Author Archives: kgrafphoto

Tuscan Girl Fountain

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140521_Swimmers by 2013 Karl Graf. Fuji XT-1, XF18-55mm @ 46mm, f/10, 1/20 sec, ISO 400

Tuscan Girl Fountain
Oskar Stonorov, Jorio Vivarelli, 1965

Philadelphia is full of sculptures. Walking around Center City, sculptures are everywhere you look.  The overall sculpture draws my initial attention, but typically does not make an interesting photographic image to me.  It is very difficult for me to capture the three dimensional aspects.  I then usually just walk around and try to get a detailed aspect and perspective of the sculptures essence.  I moved around this sculpture to capture an interesting element and a “nondescript” background to frame the image.

 

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The Printer

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140520_The Printer by 2013 Karl Graf. Fuji XT-1, XF18-55mm @ 55mm, f/8.0, 1/120 sec, ISO 400

Benjamin Franklin, Craftsman
Joe Brown, 1981

Ben Franklin, “The Printer”, provides the foreground against the Philadelphia skyline.  I worked this image from multiple angles before I came up with this perspective.  I had to wait patiently as other tourists posed in front of the sculpture.  It was worth it.

 

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No Leaning!

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140518_Spiked Rail by 2013 Karl Graf. Fuji XT-1, XF 18-55mm @ 37mm, f/4.0, 1/800 sec, ISO 400

This rail around the Philly City Hall provided a very clear message:  “No Leaning”  or should I say “No Sitting”.  Today I was just walking around downtown Philly watching for images to appear.  This one popped up and pain entered my body from all directions.  It was not a very inviting element for the City Hall.  But it did provide an interesting image.  I purposely used my widest aperture to provide an interest depth of field.

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Spring: Ginko and Cherry Tree

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140509_Ginko & Cherry Tree by 2013 Karl Graf. Fuji XT-1, XF55-200mm @ 90.4mm, f/8.0, 1/800 sec, ISO 500

This image was taken looking out our dining room  window.  I noticed how the emerging leaves of the Ginko were contrasted against the deep pink of a flowering cherry.  I varied the depth of field to get a pleasing combination of sharpness of the Ginko and a blur of the background cherry.

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Spring: More Cherry Blossoms

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140604_Cherry Blossoms_Texture by 2013 Karl Graf. Fuji X-T1, XF 18-55mm @ 42.5mm, f/5.6, 1/100 sec, ISO 800

I simplified this image by isolating one clump of blossoms and shooting against the deep green grass background.  I used Color Efex Pro to extract detail in the blossoms without affecting the background.  I finally used a simple texture on the background.

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Spring: First Cherry Blossoms

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140503_First Cherry Blossoms by © 2013 Karl Graf. Fuji XT-1, XF18-55mm @ 35.8mm, f/3.6, 1/480 sec, ISO 500

What would spring be without cherry blossoms.  This image was taken on the first day that the blooms popped out of the tight buds.  We have seven flowering cherries in our yard.  They are my favorite spring highlight.  When the cherries bloom, spring is really here.  I worked the aperture setting to come up with the optimum setting to capture the sharpness of the first group of flowers and blur the background flowers.  They were hard to separate with a standard length zoom lens.

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Spring: Raindrops

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140501_Redbud & WaterDrops by © 2013 Karl Graf. Fuji XT-1, XF60mm F2.4R Macro @ 60mm, f/4.0, 1/210 sec, ISO 400

We have had a downpour of rain for the past two days.  One good thing about rain is raindrops.  So, this mornings shoot focus was to try to capture them.  The day was cloudy so I could not capture the sunlight starbursts or the bokeh.  It was still a nice morning walk and shoot in the garden.  It was a gift.

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Spring: Looking Through

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140430_Japanese Maple Trunk by 2013 Karl Graf. Fuji XT-1, XF55-200mm @ 156mm, f/5.6, 1/75 sec, ISO 200

Experimentation … does this work?  I am not sure.  The intended subject was the trunk of the Japanese Maple as viewed through the emerging red leaves.  The RAW image was very flat.  When I added contrast, the colors of the leaves and grass made the overall image look gaudy.  I toned it down with a B&W layer at about 50% opacity.  It still looks too busy for me.  Next time I will try a shorter depth of field, get closer to the leaves and focus on a smaller area of the trunk.

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Spring: Dawn Redwood Cone & Forsythia

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140429_DawnRedWood & Forsythia by 2013 Karl Graf. Fuji X-T1, XF55-200mm @ 200mm, f/4.8, 1/1500 sec, ISO 200

This image follows the approach shown in my last two posts.  Here I used the bright yellow of the flowering Forsythia along the back fence line as a background to force the viewers eye to the small 1/2″ Dawn Redwood Cones.  There is something interesting around every turn in our garden.

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