Nature Photography – More Images from Gorman Falls

Here are two more shots taken last month at Gorman Falls in the Colorado Bend State Park near Lampasas, Texas.

I was blessed to have perfect morning light filtering through the trees for these shots and the green moss covered rocks really seemed to glow. On my immediate left was the Colorado river flowing south to the Gulf of Mexico. The water in the Colorado was its usual brown, full of red clay and silt but the water pouring over the falls was perfectly clear, cool and refreshing. The geology of the area was fascinating and beautiful falls looked as if it belonged in Hawaii, rather than some remote corner of the Texas Hill Country.

I can't post all my photos from this shoot because I'm planning to submit an article to Texas Highways and Texas Parks & Wildlife magazines. I haven't had any of my work published in the past 30 years so we'll see if this old guy's still got what it takes. I also plan to make these two posters available for sale on my blog later this month if I can get PayPal configured correctly. And I'll also be leading a photo-safari to this location in the fall if anyone's interested. I'll post more details later in the summer, so stay tuned.

Gorman Falls, Texas 16 x 24 Poster
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 40D set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM tripod-mounted. The exposure was taken at 35mm, f/16 for 1/2 second at ISO 100 on Sandisk digital film. Post capture processing was done entirely in Lightroom 2. Click on the image above for a larger version.

Gorman Falls, Texas 16 x 24 Poster
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 40D set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM tripod-mounted. The exposure was taken at 10mm, f/13 for 1/3rd of a second at ISO 200 on Sandisk digital film. Post capture processing was done entirely in Lightroom 2. Click on the image above for a larger version.

Posted in Photography Tagged: Canon, Canon 40D, Colorado Bend State Park, Gorman Falls, Landscape Photography

Landscape Photography – Longhorn Cavern State Park

This is a shot I took from the rooftop of the original park headquarters at the Longhorn Cavern State Park near Burnet, Texas. This beautiful stone building was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) back in the mid 1930 s. The Civilian Conservation Corps had a real impact on Texas by constructing the state's first park system. The CCC was Franklin D. Roosevelt's most popular "New Deal" programs and put unemployed men to work on conservation projects throughout the United States. The second image is a shot of the incredible arches which lead visitors down to the caverns.

Rooftop Compass at Longhorn Cavern State Park, Texas
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 40D set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM hand-held. The exposure was taken at 10mm, f/8 for 1/2000th of a second at ISO 100 on Sandisk digital film. Post capture processing was done in Lightroom 2 and Photoshop CS4. Click on the image above for a larger version.

Arches & Shadows at Longhorn Cavern State Park, Texas
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 40D set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM hand-held. The exposure was taken at 22mm, f/8 for 1/400th of a second at ISO 100 on Sandisk digital film. Post capture processing was done in Lightroom 2 and Photoshop CS4. Click on the image above for a larger version.

Posted in Photography Tagged: Canon, Canon 40D, Landscape Photography, Longhorn Cavern State Park

Landscape Photography – Duotone

Just a real quick post while I plan my next trip to the Angelina National Forest near Lufkin, Texas.

If you're a Photoshop user and haven't purchased Scott Kelby's latest "Photoshop CS4 Book for Digital Photographers" yet, don't wait another minute. Yes, I'm a definite fanboy of Scott's books, Kelby Training and NAPP. I hate technical books and really hate some author talking down to me in his book just because I was born in a "pre-computer" era. Scott writes all of his books just like his training videos; as if he's your friend showing you something cool he's just discovered in CS4. He never talks down to you or makes you feel stupid because you haven't memorized every keyboard shortcut in the world. He explains Photoshop logically, one step at a time and never assumes you've been doing this for ten years. His style is competent and comfortable, and for a computer book author, it's a rare treat.

The Road is Long in Duotone - Johnson City, Texas
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 40D set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM hand-held. The exposure was taken at 24mm, f/11 for 1/125th of a second at ISO 100 on Sandisk digital film. Post capture processing was done in Lightroom 2 and in Photoshop CS4 as a duotone. Click on the image above for a larger version.

Scott's "Photoshop CS4 Book for Digital Photographers" book has a cool section called "Quadtoning for Richer B&Ws" and it's a wonderful technique for adding that something extra to your black and white images. Photoshop CS4 makes this technique a real snap and I finished the image above in about ten seconds using one of the 137 built-in presets.

Very, very cool!

Posted in Photography Tagged: Canon, Canon 40D, Kelby Training, NAPP, Photoshop CS4, Scott Kelby

Landscape Photography – Looking Upstream

Oops! Quick change of plans. I'm heading for the Angelina National Forest late this afternoon (about 150 mile drive from Sugar Land) and I'll be up before dawn to catch the sunrise over Boykin Springs. This time of year the early morning light is much warmer and softer, especially in the East Texas Piney Woods.

Here is another image of rocks, trees and water taken while looking upstream at the Pedernales Falls State Park near Johnson City, Texas (birth place of President Lyndon B. Johnson). I'll be visiting this wonderful park once again late next week to (hopefully) capture some beautiful sunrise and sunset shots. We've had a little rain lately so I'm hoping for better waterfall shots as well.

By the way, the difference in exposure between the foreground (rocks & water) and the background (sky & clouds) in this image was almost 5 stops. Rather than bracket my exposures to create an HDR image I decided to use a 3-Stop/Soft rectangular Singh-Ray Graduated Neutral Density Filter held in place in front of the lens using a Cokin "P" Series Filter Holder.

In my opinion, no Photomatix Pro, Lightroom or Photoshop technique is as simple and as foolproof as using an ND-Grad for this common landscape situation. Don't take my word for it, read what landscape professional Steve Kossack has to say on the subject of "using graduated neutral density filters".

Looking Upstream at Pedernales Falls State Park - Johnson City, Texas
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 40D set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM tripod-mounted. The exposure was taken at 24mm, f/9 for 1/100th of a second at ISO 100 on Sandisk digital film. Post capture processing was done in Lightroom 2. Click on the image above for a larger version.

You can also find a 1200 x 800 version of this image and many others on my Flickr site.

Posted in Photography Tagged: Canon, Canon 40D, Landscape Photography, Pedernales Falls State Park, Texas Landscapes

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Nature Photography – Swirl

Just a quick (prescheduled since I'm out shooting) post with an image I took a few weeks ago and couldn't decide what to do with. I love the color of the water and the rocks and the way the water swirled in the little pool. I'm just not sure what story this image tells, if any.

So here's the thing. You get to tell the story in the comments while I'm out in the blazing heat and awful humidity of the East Texas Piney Woods. I know you're out there lurking Mark, Ray, Jaime, Michael & Terry. Tell me why this shot works or why it doesn't. Tell me what you "feel" when you look at it. (sidebar: a little alcohol helps). Let me have it with both barrels!

And have a great weekend!

Swirl - Pedernales Falls State Park, Texas
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 40D set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM tripod-mounted. The exposure was taken at 28mm, f/16 for 1.6 seconds using a Singh-Ray Vari-ND neutral density filter. Shot at ISO 100 on Sandisk digital film and post capture processed in Lightroom 2. Click on the image above for a larger version.

You can also find a 1200 x 800 version of this image and many others on my Flickr site.

Posted in Photography Tagged: Canon, Canon 40D, Nature Photography, Pedernales Falls State Park