Category Archives: The Intimate Landscape

The small details, shapes, and textures that catch my eye.

One More Day!

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150408_One More Day! by Karl Graf. Canon 5D MkIII, EF100mm f/2.8 Macro @ 100mm, f/4.5, 1/500 sec, ISO 800

One more day and this star magnolia bud will pop out to a full bloom.  I hope the weather will cooperate.  We are expecting moderate to heavy rain for the next few days.  It always seems to happen this way when these beautiful flowers bloom.  In one day, the rain will turn them into droopy brown edged flowers.  Last year, I did not even shoot the blooms because of the rain.

For Lexie:  I used a macro lens to get this close up.  The bud is about 3/4 inch long.  I needed to get close to fill the camera image frame.  I used a shallow depth of field to blur out the background evergreen bushes.  Note that the bud casing in front of the blossom is out of focus. This is the trade-off I was managing.  Also note that the shutter speed was high to freeze the bud in the wind.  In post processing, I used Photoshop and NIK Color Efex Pro plugin.  I used “tonal contrast” to pull out details in the bud and “darken/lighten center” to darken the edges and bring additional focus to the bud.

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Spring Welcomes the “Huskies”

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150407_Purple&Gold_Crocus by Karl Graf. Canon 5D MkIII, EF24-70 f/2.8L @ 58mm, f/11, 1/320 sec, ISO 800

These purple and gold (yellow) crocuses welcome the UW Huskies to Spring.  Purple and Gold are like Red to me.  When you see either … SHOOT!  These crocuses are the prelude of what more is to come soon.

For Lexie:  The weather conditions made taking this photo difficult.  The wind was blowing pretty hard, so the blooms were moving rapidly.  The sun was coming in and out of the clouds, so the exposure was also changing rapidly.  Waiting for the right combination of the sun going behind the clouds and the wind easing a little required a lot of patience.  It took me about 20 minutes to get the right combination.  In processing the image, I took a short cut and used one of NIK Color Efex Pro plugin presets to get the feeling that I was looking for.  Below is the original image straight out of the camera (SOC).  Which one do you like best?

150407_Purple&Gold_Crocus_SOC by Karl Graf.

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Easter Emergence

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150406_First Siberian Iris Blooms by Karl Graf. Canon 5D MkIII, EF24-70mm f2.8L @ 52mm, f/8, 1/320 sec, ISO 800

These Siberian Iris blooms were nowhere to be seen the day before Easter.  I walked out in our garden on Easter afternoon and there they were!  It was an Easter gift.  These small blooms are one of my dear wife’s favorites.

For Lexie:  There was nothing really special in this RAW image.  There was a lot of clutter around the individual blooms.   I could not do much except to create a tight image to minimize the clutter.  See the following original image straight from the camera.

150406_First Siberian Iris Blooms2 by Karl Graf. However, I knew that I could do a little processing to improve the image.  This is what I did.  1) Added tonal contrast to pop out the blooms, 2) decreased the structure, brightness, and saturation around the blooms, 3) added a vignette blur around the blooms, 4) cloned out the two purple flowers at the top right of the image, and 5) did a little additional cropping.

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Happy Easter and Here Comes Spring

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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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When Will Spring Come?

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150302_Chairs in Snow by . Fuji X-T1, XF18-135mm @ 59mm, f/8.0, 1/120 sec, ISO 1600

It is snowing again today and we are getting ready for another 8-10 inches in a couple of days.  Officially, Spring will come in less than three weeks.  When will it really come????

Even though I am tired of shoveling snow and chipping ice, I still appreciate the beauty of a snow covered landscape.  I hope to be able to get out and explore after the next snow fall.

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Three Gulls

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150223_3SeaGulls_Hilton Head by Karl Graf. Canon 5D MkIII, EF70-200mm f2.8L IS @ 200mm, f/8, 1/320 sec, ISO 800

As I look out the window to a a cold snow covered landscape, I recall the warm South Carolina beach were we spent late February/ early March last year.  My mind went out to the warm walks on the beautiful Hilton Head beach in front of the Surf Watch resort where we were staying.  We hope to be able to return there this  year.

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It’s Red

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150211_Red Leaf by . Fuji X-T1, XF18-135mm @ 135mm, f/5.6, 1/20 sec, ISO 400

Today’s message is very simple:  “If it is RED … Shoot!”  So I did.

Lesson Learned:  The image is not as sharp as I want it to be due to the low shutter speed.  I had a lot of room to increase the ISO sensitivity.  I just was not paying attention.  When I am walking around doing “hand-held” shooting, I fall back to shooting “snap-shots” instead of taking my time to optimize the image.  Take my time!!!!

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An Old South Garden

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150210_Spanish Moss by . Fuji X-T1, XF18-135mm @ 41mm, f/6.4, 1/800 sec, ISO 1600

Henry P. Leu Gardens are covered with huge ancient southern wild oaks with Spanish moss hanging loosely from their branches.  It was like I imagined an old Southern Garden to be like.  High in the trees the moss looked like fluffy cotton balls.  Up close the moss is very structured.  I took the opportunity to add a little impressionistic water color feeling to the image using Topaz Impression.

Below is a close-up of the Spanish Moss.  It looks like it would be rough to the feel, but it is actually very soft.  I guess that it was used as bedding in the past.

150210_Spanish Moss- Close up by .

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Fan

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150208_Palm Fron by . Fuji X-T1, XF18-135mm @ 110mm, f/8.0, 1/120 sec, ISO 400

Walking through parts of Henry P. Leu Gardens in Orlando was almost like walking through a tropical rain forest.  Light filtering through the various palms provide multiple opportunities to capture interesting backlight images.  Huge palm leaves were like huge fans waving in the gentle afternoon breeze.  I love wandering along garden paths looking up, down, and everywhere.  It was a wonderful way to spend an afternoon.

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