# Corpus Christi 4th of July



## stargazer (May 24, 2004)

We enjoy traveling around to other cities to see how the places we go to celerbrate the 4th of July.This year was Corpus Christi.
We stayed at the Omni Hotel, 9th floor and had great view from our private balcony.
If your CC bound, I recommend the Omni, with very clean rooms, very quiet, covered parking, friendly staff and great views of the harbor on one side and the Lex on the other.


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## The Machine (Jun 4, 2007)

Dang! Beauty!


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## Law Dog (Jul 27, 2010)

Great looking pics, thanks for sharing!


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## stdreb27 (Aug 15, 2011)

If you look closely you can see me, down there on the right...

That is a great photo.


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## MichaelW (Jun 16, 2010)

Very nice set of shots.


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## Slip (Jul 25, 2006)

Sweet! Istayed in the Omni a few yesrs ack myself and was a nice place. Beautiful shots!


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## stargazer (May 24, 2004)

Thanks for the kind comments everyone.
I think we are going to go back next year, and try and get a room a bit higher up.
The bridge was in view but was right at the roof top of the building across the street.
I have a few more to sort thru. Ill post if there is anything worth while.
Thanks again
Fred


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## stargazer (May 24, 2004)

Were you in the crowd or on the water?



stdreb27 said:


> If you look closely you can see me, down there on the right...
> 
> That is a great photo.


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## stdreb27 (Aug 15, 2011)

stargazer said:


> Were you in the crowd or on the water?


You can't really see me. I was joking. If you look down the water line. We were down where the trees start sitting on the stairs.


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## stargazer (May 24, 2004)

stdreb27 said:


> You can't really see me. I was joking. If you look down the water line. We were down where the trees start sitting on the stairs.


Reason I ask is I had my 300 2.8 with a 2XIII lens on before it became too dark to get shots of the boats and some of the crowd. Ill look and see if I have one of that area. I know I got most of the boats.:camera:


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## Tx Grizzly (Mar 3, 2006)

Hi, very nice pics. i am getting into photography lately and was wondering if you were using any filters on your lens or did you do some color enhancements via software? also how long was your exposure? from the looks of the vehicle lights it looks like it was a few seconds


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## stargazer (May 24, 2004)

Tx Grizzly said:


> Hi, very nice pics. i am getting into photography lately and was wondering if you were using any filters on your lens or did you do some color enhancements via software? also how long was your exposure? from the looks of the vehicle lights it looks like it was a few seconds


The first 2 were done using a 2 stop soft grad ND( http://www.singh-ray.com/grndgrads.html) and some vibrance boost in Lightroom.

The fireworrks were done at ISO 100, F11, Bulb setting, focused at infinity. Remote trigger.
When I figured it was about to launch I would trip the shutter and hold it open until a few seconds after to capture the whole firework burst. Maybe 5-6 seconds total.


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## Tx Grizzly (Mar 3, 2006)

stargazer said:


> The first 2 were done using a 2 stop soft grad ND( http://www.singh-ray.com/grndgrads.html) and some vibrance boost in Lightroom.
> 
> The fireworrks were done at ISO 100, F11, Bulb setting, focused at infinity. Remote trigger.
> When I figured it was about to launch I would trip the shutter and hold it open until a few seconds after to capture the whole firework burst. Maybe 5-6 seconds total.


 very cool, thanks, do you happen to have a picture of how that filter mounts to your lens?


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## stdreb27 (Aug 15, 2011)

stargazer said:


> Reason I ask is I had my 300 2.8 with a 2XIII lens on before it became too dark to get shots of the boats and some of the crowd. Ill look and see if I have one of that area. I know I got most of the boats.:camera:


That's stalker quality right there lol

And I thought I spent too much with my Nikkor 05 2.8. Just to take photos of corals.


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## stdreb27 (Aug 15, 2011)

stdreb27 said:


> that's stalker quality right there lol
> 
> and i thought i spent too much with my nikkor 05 2.8. Just to take photos of corals.


105 2.8


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## Shaky (May 21, 2004)

Stargazer, approximately how far away were you? I've been trying to get some shots at the local Palacios show for the last two years, end up getting some nice display shots, but I always second guess my distance and end up WAY too close, even with using an 18mm on my 7d. I would really like to set up far enough away to capture the whole scene while still getting good detail.
Looks like you nailed it in these shots, though getting the bridge separated would make it even better.


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## stargazer (May 24, 2004)

Shaky said:


> Stargazer, approximately how far away were you? I've been trying to get some shots at the local Palacios show for the last two years, end up getting some nice display shots, but I always second guess my distance and end up WAY too close, even with using an 18mm on my 7d. I would really like to set up far enough away to capture the whole scene while still getting good detail.
> Looks like you nailed it in these shots, though getting the bridge separated would make it even better.[/QUOTE.
> 
> Man, I am terrible at judging distance  but if I had to guess, maybe 1/2 mile or so.
> ...


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## Shaky (May 21, 2004)

I was a lot closer than that. In fact I had my lens pointed dang near straight up! And when we started to get peppered with shell fragments, I knew I screwed the pooch! lol


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## Formula4Fish (Apr 24, 2007)

The distance from the north side of the Omni to the front of the Lexington is .96 miles.










That's actually an excellent distance to shoot from. These were shot in 2012 from the T-head, which is about a quarter mile further away, all shot at 80mm focal length.


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## Formula4Fish (Apr 24, 2007)

*Three more from last year*

Three more from last year...


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## Shaky (May 21, 2004)

Outstanding pics! The thing is, it's one thing to capture the total burst, those shots are always impressive, but to capture the scale of the burst with an interesting back/foreground are what's going to set your photo apart from, "great pic!" To an uncomplicated, lwholly **** !"


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## DeepBlueGulf (Jan 18, 2005)

Great photos Fred! 

I was down there in your photo! I was about 20 feet to the North of the little pier shown in your photo down by the seawall. I was up near the top, have a tripod setup too! You might see me in any of the 300mm lens photos. 

I got some great shots of the fireworks, but like someone else mentioned, you really need some sort of background/foreground objects to make the photos better. I shot with Formula4Fish from the marina in 2012 and got some great shots then. Will post some of mine when I get time. No post processing on mine, but sure would like to learn how to add some "vibrance" to mine. 

Thanks for posting Fred! Maybe we'll meet up in 2014 if you do come back.

Tom - DeepBlueGulf


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## stargazer (May 24, 2004)

Thanks again guys.
Great shots from last year. We have talked about going again next year, I would like to get a room higher up and see what that looks like.
If we do Ill give yall a shout.


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## stargazer (May 24, 2004)

Tx Grizzly said:


> very cool, thanks, do you happen to have a picture of how that filter mounts to your lens?


Here ya go, info on the filter mounting.
Just need the approprate size ring for your lens (77mm, 67mm, ect)

http://www.leefilters.com/index.php/camera


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## stdreb27 (Aug 15, 2011)

Btw, I showed these to my dad, who's is a guy who just goes nuts examining the technical aspects of photography, and he said "now that's done right."

He's not usually that complementary.


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