The 2009 Texas Snow Storms

Snow 2 2009 010, originally uploaded by treylawyer.

Holland Lake Park is where I like to take clients for photo shoots in the Weatherford area. It is a great park with a lot of different props such as the lake, benches, tables, playground, bridge, old cabins and much more.  I was recently out and about with my wife and son during a small snow storm and stopped by the park so I could get a quick shot of the lake.  Living in Texas, I don't get many chances for snow shots.  Two to Three times a year if I am lucky.  This week was very unusual because it snowed twice within a few days, so I tried to get as much as I could.

The picture of the entrance to the park was my favorite and I have to say my wife's idea.  She thought it would be neat to get a picture of the snow on the cactus and I have to agree, this turned out great.  The great thing about living in Texas is that we can get snow like this and two days later we can be playing golf in the same town on a dry course.  



The image below was taken during the first snow storm a few days earlier.  The first storm produced more snow and ice than the second and I managed to get out long enough to get sick while taking a few pictures.  It was worth it to get shots of the snow in Texas.



A picture of the Lawyer house in Weatherford, Texas!

Waterfall - Fort Worth Zoo

Zoo 143, originally uploaded by treylawyer.

Time delayed pictures of Waterfalls are at the top of my list of favorites. This was taken at the Fort Wort Zoo on December 23, 2009.  It is best to use a tripod, but I did not have one on this day.   Luckily I didn't have too much shake.

You can view all of the EXIF data here

My Little Prop!

My Little Prop!, originally uploaded by treylawyer.

My son has become one of my best props in helping improve my photography.  I just wish I could catch all of his initial actions.  Before I took the picture above, he was sitting on the bed watching and helping me wrap and prepare Christmas presents.  At one point he grabbed the frame insert above, put his head in the center of the frame and slightly tilted his head.  The moment was priceless and I wish I would have had my camera handy when he did this, but I did not. 

So, at this point I grabbed my camera and I followed him to the living room.  It took a few times, but I said "Ben, go stand by the tree and smile" and this is the shot I got.  He was a little tired, so the smile wasn't as big as it was when he first put his head through the frame.

Masking with Gimp

I have had  a number of people ask how I do the black and white with a touch of color, so I figured I would share my techniques.   Before I begin, I think it is important to point out that it does take a lot of patients to do this, but it really is not too difficult. 


I use GIMP, an open source alternative to Photoshop.  Gimp is free an so far does the job for my needs, so I don't feel like it is worth spending the money on Photoshop at this point.

1. Open the original image in Gimp.
2. Open the Layer Window.
3. Copy the Layer and Rename to Mask (or whatever you want to name it).
4. Make sure the Mask layer is selected, then click on Colors and then Desaturate.
5. Choose the Luminosity Option and click OK.
6. Right Click on the Mask Layer and select "Add Layer Mask".
7. Select White (full opacity) and Click Add.
8. Select the "Paintbrush Tool" (You will need to play with the different options here)
9. Zoom In on the area you want to make color and start coloring by using the paintbrush tool.   

That is pretty much all there is to masking.  When I have time, I will add a short video on how to do this, but if you follow the directions above you should do fine.  

Elizabeth Special, originally uploaded by treylawyer.

Another Image I recently masked using Gimp!