Houston, Texas – Hilton Hotel (HDR)

Not often do you get multiple HDR’s from a hotel stay! I have posted quite a few pics from this visit. If you had read my previous posts. It was an early 4:30 AM wake up to snag these HDR’s. It was me and the cleaners walking around the hotel lobby. Kudos Houston Hilton….not only a nice hotel, but also great for photographers!!

Peter Talke Photography Settings:
Camera: Nikon D300
Lens: Nikon 12-24 f/4.0
Setting: Aperture Mode
Focal Length: 12.0 mm
ISO: 200
Exposure: HDR 7 Exposures (+3 to -3)
Aperture: f/7.1
Gear: Tripod
Post Process: Adobe CS6, HDR Efex Pro, Color Efex Pro, OnOne Software Photo Tools 2.6

Houston, Texas – University of Houston (HDR)

From the University of Houston – Light Sculpture called “A,A”. I have posted a few version of this shot. This one kinda makes me dizzy when I look at it. Such a cool location!

Talke Photography Settings:

Camera: Nikon D300
Lens: Nikon 12-24 f/4
Setting: Aperture Mode
Focal Length: 12.0mm
ISO: 200
Exposure: HDR 5 exposures (+2 to -2)
Aperture: f/11
Gear: Tripod
Post Process: Adobe CS6, HDR Efex Pro, Color Efex Pro, Photo Tools 2.6

Houston, TX – Hilton Hotel Bar (HDR)

From downtown Houston, TX…one of my favorite hotels is the Hilton. 2 blocks from the Astros baseball stadium and in the middle of it all! It has a great pool on the 23rd floor with big glass windows that overlook the city. Nice to swim there at nite! The hotel has a beautiful entrance (I have posted and HDR of there previously) and also a few cool bars. I liked this one and shot it in HDR. One bonus of travel is that the hotel you are staying at can add to your HDR portfolio. So book accordingly and check it out before you stay! This one I woke up at 4 AM…if I can recall…and was taking pics with the cleaners. Photographers start our days early!!

Supercross 2011 – Ryan Dungey

This Saturday nite in Anaheim starts the new 2011 season of Supercross….I am super pumped!  I became a big fan last year after photographing a few Motocross races and this Supercross event in Houston.   If you have the Speed Channel…tune in at 9 PM eastern time Saturday for the first race of the season.  Above is my fav rider and defending champ…Ryan Dungey.  His rook year was the best ever for any MX/SX rider combined.   This year will be no easy feat to repeat.  Bubba is back, Chad Reed, Villapoto, etc…  Should be the best season ever for SX!!   I plan to photograph 2 Supercross races this year.   The pic above was created using 3 textures.  Enjoy!  Good luck Dungey!!!

Houston, Texas – University of Houston (HDR)

One more shot from the University of Houston – Light Sculpture called “A,A”.  I gave this one an extreme angle..thought it may be cool?   I have only be here one time and cant wait to try to photograph it again one day!    I did take quite a few shots here this evening, but I always enjoy getting a second try at a subject.   Hope you enjoy this shot!  Have fun!

Talke Photography Settings:

Camera:  Nikon D300

Lens: Nikon 12-24 f/4

Setting: Aperture  Mode

Focal Length: 20.0mm

ISO: 200

Exposure:  HDR 5 exposures (+2 to -2)

Aperture:  f/11

Gear:  Tripod

Post Process: Adobe CS4, HDR Efex Pro, Color Efex Pro, Viveza

Houston, Texas – University of Houston (HDR)

From the University of Houston…this is the Light Sculpture called “A, A” located at MD Anderson Library.   So very cool!  We were just in Houston for a quick stop over last weekend and I only had time for one shot, this was my target.  We pulled in on a Friday nite and students were walking around enjoying the beautiful 80 degree evening.   I had no worries about them as it was dark and I knew my exposures would be long enough not to include them in the shots.   I had seen a photo of the sculpture in a magazine and noted it for my next visit.  The U of H is about 10 minutes form downtown and easy to get to!  Parking is somewhat fun as it is a major college…especially a Friday nite…we ended up taking some reserved spot…as I only needed 20 minutes of photo time.  Luckily we received no summons! Ah to be a rebel!  LOL

I basically know nothing about U of H or this spot…so here is some info from the web:  The A,A is a sculpture by artist Jim Sanborn located at the University of Houston.

The A,A is located outside the University of Houston’s M. D. Anderson Library. Completed in 2004, it was installed on campus at a reported cost of $240,000. The work of art took the sculptor a year to complete. The A,A is composed of portions of poems, novels, and prose from a number of different languages from different parts of the world. Some languages included on the art includes Arabic, Russian, Spanish, and Chinese. At night, a built-in light projector casts light through the sculpture. This causes the effect of illuminating the sculpture’s text onto the outside of the library’s walls.

In addition to the sculpture in front of the Anderson Library, there are two additions from Sanborn within the library. These include a 24-ft.-long bronze scroll detailing the history of papermaking that hang from the ceiling of the first floor and bronze panels along some of the guardrails containing portions of poems and other literature.

Talke Photography Settings:

Camera:  Nikon D300

Lens: Nikon 12-14 f/4

Setting: Aperture  Mode

Focal Length: 14.0mm

ISO: 200

Exposure:  HDR 5 exposures (+2 to -2)

Aperture:  f/11

Gear:  Tripod

Post Process: Adobe CS4, HDR Efex Pro

 

Houston, TX – Hilton (HDR)

When we were in Houston back in April we stayed downtown at the Hilton.  A very nice hotel.   Only a few minutes from the Astros ballpark and right in the middle of it all.  We had 2 nights here and enjoyed our stay very much.  The indoor pool on level 23 has big glass windows that overlook the city.  Swimming here at nite was amazing!    It is a full service hotel with a executive lounge, gym, restaurants, and a Starbucks.  When we checked in I loved this view above and new I had to come back and grab the shot.  It was the weekend…so it was packed.  My only chance was to wake up early and walk down when it was quiet.  I was up this AM at 4:30 and prepared for the shot.   you figure it will be empty, but it was not..the cleanup crew works at this time.  So I was timing my shots around them.   Whenever we want to stay in Houston…this will be the hotel.  We took a day trip down to Kemah Amusement Park (about 40 mins away). Not so great, but our little one enjoyed it very much!  So  it was worth it.  Lots to do in Houston.  Next time we will hit the Space Center and the Aquarium.  Enjoy your stay wherever you may travel!  =)

Talke Photography Settings:

• Camera:  Nikon D300
• Lens: Nikon 12-24 f/4.0
• Setting: Aperture  Mode
• Focal Length: 13.0mm
• ISO: 200
• Exposure:  HDR 5 exposures (+2 to -2)
• Aperture:  f/7.1
• Gear:  Tripod, Cable  Release
• Post Process: Adobe CS4, Photomatix, Viveza

Houston, TX – SuperCross – Ryan Dungey

From a few weeks back in Houston, Texas at Reliant Stadium…my favorite racer Ryan Dungey in selective color!  The race over the weekend in Seattle is over and Ryan did not win, but locked up the title!  So congrats to Ryan Dungey the 2010 SuperCross Champ!! A few races to go for the year, but Ryan had enough points to secure the Championship.   A great sport!  …and sweet to photograph!!!   Can’t wait to hit another race next year!   Hoping in Anaheim!  You can check out the SuperCross.com site for schedules and info.   Ryan was the first rookie since Jeremy McGrath to win the title…nice!   Kudos rook!  Go check out a few Motocross mags at your local bookstore…if you like shooting sports…you will enjoy!!!

Talke Photography Settings:

• Camera:  Nikon D300
• Lens: Nikon 70-200 f/2.8
• Setting: Manual  Mode
• Focal Length: 160.0mm
• ISO: 3200
• Exposure:  1/1000 sec
• Aperture:  f/2.8
• Gear:  Hand held
• Post Process: Adobe CS4, Viveza, Silver Efex Pro

Houston, TX – SuperCross Event (HDR)

This past Saturday I brought my wife and little one to our first ever SuperCross event.  It was held at Reliant Stadium in Houston, TX.  This past year I have become a fan of SuperCross..I watch the events on Speed Channel.   A few of the big name guys have been hurt this year…my instant favorite this year has been a racer named Ryan Dungey.  A competitive dude and an excellent motorcycle rider!  Going into the race he was the point leader for the season.  We had great seats….about 11 rows back from the track.

This sport is one I was dying to photograph!  If you have read my blog in the past…motocross is perfect for HDR as the riders wear colorful uniforms and helmets…and the  dirt is a nice contrast to the riders.  A great sport to freeze in time!   I had no experience shooting motorcycles, so trial and error was my style in the beginning.  I had my teleconverter on at first…but then took it off.  I shot in manual as I wanted to control the shutter and aperture.  Shots were coming out ok..but were not light enough.  I cranked up the ISO to 3200 and magic!!! (the arena was indoors…so it helped big time!).  My final settings are below.  As I shoot with a Nikon…I had it on Continual mode.  I’d say about 35% were blurry.    They key was to pan with the action…this gave me sharper pics.  Then there was an issue with timing.   A fun learning experience!

As for the race…awesome!  These guys are talented and crazy!!!   I took about 800 photos and still have 99% of them to process!  My initial guess was this shot would look sweet in HDR.  It is now my current screensaver! Dungey did not win this nite…but finished 5th (his bike stalled out for a bit and cost him a few spots).  Thumbs up to SuperCross…I am now officially a fan!  Can’t wait to photograph it again!!

This shot was also Photo of the day on www.vitalmx.com …link can be found here SuperCross HDR.   Thanks GuyB for the kudos!

Talke Photography Settings:

• Camera:  Nikon D300
• Lens: Nikon 70-200 f/2.8
• Setting: Manual  Mode
• Focal Length: 116.0mm
• ISO: 3200
• Exposure:  HDR from Single Raw (+2 to -2)  1/1000 sec
• Aperture:  f/2.8
• Gear:  Hand held
• Post Process: Adobe CS4, Photomatix, Viveza