Category Archives: Structures

Fall at Fonthill

141019_Fonthill Fall by Karl Graf. Canon 5D MkIII, EF24-70 f/2.8 @ 62mm, f/20, 1/15 sec, ISO 400

The trees around Fonthill Castle are turning toward their fall brilliance.  For the last couple of days I have been going to the castle to catch late afternoon and early morning light as it illuminates the castle walls.  This image is a combination of a 0, +1, and -1 exposure blended together.  The normal exposure is the base.  The +1 exposure was used to lighten the right side of the castle that was in the shade.  The -1 exposure was used to tone down a few hot spots on the castle tower.  These were blended together using layers and masks in Photoshop.  A little tonal contrast in NIK Color EFEX pro was used to finish the image off.  I first worked with HDR, but could not come up with a realistic looking image.

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Sheard’s Mill Covered Bridge

141018_Sheard's Mill Covered Bridge by . Fuji X-T1, FX18-55 @ 55mm, f/20, 3.7 sec, ISO 200

This was one of the last shots of the day.  Sometimes they are some of the best, at least for me.  The hay rake provided a strong near field compositional element.  Most images of this bridge are taken from directly on or perpendicular to the bridge.  I wanted to get something a little different and catch some of the fall color.

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Knechts Covered Bridge

Knechts Covered Bridge by . Fuji X-T1, FX18-55 @ 20mm. f/22, 1/10 sec, ISO 400

Knechts Covered Bridge is one of my favorites.  It is somewhat hidden off the meandering country roads on what seems to be a single lane remote road.  The simplicity of the structure is marred with bright caution and height limit signs.  I took the liberty of removing them from the image with Photoshop.  If you look close you can see the remnants on the left stone abutment and below the bridge name placard.

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Cabin Run Covered Bridge

141016_Cabin Run Covered Bridge by . Fuji X-T1, EF18-55mm @ 18mm, f/22, 0.5 sec, ISO 400

I was not too creative and made several mistakes with this image.  So there are several lessons here.  First, as I was walking along the rocks, I hit a slippery area and tumbled down on my knees and elbows.  I made sure the camera was safe.  After the fall, I lost my focus and interest and only took a few images.  Lesson 1:  if something happens, take the time to regain composure and then start again.  I knew that I had an extreme dynamic range between the sky and the shadows on the bridge and ground.  I did not take enough exposures to generate a blended image or HDR.  Lesson 2:  Take my time to capture the image and lighting that I am looking for.  I put on a cheap polarizer on my lens.  It leaves a little flare from time to time.  I had discovered this before and still put the filter on.  Lesson 3:  Don’t put anything but good filters over good optics.  No filter is better than one that even degrades the image a little.  Anyway, this post is a good example of what not to do.

 

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Loux Covered Bridge

Loux Covered Bridge by . Fuji X-T1, FX55-200mm @ 55mm, f/11, 1/9 sec, ISO 1600

Fall days are a wonderful time to drive around rural Bucks County, PA and enjoy the iconic covered bridges.  During the last few days, a friend and I spent late afternoons exploring around the area.  For this image of the Loux Covered Bridge, I focused on a composition that did not include bright road signs and caught some of the fall color.

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Witherspoon Building

140612_Witherstone Bldg Sign by 2013 Karl Graf. Fuji X-T1, XF55-200mm @ 55mm, f/4.5, 1/200 sec, ISO 800

Walking around downtown Philly, I saw this old stately building with ordinate sculptures decorating the facade.  This image spans the main building entrance.  From my viewpoint the vertical lines were perspective distorted.  I took the opportunity to work with perspective warp in photoshop to clean up the distortion.  Below is the overall main entrance facade.

140612_Witherstone Bldg Facade by 2013 Karl Graf.

 

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Kimmel Center Reflections

140527_Kimmel Ctr 3 by 2013 Karl Graf. Fuji X-T1, XF 18-55mm @ 55mm, f/5.0, 1/420 sec, ISO 400

The reflections of the window frames within the windows are what attracted me to this perspective of the Kimmel Center.  The frames remind me of giant metal claws.

I tried working with B&W on this image.  I liked the sky blue and the structure blue-grey interaction over the grey scale of B&W.

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Musical Curves

140526_Kimmel Ctr 1 by 2013 Karl Graf. Fuji X-T1, XF 18-55mm @ 55mm, f/5.0, 1/3 sec, ISO 1600, handheld

The curves of the balconies and acoustic structures inside the Kimmel Center main concert hall are fascinating.  I recall attending a classical concert and getting lost gazing around all the curves and listening to the musical score.

Balancing the composition of all the curves was the challenge for this image.  I wandered about the hall with my camera to my eye to balance the curves, shadows, and lights.  I took multiple shots to get acceptable sharpness at 1/3 second shutter speed.  I can’t wait to come back and do more exploring.

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The Wissahickon

140522_Swan Fountain 1 by 2013 Karl Graf. Fuji XT-1, XF18-55mm @ 50mm, f/11, 1/80 sec, ISO 500

Swann Memorial Fountain (aka The Fountain of the Three Rivers)
Alexander Stirling Calder1924

This fountain in Logan Circle depicts the three rivers that converge at Philadelphia:  the Schuykill, the Wissahickon, and the Delaware.  In this image I was trying to capture the fountain image and the Philadelphia City Hall in the background.  I also wanted to capture limited blur in the flowing water.

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