Baby L

This one really WAS an angel. I thought the first baby I tried photographing was the most darling I had ever seen, but this little 4 month old girl surpassed even him. Her personality was so much more animated and she didn't mind all the different things the mom and I tried with her. Disappointingly though, we wore her out in just an hour of shooting, so I have to go back to try all the things we didn't get to, darn. :) I hope I can photograph her as she grows up, what a fantastic subject she is. This time I went to the baby's home and that may have made the difference in how she responded to me. I got too involved in photographing and did not watch my shutterspeeds so got a lot of soft focused shots or movement blur because I chose not to use my flash, even though I took it along. I was afraid it would startle her or cause her to stop her darling expressions and also I was shooting in bursts to catch all the little nuances and did not want to wait for the flash to recycle. Next time I probably will at least try to introduce it and see what happens.

Camera info: Nikon D200, 50mm 1.8 lens at f2.8 and 1/40th, ISO200, cloudy whitebalance

Post processing: increased exposure and blacks in ACR, ran Bring Out the Eyes action, CreamSickle from Kubota but masked off baby's skin, the Edge for global sharpening and PopSickle in softlight to sharpen her eyes

Glenwood Tree

For those who have never been out to Glenwood Cemetery. I think this tree is the oldest one out there and it is pretty amazing to see how it has spread its limbs among all the graves. There are wires supporting some limbs and I talked to someone there after Ike hit who told me that tree had not been damaged, although others were. The cemetery is not typical of Houston's topography as there are rolling hills and a lot of old majestic trees which makes it very peaceful and serene. There are many interesting statues, with the Weeping Angel being one of the most well known. It is a place that can be visited and appreciated many times.

Glenwood Cemetery

My photo club had an assignment back in March 2008 of "Cemetery" and I went with friends to Glenwood in Houston. It is a very interesting old cemetery where Howard Hughes is buried in an unidentified family plot, with huge centuries-old Live Oak trees, lots of interesting statues and old grave stones to explore. I used my Lensbaby and although I did not get the area I wanted sharp, these are two of my favorite images from that day. One reason is that the model for this boy angel could have been my son when he was a toddler and young child. But he only LOOKED angelic! (just kidding B.)

Camera info: Nikon D200, Lensbaby 3G with (I think) the f4 aperture ring in, shutterspeeds of 1/320th (top) and 1/250th (bottom)

Post processing: increased exposure, blacks and vibrance in ACR, in Photoshop cloned debris away, ran the Edge for global sharpening, Punch Drunk reduced to 55% opacity, levels for global brightening, then levels to adjust whitebalance, PopSickle in Softlight on the top image and Overlay on the bottom to make the texture stand out

Ugly bug alert

I was searching some bushes and trees in my backyard looking for a bird nest because I can once again hear baby birds cheeping when I saw this cicada emerging from it's shell. I have never wanted to be a cicada but it is a shame that humans cannot shed their old wrinkly spotty skin for nice soft new beautiful skin as insects can do. And some beautiful wings like that wouldn't be bad either.

Camera info: Nikon D200, 60mm macro lens at various apertures from 3.2 to 5.6

Post processing: set black points and increased exposures in ACR, ran Punch Drunk action from Kubota for more intense colors, levels for global brightening and to correct white balance, sharpened with the Edge and PopSickle (wings).

The Blues, Courtesy of Ike

Another casualty of Hurricane Ike, but possibly this place wasn't much to begin with. Is it interesting enough for a "flotsam and jetsam" submission?

Camera info: Nikon D200, 18 - 70mm 3.5-4.5 lens at f8 and 1/80th, ISO 400, white balance cloudy

Post Processing: selected sky highlights and multiplied them on a new layer, Touch of Light on the writing, merged into a colorburn layer at 47% but masked off sky, copied into a softlight layer at 55%, selected writing and multiplied then overlayed it to increase contrast, Levels layer for global brightening, Curves for contrast, merged and cloned out distracting pieces of trash, the Edge and the highpass filter in Softlight for sharpening.

Red and Green

I have an azalea plant with these tiny green grasshoppers on it. The grasshoppers are about a 1/2 inch in size and I thought I would try a macro shot using a close-up filter on my macro lens. I think this was the +4 filter, but am not sure. With the extremely shallow depth of field from the close-up filter, I think this would be considered a selective focus image, with the bug being the sharpest focus in the image.

Camera info: Nikon D200, 60mm macro lens with +4 close-up filter at f5.0 and 1/3000th, ISO 400, whitebalance on flash setting (oops)

Post processing: Cloned away distracting dark area, some yellow pollen and dark spots, Touch of Light to brighten dark area, PopSickle and the Edge to sharpen only the grasshopper, Curves to darken perimeter of flower.

Flowerburst

I don't know what kind of flower this is, maybe a Zinnia or a Dahlia. I just liked the radiating petals and the vibrant colors, with that little star-shaped pistol or stamen as an extra touch.

Camera info: Nikon D200, 60mm macro lens at f4.5 and 1/160th, ISO 100, cloudy whitebalance

Post processing: cloned out white specks, Punch Drunk from Kubota, Touch of dark on edges, sharpened with the Edge and Popsickle (applied to the center only).