Tag: abstract photography

A Saturday Abstraction

Explore the concept of abstraction in photography and how it transforms our perception of natural beauty in its capture of mood.

In photography, we all tend to lean toward the representation of something we see in the world around us. In some way, many of us may be impatient painters of the scene or landscape that we enjoy seeing. Even though I enjoy taking a slightly different look at my environment, the same holds true for the vast majority of my work. That said, there are lots of moments when I see something not quit so representational.

Here’s one such moment…

Oxbow Impression of Autumn

This image from the autumn season of 2017 is certainly representational in one aspect. After all, it is a reflection of the mix of colors in the foliage in the rippled water of the Nashua river. At the same time, it gives a sense of impressionism in that it invites us to not look for the sharp detail, but rather the mood that we encounter in the colors and textures. Not quite as abstract as I’ve gone in some of my photography, but maybe a little bit and enough for this Saturday?

Sunday Serenity

The joy of photography is in capturing moments that convey the essence of the environment. Here we bring a sense of clarity…

One of the fun aspects of photography is that we can use our cameras to capture a moment that expresses a specific sense of our environment. Whether it’s the mood of our surroundings, the crispness of the air that we breathe or just the warmth that we feel. There are too many variations to list!

Here’s one of those moments that I found in 2012…

Autumn Clarity

For me this captured a moment of clarity, both of vision and sense of the clear air that autumn provides us. Looking through the foliage, the light shining through gave me that feeling.

May your day be filled with clarity and crisp, clean air to breathe!

Thursday Throwback – 9

This week’s focus is a 2011 image titled “Rose Particle,” showcasing a zoom blur effect to convey energy.

Last week’s image in Thursday Throwback – 8 was a good lead-in, as it highlighted a bit of abstract thinking in the tantalizing beach view. This week, I’m taking a deeper dive in to the abstract with an image from 2011.

Let’s take a look at the image first…

Rose Particle

In my exploration of different methods to capture images, I will from time to time use camera movement of a number of varieties. In this case, I used a zoom blur effect to provide a sense of energy radiating out from the lovely rose.

Back in 2016, I wrote several posts about the various techniques I have used for abstract photography. The first one is TTT – Abstract Photography – Ep. 1. If there is interest, I’m happy to revisit the series of tech tips and update them a bit.

Sunday Serenity

As we immerse ourselves in the serenity of Autumn through the lens, we strive to capture the essence of the moment and feel of the season.

As part of my journey of exploration in photography, I have learned to use a variety of techniques to create images that express something beyond the mere visual representation of what is in front of our eyes; my preference is to do as much of this in-camera rather than create something in post-processing. There are post-processing possibilities that go beyond what can be done with just our cameras, even though they are getting smarter; examples, such as HDR, Focus Stacking and combining multiple images are among these.

Today’s example is one where all of the work was in-camera, other than some image clean-up, and the result was visible on the LCD screen on the back of my camera…

Autumn Serenity

This image was created by using a somewhat slow shutter speed at 1/8 second and intentionally going out of focus a bit to create a soft amalgamation of autumnal colors. My intent was to capture some of the serenity that we might experience during a comfortable autumn day, as we enjoy a gentle breeze, comfortable temperatures and the beauty of the landscape that surrounds us.

Hope you enjoy these moments too!

Sunday Abstract

Experimentation is key in photography, whether to create abstract images or push representation into different realms.

I have always felt that experimentation is a key part of my photographic journey, as it opens up the possibility of creating images beyond the direct observation of the physical and into that of our mind’s eye. Part of these discoveries go into the realm of abstract imagery.

I would like to share one of these images from about 8 years ago…

Forest Aberration

The technique to create this image is pretty straightforward in that I used a bit of linear movement with a 1/6 second exposure. As I wanted to preserve the directionality of the trees, I kept the motion along the same lines presented by those same trees. With a bit of experimentation the diagonal that is near the bottom of the image was preserved, allowing the lower right hand to almost create its own separate space in both color and shapes.

The juxtaposition of the yellows of the leaves and the blue, green and dark orange in the lower section provides a pleasing interplay, giving the eye an opportunity to discover more in the overall presentation.

On the technical details, I shot this with a Fujifilm X-T1, at f/10 to get the aperture to the 1/6 second mentioned earlier.

Impression of a Boat

The joy of photography lies in spontaneous discoveries. The author shares an experience capturing a boat’s reflection during a Bar Harbor evening walk, emphasizing the importance of different perspectives. They used a long exposure technique to create an impressionistic image, resulting in a striking visual while adjusting for exposure highlights.

Some of the fun about photography for me lies in those moments of discovery; something you notice out of the corner of your eye, as you’re walking past it. Over the years, I have developed a habit of not just looking ahead for those epic landscapes that appear in front of us, but also exploring all 360 degrees and what might be visible both high and low.

Changing our perspective might include getting to a different vantage point to get a new view that has not been captured by every other photographer. Today is one of those moments…

Impression of a Boat

This shot came about during an evening walkabout after dinner along the waterfront of Bar Harbor. There was an epic sunset coming up ahead of us, which was sure to present a wonderful shot opportunity. As we’re walking I noticed this reflection with a slight bit of motion in the water due to a very light breeze.

What this scene asked from me was a bit of an impressionist interpretation, so I went for a long exposure of 0.6 seconds while holding the camera as still as I could; it took a couple of attempts, but this was the result. The image needed a bit of exposure adjustment to reduce the impact of the white highlights and very little else.

Exploring a State Park

Photo ops are everywhere!

Over the past week, I enjoyed the pleasure of a photo tour of Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada, which was led by Joseph Rossbach; it was a great way to learn more about this park, as well as picking up some new (for me) processing techniques.

Of course, being in this part of the country, there are the majestic landscape photo opportunities, some of which I will definitely share with you. One of the fun things to also explore are some of the details of the rock structures and formations.

Rock Structure 1

The structure of this rock gives a sense of an almost living entity or possibly the remains of what once was a living being, possibly a skull fragment of an ancient and wise dragon; or our mind might take us further, as if we’re looking at the landscape of a distant, alien planet.

One of the aspects of this rock is that the color appears to be there in myriad micro-dots, creating a fuzzy, almost unfocused feeling to the image.

This image was captured using a Canon EOS R5 and EOS RF 24-105mm F4/L lens. I used focus bracketing to increases the fine focus on this fuzzy-looking image.

Monochrome Monday

As a soul passes through the ephemeral plane…

It would be more accurate to call this image almost monochrome, as I left a bit of color in this shot from 2011…

Transition

This is another example of using movement to alter an image; in this case, I loosened the lens ring just enough to all the entire barrel to rotate without zooming in or out. Additionally, this is a long exposure (>30 s) allowing the taillights of cars to create a dance of strings moving through the image.