Old Live Oak

This beautiful specimen is located in the Glenwood Cemetery in Houston, TX. It has become one of my favorite places for photography lately. This is another HDR attempt that I did yesterday morning, early, right before another of our wild thunderstorms boomed through the area. I was told the tree is over 200 years old but I am trying to confirm that. The original images show all of the steel cables that they had to string up to keep the long, heavy branches from breaking. I used healing tool in PS to get them out of the picture. It's a huge tree and my space was limited so there was no way for me, with my equipment, to get a shot showing more of the massive beauty. I used my Nikon D40 and the 18-55mm kit lens that came with it. The cemetery, by the way, is very old and storied with many "famous" people being buried there. Howard Hughes and his parents are buried there so I threw in a photo of their site just for you that might be interested. James

Wow, that tree looks menacing, I like the composition, by targeting the trunk and main branches it magnifies that menacing feel. What exposure did you use and where was your focus at? The outer branches seem a little soft, but I still really like the image nonetheless.

Thank you Len. This image was made from 10 exposures, all at f/5.3 with shutter speeds from 1.6 sec on the long end to 1/40 sec on the short. Focal length was 45mm. To be honest, on the focus point, I was using the 18-55mm kit lens of which the auto-focus has recently quit working. I manually focused, thinking I was focused mainly on the trunk of the tree. Alas, the reason being, my eyes are not like they used to be and the trunk was about the clearest point I could see through the viewfinder. Here is one more view, from a little different angle. I like this one also because of the way the two main branches come right out towards you. They both have some problem areas but they have served me well as a learning experience. I just have to keep going out and trying to do a little better.

James,

These pictures are wonderful!

I cannot disguise my immediate feeling that you have chosen a perfect site for an ongoing photographic study. There are so many areas for study.

The tree with limbs overhanging the graveyard there's an evident metaphor on the respect and caring this cemetery has for the graves, it's roots sustained by the decomposed remains. The tree provides gentle shade in return.

James, as you have seen, your pictures differ in how the branches interact with the gravestones. In the first, branches cross over the stones. In the last, the branches float above them in the left part of the picture. This gives a different esthetic.

I see many experiments here.

Your stitching work is great and I am impressed.

You have captured the detail of the plants including the small twigs and leaves along the huge arching limbs.

Asher

Mon très cher Asher
there is no stiching here, but different exposures for HDR merging…

These are interesting shots, but the latter has the issue I can myself never get rid off with HDR, look at the sky behind the lives, there are halos, not nice at all for me.

Sorry, James, nothing against you, but I have the same technical issue with my own attempts with HDR, but it's a good reason to ask some tricks from the HDR gurus, I know some are around there;-)

BTW I noticed a curious way of signing your pics, specially on the first pic, at the right lower angle… ;-)

Is that typical Texan sense of humor ?-) lol

I like you second cemetary tree picture so much it is now my desktop image. I think Asher is right -- you have already got some good shots but go back to the tree and it will yield even more images.

I love how the tree is simultaneously very ancient and yet full of vitality. That, coupled with its location, is very powerful. It's also a relatively subtle example of HDR, which I like.

Thank you Asher. I agree that this location, not just this spot, but the entire cemetery, is ripe with wonderful opportunities. The entire grounds are covered with beautiful trees, plants, and flowers, not to mention some of the great statuary and headstone designs. Some are very ornate to say the least. It is definitely a place in Houston where the rich go to rest.
I chose this tree specifically for a contest I am participating in. The subject was just "trees". I had been here before and was in awe of this tree when I first laid eyes on it. I knew when this contest subject came up that this tree had to be mine. I just was not sure how I would capture it or if I even could and still do it any justice. When it came down to it though, it was one of the few times where I actually planned my actions out in advance as to what I was going to try. Usually I'm just out and about shooting things as they pop up. This one was different. I knew exactly what I wanted to try and I did it. I arrived with huge thunderstorms making their way there so I did not have much time at all. I took all of my shots in about a 15 minute span before the rains came and I had to run for cover. I definitely will be going back often because there are so many things going through my mind that I want to try.

Thank you Nicolas for your input as well. The halo effect did not go unnoticed by me and I will be looking into better ways to deal with it. My Photoshop abilities are minimal to say the least. I'm sure there is some way to better handle the problem. But, if there are going to be halos, what better place to have them than over a beautiful Texas graveyard? I think it's kind of fitting actually and I don't think it detracts too much from the normal person's view of the image. As for the signature, no I do not think my sense of humor is the typical Texan sense of humor. I have a very strange sense of humor sometimes. I think I inherited it from my mother and it comes in handy as a survival tool on a lot of occasions. My wife was not too pleased with it however. She worries about bad juju. I'm glad you noticed it though. You noticed the halos and my signature but there was one other pretty glaring defect, at least in my mind, that you did not mention. I won't say what it is but I find it interesting that in your obviously close examination you overlooked it

Angelica, thank you very much for your kind words. I feel honored that anyone would even consider one of my images as a desktop image. It's actually mine too at the moment so we have something in common. I'll be going back soon to see what else I can extract from this wonderfully beautiful place.

James Newman

James,

I really like the second one, it 'draws you in' so much more. Very well done!

James Newman said:

Thank you Nicolas for your input as well. The halo effect did not go unnoticed by me and I will be looking into better ways to deal with it. My Photoshop abilities are minimal to say the least. I'm sure there is some way to better handle the problem. But, if there are going to be halos, what better place to have them than over a beautiful Texas graveyard? I think it's kind of fitting actually and I don't think it detracts too much from the normal person's view of the image. As for the signature, no I do not think my sense of humor is the typical Texan sense of humor. I have a very strange sense of humor sometimes. I think I inherited it from my mother and it comes in handy as a survival tool on a lot of occasions. My wife was not too pleased with it however. She worries about bad juju. I'm glad you noticed it though. You noticed the halos and my signature but there was one other pretty glaring defect, at least in my mind, that you did not mention. I won't say what it is but I find it interesting that in your obviously close examination you overlooked it

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Hi James

Keep your humor and tell your wife that humor protects from bad flows!

Only obvious issues can be seen in low res pic…

The other thing that I don't like generally with HDR is that they aften look flat, so I tried to enhance colors and midtones contracts, put some blue in the sky (a professionnal desease in my case!).
Then some halos and blur can be seen along the branches…
Anyway this is my try, I hope you won't be too offended…;-) oh, and BTW your image was Adobe rgb, no good for the web (see other topic on this subject)

Great improvement, Nicolas!

The tree has come alove and almost is in my room!

Asher

Nicolas...my images are always available for someone else to work with if it's in an attempt to teach me something. Thank you. I have since started trying to redo this image and have tried some things to at least minimize or hide the majority of the halos. I've left the sky gloomy however and not so blue because as I stated, a big storm was rolling in and that's the way it was. I like it better that way for my current purposes.
Now about the RGB/sRGB comment. I read all of the posts and links that were pointed out to me. If I am understanding this correctly, when you say RGB is "no good" for the web, is that because of the difference in everyone's monitors, calibrated and non-calibrated, and the different ways that they display color? When I open my RAW files I should open them in Adobe RGB at 16-bits before doing any of my usual editing, especially if the intent is to print, but I should convert my final image to sRGB before posting on the web? Thanks again for your input and advice. It is very much appreciated.
PS - I just ordered a colorimeter to calibrate my LCD monitor with. Can I expect some improvement in the image color by going this route?
James Newman

Hi James,

Let me to answer, at least in part your question to Nicolas who may or may not catch this before he is off working this weekend. (Some people have to work!)

James Newman said:

When I open my RAW files I should open them in Adobe RGB at 16-bits before doing any of my usual editing, especially if the intent is to print, but I should convert my final image to sRGB before posting on the web?

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Perfect! That's what everyone should do. Only other option I'd consider is Profoto RGB since it excludes less of the intense bright colorsd that Adobe RGB excludes which are now becoming printable with the latest pigment and aqueous ink printers.

However, Adobe RGB is pretty well perfect for now. I haven't swtiched but when I get a new printer, I probably should!

James Newman said:

PS - I just ordered a colorimeter to calibrate my LCD monitor with. Can I expect some improvement in the image color by going this route?
James Newman

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James,

Allow me to replace "calibrate" with "profile", since one cannot calibrate the fixed response of the LCD monitor, only measure it! The purpose is to be able to reassign, or remap the colors of your image to correspond to the nature of that particular LCD monitor so the color appears correct within a certain "Delta" (i.e. + or - range in values).

Now, your image will be represented as best as possible on the LCD monitor. Colors that the monitor simply cannot reproduce will be perceptually remapped so as to appear normal and wonderful.

Soi, yes it will improve the color in that you will make better decisions when adjusting colors on your monitor. When the monitor is not accurately profiled one has no idea!

Asher

Can I suggest this for your 1st image? It seemed to scream B&W to me...



I've also cropped it into a more panoramic shape to emphasise the subject, i.e. the tree and to bring home the idea of the trunks moving out into the scene. Although the composition works as a general scene, cropping off the bottom makes it more dynamic to my mind.

Very nice Ben. I worked on some of my other shots in B&W but not this one. I really like what you did with this one, especially the cropping. Thanks for the advice and instruction. It's always welcomed by me. James