Tag Archives: Landscape

Badlands National Park – Burns Basin

160602_Badlands 1Fuji X-T1, EF18-135mm @ 18mm, f/11, 1/175 sec, ISO 400

During a 2,880 mile, 4 day drive from Philadelphia to Washington State, I made one stop to photograph the Badlands National Park.  The Badlands has been on my photography “bucket list” for years.  I got up early at 3:00 AM and drove 200 miles to catch the sunrise at the park.  I spent only 5 hours driving and taking short walks to capture the typical sights.  It was more of a quick scouting expedition rather than a planned photo shoot.  I will be back!

The light was rather poor, even at sunrise.  But that did not alter my enjoyment of the park.  I anticipated that I would end up processing the images in B&W, so I focused my shooting on trying to capture tonal contrasts.  During the next few days I will post additional Badlands National Park photos.

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Yakima Arboretum Early Spring IR

160406_Yakima ArboretumCanon XT-IR, Tamron 18-270mm @ 65mm, f/11, 1/500 sec, ISO 400

Cherry trees are in bloom and brilliant green leaves are emerging at the Yakima Arboretum.  It is a great time to get out my old IR converted Canon Rebel XT and try out some IR imagery.  It was a beautiful spring day and I had a little time in the middle of the day to get out and explore.  I chose to work in B&W using Infrared.  The Arboretum was showing its early spring pink and white blooms of the cherries and pears as well as a few trees with emerging brilliant light green leaves.  Tomorrow I will go again with my normal camera.

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Brilliant End to a Beautiful Day

150823_Limekiln Lighthouse Sunset by Karl Graf. Canon 7D MkII, EF24-105mm f/4L IS @ 40mm, f/8, 1/160 sec, ISO 1600

Yesterday’s post was of a bright sunrise.  Today’s post is of a brilliant sunset over Limekiln Lighthouse on San Juan Island.  Several people just hung around the lighthouse until the last rays of the sun receded.  The day was another wonderful gift!

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Premonitions of a Beautiful Day

150822_Mt Baker Sunrise by Karl Graf. Canon 7D MkII, EF100-400mm @ 117mm, f/5.6, 1/1000 sec, ISO 400

It was a dark and dreary morning at the Anacortes ferry dock.  The sun broke through the clouds to display its golden rays behind Mt. Baker.  Even though it was raining at the dock, I felt that it was going to be a beautiful day.  By the time we reached Friday Harbor, the clouds had burned off and the sky was bright blue.  It was a beautiful day.  Each day is a gift!!!

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Scouting the Painted Hills

150715_Painted Hills by Karl Graf. Fuji X-T1, XF 18-135mm @ 37mm, f/22, 1/180 sec, ISO 400

I have heard many people comment on the beauty of the Painted Hills of NE Oregon.  Being from central Washington, I had never taken the 2-3 hour drive to see them.  So on a recent trip to central Oregon, I thought I would go exploring.  My purpose was more of a scouting trip than specifically to take images.  I was there mid day on a very bright warm summer day.  Even in this bright light, the colors of the hills radiated out.  I look forward to coming back during the late afternoon sunlight.

Painted Hills is one of the three units of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, located in Wheeler County, Oregon.[1] It totals 3,132 acres (1,267 ha) and is located 9 miles (14 km) northwest of Mitchell, Oregon. The Painted Hills are listed as one of the Seven Wonders of Oregon.[2] Painted Hills is named after the colorful layers of its hills corresponding to various geological eras, formed when the area was an ancient river floodplain.

The black soil is lignite that was vegetative matter that grew along the floodplain. The grey coloring is mudstonesiltstone, and shale.[3] The red coloring is laterite soil that formed by floodplain deposits when the area was warm and humid.[

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Spring??? Maybe…

150326_First Crocus by . Fuji X-T1, XF18-135mm @ 135mm, f/7.1, 1/125 sec, ISO 400

The snow has melted away from our last Winter storm.  This little crocus is the first harbinger of Spring … I hope.  It has been a long, long winter with a large snowfall on the last day of the Season.  I look forward to getting out in our yard to capture spring as it emerges.

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Longwood Meadow: Impressionistic Perspective

140930_Longwood Meadow #4a by . Fuji X-T1, XF10-24mm @ 24mm, f/22, 1/35 sec, ISO 200

This image is my first trial using Topaz’s new “Impression” software.  I took a nondescript image with a distinct foreground, mid ground, and far field as the base of my experiment.  I was pleasantly surprised of the interesting result.  Below is the original RAW image.

140930_Longwood Meadow #4b by .

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More of Longwood’s Meadow

140929_Longwood Meadow #3 by . Fuji X-T1, XF 10-24mm @ 24mm, f/20, 1/110 sec, ISO 400

More wide angle practice.  My objective for this image was to capture the details of the near field grass as well as the background of the tree line and farm house.  I feel that the image would have been more interesting if I would have taken it from a slightly higher angle so I could have included some of the mid-ground.  I knew better!

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Longwood Garden Meadow

140928_Longwood Meadow #2 by . Fuji X-T1, XF 10-24mm @ 22mm, f/18, 1/160 sec, ISO 400

During my walk in Longwood’s Meadow, I saw this single tree with the path curving around it.  The leading line and isolated tree caught my eye. The wide angle helped place the tree in perspective with the expansive meadow.  Again, my thoughts for the day were to work on wide angle perspectives and just enjoy the day.

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A Fresh Start – Longwood Gardens Meadow

140927_Longwood Meadow 1 by © 2013 Karl Graf. Fuji X-T1, XF 10-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/150 sec, ISO 200

It has been several months since I have posted an image.  My focus has been in other directions other than photography.  Yesterday I woke up to a beautiful early autumn day.  I just felt like getting outside and “practicing” with my camera.  Since getting my Fuji, I have not taken the time to explore its capabilities.  Yesterday was a fresh start.  I traveled to Longwood Gardens to explore the revitalized Meadow Area.  Because of its expanse, I decided to practice using only my wide angle lens.  It was a “get out and explore day” as opposed to focusing on getting that great image.

During my visit, I ran across this guy who had a demo version of Canon’s new EOS 7D MarkII.  We started talking and I recognized him as George Lepp.  He is doing a workshop at Longwood on Saturday and Sunday.  It was a pleasure spending a few moments with him.

 

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