Shooting Abstracts – Fine Art or Just Plain Fun?

Posted by scottbourne on November 10, 2008
Posted in: Technique & Tutorials. Tagged: .

Fall is a great time to make abstract images. The leaves changing colors are great subjects, wether you’re shooting macro or telephoto.

I have a trick that I use when making abstracts that some of you might find helpful.

I find a pond near colorful trees. Then, I use a super-telephoto zoom lens…in the case of these three images, the Sigma 300-800 zoomed from anywhere between 300 and 500mm.

Then, I toss a pebble into the water and look for ripples in the reflection. I zoom in on a cool pattern and fire away. I like to work at very small apertures. These images were all made at f/32 with shutter speeds ranging from 1/15th to 1/500th of a second.

The small angle of view of a super-telephoto zoom makes it easy to find small but interesting groupings.

4 comments on “Shooting Abstracts – Fine Art or Just Plain Fun?”

  1. Just plain fun. I did an abstract project at college. Found it hard to get into until I got a theme that I enjoy anyway and then loved trying to photograph things to make them not look obvious and a different point of view. Love abstract now :)

  2. Just plain fun. I did an abstract project at college. Found it hard to get into until I got a theme that I enjoy anyway and then loved trying to photograph things to make them not look obvious and a different point of view. Love abstract now :)

  3. Thanks for sharing the tip. I have tried this a couple of times with reflections and it is very effective. I like the idea of tossing in a pebble.

    Gary

  4. Thanks for sharing the tip. I have tried this a couple of times with reflections and it is very effective. I like the idea of tossing in a pebble.

    Gary

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