Monthly Archives: April 2015

Happy Easter and Here Comes Spring

150405_First Crocus Blooms by Karl Graf. Canon 5D MkIII, EF100mm f/2.8 Macro IS @ 100mm, f/8, 1/800 sec, ISO 400

Happy Easter to all.  The rising of these little white crocuses from the earth symbolize Easter for me.  These little 1/2 inch flowers beneath one of our flowering pears are always the first blooms in our garden each year.  We planted them twelve years ago, covered them with layers of bark each year, hoe the bark to break up the soil, and they still come up.  They are really the first sign of spring for us.

For Lexie – Taking and processing the image:  I laid on my belly to get an eye to eye view of this single crocus.  I positioned the bloom against the background of other crocuses to give it a little context.  Within the camera frame, I positioned the bloom in the bottom right power point using the “rule of thirds”.  The wind was blowing hard, so I used a fast shutter speed to freeze the bloom.  I compromised the depth of field setting at f/8 to get a relatively sharp image of the flower while blurring the background blooms.  I softened the image, highlighted the single bloom, and darkened the background in Photoshop to get the final image.

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