it shot. It’s not my favorite thing to shoot but the results at least have encouraged me to try more – we’ll maybe anyway!

Tech: Oly E-3, Zuiko 50-200 w/1” Extension Tube @ 200mm, f22 @ 3.2 Seconds and ISO 800, Aperture Priority, 24” Silver Reflector Post Processing: Duplicate Background> Curves Adjustment Layer>Merge Visible in Soft Light Mode>Topaz Adjust Simplify>Black & White Adjustment Layer>Merge Visible>Lens Distort Vignette>Add Uniform Noise @ 4.8%

Wooden Spiral Staircase

I originally entered a black & white version of this shot in the BAPC Honors Program under the assignment heading of “High Key.” It is a naturally light and airy scene so the end result came out pretty good - judged a “Silver” if I remember correctly. I thought I would rework this color version and like the way it came out.

This staircase is on a small two story antique Federalist style house in Anahuac, TX. It is on the outside of the house leading from the first to second story porch - the only access to the second story.

Tech: Oly E-3, 12-60 Zuiko @ 12mm, f2.8 @ 1/250 and ISO 100, Aperture Priority, On Camera Fill Flash Post Processing: Duplicate Background>Levels Adjustment Layer>Curves Adjustment Layer>Merge Visible>Topaz Adjust Drama>Hue Sat Layer with Mask to Pop the Light Green Paint on the Second Story Only>Lens Distort Vignette

Ropin'

From the archives – This shot is from the ’07 Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo. Taken at the exhibition arena it’s one of many that I have on my hard drive that I probably shouldn’t like, but I do. I was using my old super zoom camera, which is not low light performer, on an indoor action shot and got just about the grainy soft shot I suppose I should have. I also had to remove a lot of clutter, the roping is a team event, to provide a clear subject to the photo.

Tech: Panosonic Lumix Super Zoom @ 23mm, f2.8for 1/60 at ISO400, Raw, AP Post Processing:Crop>Duplicate Background>Clone out Unwanted Elements>Black & White Adjustment Layer

Fidling Around

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