Author Archives: kgrafphoto

Fonthill: Delft Tiles

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Saloon Delft Tiles by Karl Graf. Canon 5D MkIII, EF17-40mm f/4L @ 40mm, f/11, ISO 200 HDR

In my current project at Fonthill Castle, I am capturing Henry Mercer’s collection of foreign tiles as well as unique tiles designed by Mercer.  In building the project, I first try to photograph the tiles in their setting within the Castle.  This view is a selection of Mercer’s 18th Century Delft tiles in one of the Saloon’s large arched windows.  The perspective looks into the Library.

The challenge of this image was to focus on the Delft Tiles as mounted in the window and provide the setting as looking back into the Library.  I used HDR to blend the dynamic ranges of 5 images to balance out the shadows on the window tiles and the bright light coming in through the window.  I then used NIK Color Efex Pro contrast filters and Photoshop layers to selectively highlight and brighten details of the tiles and background tapestry in the Library.  I also wanted to keep the texture of the concrete at a subdued level.

There is so much to see in the Castle.  It is just very hard to capture the range of colors and details as the different elements are hidden by shadows or washed out from the bright light coming in from the windows.  In certain areas I have had to take images with a 13-stop difference between the deepest shadows and the brightest highlights.  I learn from each image I make.  For reference, below is the base exposure image that I started with.

141113_Delft Tiles, Saloon Window2 by Karl Graf.

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Fonthill: Entry-way Mural

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141112_Entryway Mural by Karl Graf. Canon 5D MkIII, EF17-40mm f/4L @ 17mm, f/8.0, 1.6 sec, ISO 200

Most people miss this beautiful tile mosaic when entering Fonthill Castle.  It is located behind and to the left of the desk.  There are so many beautiful pieces of art around the castle located in nooks, crannies, hallways, and stairways that most visitors miss when they tour the castle.  This image was taken with my widest angle lens with the camera pushed back as far as it could go.  For  Christmas I may ask for a 14mm wide-angle.

The following image is a close up of some of the detail … amazing piece of art work!

141112_Entryway Mural Detail by Karl Graf.

 

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Fonthill: Breakfast Room Reflection

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Breakfast Room Mirrors by Karl Graf. Canon 5D MkIII, EF17-40mm f4.0L @ 40mm, f/11, ISO 1600 HDR

My focus for this image in Fonthill’s Breakfast Room was to capture various aspects of Henry Mercer’s tile designs.  A large series of mirrors framed by tile columns and arches covered one wall.  The opposite side of the room was decorated with a brocade mosaic covered Russian fireplace.  By shooting a reflection in the mirror, I was able to capture both designs in a single image.  I needed to combine two images into a HDR to reduce the brightness from the light coming through the window.  I tried to keep the “HDR effect” to a natural style as much as possible.

The image is a little grainy due to the double effect of a high ISO of 1600 and the HDR processing.  I have no idea why my camera was set at ISO 1600.  I just did not check the settings before I took the image.  Big lesson learned here … constantly check camera settings before taking an image.

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Fonthill: Spanish Tiles

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Conservatory, Spanish Tiles by Karl Graf. Canon 5D MkIII, EF24-70mm f/2.8L @ 50mm, f/11, 1/30 sec, ISO 400

The challenge was:  shadows, bright light contrast, where can I place my tripod, weird angles. muted colors from age … How can I create an image that adequately captures the beauty and detail of Henry Mercer’s collection of tiles.

Here is how I attacked this image.   There are stairs and a wall with additional tiles just to the left of this column.  I needed to be very careful how I placed my tripod as not to touch the wall and potentially mar any tiles.  I moved the tripod up and down several times to get  the correct vertical perspective without a distortion on the top and bottom.  I adjusted the placement of the camera to get as far left as I could to minimize the horizontal parallax.  It took me 15-20 minutes just to get the right placement of the camera.  I then waited and waited for the sun to go behind the clouds to reduce the brightness of the sun’s rays striking across the tiles.  I then took several images at different exposures to cover the dynamic range.  My goal was to get one that covered the total range from dark to light.  I still had bright and dark areas that had to wait until post-processing.  The total time it took to get this image was over one-half hour.

Now for post processing.  Out of the dozen or so images I took, one did cover the full range of “darks and lights”.  My first task was to try to balance the light and dark areas to get an acceptable brightness for all the tiles.  I used NIK Viveza to selectively lighten areas in the upper and left areas and darken areas in the lower right area.  I carefully blended light and dark opacity levels to get a “balanced” look.  Over time, the tiles had aged and collected dust which resulted in more subdued and muted colors.  When originally installed they were much brighter.  I tried to represent what I imagined the original color to be by adjusting various contrast methods using NIK Color Efex Pro.  I used Tonal Contrast to pop out the different colors.  Detail Extract was used to pull out the fine lines and further define the edges of the colors.  I then finished it off with Pro Contrast to adjust the color range to what I remember seeing.  The result was blended with the original image back in Photoshop CC to arrive at the final image.

 

 

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Fall at Fonthill 2

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141031_Fonthill Castle by Karl Graf. 141031_Fonthill Castle by Karl Graf. 141031_Fonthill Castle by Karl Graf. Canon 5D MkIII, EF24-70 2.8L @ 27mm, f/10, ISO 200 – 3 image HDR

Yesterday was another beautiful fall day in Bucks County, PA.  Late in the afternoon I saw some white billowy clouds coming across the sky.  I rushed over to Fonthill Castle and caught about 15 minutes of late afternoon warm sunlight.  What attracted me the most on this image were the long shadows casting themselves on the lawn and the castle walls.  It was worth the jaunt for the 15 minutes of nice sunlight.

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Enjoying the Fall Colors

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141029_Window & Leaves by . Fuji X-T1, XF18-55mm @ 55mm, f/20, 0.8 sec, ISO 400

Walking outside this time of year in Bucks County, Southeast Pennsylvania is always a real treat.  The combination of old structures, interesting landscapes and fall color are abundant and are just waiting to be captured.  Each day changes.  Colors come and go, always changing.  Something new is always just around the corner, or just standing in front of me.  Such walks always help me balance the daily challenges and beauty life brings.  Time to get out for another walk!

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Fall at Fonthill

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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

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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

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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

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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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