The Rest of the Day. . .

As a rule of thumb, you don't really want to go out taking pictures in the middle of the day. There are exceptions, of course, and often you don't have a choice when you're out shooting some "event". I can go out whenever I want for the most part, but my circadian rhythms have been a bit out of whack for awhile now and I thought it more important just to get out of the house than to plan a good time to take pictures. The biggest problem at mid-day is typically the lighting, and Friday was true to form.

What happens then, of course, is that you get home with a bunch of shots that are marginal at best and you have to work through the pack and see what you can come up with. I think of it as a "salvage process" made possible by digital image processing. Anyway, these are the remaining shots that might be of interest; there were an awful lot of misses. . .

One last shot from the koi ponds at Mayfield Park. The tranquility of the place makes it special in its own right, but it's one of the places Mom really liked me to bring her.

From Mayfield Park, I drove up the hill to Mount Bonnell and found the crowds from the week before had dissipated as expected. This shot of the 360 Bridge is similar to the two shots last week, but a little more telephoto. There are some offices just above and to the right of the arches; I checked Google Maps to ID the "castle" on the horizon. Those pics were taken while it was still under construction. It appears to be a private residence in an "Italianate" style, much favored here in the Hill Country.

This shot "over the edge" of Mount Bonnell gives you a good idea of what it's like to live on the lake shore. I control my envy by remembering that "Lake Austin" is really just our Colorado River. Then I remember the old pictures I've seen of the river. . . old, like in 1935.

Newcomers to Austin love it; we old fogies love it. But I think some of the newcomers place an awful lot of faith in the Hill Country dams. . . Mansfield Dam, built in 1937, when Landslide Lyndon was in Congress. . . by Brown and Root. . . I'm just sayin'. . . Maybe they figure Lake Travis is empty. . . still, you never know. . .

This is the first picture I worked on when I got home Friday, because it was the only one with a decent sky. I've got no problem with the lighting in this shot.

Next stop, Redbud Isle. Just past the first picnic table on the right. This was a tough lighting problem. The rock and the light green foliage in the foreground appeared, as I approached it, as though spotlit against a black background. Eventually, with my eyes shaded, I could see the far bank in deep shadow. But bringing it out in the picture was a real chore. Clearly, more practice won't hurt. And I couldn't get rid of the lens flare, so. . . I enhanced it.

This flowering tree was on the opposite bank, taken from the same place as the preceding shot. I wanted to get at least one of them to suggest that first impression I had of the spot.

More Mayfield, More Peacocks, More Practice

This post is more about my Photoshop (PS) education than gardens and peacocks. Over the last few weeks I've been exploring different techniques to get the most out of PS. Of course, every technique doesn't work with every image, but the best way to learn which do work is through experimentation. Then, once you've identified the technique, the amount of practice you get using it will determine how well you use it.

I really like the composition of this one, but I had to remove a baby stroller from the left edge. Can you tell? It's the first time I used PS's "content aware" feature and I'm thrilled with how well it works. With all the stone work and cement in the shot and its sparse shrubbery, I adopted a workflow usually used for pin-ups and cartoons to soften the image. I like that part of it, but probably should have masked the bird. There really ought to be a good reason to blur the colors of a peacock's tail feathers. . . and there wasn't in this case. But I can keep after it, and perhaps you'll see a new and improved version of this one in the future.

This image suggests how peaceful the grounds can be when the kids cool their jets a bit and the peacocks quit screaming for help. It's not a particularly good picture in the first place and I wasn't very adept at brightening the bird. I might go back and try this one again and take my time on it. The only reason it's here in this batch is the serene feeling you get with the first glimpse of it, but at this point there's no need to study the large version.

This one worked out just as I had hoped it would. There are koi in the pond, but this is all about the reflections. It's easy to see why Monet loved his water lilies.

I had to include this one. . . I nearly fell in taking the picture. Again, it's the reflections, but there's no clear focus of attention evident. When I was happy with the color and everything else, I thought maybe adding some texture would help. I tried several different ones and, whether it was "the right one" or I got tired of worrying the problem, when I added this canvas texture I just felt that it was "done".

The trouble with peacocks. . . or this one at any rate. . . is that they seldom pose for you. This guy ambled into the sunlight and his feathers took fire. The problem was, he was staring directly at the wall; turned completely away from me, I had to find him a new head. Of course, I'd taken plenty of pictures and a head in profile was readily available. The head replacement surgery went off without a hitch and both patients are alive and well.

This is my favorite image from the whole set. It's the same subject as the previous picture and, as in the previous picture, he wasn't at all interested in me or what I needed. He was watching a pill bug or something, looking away again. I'd just taken a few pics with the subjects looking back over their shoulders. . . they had to in order to look away. . . so giving this one another new head, just turned around backwards, suited my needs perfectly.

So, I'm pleased with my PS education thus far, and still enthusiastic. There's so much to learn. But I discovered a long time ago that learning something new every day is what makes it good.

Mayfield Park

Well, I mentioned a couple posts ago I was going to retire my old image processing software and educate myself in Photoshop. I think I’ve made considerable progress in the last two weeks, but it's certainly not second nature to me yet and it takes a lot longer to do essentially the same job I used to do with the old software. I have to assume that I'll get more efficient at some stage and that the change will have been worthwhile.

So in pursuit of this new educational goal, I’ve spent a lot more time inside than out. I made that unfortunate attempt last week (see the previous post) to get out and take more pictures and it took me till yesterday to get out and give it another shot. I made it to Mayfield Park, where the peacocks are in fine fettle. And I returned to Mount Bonnell, Redbud Isle, and Zilker Park. But I was reminded it’s not wise to forget that I’m diabetic. I made it home, ate dinner, and crashed early. I’ll remember next time. . .

Mayfield Park wasn’t as crowded as it was last week, but clearly everyone wasn’t back in school. I think perhaps home schoolers may be having a previously unnoticed effect. At any rate, there were enough kids running around that several of the peacocks removed themselves from the perceived danger of being run over by human youngsters. Ladders not on hand for the kids, the birds in question took to the various roofs.

The lighting conditions weren’t ideal for photography; it was bright and sunny out, but lots of shadow, courtesy of the live oaks,  made me glad for the recent Photoshop purchase. I do like the backgrounds in these rooftop shots, though.

Not all the peacocks were so skittish. I don’t know how old these birds are or anything about their molting process but I suspect this brave bird is a youngster. . . note the remnant of down on his back. I found it terribly amusing to be reminded that these birds seem to have a sense of humor. A peacock’s scream is awesome in its volume, but they are among several bird species that are accomplished mimics. When the more exuberant children approached at high speed in what the birds might have considered a reckless fashion, one would scream, “Oh, no!” and another would respond immediately, “Help! Help!” The first time this happened, I was surprised that the kids didn’t necessarily put it together. They were brought up short by the volume alone. They did get it eventually though; first, they thought it hilariously funny – what the birds were saying –  but after a reprise or two, they seemed to consider that the birds might actually be suggesting they cease and desist.


This isn’t my whole cache of pictures from yesterday’s expedition; I just take longer now to get them ready to post. I should make several posts from the bunch but I can’t guess how long it will take. But expect at least a few posts in the next several days. But be forewarned that, on the way home yesterday, I saw my first bluebonnets of the season. Dogwoods are few and far between in this part of Texas, but I like bluebonnets nearly as well. . .

A Slight Miscalculation

When I suggested in my last post my intent to get out to take pictures a couple of times this week, I was aware Austin's in the middle of South by Southwest this week and that traffic in different parts of town would be horrible. I took that into account and assumed I could steer clear of the festival with little effort. What I did not count on was that this also spring break. Of course, that means all the places around town that I had planned to shoot were inundated - in the middle of the day in the middle of the week - with moms and kids, high schoolers, college kids. In short, all the mini-Austinites I'd expected to have been in school.

It's not a problem; they'll be back in school next week and the moms will be doing whatever they do during the week. Anyway, I did make it up to Mount Bonnell to check out the accessibility. I was satisfied with that and took a few pictures, but that's when I first noticed the surfeit of people tramping around my mountain (such as it is). Yes, these pictures, looking northwest from Mount Bonnell are very similar. Just around the bend is the Pennybacker Bridge that was featured in my previous post. Farther upstream is Lake Austin, Mansfield Dam, and Lake Travis, etc. etc. etc. But there's a bird (a hawk or a buzzard) in the lower picture and the boats have moved.

Not yet understanding why they all happened to be there, I got back in the truck and continued on to Mayfield Park where I expected peacocks and koi ponds. Instead, I found a full parking lot of Suburbans - Spring Break again. All the pre-teens in the crowd gave it away. I made one last stab at it by going to Redbud Isle. Full parking lot with pickup trucks and Subarus. Being one of the few parks in Austin where dogs don't have to be on a leash, Redbud Isle normally has a dozen or so cars in the lot, not traffic backed up waiting to turn in. I could see where this was going. I cut my losses.

So, I'll probably go back into hiding for the remainder of the week. I'm not really agoraphobic, though I have no particular use for crowds. I like driving too, but not heavy traffic. On both counts, I'd just as soon wait till next week.

The Pennybacker Bridge and the 360 Cut

Hi. It's been a while. I haven't been dogging it - I promise. I got around to fixing my computer, and it all went smoothly enough to make me feel relatively competent. So, to bring me back down to earth, I decided to retire the image editing software I'd been using for the last 15 years or more and educate myself in the ways of Photoshop. I started out watching video tutorials about Photoshop, and that introduced me to LightRoom and finally, to Wacom tablets. It didn't take long to convince myself that I couldn't get along without all three, so I've now installed Photoshop CS6, LightRoom 4, and bought an Intuos 5 digital drawing tablet. Any one of them has a substantial learning curve, so I've got my hands full with all three.

But I can't spend all my time at the computer, so I went out this morning and took pictures for a couple hours. There's a lot to be said for being outside for a while. I ought to make a habit of it. . .

It rained last night. Spring will be here in about 10 days and, hopefully, we'll have a rainy season for change. I wanted to see if any of the local streams were affected noticeably by last night's precip - but I couldn't really tell since I don't check regularly. In the picture above, I found some standing water in Bull Creek's limestone bed; that was probably from last night.

The creek was flowing nicely. The little bit of Whitewater provided some interest, but I'm not sure that those suds are supposed to be there. I'll check back at some point in the future and see if that's the normal state of things here.

The creek here is pretty shallow, and the shadow across the image is from the Highway 360 bridge above my head. The creek-edge flora is pretty ragged - this park is very small and isn't used very much - but it's pleasant enough and the access is easy enough to suit my purpose.

There's really nothing special about this shot, but working it over in Photoshop answered a few questions and taught me a few things about the program that will be helpful in the future.

I've moved a mile or so south now, to the Pennybacker Bridge over Austin's Colorado River. These shots were taken from the southwestern approach to the bridge, looking northeast. The bridge was finished in 1982 and carries traffic on the Capital of Texas Highway (Texas 360) through the cliffs of the Balcones Escarpment. The Escarpment is the boundary between the Texas Hill Country and the Coastal Plain. I plan to take some pictures of the bridge from the cliffs, looking south. But, as you might expect, I'd have to resort to some climbing which I wasn't prepared for today.

I did bring both cameras and took a few sets from the southeastern approach for some HDR work. When I got back to my desk I was surprised I had not reinstalled that software yet. But it only delayed me a few minutes; the software is up and running once more.

These pictures actually give you a better idea of the bridge's rust color than the earlier standard shots. There's a county boat ramp and parking beneath the bridge, along with the gate keeper's shack and the pair of port-o-potties in the foreground.

With any luck, I'll get out a few more times this week and get additional pictures posted before I tackle my taxes. Of course, there's still a lot of LightRoom and Photoshop to keep me busy; it's a perfect excuse for procrastination. . .