From San Antonio, TX, this is beautiful Mission San Jose. The Mission trail in San Antonio offers 5 mission to visit and this is my favorite! Before I left Texas and had hoped to see them all…but only went to a couple. One day I will be back.
Category Archives: San Antonio
San Antonio, Texas – San Fernando Cathedral (HDR)
On the day I drove down to Imaging USA in San Antonio….I met up with my good friend Chris Reilly. We wanted to photograph the San Fernando Cathedral before the show opened. It was early and as we walked up…the doors were open! The sun was about to rise and the Church was all lit up due to the darkness. We grabbed a few shots and enjoyed the view! I had never been inside…a lovely church indeed! It is located downtown and just a few minutes from the River Walk!
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/11
- Gear: Tripod
- Post Process: Adobe CS5, HDR Efex Pro, Viveza, Photo Tools 2.6
San Antonio, Texas – Sunset Station (HDR)
During my visit to San Antonio to attend Imaging USA…I mentioned to Chris that we stop by Sunset Station. It is just minutes from downtown. We arrived early so we could not get into the restaurant to shoot the famous stair shot. Next time. I had seen that they have this old train out front and the sun was just coming out from the clouds, so I set my tripod low and grabbed this angle. I thought a little texture, gritty noise and a hue change might suit the photo. It was the only photo I took of the train. Not bad. I have some other ideas for this location next visit!
Talke Photography Settings:
- Camera: Nikon D300
- Lens: Nikon 12-24 F/4
- Setting: Aperture Mode
- Focal Length: 13.0mm
- ISO: 200
- Exposure: HDR 7 exposures (+3 to -3)
- Aperture: f/11
- Gear: Tripod
- Post Process: Adobe CS5, HDR Efex Pro, onOne Software Photo Tools 2.6, Nik Silver Efex Pro, Textures
San Antonio, Texas – Hilton Hotel (HDR)
Only 3 days til Xmas! Just wanted to add this shot from downtown San Antonio, Texas. We visited last year and the Hilton was lit up as above. So cool! I give the hotel credit…never seen anything like this before! Enjoy the holiday season!! Hope you got your shopping completed??? Another post coming soon!
San Antonio, Texas – Boar-ed at the Zoo (HDR)
Earlier this summer we hit the San Antonio Zoo. I’ll admit that it is a challenge to take shots of zoo animals. You hope for them to be in the right spot and angle. But sometimes you catch them in a mid afternoon snooze! This dude was out like a light! I am sure his life is super exciting…so I understand his deep sleep. LOL Cute little fellow! I see he has his mud cream on. I still have some zoo targets to get…a Lion, Tiger, Zebra. I am certain I can have fun with those shots in Photoshop! Waco Zoo is my trip…sometime in the fall when it cools down in Texas. Hope you are having a great summer!
Talke Photography Settings:
San Antonio, Texas – River Walk (Infrared)
San Antonio is a cute little city! The main tourist location is the River Walk. A great spot for walking, river boat cruises, shopping and food! I grabbed this shot on one of the river boat cruises. The Alamo is walking distance as well! Summer time may be sweltering, but spring and fall are wonderful! ..and at XMas they light up the whole River Walk! San Antonio is a short one and hour half drive from Austin. Texas has some great cities…Dallas, Houston, Austin and San Antonio! Come visit our great state and enjoy all that it has to offer! Don’t forget to grab some BBQ and delicious BIG steaks!
Talke Photography Settings:
- Camera: Nikon D70S (Converted to Infrared)
- Infrared Conversion: D70S modified by LifePixel
- Lens: Nikon 18-200 VR f/3.5-5.6
- Setting: Aperture Mode
- Focal Length: 25.0mm
- ISO: 200
- Exposure: 1/60 sec
- Aperture: f/5.6
- Gear: Hand held
- Post Process: Adobe CS4, Viveza, Silver Efex Pro
San Antonio, TX – San Fernando Cathedral (HDR)
Blue hour + HDR + Architecture = possible cool shots! This one is from back during the holidays of the San Fernando Cathedral in downtown San Antonio. I have only shot the outside…one day I’d like to visit and take a few inside! I will admit that most of all of my favorite outdoor HDR’s are taken at Sunset, Sunrise or Blue Hour! Why so? Light! The dynamic range is best at these times. More and more of my photo excursions are now revolving around these times. Although it is tough to get up early for the AM shots! But it is worth it! The things we do to get that great shot! There should be a been there done that photography list…then we can see what next challenge is next! Maybe I’ll work on one and start it here! You all can help! Look for it soon! =)
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/22.0
- Gear: Tripod, Cable release
- Post Process: Adobe CS4, Photomatix
San Antonio, TX – Riverwalk
Here is a little color explosion for ya! Back in December we went down to see the XMas lights at the Riverwalk in San Antonio. Late nite when it was quiet…I stationed myself on a bridge and played around with long exposures and zooming in and out. I wanted to catch some light streaks using the hanging lights from the trees. It is easy to do…just set a long exposure and zoom in or out while the photo is being taken! And this is what you get! Have fun with photography!
Talke Photography Settings:
- Camera: Nikon D300
- Lens: Nikon 18-200 VR f/3.5-5.6
- Setting: Aperture Mode
- Focal Length: 200.0mm to lower (for the effect)
- ISO: 200
- Exposure: 3 seconds
- Aperture: f/11.0
- Gear: Tripod, Cable release
- Post Process: Adobe CS4
San Antonio, TX – Mission San Jose (HDR)
About 1 hour south of Austin is San Antonio. It offers some nice photo opportunities….the Riverwalk, Alamo, Zoo, and the Mission Trail. The Missions consist of San Jose, Alamo, Concepcion, San Juan and Espada. The jewel of the bunch is Mission San Jose. I have only visited San Jose and the Alamo. So a few more to explore! I am hoping to get to the others this spring! The shot above is from Mission San Jose – the interior of the church. Simple but beautiful! If you have time, a nice place to visit! …at least in the spring! The summer will be blazing!
Talke Photography Settings:
- Camera: Nikon D300
- Lens: Nikon 12-24 f/4.0
- Setting: Aperture Mode
- Focal Length: 12.0mm
- ISO: 200
- Exposure: HDR 5 exposures (+2 to -2)
- Aperture: f/7.1
- Gear: Tripod, Cable release
- Post Process: Adobe CS4, Photomatix, Viveza
San Antonio, TX – San Antonio Zoo (HDR)
I have been traveling alot recently and decided to take a day off yesterday. We took our little one to the San Antonio Zoo. It was a beautiful day…sunny and 73 degrees! All the Texas kids are on Spring Break this week. So the Zoo was crazy! It was my first ‘real” zoo ever! I had been to small town ones, but never a city zoo. I was prepared with my new Nikon 70-200 VR and Teleconverter! It was a great zoo to visit! They have many open cages to view these magnificent animals. I wanted to see the Tiger, Lion, Giraffe, Elephant, Kangaroos, Hippos and this big little guy….a Rhino!
We had a fun 3 hours walking around. This little guy was around 6000 lbs. Looks to me like a teenager? He walked around alot and posed for some shots. My wife and I did get a little sad for the animals as we walked along. They seemed bored…I suppose most zoo animals do. But I am sure they are taken care of well…they are safe and hopefully live a decent life? Anyway its a great place to take photos. We talked during our visit how great it would be to go on Safari! I’d need a bigger lens for that trip!!! …and a window camera mount! Ah to dream!
I did alright on my shots…Got a few good ones. I was shooting f/4 to try and get some bokeh working…but I think next time f/8 to f/11 (a few more stops up)….especially on a sunny day. Unfortunately, the Lion, Tiger and Grizzly Bear were sleeping..so no luck! This was my best shot of the day. I thought the Rhino skin in HDR might work well. Since it is almost impossible to shoot an animal in true HDR (due to movement)…this is an HDR via the Single RAW method. Worked fantastic!
While we watched this guy…something spooked him and he took off on a quick sprint! WOW! Amazingly fast!!! If this dude hit your car head on…your car would surely lose!!!!! They are like a little tank! I’ll get another shot up soon and post more details on this wonderful zoo!
Talke Photography Settings:
- Camera: Nikon D300
- Lens: Nikon 70-200 VR f/2.8 + Nikon TC-14EII (1.4x Teleconverter)
- Setting: Aperture Mode
- Focal Length: 180.0mm
- ISO: 200
- Exposure: 1/2500 sec (Single RAW HDR)
- Aperture: f/4.0
- Gear: Hand Held
- Post Process: Adobe CS4, Photomatix, Viveza, Lightroom 3.0
Places 2 Explore 