Tag Archives: flowers

One Day Makes A Difference

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140402_Single Crocus by . Fuji X-T1, 60mm Macro

One day makes a huge difference as nature moves forward.  Two days ago, the crocus blooms were all closed.  Yesterday it was 60 degrees and they just burst open in full glory.  I enjoy watching as Spring evolves in our garden.  I just received my 60mm Macro lens for the Fuji X-T1, so I thought I would give it a try.  I definitely could use a tripod …

This image is processed in Topaz Simplify using a impressionistic painting style.  This type of processing hides my lack of sharp detail.

 

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First Blooms

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140401_White Crocus's by . Fuji X-T1, 55-200mm

No, it is not April Fool’s, we really do have bulbs sprouting up.

These little white crocuses are our first bloom of the Spring.  The blooms remained wrapped up.  It seems to be too cold for them to open up to the sky.  Maybe tomorrow.  The shadow cast by the bare flowering pear tree gave the image a little balance to fill the void of the brown winter grass.

 

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Tiger Lilies

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140220_Lily in Snow 1 by © 2013 Karl Graf. Canon 5D MarkIII, EF24-70mm f/2.8L @ 70mm, f/11, 1/500 sec, ISO 400

The pods of these spent Tiger Lilies looked like mouths opening up to feed.  They look like they are struggling for survival to keep their heads above the snow.  They are quite different than their summer budding.  The image below was taken from about the same spot last summer.

140220_Tiger Lilies by © 2013 Karl Graf.

 

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Where Did the Sun Go???

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131210_Sunflower in Snow by Karl Graf. Canon 5D MKIII, EF24-70mm f/2.8L @ 70mm, f/8.0, 1/80 sec, ISO 1600

This spent sunflower hung its head over when it couldn’t see the sun.  The ice crystals added to the “over the hill” state of the flower.  Even under the weight of the snow and ice, the stalk remained strong.

I normally do not use the presets in Silver Efex Pro, but this one (film noir #1) seemed to highlight the image I visualized.

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Fall Color: Last Bloom

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131207_Fall_Last Bloom by Karl Graf. Canon 5D MKIII with EF24-70mm f/2.8L @ 66mm, f/5.6, 1/800 sec, ISO 1600

Looking down on a brilliant bed of fallen leaves, I noticed this single geranium bloom soaking up the early morning sun rays.  It stood out stretching its neck out to show off its last hurrah.  The rest of the plant had withered away preparing for the winter ahead.  I will have to wait until the end of May to catch its first bloom of the new year.

 

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Welcome Summer !

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130621_YellowZoomTwist by Karl Graf.

 

Welcome Summer!  This Spring has been very interesting … periods of heat, cold, wet, and dry conditions, all mixed together.  Right now we are between periods of rain and warm days.  It is hard to tell which is growing faster, our flowers or the weeds.  One thing for sure, our knees are getting their workout separating the two.

This image is a multiple exposure created by simultaneously rotating and zooming around the center flower.  Karen’s garden creates an abundance of photographic opportunities.

More of the Fonthill Study coming …

 

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Making the Best of It

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130617_HersheyRoses1 by Karl Graf.

Karen and I had planned a trip up to Hershey, PA to see the Hershey Rose Garden for quite some time.  We delayed the trip one day due to an extremely severe rain and lightning storm that passed through the area.  We knew that the gardens would be impacted, but went the next day anyway.  The day was a beautiful bright summer day in the 80’s.  However, the roses had been damaged by the previous day’s storm as expected.  It was not the best for photography.  It was time to get creative and try some different things.

The image above is an “in-camera” multiple exposure of a group of roses with a water fountain in the background.  The first image was taken with a moderate depth of field at normal exposure.  The second image was defocused and slightly overexposed.  The combined image was adjusted for brightness with NIK Viveza and NIK Color Efex Pro.  A painterly look was then added with Topaz Simplify.

No matter what the condition, there always seems to be something worth capturing.

For reference below are the two images that were combined.

130617_HersheyRoses2 by Karl Graf. 130617_HersheyRoses3 by Karl Graf.

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Emerging: Bleeding Hearts

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130509_Emerging_BleedingHeart_1 by Karl Graf.

I was after a subdued image of our Bleeding Hearts on a bright early morning.  I stood above these “hearts” and shot through an Atlas Cedar.  A slight gap between the branches framed the “hearts”.

I next got down on my belly and shot the macro below focusing on the simple two heart image.  I added a little contrast and darkened the background to highlight the “hearts”.  I plan to use this one for a Mother’s Day card for Mom.

130509_Emerging_BleedingHeart_2 by Karl Graf.

This post will be my last of my “Emerging” series  … at least for a little while.

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Emerging: Lilac

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130508_Emerging_Lilac by Karl Graf. I saw this emerging Lilac blossom against the bright red of a Flowering Quince and could not resist shooting an image.  As they say, “When you see red, shoot!”  The red background tends to overwhelm the Lilac buds.  I tried to separate the two with a shallow DOF.  Later in post processing, I added a little structure to the Lilac and added a little blur to the Quince which helped the separation a little more.  Just experimenting …

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