Today's Early Autumn Abstracts

PixelRabbit · Sep 25, 2012

Took a short walk around the property today to see how the leaves were coming along. A few have changed but still lots to go. I'm putting together a set of abstracts from each season and these are today's autumn candidates. The first two feel very Canadian to me!

Would love to hear your thoughts

Thanks for taking a look.

revenater · Sep 25, 2012

#2 is my favorite, it has beautiful colors and a painting look to it.

PixelRabbit · Sep 25, 2012

Thanks revenater

I like that about it too. I am working on making these long exposure shots better and one issue I've had is muddier colours, these are the cleanest colours yet

Derrel · Sep 25, 2012

I'm not one to pull punches...three near misses...all misses, but "near"...I think you should definitely keep working on this. Ernst Haas shot a lot of neat things like this, back in the 1960's, using his Leicaflex 35mm slr and Kodachrome slide film, Lot of things shot around 1 to 1/3 second...sailboats, bullfighting,etc... This type of long shutter speed + blurred subject matter can be done hand-held OR tripod-mounted...and it has tremendous possibilities. The direction of the movement in relation to the camera is important. As to the muted colors...yes, I have experienced that myself on slow-speed shots...I usually "juice" the contrast a bit to make up for that.

invisible · Sep 25, 2012

revenater said:
#2 is my favorite, it has beautiful colors and a painting look to it.

I agree with this, #2 wins it. I'm not sure about its pano-like crop though...

PixelRabbit · Sep 27, 2012

Derrel said:
I'm not one to pull punches...three near misses...all misses, but "near"...I think you should definitely keep working on this. Ernst Haas shot a lot of neat things like this, back in the 1960's, using his Leicaflex 35mm slr and Kodachrome slide film, Lot of things shot around 1 to 1/3 second...sailboats, bullfighting,etc... This type of long shutter speed + blurred subject matter can be done hand-held OR tripod-mounted...and it has tremendous possibilities. The direction of the movement in relation to the camera is important. As to the muted colors...yes, I have experienced that myself on slow-speed shots...I usually "juice" the contrast a bit to make up for that.

Thanks Derrel and Invisible

Derrel I would be very disappointed if you (or anyone here for that matter) pulled punches for any reason!

I also feel like these are close, closer than my previous sets to where I want to be but not quite there... yet

I'm definitely going to continue with them.

Thanks for the link to Haas' work! I love some of his shots, the bird is very inspirational, i have been working on moths in low light

I have to admit that I don't look at people's work much yet. Honestly I'm not sure if that is a good thing or bad. The reasoning behind it is I don't want to be shown what is possible, I want to figure it out myself if that makes sense?

PixelRabbit · Sep 27, 2012

Oops, invisible, I'm a little iffy on the pano crop on it also, balancing the colours was a bit of a challenge , this was the best balance I found but I may revisit or reshoot.

And Derrel I forgot to say, yes the motion is very important. The first shot the leaves were rocking, I was trying to get a cherry blossom look but didn't get quite enough definition in the leaves. I'm very happy with the branches though. In the second the whole branch was swinging and I was going for a more flowing feel, on that it was fairly successful.

invisible · Sep 27, 2012

PixelRabbit said:
I have to admit that I don't look at people's work much yet. Honestly I'm not sure if that is a good thing or bad. The reasoning behind it is I don't want to be shown what is possible, I want to figure it out myself if that makes sense?

It does make a lot of sense, at least to me. I've always been kind of in the same boat -- figure things out by myself, while limiting the chances of my images looking like someone else's stuff.

PixelRabbit · Sep 27, 2012

invisible said:
-- figure things out by myself, while limiting the chances of my images looking like someone else's stuff.

This! Yes! I don't mind mimicking someone else's work IF I didn't know it existed but I don't want to be influenced by someone else's work.

Thinking this may be a thread worthy discussion...

pgriz · Sep 28, 2012

Judi, until I saw your images of the daisies blowing in the wind, I had not really considered using wind-blown subjects as suitable for photography. You changed my mind, or rather, you opened a window for me on using this technique to interpret the subject better. I've tried it a number of times since and it definitely has promise, although I don't have anything yet that I'm happy with enough to share.

I find number 3 to be quite evocative, although #2 is prettier. As Derryl has noted, I'd call these misses, although I really do like what I'm seeing.

As for not looking at other photographers' work, I feel that is a missed learning opportunity. From this forum alone, I have admired Mishele's flowers and her recent foray into prison interiors, Bitter's work with jewellery and the numerous abstracts, Frederico's landscapes and tasteful selections of decreptitude, Nandakumar's depiction of life in a land far from mine, thereyougo's urban and country landscapes, Charlie's bugs, aphoto's cloud and sky images, Lew's street shots... I'm sure I've missed a number of others who deserve mention, but who I don't follow on a regular basis. Images that make you stop and look. These images grab our (well, mine in any case) attention because they they present some aspect in a very clear and straightforward way, that cuts through the visual clutter, and lead to the "Oh! .... Wow." reaction. After the emotional trigger was pulled, I go into an analytic mode - what works, what adds, what diminishes, and if I were to try to do the same, what actions/steps/planning would I do. In fact, there's probably more to be learned from near misses than from finished, gallery-ready works - for they reveal part of the creative process behind the image. An image that is too "finished" feels unsatisfying to me (with exceptions, of course), because it presents me with a fait-accompli, and I have no option but to see it in the way presented. More ambiguous images work in that I can create different interpretations of what I'm seeing, and that added expenditure of mental energy on my part makes the work more intimate, or at least more "open".

Frequency · Sep 28, 2012

Very beautiful; very much suits my taste; wonderful colors...

PixelRabbit · Sep 28, 2012

pgriz said:
Judi, until I saw your images of the daisies blowing in the wind, I had not really considered using wind-blown subjects as suitable for photography. You changed my mind, or rather, you opened a window for me on using this technique to interpret the subject better. I've tried it a number of times since and it definitely has promise, although I don't have anything yet that I'm happy with enough to share.

I find number 3 to be quite evocative, although #2 is prettier. As Derryl has noted, I'd call these misses, although I really do like what I'm seeing.

As for not looking at other photographers' work, I feel that is a missed learning opportunity. From this forum alone, I have admired Mishele's flowers and her recent foray into prison interiors, Bitter's work with jewellery and the numerous abstracts, Frederico's landscapes and tasteful selections of decreptitude, Nandakumar's depiction of life in a land far from mine, thereyougo's urban and country landscapes, Charlie's bugs, aphoto's cloud and sky images, Lew's street shots... I'm sure I've missed a number of others who deserve mention, but who I don't follow on a regular basis. Images that make you stop and look. These images grab our (well, mine in any case) attention because they they present some aspect in a very clear and straightforward way, that cuts through the visual clutter, and lead to the "Oh! .... Wow." reaction. After the emotional trigger was pulled, I go into an analytic mode - what works, what adds, what diminishes, and if I were to try to do the same, what actions/steps/planning would I do. In fact, there's probably more to be learned from near misses than from finished, gallery-ready works - for they reveal part of the creative process behind the image. An image that is too "finished" feels unsatisfying to me (with exceptions, of course), because it presents me with a fait-accompli, and I have no option but to see it in the way presented. More ambiguous images work in that I can create different interpretations of what I'm seeing, and that added expenditure of mental energy on my part makes the work more intimate, or at least more "open".

I'm so glad that something I shared inspired you! I can't wait to see where it leads you!

I agree with you 100%, I think I may have made too broad of a statement. These shots are literally 100% inspired by Mishele's flowers. I saw motion and fluidity that immerses me into her work which lead me to think of my "out takes" of birds in flight and how I can capture that in other objects. So I started to play, I blew shots right out, I underexposed, and everything in between, I have binned more than I'd like to admit and I have had many happy mistakes. I certainly could have shortened that process by using google to find a range of optimal settings and examples that are very well done but I wouldn't have had the happy mistakes that help me understand some level of the intricacies of the concept.

I have been inspired by every single person you mentioned and more. What I don't do is see their work and search for then browse similar work within the same concept, I pick up my camera and play with the concept myself. I know I'm recreating what is already out there and easily could research.

I'm probably over thinking

I know there is a great big wide world of amazing photography out there, I'm just taking my time enjoying it a little bit at a time

mishele · Sep 28, 2012

I thought my ears were ringing....lol Thanks for the compliment!!
This is a fun set!! I agree w/ the others that it is a work in progress. Keep at it, I can't wait to see what you come up w/.

About your learning curve.....Googling takes all the creative fun out of what you are trying to do. Since you talk about liking my shots, I'll let you in on a little secret. I didn't wake up one morning and take one of those shots. lol I saw a shot I liked, tried to recreate it and in the middle of that found something that I liked better. If I would of skipped trying to work it out on my own, I wouldn't have the shots I have today. Make sense? lol Do the extra work!!

PixelRabbit · Sep 29, 2012

Thanks Mishele and you are quite welcome!

I am looking forward to some windy autumn days to play more, thanks so much for the insight and encouragement