Mar 8, 2017 |
About Reflections: Every photo is a frozen memory. BUT every memory is also a reflection. AND every reflection is a distortion of the truth based on perspective. This series explores literal and figurative reflections.
Nick and I were on a roller coaster road trip at the end of last summer, and our Virginia hotel was right next to this massive warehouse full of home décor. I’d never heard of it before, but apparently At Home is a chain that hasn’t made it up to my neck of the U.S. just yet. =(
I can’t tell you how long I wandered, or the amount of restraint I had to have to not buy everything in the store! It was difficult to leave, but eventually I narrowed down the things in my cart to only a few small reflective props, and only two impulse buys that strategically lured me in at the checkout aisle.
All of the photos below, and many more to follow in future posts, were made reflecting these objects off of one another.
If you’ve been following along behind the scenes, you may have noticed that I’d been using my little flashes up until this point. I swear by these little lights for my macro photography, and I love how portable and simple to use they are… but they have 2 downfalls:
1) They’re battery operated, so as the batteries start losing power it takes the flash longer and longer to recharge for the next burst of light. No big deal when you subject isn’t moving, but…
2) They also don’t have modeling lights. So that makes it really hard to see what you’re doing, especially when the subject is reflections. The slightest movement can totally alter your image and it can be hard to get the light back to where you started if you move it by mistake.
For those of you who are new to strobe lighting, modeling lights are the lights that give you a preview of where the light is actually falling onto your subject. They’re not as powerful as the full force flash that goes off when you hit the shutter, but they allow you to see where the highlights and shadows will fall before you take the photo. With flashes you have to guess and check.
The solution?
I borrowed some lights; Dynalites to be exact. I only used one light and then, for this particular photo, I clamped a “McClamp” to my table and then attached a small, 12-inch diffuser to the other end to soften the light. The black card on the table cut back on the amount of extra light that was bouncing off of the white surface.
However boring it is to photograph products, my product photography experience taught me that black and white cards are very useful tools for modifying light. I’m using matte board that’s white on one side and black on the other because it’s what I had on hand, but you could use foamcore, posterboard, and even construction paper.
Here’s a closer look at the set so you can see a bit more detail.
You can see what I got out of this setup below! The light is filtering through that mosaic candle holder and backlighting each little piece of glass. My camera is catching only a bit of the candle holder on the left, and is mostly focused on the reflection that’s bouncing off of the bottle.
You might notice that the surfaces of both objects are all a blur, and only the reflections are sharp. I find the literal and figurative depth of reflections so fascinating!
The same lighting and concept were used in the above detail shot, I just switched out the bottle for a soap dish.
I think I must have tried the larger dish at first, but I probably didn’t like the results and stuck the smaller one on top. So the result below is zoomed in on that smaller dish, the surrounding areas aren’t captured in the frame.
Woah… I covered a lot here. In all honesty, I planned on showing you more in this post, but I think that’s enough for today.
Next time, I’ll show you how one simple adjustment of this one light can create extraordinary results! Stay tuned for Part 4 =)
As always questions and comments are welcome below.
Feb 15, 2017
About Reflections: Every photo is a frozen memory. BUT every memory is also a reflection. AND every reflection is a distortion of the truth based on perspective. This series explores literal and figurative reflections.
In the first behind the scenes post on this series, you probably noticed there were barely any literal reflections. I let myself create anyway, and relied on the written reflection, which has become such an important part of my work, to squeeze the images into this series. Once I got started with literal reflections, though, it was kind of hard to stop!
Turning Art into Art!
An online course in palette knife painting led me to create the colorful abstract painting pictured below. It was only meant as a practice canvas, but I liked the way it turned out and decided to keep it. I thought it would be interesting to see what kinds of reflections I could make with it.
Inspiration in the Bottom of a Glass
The reflection surface was inspired by wine! As I was sipping on my pinot noir one night, I noticed how much I loved the reflection of the bottom of the glass into the dark smooth liquid. I wouldn’t dare waste wine, though! So I used coffee instead.
I played with my wine glass a little, but the reflections were kind of boring with its smooth sides. I rummaged through my cabinets to find an assortment of randomly shaped glasses that my landlords had left behind. Jackpot!
As you can see in the above photo I was trying to light the canvas… and it was just not working for me. I couldn’t light the canvas without throwing unappealing highlights onto the glass and coffee.
The Solution?
I took close up photos of my canvas with my phone and used the backlighted images of my art to create the reflection. Then I only had to use one flash, bouncing off the ceiling, to brighten up the areas surrounding the coffee puddle.
I loved the resulting photos so much that I made a bunch of variations by rotating my phone and zooming in on my favorite parts of the image. Here are my favorite picks!
More Techie Details
The other secret behind this set of photos was that each one of these was actually 5 or 6 images all merged together in a focus stack. Focus stacking is a tedious solution for when you can’t get all your favorite parts of the image in focus. I spent about 2 hours on each of these photos in Photoshop.
The one downfall of using a macro lens (I was using a Nikkor 105mm f/2.8) is that the closer you are to your subject the less you are able to get in focus. In other words, shooting into a deep glass, my lens might be able to make about an inch of depth sharp, but the rest of the detail will be blurry.
So what happens if you have 5 inches of depth and you want it all in focus? First make sure you’ve pushed the limits of your aperture (for the most depth of field use the highest number f-stop). If you still need more distance covered you can focus stack your images to create more sharpness in Photoshop later.
So, for each complete image, I also had to shoot several images that were focused at various points inside the image. I used manual focus, and after each shot I rotated the focus ring slightly to bring my focus point a tad closer in each consecutive shot. That’s the easy part… I will not even begin to tell you how I merged the resulting photos into one completely sharp image, but maybe I’ll make a video about it one day. Leave a comment if you’re interested in seeing this process at work. =)
One More Tip
If you need a larger screen you could use a tablet, laptop, or even a TV to do the same thing. The possibilities are really endless with this setup. I could spend a lifetime simply using different images on my phone and then swapping out the glass with other reflective surfaces… but I bore too easily to stay in that comfort zone.
Part 3 will reveal the shiny objects I used for the next part of the reflection series. Stay tuned!
Aug 17, 2016 |
As I play and experiment I enjoy sharing my discoveries with you, so I always take behind the scenes photos of my sets, but it’s also really helpful for me to have reference photos to refresh my memory when looking back. The best way to grow is to continuously try new things, but what good is going somewhere new if you can’t remember how you got there?
When I started this series of reflections, I had initially intended to stick with literal reflections… but when I started building the set I found too many awesome images that didn’t fit into that category. That’s when I decided that I had to open up the definition of “reflection” to include my musings about the art I was making. Since my writing has become just as much a part of the art, it wasn’t a hard decision to make.
The first four images came from the basic setup below. I moved the props and camera slightly for each variation. That’s my favorite part about macro photography, when you zero in on just one tiny piece of the world any slight movement can totally alter your perspective.
The following images all came from some angle variation of this set. All were created by looking through the water-filled glass at the ceramic cloud dish behind it. The lighting stayed the same for all of them. I bounced two flashes off the white ceiling (which you can’t see here =/) for soft, even lighting.
Read my reflections of each image with the link in the caption or click the image to find it in my shop.
The next image came from a similar set, I just changed the prop from the cloud dish to a glass seahorse, and I added in a purple background.
This is how I found a Grumpy moon.
With the intention of actually photographing literal reflections, I was sidetracked yet again. Yes at this angle, shown below, I did see a reflection of the seahorse, but because the reflection didn’t run parallel to the plane of my lens, I couldn’t focus on the entire reflection.
That swirly blue thing is a handmade, glass, spoon rest I found on Etsy. I have two of them, one I actually use for spoons, but this one I use as a candle holder on my kitchen table. The simple fact is that it’s so beautiful, I ended up getting rid of the seahorse and just capturing my favorite part… no reflections included.
Finally, I figured out how to position everything so that I could capture my ideal reflection. Instead of shooting down on the surface of the spoon rest, I propped it up vertically, and that made things infinitely easier.
Shooting straight down came with several problems, one being that my tripod doesn’t have much flexibility in a totally downward configuration, but the bigger problem was getting the seahorse into the reflection hot spot… and with my 1st attempt the figurine would have to either be hung up somehow or rest on a transparent surface to get in that spot… too much work!!
I’d been examining reflections for months before I decided I was obsessed enough to pursue them long-term, so I knew exactly how I wanted to light the seahorse. Backlit subjects always make the prettiest, and most popping, reflections. I didn’t want any harsh reflections from the lights, so I used a big diffuser to soften the two flashes and simulate one big light source.
Here are the reflection photos I made with the above set up:
To make this last image I just took one of the above reflections totally out of focus… pretty bokeh.
Of course, no behind the scenes post should be without my Moo, so here she is snoozing in the studio while I do all the work. Doggie snores are meditative, though, so it’s ok.
If you want to get more behind the scenes of the reflection series, check out part 2!
Apr 22, 2016
About Life’s a Blur: A photography series that experiments with long exposures and motion blur. Every photo is a combination of movement mixed with a still subject. I’d like to think of each photo like a meditation: stillness in a sea of chaos.
These photos are also part of my Photo and 100 Words project. Since January 2014, I’ve been creating a new photo and writing about it every week. If you’re interested in finding out what prompted me to begin you can read the introduction over here.
(If you’re new to this photography series you might want to read how it all began in Part 1)
The Best Photography for the ‘Worst’ Conditions
This is going to be the briefest behind the scenes post ever, because I’ve already totally explained how to create photos similar to these back in part 2. So I’m posting this mostly so you can compare the before and after shots and see what kind of scenery has the most potential.
I will say that this is the perfect kind of photography to do at noon on a sunny day, which is probably my favorite part! Most kinds of subjects don’t look great at all in direct sunlight, especially harsh, mid-day light. In the case of these blurred scenes, though, the harsher the light, the better. You’ll never be able to use the “golden hour” excuse with this technique… although, as you’ll see below, the golden hour works just fine too.
The spring set of Life’s a Blur:
As is usual with these posts I’ve provided links to the original 100 words I wrote to go along with each photo, just in case you want to dig deeper into my world =)
Magnolia Petal in the Breeze
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I don’t know what it was, maybe just the pink and blue, but this image sparked me to write about Baby Season.
A snapshot of the background scene before I blurred it in camera to create “Magnolia Petal in the Breeze” and “Shell of a Flower.”
I really encourage you to experiment with each scene! In petal shot above, I got a little more blue by keeping more of the sky in my frame, and I got more pinks and purples by filling my frame with the flowers in the photo below. Both images came from the same scene, though, and you can alter the positioning of colors and the angle of the streaks by moving your camera in a different direction or starting and ending in different areas of your scene. Experiment, experiment, experiment!
Shell of a Flower
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I posted this photo along with a brief account of what it was like to sit under this majestic magnolia tree, I was Afraid to Blink.
Magnolia Petal Swept Away
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I examined everything Bittersweet when I first published this photo.
A snapshot of the background scene before I blurred it in camera to create “Magnolia Petal Swept Away.”
This image was shot during the infamous golden hour, as the sun was going down, if you like warmer colors you might still shoot for this time of day. Personally, I’m usually unavailable during this time, so if you’re like me and your schedule is booked during the oh-so-precious golden hour light, just warm up your white balance bar in post. (That won’t work at all for typical landscape photography, but with these abstract scenes, no one will know the difference, promise!)
Sugar Maple Flowers Blow Away
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In Flying Solo I travel back to my teenage years into a memory that was sparked by this photo.
A snapshot of the background scene before I blurred it in camera to create “Sugar Maple Flowers Blow Away.”
Forsythia Flight
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I realize this every year, but spring is not always as sweet as it seems, read my thoughts in A Stinky Spring.
A snapshot of the background scene before I blurred it in camera to create “Forsythia Flight.”
When I moved my camera horizontally along this scene I ended up with ugly black stripes where the power lines were, but if I moved in any other direction they disappeared. Diagonally seemed to work best for my tastes with these colors!
Dogwood Petal’s Dream
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Sometimes I have A Sick Sense of Humor about the world…
A snapshot of the background scene before I blurred it in camera to create “Dogwood Petal’s Dream.”
Pink Petals Fly
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I suddenly realized that the entire theme behind the Life’s a Blur series is has gotten so far away from me! Isn’t it Ironic?
A snapshot of the background scene before I blurred it in camera to create “Pink Petals Fly.”
This scene was tricky. I had to get in really close to get enough of that pink and purple color I was aiming for. This redbud tree was pretty small and there weren’t that many flowers on it, especially at a distance.
Redbud Flower Flight
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Read Slowing Down in this Blur to experience one of my most memorable moments!
A snapshot of the background scene before I blurred it in camera to create “Redbud Flower Flight.”
This scene is similar to the last one, but the slight angle change mixed with a diagonal movement of the camera creates a whole new abstraction!
What’s Next?
Well that’s it for Life’s a Blur, but the good news is that you can now access all the behind the scenes content in the links listed below!
How it All Began – Life’s a Blur – Behind the Scenes – Part 1
Fall Scenes – Life’s a Blur – Behind the Scenes – Part 2
Water Flow and Flowers – Life’s a Blur – Behind the Scenes – Part 3
How to Photograph Snowflakes – Life’s a Blur – Behind the Scenes – Part 4
Creating Surreal Showers – Life’s a Blur – Behind the Scenes – Part 5
In the meantime I’m creating a whole new series right now! In honor of my business name, Reflective Photos, I’m going to be playing around with reflections and distortions to create some fun abstract art. This is partially because I’ve recently become fascinated with reflections, in both the literal and the figurative senses, but also because I know that “reflective photos” is a popular Google search term that finds this site. So why not give the Googlers what they want?
If you want to get my new photos, and more behind the scenes info, like this, delivered to you inbox, make sure to sign up below.
Dec 24, 2015 |
About Life’s a Blur: A photography series that experiments with long exposures and motion blur. Every photo is a combination of movement mixed with a still subject. I’d like to think of each photo like a meditation: stillness in a sea of chaos.
These photos are also part of my Photo and 100 Words project. Since January 2014, I’ve been creating a new photo and writing about it every week. If you’re interested in finding out what prompted me to begin you can read the introduction over here.
(If you’re new to this photography series you might want to read how it all began in Part 1)
Why Snowflakes?
I really didn’t know what I was getting into when I decided that snowflakes were the subject I’d be approaching. The truth is, snowflakes were the only subject I could think of that would be flying across a winter scene, so I was determined to make it work.
It took me 2 snowfalls to get anything at all, and it wasn’t until my 3rd attempt that I actually got the images that were used in this series. It was not easy, and it certainly tried my patience… but it was worth it. I learned a lot and, in the end, I was really happy with my results!
How to Photograph Snowflakes
Patience and persistence… that’s the real answer, but if you’re really going to attempt to capture some snowflakes this winter, maybe I can help you to avoid some of the mistakes I made!
You’ll Need:
- Camera with macro lens – but you already knew that right?
- Clean, cold, and dry surface – I recommend plexiglass in order to backlight with an LED light, but for a simpler setup a piece of black fabric will give you the best contrast in natural light.
- Towel or paper towels – to wipe your surface clean so you can catch more fresh flakes.
- Toothpick – you don’t want to use even gloved hands to try and move snowflakes, they might break or melt.
- Index Cards – or something similar to transport the snowflakes
- Tripod
- A cooler (optional and only if you want to replicate my setup)
- LED light or other continuous light source (optional)
- Colored Gels (optional)
My Setup
The photo above is a recreation of what I set up last winter so that I can show you the general idea. I guess my brain was frozen when I shot these, because I totally forgot to take photos before I broke down my set and took my numb ass inside. Whoops!
I used a cooler because it was the perfect size to support the small piece of plexiglass I wanted to use. The white interior gave me some extra light too.
I was using an LED ring light that has the option to put out continuous light. I covered half of the light with a blue gel and the other half with a magenta gel.
I really loved the effect of the colored light, but I ended up altering the color later on because it didn’t fit right into my snowy scenes. Here is one of my snowflake captures before I processed it and removed the background.
Here are a few tips you might want to consider before you make an attempt at snowflake photography:
Tip #1 Get prepared now!
Even if there’s no snow in your forecast, you never know when the first flurries might start to appear, and if you wait until then, you’ll probably be too late.
You want to put all of your materials outside right now, preferably under cover. (All except your camera and lens, of course.) You have to remember that snowflakes are delicate and your materials will melt them if they haven’t had enough time to chill down from indoor temperatures.
Tip #2 Fresh snow is the only good snow
You really have to catch the snowflakes as soon as they fall out of the sky. You can’t use the snow on the ground because the crystals will clump together and all you’ll get are chunks of ice that aren’t too attractive.
Sometimes, even the fresh snow is ugly! Not all snowflakes have those beautiful six-sided designs you’re thinking of. I got only 1 recognizable snowflake after three hours of snowfall the first night I tried.
Tip #3 Get under cover
It may seem obvious, but you will want some protection from the elements. You don’t want fresh snow falling on top of the snow you’re trying to photograph, and you don’t want the wind blowing your snowflakes away. Plan ahead for a space that will protect your set without melting your snowflakes. A covered porch, a shed, a garage, a tent, or even the back of your car could work.
Tip #4 Move your snowflakes, not your camera
At first my set was completely different. I had a bigger piece of plexi, propped up at a 45 degree angle so that I could easily move my camera to the snowflakes without moving them. I don’t know why I thought this would be easier, or if I even thought, haha, but turns out moving the snowflakes is waaaaaaay easier.
Just make sure you have a toothpick and a few index cards pre-chilled so you don’t melt the flakes. Eventually I used another piece of plexi to collect and search for good snowflakes, and simply pushed them onto an index card and carefully transported, and slid them in front of the lens. Practice with a few damaged snowflakes before you go for the precious good ones.
Tip #5 Work at night
If the sun is your light, then obviously you can’t take this tip. Personally, I like to have full control over my light, so my setup photo is a little misleading because every one of these snowflakes was captured at night using only the one ring light. This brings me to…
Tip #6 Backlight your snowflakes… or don’t…
I personally found that shinning light through the snowflakes instead of at them brought out more detail and gave them a more translucent look. If you want a more opaque look that might not be for you. I suggest you experiment with your light to find a look you love.
Next time I do this I will probably use two lights… the possibilities are endless, play with them!
Please Note: I learned about snowflake photography from the genius behind snowcrystals.com – last time I went to share this website with a friend, however, I found that all of the content regarding snowflake photography was gone. I’m guessing this is probably because his new book includes all of his amazing tips… I feel lucky to have come across the info before he deleted it! Kenneth Libbrecht’s snowflake photos are far superior to mine, though, and if you want more detailed information on this topic I’m sure you can find it in his new book, The Snowflake, Winter’s Frozen Artistry… but even if you don’t want to buy it, you’ll certainly be able to see some gorgeous snowflake photography over there, so check it out anyway!
Blurred Scenery
As I’m sure you’ve guessed, the background images were shot separately from the snowflake images. Unlike my fall leaf photos, earlier in this series, the snowflakes didn’t come from the same snowy scenes I photographed. Unfortunately, this just wasn’t possible, especially because my favorite backgrounds were created on sunny days without a snowflake in sight. Finally, I’ve discovered a photography technique that thrives in sunny, mid-day light!
Here are all of my final winter scenes followed by a snapshot of the original scene. Keep in mind that all blurring was done in camera and no Photoshop was used to blur these backgrounds. If you want the details of exactly how I created the background images, you can get the nerdy photo details in part 2.
I also added links to the original story each photo was published with, just in case you’re interested in getting more!
Crystalline to Crusty
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Obviously, you can see that this snowflake isn’t exactly perfect… you can read about this OCD lady’s battle with accepting imperfection in Seeking Perfection.
A snapshot of the background scene before I blurred it in camera to create “Crystalline to Crusty.”
Beachy Snowfall Scenery
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I guess I just can’t keep my mind from seeing summer, even in a snowflake! Come on, you know that looks like a sand dollar… but no it actually is a snowflake, and that background actually is a snowy scene, see? Life’s a Beach was the original writing that went with this photo.
A snapshot of the background scene before I blurred it in camera to create “Life’s a Beach.”
Breezy Snowfall
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As I compared all of my finished photos, I noticed that they all had one thing in common, and it has to do with my favorite number, Six.
A snapshot of the background scene before I blurred it in camera to create “Breezy Snowfall.”
Swept Away Snowflake
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I think I somehow ended up making a feminist statement with Girls Who Cry Snowflakes. I got a little personal too…
A snapshot of the background scene before I blurred it in camera to create “Swept Away Snowflake.”
Hexagon Crystal
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In Simplicity I wrote about the difference in achieving minimalism in photography and in writing… they are actually total opposites when it comes to approach, at least my approach.
A snapshot of the background scene before I blurred it in camera to create “Hexagon Crystal” and “Icy Flames.”
Note: This image is the scene I used for both “Hexagon Crystal” and “Icy Flames” – I simply spent more time on the trees in the darker version and more time on the sky in the lighter version. I may have also reversed the direction that I blurred the image (from top to bottom and vice versa), but I’m not completely sure, my memory is shaky on that.
As I’m sure you can see I also added a blue tint by favoring the cold side of the white balance bar in my post processing. I did this to all of the images I shot on overcast days because everything was just so bleak and gray. I’ve come to find that the best days to do these blurred scenes are on sunny days with a few scattered clouds. These conditions make for the best contrast, which is ideal for visible blur lines.
Icy Flames
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Persistence pays off was me whining about all the hard work it took to get my first snowflake, like I said, it wasn’t easy… but you can check out what the original image looked like on my 1st ever snowflake!
A Fine Flurry
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A Glimmer of Hope is me trying to be positive when everything else seems to want me to go the other way.
A snapshot of the background scene before I blurred it in camera to create “A Fine Flurry.”
Once again, make sure you check out part 2 if you want the details on how to create abstract scenes with motion blur.
What’s Next?
In the next blog post I’ll be showing you how I made surreal rain for the colorful background of my latest flower photos… any idea what I used? This post is coming soon, if you don’t want to miss out, make sure you sign up below to be notified!
Happy shooting!
Update: Part 5 is now posted, find out how to create surreal rain for the backgrounds of your images.
Mar 18, 2015
About Life’s a Blur: A photography series that experiments with long exposures and motion blur. Every photo is a combination of movement mixed with a still subject. I’d like to think of each photo like a meditation: stillness in a sea of chaos.
These photos are also part of my Photo and 100 Words project. Since January 2014, I’ve been creating a new photo and writing about it every week. If you’re interested in finding out what prompted me to begin you can read the introduction over here.
(If you’re new to this photography series you might want to read how it all began in Part 1)
Hanging Out with the Dead
This set of photos is a bit like a series within a series. Determined to capture the beauty of fall (which I seem to miss most years), I set out to my favorite outdoor photography location: the cemetery. My idea was to pan the camera with the falling leaves and capture the motion in the background, but my lack of patience combined with my Photoshop skills guided me to an easier way to create what I was after.
Although each of these photos is made up of two separate photographs, they both came from the same scene. As I blurred the landscapes in my camera, I also collected leaves from each area to be photographed later on. That makes it real enough for me! =P
Collecting some pretty leaves, freshly fallen, from each scene I captured.
It was a brutal awakening, though, when it came time to silo the leaves. Have you ever gotten a close look at the serrated edges on a maple leaf?! Let’s just say I overestimated the “easy” factor.
The snapshot that follows each one of my final creations is to show you what each scene looked like before I blurred it into oblivion. I also include links to each original blog post in case you want to read the 100 words that go with it. Scroll down to the end if you want the nerdy technical details.
Fall Leaf Flight
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I reminisce about another cemetery shoot and show off my favorite mistake in the post that compliments this photo: In the Graveyard
A snapshot of the background scene before I blurred it in camera for “Fall Leaf Flight.”
Fall Spectrum
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A silly story about how I expected this shoot to go, and how it actually went.
A snapshot of the background scene before I blurred it in camera for “Fall Spectrum.”
Autumn in Orange and Blue
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A Leaf is Like a Pixel is a brief personal essay on the big picture and the small details of fall.
A snapshot of the background scene before I blurred it in camera for “Autumn in Orange and Blue.”
Autumn Leaf Flight
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The Life of a Hermit – an uncensored, and reoccurring, moment in my life.
A snapshot of the background scene before I blurred it in camera for “Autumn Leaf Flight.”
Wind Swept Leaf
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The Perfect Storm: go to the scene of the shoot with me in this post.
A snapshot of the background scene before I blurred it in camera for “Wind Swept Leaf.”
Red Zephyr
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I prove that seeing isn’t always a strong enough case for believing in this story about my dog and me. (Includes super cute photos of my pit bull in a monkey sweater, complete with monkey ears!)
A snapshot of the background scene before I blurred it in camera for “Red Zephyr.”
The Nerdy Photo Details
The background images were created with my 24-70 f/2.8 Nikkor lens set at 1 second and f/22. I shot through an adjustable neutral density filter that blocks anywhere from 1 to 4 stops of light, and I only adjusted this filter for the correct exposure in order to keep my shutter speed and aperture settings consistent.
Most of the leaf images were shot indoors with 1 flash in an umbrella up high on camera left. I might have had a white board on the right to bounce back some fill light, but I don’t remember for sure. The first leaf was actually shot outside, but dealing with the wind and cold convinced me to take the rest of the leaves into the studio to give me some more control.
What’s Next?
Well that’s all the juicy detail I thought you might enjoy about this set of photos. The Life’s a Blur series continues on with water motion blur techniques that create some magical looking backgrounds in Part 3.
Questions and comments are always welcome =)
Feb 27, 2015 |
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Photography. A term recognized by all, appreciated by some, and oversimplified by too many. To the average observer, it’s a 2D product AND a 2D concept: a camera captures an instant of reality.
When I think of photography, though, I see all the layers in between. In my work, I see photography as a mixed media, not just a capture of what’s already there.
Building the set is a lot like making a sculpture. It might not be very strong or permanent, but I mold it with my two hands.
Then there’s the lighting layer. Light can color a scene, set a mood, and highlight, diminish, or simply alter your subject.
Now comes the camera, and it’s not just a reality replicator, it’s a tool to further mold the image. From lens perspective to settings, there are decisions to make with sliding scales in between: Sharp or soft? Smooth or grainy? Fast or slow?
The digital layer is my favorite part of the process. With my Wacom tablet and digital pen in hand, this is when I really start to feel more like an artist and less like a manual laborer.
All these layers are now flattened onto your screen, but I just thought you’d like to know about all the others in between.
What are these numbered posts all about? Read the introduction to my Photo & 100 Words project and find out!
Feb 2, 2015 |
About Life’s a Blur: A photography series that experiments with long exposures and motion blur. Every photo is a combination of movement mixed with a still subject. I’d like to think of each photo like a meditation: stillness in a sea of chaos.
These photos are also part of my Photo and 100 Words project. Since January 2014, I’ve been creating a new photo and writing about it every week. If you’re interested in finding out what prompted me to begin you can read the introduction over here.
How it Began
The evolution of this series has been interesting. The title and the technique came to me first. In the beginning, though, I was being too specific. I had this idea to express the chaos I felt surrounding certain concepts, like time and love.
The ideas for the first two photos came to me while I was brainstorming, and I sketched them out on a couple of Post-Its. I was happy with what I made, everything came out almost exactly as I imagined it would, but the thought of creating more photos with cliche symbols didn’t settle with me. It felt too much like I was forcing it.
My Post-It note sketch when I thought of the idea for this series.
This first photo, “The Pocket Watch Between Tick and Tock,” is composed of 7 different shots I merged together. I’m pretty sure this is the number one most time consuming piece of art I made all year. When this piece was first published, I wrote an acrostic poem to go with it. I called it “Desperately Seeking Time.”
The Pocket Watch Between Tick and Tock
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If you think it’s a creative process to come up with ideas, it’s nothing compared to the creative process of making the set work for you.
I used a mixture of books, a 2 1/2 gallon jug of water, and a paper towel holder with a brick on top, to hang the pocket watch at the exact height I wanted. I know there are more professional tools that would have worked, like a C-Stand, but this tog just doesn’t have the room for too much studio equipment at the moment. So I improvise, and it works!
The pocket watch and all the little watch and clock parts came from my dad, who has been obsessed with building steampunk lamps lately, and has an awesome collection of stuff I can borrow.
Behind the scenes of “The Pocket Watch Between Tick and Tock.”
The swirling discs in the background are actually makeup mirrors I found at Michael’s. I hot glued wooden skewers to the backside, and slipped straws over them. These were pushed into holes in my background board so I could spin them smoothly from the backside.
A look at how I made my props movable on the set.
A Sudden Realization
After creating “Steady Heart” I discovered what this series was really about. I have to admit something to you first, though, the background I was going for didn’t appear. I expected chaos; what I got was tranquility. It wasn’t what I wanted, but I fell in love with it. Sometimes you just gotta go with the flow… and the flow of that background swept me away from my original idea.
I was stunned that all the chaotic movements that made this photo appeared so peaceful. (you can read the story behind the photo here) That’s when I realized that this series was about meditation. Each background is like an awareness of the chaotic world and the subject is at peace there.
Steady Heart
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This a-clamp contraption was another creative process, and it wasn’t at all as steady as my title might lead you to believe. The heart is a glass coaster, and its weight made it difficult to balance and prop up. Even looking at this photo as a reference, I don’t think I could do this again, at least not easily!
A look behind the scenes of “Steady Heart.”
I had to put together another hot glue job to make my props work for me. The red glass was transparent, and I didn’t want the background to show through. To make it opaque, I traced it onto a paper plate, and cut out the shape to be used on the back side of the heart. I added some popsicle sticks and stuck the whole contraption together with double stick tape.
A look at another prop hack I came up with.
So that’s all the behind the scenes content I have for you in this post, but there’s more info about how I created the next set of photos in this series in Part 2. If you want to be sure to see my next post, make sure you sign up below. I send out emails only 1x per week; you’ll get my stories and links to other blog posts like this. Don’t miss out!
If you have any questions about what I did here, feel free to ask in the comments below. I’m very open about every aspect of my photography process.
Jan 23, 2015
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It’s my 1-year blogiversary! Woo hoo for a year of constant creation during my Photo and 100 Words Project!!!
Nerdy Numbers for the Year
Raw images captured: 4,672
For every 90 photos captured, I finalized 1 photo on average. Yup… that’s about how OCD I am.
Words written: 7,172
Did you notice that my word limit changed from 100 words to 100 “and something” words? My average is 138 words per post.
Hours worked: 1028
That means I spent about 20 hours working on every photo. This includes shooting, processing, keywording, writing about them, and then doing promotions. I bet you didn’t think a digital photography business was so time intensive… surprise!!
Just for reference, a full time job consumes about 1,888 hours per year if you consider vacation, holidays, and sick time. And, as many of you know, I also work full time doing product photography.
Woah! That’s 2,916 hours of photography work this year; I’m officially a photograholic.
Plans for 2015
I’ve decided to continue with the “Life’s a Blur” series for the next 6 months to a year. The subject is limiting enough to keep me focused, yet broad enough to keep me inspired.
What are these numbered posts all about? Read the introduction to my Photo & 100 Words project and find out!
Jan 2, 2015
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With my sink full of flower petals and floating bling, I knew the random abstract backgrounds I could create were endless. At some point during this photoshoot, though, I got tired of all the swirling. I wanted some other kind of movement, but I had to think outside the sink.
The swirling was inspired by the way water drains, so I tried to imagine water in nature. I envisioned streams and rivers, and grew further frustrated. I had already attempted, and failed, to create a flowing waterfall in my sink. Then the ocean overpowered my imagination and I was inspired to make waves.
I thrust my spatula down into the sink, my bling bobbed up and down with a slight sway, and suddenly I had a new way to create.
What are these numbered posts all about? Read the introduction to my Photo & 100 Words project and find out!
