Monthly Archives: May 2014

No Leaning!

140518_Spiked Rail by 2013 Karl Graf. Fuji XT-1, XF 18-55mm @ 37mm, f/4.0, 1/800 sec, ISO 400

This rail around the Philly City Hall provided a very clear message:  “No Leaning”  or should I say “No Sitting”.  Today I was just walking around downtown Philly watching for images to appear.  This one popped up and pain entered my body from all directions.  It was not a very inviting element for the City Hall.  But it did provide an interesting image.  I purposely used my widest aperture to provide an interest depth of field.

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Spring: Ginko and Cherry Tree

140509_Ginko & Cherry Tree by 2013 Karl Graf. Fuji XT-1, XF55-200mm @ 90.4mm, f/8.0, 1/800 sec, ISO 500

This image was taken looking out our dining room  window.  I noticed how the emerging leaves of the Ginko were contrasted against the deep pink of a flowering cherry.  I varied the depth of field to get a pleasing combination of sharpness of the Ginko and a blur of the background cherry.

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Spring: More Cherry Blossoms

140604_Cherry Blossoms_Texture by 2013 Karl Graf. Fuji X-T1, XF 18-55mm @ 42.5mm, f/5.6, 1/100 sec, ISO 800

I simplified this image by isolating one clump of blossoms and shooting against the deep green grass background.  I used Color Efex Pro to extract detail in the blossoms without affecting the background.  I finally used a simple texture on the background.

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Spring: First Cherry Blossoms

140503_First Cherry Blossoms by © 2013 Karl Graf. Fuji XT-1, XF18-55mm @ 35.8mm, f/3.6, 1/480 sec, ISO 500

What would spring be without cherry blossoms.  This image was taken on the first day that the blooms popped out of the tight buds.  We have seven flowering cherries in our yard.  They are my favorite spring highlight.  When the cherries bloom, spring is really here.  I worked the aperture setting to come up with the optimum setting to capture the sharpness of the first group of flowers and blur the background flowers.  They were hard to separate with a standard length zoom lens.

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Spring: Raindrops

140501_Redbud & WaterDrops by © 2013 Karl Graf. Fuji XT-1, XF60mm F2.4R Macro @ 60mm, f/4.0, 1/210 sec, ISO 400

We have had a downpour of rain for the past two days.  One good thing about rain is raindrops.  So, this mornings shoot focus was to try to capture them.  The day was cloudy so I could not capture the sunlight starbursts or the bokeh.  It was still a nice morning walk and shoot in the garden.  It was a gift.

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