Is there beauty in lines C&C (BESP)

[Natural_Disaster]

After hundreds of photos and tons of PP....I finally decided on these to submit for this weeks project. Although they are not actually abstract, they were the ones i liked best. This was definately a challenge! I have many more pics that are more abstract, however they turned out grainy or had no real "subject"...or were just blah....:er: I thought about doing more pp to these..but the more work i tried to do to them, the more grainy they looked.

All were taken with
Nikon D5000
55-200mm lens

#1.....1/200 5.0 3200 Natural Light

#2.....1/125 5.6 200 Natural Light

This one just for fun.....1/8 19 640 Florecent light from directly overhead with white board tilted over to try to keep the glare down

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

THIS! :thumbup:

I think it could be helped if the horizontals were either perfectly straight, or at a more severe angle.

I have many more pics that are more abstract, however they ... had no real "subject".

I think that is the sticking point. It's so hard to give anyone a good understanding of what being "abstract" is. Maybe it is that you don't have a "subject". The composition is the subject. In the above image you have some horizontal colored lines. They are accented by the ripples, disturbing there "peace". These wiggly arcs help lead your eye through the image.

Have any more along these lines? (heh, lines:lmao

 

[Natural_Disaster]

THIS! :thumbup:
Have any more along these lines? (heh, lines:lmao

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

This is another good one. Crossing diagonals...
Could use a little more contrast, or darkened a touch.

Are you hung up on there having to be a "thing" as the subject? Is that why you rejected these?

 

[Natural_Disaster]

Sorta..but my other thing was, they just looked blurry and there are splotches. These were taken by placing paintbrushes in a plate of water and laying a shaped drinking glass on top of them and shooting through the glass. To me, they are just not clear (sharp) enough and the spots from the glass distract me. As well as the bright spots.

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

Yeah, they are blurry and have some splotches...but, they are abstract.

And holy crap! I never would have guessed what it was! Good thinking on that setup.

 

[Natural_Disaster]

Thanks!
And actually the last one isnt paintbrushes lol...as you can probably tell..i forgot to explain that one...
I drew on a whiteboard with nail polish and then sit the glass beside it and shot through the rim of the glass so as to only go through one layer of glass rather than through the side which one have distored it more...

 

[gpardo64]

I like # 3.

Abstract definition (I should have read this before the assignment...):
Designating or of art abstracted from reality, in which designs or forms may be definite and geometric or fluid and amorphous

You got the above definition in # 3. I think you were one of the few...?

You may want to provide more details about how the set up was done.

 

[Natural_Disaster]

Sure...
Paintbrushes--I got a regular dinner plate (white) and put just a little water in it, then laid the paint brushes in the water. I grabbed a glass that is kind of octogon shape and laid it on its side no top of the paint brushes. It took several tries as the glass kept rolling off or the paint brushes would move and slide out from under it. Then i just took the picture with the lens pointing through the glass.
Flower--I had a regular white board (thicker than a poster board but the same size) so i drew a flower on it with fingernail polish. I sit a glass down on the board beside the flower so that i could look through the from the side and see the flower. I pointed the lens down almost in the glass and then positioned so that it was only looking through one layer of glass. (if you were looking at a glass and you see the rim, you can see through the back of the glass between the top of the rim in the front and back)

I know these could have been done a lot better with a better set up and lighting. More planning. Different kinds of glass. I was frustrated and these were to be my last attempts lol. I do plan to continue playing around with these types of shots though. As challenging and frustrating as it was..It was fun to see the outcomes.

 

[pharmakon]

Honestly I think your "Just for fun" is the most abstract, and most interesting photo of the three. The only thing I would change if possible would be to move the colorful part up into the frame just a little more.

The first image gets my second place vote as I can't tell exactly what it is, other than a broken piece of glass and some metal structure. The DOF worked well to clean up the background.

 

[pharmakon]

Just nread the other posts. Good job! You should have posted those to begin with. Very creative idea.

 

[Natural_Disaster]

Again..Thanks. I wanted to choose these first..but as i said..they just didnt look clean and sharp enough. Its hard to go from trying to get crisp focus and good exposure to abstract...Even though they can each work together to produce great shots. I couldnt get them to work together for me...
If i wasnt doing this for an assignment...these are the kind of shots i would have just deleted. Now im wanting to try some more and see what i can come up with. I would really like to get a great abstract shot of a busy highway!!!!!!

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

If i wasnt doing this for an assignment...these are the kind of shots i would have just deleted. Now im wanting to try some more and see what i can come up with.

:mrgreen:

I would really like to get a great abstract shot of a busy highway!!!!!!

That sounds dangerous!

 

[Natural_Disaster]

Maybe a little...

 

[pharmakon]

Again..Thanks. I wanted to choose these first..but as i said..they just didnt look clean and sharp enough. Its hard to go from trying to get crisp focus and good exposure to abstract...Even though they can each work together to produce great shots. I couldnt get them to work together for me...
If i wasnt doing this for an assignment...these are the kind of shots i would have just deleted. Now im wanting to try some more and see what i can come up with. I would really like to get a great abstract shot of a busy highway!!!!!!

Understood and agreed with.