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Monday, November 08, 2010
Miami Beach
Wednesday, October 06, 2010
Railroad Outlaws
The other day I decided to take a few hours and travel to Galveston and do some photography. In the small village of Bayou Vista, Texas I stopped to put fuel in my white Ford truck. As I was pumping the fuel I noticed several locomotives sitting idle on the tracks across the roadway. I decided to drive over and check it out, and possibly get a shot or two to start off my day.
After arriving I realized that I would need to walk out on to the railroad tracks in order to get the photo I wanted, but I knew entering railroad property was against the law. Since there wasn't anyone around I thought the chance of getting caught would be minimal.
As I sat in my truck unpacking my camera and getting my tripod ready I looked up to see a white pickup truck slowly driving toward me. I thought to myself, crap it's a railroad worker and they are going to tell me to leave before I get the photo. As the truck approached and eased along side me the man driving looked at me and I looked at him. Eye to eye we did not exchange any waves, smiles or friendly head nods. This can't be good I thought.
The truck passed me and turned around on the narrow road and parked about fifty yards behind me. I watched through my side mirror to see what he was going to do. Thoughts raced through my mind, was he writing down my license plate number, calling for backup, loading his shot gun... who knew? After what seeming like an eternity he exited the vehicle holding something in his hands and began walked towards my vehicle. I watched his progress, preparing myself for what was coming. About half way he stopped and lifted a Nikon camera to his eye, aimed it at the locomotives and snapped off a few shots and then turned back to his truck.
Whew! Just another photographer. I then jumped out of my truck walked out onto the railroad tracks and took my photos. As he drove away he gave me a big smile and a wave good-bye.
This is a High Dynamic Range (HDR) image composed of three exposures (0, -2 and +2 stops) using a Canon EOS 7D and Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS lens @ 70mm on a very sturdy tripod. The properly exposed image was shot in Av mode using ISO 100, F/22 at 1/40 second. The three RAW images where combined and tone mapped using Photomatix 3.0 and further processed using Lightroom 3.0.
All images copyright Daniel Ray Photography.
After arriving I realized that I would need to walk out on to the railroad tracks in order to get the photo I wanted, but I knew entering railroad property was against the law. Since there wasn't anyone around I thought the chance of getting caught would be minimal.
As I sat in my truck unpacking my camera and getting my tripod ready I looked up to see a white pickup truck slowly driving toward me. I thought to myself, crap it's a railroad worker and they are going to tell me to leave before I get the photo. As the truck approached and eased along side me the man driving looked at me and I looked at him. Eye to eye we did not exchange any waves, smiles or friendly head nods. This can't be good I thought.
The truck passed me and turned around on the narrow road and parked about fifty yards behind me. I watched through my side mirror to see what he was going to do. Thoughts raced through my mind, was he writing down my license plate number, calling for backup, loading his shot gun... who knew? After what seeming like an eternity he exited the vehicle holding something in his hands and began walked towards my vehicle. I watched his progress, preparing myself for what was coming. About half way he stopped and lifted a Nikon camera to his eye, aimed it at the locomotives and snapped off a few shots and then turned back to his truck.
Whew! Just another photographer. I then jumped out of my truck walked out onto the railroad tracks and took my photos. As he drove away he gave me a big smile and a wave good-bye.
Friday, October 01, 2010
Don't Blow the Horn
I recall as a kid driving through the Baytown tunnel and being told by a family friend driving the car that if you blew the cars horn while inside the tunnel the sound vibrations would cause the tunnel to collapse and kill all those inside. Just as the driver finished telling this horrific story she blew the horn scaring the hell out of us kids. Of course the tunnel didn't collapse.
Well the old Baytown tunnel is no more and was replaced by the very modern Fred Hartman suspension bridge in 1995. Here the bridge can be seen at sunset with the lights of the many refineries that line the Houston ship channel. What you can't see are the sunken sail boats (camera right) that still remain after hurricane Ike devastated this region in 2008. You also can't see the millions of mosquitoes that where eating me alive as I waited for the sun to set in order to capture this image.
This image is a High Dynamic Range (HDR) image composed of three exposures (0, -2 and +2 stops) using a Canon EOS 7D and Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS lens and a very sturdy tripod. The properly exposed image was shot in Av mode using ISO 100, F/22 at 2 seconds. The three RAW images where combined and tone mapped using Photomatix 3.0 and further cleaned up using Lightroom 3.0.
Fred Hartman Bridge over the Houston ship channel between La Porte and Baytown, Texas
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Reflections of San Jacinto
Many outside Texas know about the battle at the Alamo where the Mexican army decimated the Texas Army, but fewer know about the decisive battle of San Jacinto where the Texas Army defeated General Antonio López de Santa Anna's Mexican forces in a fight that lasted just eighteen minutes..
This was my third visit to the monument and the first visit for my three sons. They enjoyed the the elevator ride to the top of the 567 foot monument and once at the top they enjoyed the view over Galveston Bay even more. If you're visiting the greater Houston area I encourage you to visit this one of kind monument and the surrounding grounds.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
HDR to the Rescue
Earlier this week I was visiting Galveston Island, Texas and the scenery was absolutely beautiful. As usual I had my camera with me and I wanted to capture the spectacular scenes, but I knew the photographic images I'd capture would not to justice to what I was witnessing so I put my camera up and called it a day.
The Gulf of Mexico. No oil here thank God.
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My wife painting a seascape as she watched our three boys play in the surf. I particularly like the golden color of the setting sun that illuminated the rocks behind her.
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A large collection of rocks that have been placed at the base of the seawall to protect it from future storms. I believe these rocks were added after hurricane Ike devastated Galveston island in September 2008.
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Seawall graffiti
All images copyright Daniel Ray Photography.
Hah, not a chance! I turned to the photographic technique known as High Dynamic Range (HDR) to help me deliver an image that was truer to the scene I wanted to capture. HDR can be used to capture the wide dynamic range of tones in an scene by slicing the dynamic range into three or more exposures and then using computer software to layer the multiple images into a single image that has a wider tonal range than the camera could capture with just one exposure.
What follows are a few images from that day that I captured as three JPEG images at exposures of -2 stops, +2 stops and a proper exposure with no exposure compensation. The three JPEG images were then combined and tone mapped using Photomatix 3.0 and further adjusted using Adobe Lightroom 3.0.
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Looking west down the beach with the seawall on the far right side and the 61st street fishing pier in the far background
All images copyright Daniel Ray Photography.
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