digital days revisited

This is another photo from the Digital Days model shoot in Houston. I did a little something different with this image - I used the dreaded Lucis Art filter on a layer with a blending mode and dialed it back. I think it was the first time I've ever applied a blending mode with a Lucis layer. Anyway, I think it made for an interesting (not overwhelming) level of shadow detail. I also used a Nik Silver Efex sepia layer, again in a blending mode, then painted back a little color in the face. Funny how when you start using blending modes with textures like I've been doing a lot lately, that concept makes you start working with traditional layers the same way. It definitely opens up some new levels of tonality.

purple tulip

This is another photo from the ongoing floral macro series. Tulips are such a natural spring subject...taken from the front or back, they always seem to produce good results. This photo was a little different in the series - it was taken with a standard 85mm macro lens (no extension tubes), so it has a little more in focus. It was lit from a single umbrella flash from the upper right.

three shades of purple

...part of the ongoing selective focus macro floral project. This photo of tulips was taken last week over the Easter weekend. This project started out over the winter as a means for me to learn how to light with strobes, umbrellas, and a small softbox. It seems to be continuing into the spring.

the future's so bright...

A couple of weeks ago when the Bay Area Photo Club made a field trip to the Jamail Skate Park in Houston, young girls were featured skaters. One young girl who I posted a photo of a few days ago was fearless dropping in to the bowl and ultimately turned out to be a great subject for many of the photographers there. Later in the morning I met the woman above, who it turned out was the mother of that young girl. Small world. But here's the really crazy thing. As I was working on this image I noticed my reflection in her sunglasses, and I swear to God this is true (you probably won't be able to see this onscreen) --- but if you look close enough you can see Larry J. Patrick laying on his belly shooting skaters flying inches from his wide angle lens, and here I am getting the shot of the pretty woman. Now, that has to be a first.

opening day

In honor of opening day today for Major League Baseball, here's a photo I took at Busch Stadium in St. Louis about two years ago, which is a great stadium -- even if it's not the original "donut" design of the 1970s and 80s stadium. It's great because you get a nice view of the downtown skyline from just about any part of the stadium.

Elissa captain

The photo above was taken on the Elissa day sail last week. This is captain Kip Files from Maine, who comes down to Galveston every year to skipper the tall ship Elissa on her annual day sails out of Galveston. This shot was taken as Elissa was coming in to dock. If you're in the area, the Spanish Navy tall ship Juan Sebastián Elcano will be in Galveston with free tours until Monday. For the image here, textures and edges were added in Photoshop.

sowle sister

This photo was taken last Saturday at the Jamail Skate Park, when they opened it up to young girls. It was amazing to me how fearless these girls were on skateboards. There were lots of knee pads and helmets, even a cast or two, but these young ladies were all out there doing what they love. And I guess the same could be said for the group of 10-15 Bay Area Photo Club members who were there also - each one doing what they love trying to get that one unique shot ... although I don't think any of us were in helmets. A masked Lucis Art layer was applied to the image above to bring up the contrast on the concrete, a texture was added to warm up and bring in even more grittiness, and the corners were vignetted.