Playing Around at the Old Cemetery!

I decided to do something a little different last night. Take a chance, experiment a little, try out a new technique. I have seen some work that was created with multiple images. They weren't really a variety of exposures but instead in each exposure a different area of the scene is lit with a flash. Usually colored gels are put over the flash to give added color. I went out to an old cemetery in Garland that I had driven by many times but never explored. Interesting place. It has one of those Historical Monument things telling about it at the entrance. I'm not necessarily a fan of cemetery photos but I'm sure I can get something neat with this technique in the future.

I was over by the Hollywood Theater in Garland last night and spotted this sculpture at the Dart Station that was next door. The sun had set and it was just dark enough to use a flash with a red gel on the sculpture and have it pick up some of the red. I also added a texture layer, vignetted it and then reduced the opacity quite a bit. After shooting the sculpture I went across the parking lot and photographed things on the front of the Hollywood Theater. I chose to include this shot of the ticket booth and several funky looking posters. Still working on the Casa Linda Theater. The Bert Monroy filter takes a lot of work.

Back to the Square in Garland!

I have photographed the Plaza Theater before but I believe that you can never be too familiar with your subject. The light will change and so will the surroundings. Even if I have shot it 20 different ways there will always be 10 more ways that I will eventually think of. The way I process my images is also in a constant state of change. New software, new techniques, and changing visions on my part. So is the way of digital photography.
When I arrived last night I thought... Oh crap. They are having a play tonight and there are cars out front and people going in and out. I was able to shoot the top image and not include the clutter out front. I did this with one shot instead of an HDR combination of exposures like I usually do. Getting all the lights to be on in one shot is much of the problem. See how they go off and on at this link. It actually was a good thing that the theater was open. The play didn't start for another hour so I went inside and asked to take some pictures. I had never been inside before. The interior is Art Deco and quite well restored as you can see.

White Christmas in Garland, Texas!

I've lived in the Dallas area for 57 years and it finally happened...snow on the ground on December 25th. It wasn't very much snow. We never get very much around here. It started Christmas Eve right after lunchtime. For several hours it came down quite hard but the temperature was above freezing and it was melting as soon as it hit the ground. Around 4:30 the temperature had dropped and the snow finally started sticking. It continued for another three hours but was light. We only ended up with a little over an inch at my house, but enough to call it a White Christmas. First one here since 1926, and I missed that one.

I just had to go out Christmas morning and take some pictures in my back yard because I knew the snow would start melting as soon as the sun got up good. We also had to be at my mother in laws around noon. Several critters had left tracks in the fresh snow. Something had crossed the fence and gone over to the edge of the pond and then left the way it came. Probably a cat. The picture above is an interesting set of tracks which came from the back fence and then vanished under the deck through a small opening. If you look close you can see a line down the middle of the tracks. I'm guessing this was a rat or a very large mouse. Looks like I will be going to the hardware store tomorrow and getting a present for this rodent.

Black and white or color or both?

The Plaza and Corner Pocket in Black and White

I converted this image to black and white a few days ago. The color version was posted on Jan 4. I like the bright colors of the original version but I also like this version. Some images work both ways while others only work in either black and white or color.
Clark