Category Archives: Landscape Photography

Lesson From Tony and John

131110_Leaves with red background by Karl Graf.

This image is based on a couple of lessons I have received in the past.  The first one is from Tony Sweet:  “When you see a cool background, find something to put in front of it”.  The second lesson is from John Barclay:  “When you see red … shoot”.  Walking along a trail in the woods a patch of red leaves caught my eye.  By themselves, they were not very interesting, but their combined color made me look twice.  I walked around and saw this scrawny branch with green leaves hanging down.  Again, by itself it was just ho-hum.  But when I lined up the bright green against the red background, the image “popped” in my mind.

Tony would have further critiqued this image and suggest that the green leaf in the top right corner should be removed.  He would also have commented that the small white dot in the top third of the red background be cloned out.  Tony is a sticker on details.  So here is the corrected file:

131110_Leaves with red background_v2 by Karl Graf.

It does make a difference!

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Autumn Leaves – It’s Not Too Late

131109_Autumn Leaves by Karl Graf.

 

The peak of autumn color has come and gone.  I had not taken my camera out to capture any of the brilliance.  This was the first time since I started back into photography ten years ago that I hadn’t gone out on multiple fall shooting excursions.  Like I mentioned in my prior bog entry, I have been in a real slump.

The previous day, from when this image was taken, had been an exceptional late fall day in southeast Pennsylvania.  The temperatures were in the sixties.  The sky was blue with large billowing white clouds.  It was a beautiful day … but my camera remained at home in my closet.  What a waste!  That evening I felt depressed that I had not taken advantage of this wonderful day. The next day, rain or shine, I was going out.  My friend, Stan, and I went out for an adventure.  We were going to go down to Maryland for a little exploring, no set plan just go were the car takes us.  We didn’t get very far when we saw a creek and a dam along side the road.  Stan made a quick u-turn as he said, “we may never get back here”.  And so the day went.  When we saw something we stopped even as the rain was pouring down.  We did not always take the cameras out, but we did stop and explore as we made notes for a future adventure.  What a way to spend a great day with a great friend.

This image is from our first stop.  Stan focused on the water and falls from the dam.  I focused on the mini landscapes that layer below my feet.

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Limekiln Lighthouse Stimulus

131108_Limekiln Lighthouse by Karl G. Graf.

 

I haven’t been very active in expanding my photographic knowledge and experience during the last several months.  Something was always in the forefront.  I fell into a real slump.  When I did shoot, nothing seemed to pop out to me.  I continued following my favorite photographers on-line and became more and more envious on what they were doing.  My work seemed to be so mundane.

Today, I took a few moments to look back on some of my work last summer.  I saw this image of the Limekiln Lighthouse on San Juan Island and felt that it wasn’t so bad after all.  It provided me with a stimulus to go back out and continue to shoot and enjoy the outdoors that I love.

 

 

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Turn Around

130818_SmithRocks_Clouds by Karl G. Graf.

Just turn around and see a whole different world.  The last 3 posts looking West showed peaceful images without a cloud in the sky.  Looking East was a totally different story.  These clouds were just flying across the sky along the eastern horizon.  I was intrigued by the wispiness of the clouds.  There must have been quite a high jet stream up there.  B&W provided the sharp contrast between the clouds and the bright blue sky.

 

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Between

130818_SmithRocks_B&W by Karl G. Graf.

These steep vertical spires of Smith Rocks separated the view between the images on my previous two posts.  Looking at these massive rocks jutting out of the landscape makes me realize just how amazing Nature is.  I attempted to use black and white to emphasize the drama of these spires.  An early morning sunrise will make this image spectacular.  I can’t wait to go back!

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Framed

130816_SmithRocks_BrokenTop by Karl G. Graf.

We visited Smith Rocks (near Bend, OR) with a couple of great friends in early July at mid-day.  Not the best time for great breath-taking images.  So I focused on finding good compositions that I can come back to during another trip, at sunrise.  This image frames Broken Top between two spires of Smith Rocks.  The round boulder in the middle provides a little interest.  I removed houses that were located along the tree-lined ridge in Photoshop.  If you look close you can still see a few remnants.

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When You See Red

130815_RedFlowers_Entryway by Karl Graf.

From John Barclay,  “When you see RED … Shoot!”  Yesterday evening I walked out our front door and saw this Salvia “on fire” from the early evening sun.  I ran inside to get my camera and try to capture the brilliance of the light.  I walked around the Salvia to find a suitable background to set the red against.  I stood on my tip toes to see if I could get it against some dark green foliage.  I got down on my back to see if I could set off the red against a cloudless blue sky.  I finally rolled on by belly and look up against the house and this is what I came up with.  I spent about 20 minutes trying to beat the setting sun to find this one image.

 

Lessons employed/learned:

 

1.  When you see red > shoot

 

2.  Find a good background, then put something in front of it.

 

3.  Explore all angles.

 

4.  Wait for the image to come to me, sometimes it doesn’t.

 

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Lonesome???

130802_Windmill by Karl G. Graf. Lonesome??? … Not really, just beyond the ridge there were hundreds more.  I selected to isolate this single wind turbine to portray the landscape the way I remember it back 13 years ago when I moved from the Northwest to the East Coast.  Wind turbines now are abundant on the desolate Washington hills above the Columbia River gorge.  I roamed on these lonesome hills as a young boy scout so many years ago. It gives me a sad feeling to see the once beautiful open hill country covered with industrial mechanical giants.

This image was taken along the roadside coming down from the Oregon plateau to the Columbia River near Biggs Junction, OR.

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