Destruction and Amusement

The Kemah (Texas) boardwalk seen from the north side of the Clear Lake channel. The building in the foreground was destroyed by hurricane Ike in September 2008.  The boardwalk, restaurants and amusement park were also badly damaged in the hurricane but have since been repaired.

Equipment: Canon EOS 40D | Canon EF 50mm F/1.8 Lens | Tripod Mounted
EXIF Info: ISO 100 | 50mm | F/11 | 8.0 sec

All images copyright Daniel Ray Photography.

What's Your Second Most Important Tool?

Other than your camera and lenses what is the second most important tool when it comes to producing great looking digital images?  In my opinion it is your computer's video display monitor.

I'm currently using an HP ZR24w 24-inch S-IPS LCD Monitor as my primary display for using Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop for post processing images.  When I first installed the HP ZR24w I noticed that the images looked very different than they did with my previous monitor, a ViewSonic VX2240W 22" wide screen LCD.

After running just the HP ZR24w for a few weeks I decided to reconnect the ViewSonic VX2240W as my secondary display.  After getting both monitors connected I used a Spyder2Express color calibrator and calibrated each monitor. 

After calibrating both monitors and displaying the same image on each monitor the difference in the display quality between these two monitors is absolutely astonishing. The more expensive HP monitor has a much clearer and brighter display that allows me to see the details in images that can't be seen on the much cheaper Viewsonic monitor. 

I'm so impressed with the HP ZR24w 24-inch S-IPS LCD Monitor that I've ordered a second one to replace the ViewSonic VX2240W which will find a new home on my wife's or children's PC.

Fat Tuesday

Street photography can be fun when you find someone that really stands out from the crowd and commands your attention.  Recently I saw this young couple and knew I wanted to get a candid photo of them.  Obviously they stand out because not too many guys wear hats anymore, although I here they are coming back into style, and young women don't wear aqua colored sequin flapper dresses from the 1920's.  So these two really should catch your attention right?

Winter at Brazos Bend State Park

My wife was invited to attend a plein air (outdoor) painters meet-up at Brazos Bend State Park near our home.  I of course didn't object knowing it would provide me the opportunity to photograph the park in it's winter colors.

What follows are a few images of the golden winter colors of this beautiful state park.

Brazos Bend Texas State Park - Dried flowers along the Praire Trail


Ancient old oak trees such as this one can be found through out the park

  The ameircan alligators were out in force on this warm winter day.  I counted more the thirty gators as I walked through the many lake trails of the park

 Grassy field at the end of the Praire Trail at Brazos Bend State Park

  The colors of winter wash over the grassy wetlands of southeast Texas

Our new friends Tim and Kirby painting at New Horseshoe lake.

 Brilliant red berries stand out against the mutted winter colors of the trees, brush, vines and spanish moss.




 Three of the five painters whom attended the meet-up

 A sea of dry grass

All images copyright Daniel Ray Photography.

I Don't Regret The Egret

I view photography as an art form, but in my opinion the artwork isn't complete when you've pressed the shutter button on your camera, in fact that is when the creative artist in you can really get to work. 

Back in days of film photography the dark room was where the artists could add their creative touches to a file negative to produce a print that captured the look and feeling of their photographic subject. With digital photography the dark room has been replacing with photo manipulation software that can really allow an artist to do amazing things with an image.

I took the following image of a white egret walking in the mud flats of a creek in the late afternoon.  I didn't care much for the image because the focus wasn't very sharp, the color wasn't very good, the egret did stand out in the image and the all the mud in the foreground wasn't working for me.  All in all it was a mess, but...

I pulled the image up in Photoshop and decided i could fix the color by converting the image to monochrome.  I converted it to black and white and expanded the tonal range so that the egret was bright white and the trees and brush on the river bank had areas of solid black.

My wife walked in and watched over my shoulder as I manipulated the image.  I asked her what she thought of it as I flipped back and fourth between the before and after images.  She said the black and white looked better but what if I used another color, like green?

The final image was cropped to remove the mud in the foreground.  I still don't think it's a master piece but I'm pleased that these few simple changes may have rescued this image from the binary trash can.  What do you think?

All images copyright Daniel Ray Photography.