Category Archives: The Grand Landscape

The overview of the natural landscape.

It Is Good to be Back in the Country

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160328_Lonesome TreeCanon 7D MkII, EF 100-400mm L@ 100mm, f/11, 1/1000 sec, ISO 400

This is my first blog entry since the end of 2015.  Since then I have moved from Bucks County, Pennsylvania (between Philly and NY City) to rural Central Washington.  It is good to be back home in the country side where I grew up.  Life is simpler here.

Residential growth has expanded in the rural areas.  The area where I live was an orchard belonging to one of my school mates family.  I remember exploring the area when I was a kid.  There is a lot of rural charm in the area including this tree located on a nearby side hill.  There are still a lot of undeveloped areas to explore.  My challenge will be to get out several times a week, walk the area and find new adventures.

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Brilliant End to a Beautiful Day

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150823_Limekiln Lighthouse Sunset by Karl Graf. Canon 7D MkII, EF24-105mm f/4L IS @ 40mm, f/8, 1/160 sec, ISO 1600

Yesterday’s post was of a bright sunrise.  Today’s post is of a brilliant sunset over Limekiln Lighthouse on San Juan Island.  Several people just hung around the lighthouse until the last rays of the sun receded.  The day was another wonderful gift!

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Premonitions of a Beautiful Day

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150822_Mt Baker Sunrise by Karl Graf. Canon 7D MkII, EF100-400mm @ 117mm, f/5.6, 1/1000 sec, ISO 400

It was a dark and dreary morning at the Anacortes ferry dock.  The sun broke through the clouds to display its golden rays behind Mt. Baker.  Even though it was raining at the dock, I felt that it was going to be a beautiful day.  By the time we reached Friday Harbor, the clouds had burned off and the sky was bright blue.  It was a beautiful day.  Each day is a gift!!!

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Creating a Sunset

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150720_PaintedHills3 by Karl Graf. Fuji X-T1, XF18-135mm @ 35mm, f/22, 1/125 sec, ISO 400

This image of Oregon’s Painted Hills was taken from the main overlook.  The overall scene was immense and beautiful.  However, the bright mid-day sun made the image look flat.  As I was surveying other images of the Painted Hills, I came across several dramatic images of the hills in late afternoon/early evening sun.  I took the challenge to see if I could get close as I post-processed the image.  Using a variety of adjustment layers and masks, I came up with the following image.

150720_PaintedHills3_Sunset by Karl Graf. This is what I imagine what the scene would be in the warn early evening light, just before sunset.  I can’t wait to go back and capture an actual sunset here.

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Painted Hills 2

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150719_PaintedHills & Field by Karl Graf. Fuji X-T1, XF18-135mm @ 62mm, f/11, 1/350 sec, ISO 400

Driving up to Oregon’s Painted Hills, I saw this pastoral scene and stopped to capture the feeling.  It was “high noon” and the sun was bright, but I still wanted to give it a try.  To recreate the feeling I had, I processed the image in Topaz’s Impression and added a little texture in Photoshop.  Who say’s you can’t make good images in bright noon day sun!

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Scouting the Painted Hills

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150715_Painted Hills by Karl Graf. Fuji X-T1, XF 18-135mm @ 37mm, f/22, 1/180 sec, ISO 400

I have heard many people comment on the beauty of the Painted Hills of NE Oregon.  Being from central Washington, I had never taken the 2-3 hour drive to see them.  So on a recent trip to central Oregon, I thought I would go exploring.  My purpose was more of a scouting trip than specifically to take images.  I was there mid day on a very bright warm summer day.  Even in this bright light, the colors of the hills radiated out.  I look forward to coming back during the late afternoon sunlight.

Painted Hills is one of the three units of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, located in Wheeler County, Oregon.[1] It totals 3,132 acres (1,267 ha) and is located 9 miles (14 km) northwest of Mitchell, Oregon. The Painted Hills are listed as one of the Seven Wonders of Oregon.[2] Painted Hills is named after the colorful layers of its hills corresponding to various geological eras, formed when the area was an ancient river floodplain.

The black soil is lignite that was vegetative matter that grew along the floodplain. The grey coloring is mudstone, siltstone, and shale.[3] The red coloring is laterite soil that formed by floodplain deposits when the area was warm and humid.[

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Winter is Here

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150122_Neshiminy Creeek by © 2014 Karl Graf. Fuji X-T1, XF18-135mm @ 31mm, f/16, 1/180 sec, ISO 800

Looking at Neshaminy Creek as it enters Lake Galena makes me feel cold and realize that winter is really here.  I already long for Spring to come.  However … I do enjoy walking in the countryside on a bright crisp winter day.  Beauty abounds in its own way.  I guess winter is not so bad after all.

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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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