Before the Cruise

Posted on January 13, 2015 by Rick

We went on a cruise after New Years. Before the cruise, I took a day to go out in Galveston. My original intent was to visit some places looking for birds, but that didn’t work well, as there were few birds around. I drove down to the harbor knowing there were always pelicans at the marina. When I got there, I saw The Elissa had her sails up. It appeared that there was some function on board. The Carnival Triumph was also there, and the two of them juxtaposed made for an interesting study.

From Sail to Steam and

Sailing Old and New

Afterwards, I went back to looking for birds. but that didn’t last too long. As I was driving down Harborside, I noticed a marina I had never seen before by UTMB. It is apparently a place where the commercial fishing boats dock, and normally, they are out fishing, but on this day they were all docked.

The Fishing Fleet 1

Lone Star Rally 2014

Posted on November 12, 2014 by Rick

We went to Galveston last weekend for the Lone Star Rally. We went to a new area along Seawall first and spent quite a bit of time there. They have moved one of the stages there and that is the location for the custom bike sown. As in the past, there is a serious obsession with skulls.

It tried to sprinkle a little, and the result was a pretty good rainbow.

We then went downtown. By the time we got there, the crowds were overwhelming, but we walked around. I could not get as many shots of people as I have gotten in past years. We were there late enough that the Triumph was leaving, and I got a nice shot of it.

And a nice shot of Mechanic St. with the sun going down.

Galveston

Posted on June 9, 2014 by Rick

I spent last weekend in Galveston and just about all I had to do was take pictures. I began at the harbor in my usual spot where the shrimp and fishing boats dock. I got some reasonable pictures of birds, but I got a pretty good environmental portrait of this fisherman mending his net.

After The Catch

That evening was Art Walk. After that, I waited until the sun was down and went to the beach. I wanted to get a night shot of the fishing pier. That mean a really long shutter speed which meant that as the waves came in, there was a sequential reflection of the pier’s light on the water.

61st St. Fishing Pier

Pier 21

Posted on September 3, 2013 by Rick

An add in local Galveston publications features a picture of Pier 21 at dusk. It struck me as an interesting picture, but an HDR treatment might add to its effect. Debbie and I went to a concert Saturday night, and after it was over, we went down to Pier 21 and tried to get some pictures. I ended up with two versions, and I can’t quite decide which one I like better.

The statue on the left adds a strong foreground element to the composition of this version, but, I wonder if it is not also a distraction compared to the second version.

Cruise 2013 – Galveston before we left

Posted on August 8, 2013 by Rick

We went on a cruise a couple weeks ago. Prior to departing, you sit on the boat and wait. While waiting, I did get a couple of interesting shots. Then, when we did sail away, I was able to get a couple more really good ones.

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This is another HDR shot. I shot it from the deck of the ship and did my best to get a straight shot along 25th St. The deck I was on ended a little short of where I really wanted to be, but this worked pretty well. You can see from the harbor all the way to the Pleasure Pier.

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As we were sailing away, I was able to get this HDR image of The Elissa.

Galveston Historic Houses

Posted on July 6, 2013 by Rick

Galveston has a huge number of large historic houses. I have wanted to get HDR images of many of them to add to my Galveston images. A few months ago, I got some of the Bishop’s Palace and a house across from it on Broadway, but didn’t have time to get more of other places. I started today with the ones that the Galveston Historic Foundation lists on their web site.

This was the Samuel May Williams house.

This was the Michael B. Menard House. Note the bird on the porch. Those looked like herons. They were walking around the front lawn. I don’t know if they were in some way domesticated, but they didn’t seem very concerned with me taking pictures.

This was Ashton Villa.

This was Moody Mansion.

Fourth of July Parade

Posted on July 5, 2013 by Rick

I enjoy “event” photography. It is a way of taking candid pictures of people. The expressions on their faces are spontaneous and relevant to the moment. Last night was the Fourth of July Parade in Galveston. The parade was on Seawall. It started at 59th St. and went in to 25th. We walked down to about 57th and got a good spot on the curb. Once the parade started it was a general melee and people crowded into the street, mainly because most of those marching in the parade were throwing beads or candy. In spite of the crowd, I was able to get some good shots of the people in the parade.

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This was a little boy who was “dancing” to the music provided prior to the parade.

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The expression of concentration on this woman’s face was great.

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This woman was on the Yaga’s float. She had a variety of small stuffed animals, and she would reach out with one and shake it back and forth. she would then toss it to one of the children.

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I Pirate relegated to driving a golf cart in a parade.

Galveston – The Elissa

Posted on June 8, 2013 by Rick

I have been doing quite a bit of HDR imagery using Galveston locations. We were down there the weekend of the 8th. I didn’t really feel in the mood on Saturday morning but then remembered we joined the Galveston Historical Society. That meant we could get into The Elissa for free. So, I decided to go down to the harbor and shoot a little and go on The Elissa and shoot.

In looking at one of the magazines, I saw a picture take roughly in the same place as this. Only, it was a night photograph, and all the winds glowed brightly. It was an effective picture, and I would like to try a similar thing at some point, but this was just take from behind Willie G’s looking back at it.

While we were in the harbor, this fishing boat came in. It made an interesting subject for an HDR image. Then I noticed that a woman on the boat was quite busy dealing with the catch and got a nice picture of her.

We then went over to The Elissa and walked around the ship.

Galveston HDR Images

Posted on March 13, 2013 by Rick

We went to GalI decided it might be good to take a series of HDR image around Galveston. So, over the weekend, I went to a variety of places.

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For some of them, I used a very light HDR application, but for other, much more intense.

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This made me really start to consider these kinds of images in a different way. I am wondering if there would be any commercial value to these either as individual images or as a book.

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HDR Images

Posted on February 13, 2013 by Rick

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High Dynamic Range photography is a process that combines elements from several images and produces a single picture that has increased detail in both the shadows and highlights. I was impressed by a picture that someone else took, and asked him about it. He told me how he did it, and I have been investigating the process.

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In some cases, the resulting picture is not too different from a regular one, it just has more detail. The picture above was generated from a picture I took of Galveston Bay a couple weeks ago. It looks pretty much like a normal picture, only a little more detail and more vibrant.

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By modifying some of the parameters of the photograph, the resulting image has a somewhat more abstract or artistic characteristic. This picture has some characteristics that make it look more like a painting.

RED Imagery Photography

Dynamic Photography in and around Waco, Texas

Tag Archives: Galveston

Before the Cruise

Lone Star Rally 2014

Galveston

Pier 21

Cruise 2013 – Galveston before we left

Galveston Historic Houses

Fourth of July Parade

Galveston – The Elissa

Galveston HDR Images

HDR Images