Experimental

Your eyes are not blurry. 

These are intentionally taken while moving the camera.

I feel a bit odd trying to do this type of photography. I've seen some absolutely beautiful ICM abstract photos.

I'm still one of those that is on the fence with this method. I've also learned that trying to do it on a bright snowy day is really not the way to start.

This is obviously the outhouse. I moved the camera forward when pressing the shutter on a 1/2 second shot. 

So it ended up looking like a double exposure.

It isn't something I will put on the wall. 

I consider this as play and experimental photography.

 

I can always say that I am pretending to be Monet with a camera.

This shot was done by simply moving 
the zoom lens as I hit the shutter button.

It doesn't hurt my brain to look at this one. 

It was my first experimental shot I did of the day.

It is actually nicer than the others.

Really beautiful ICM takes a LOT of practice and generally
shooting when there is quite a bit of contrast along

with color.

Of course winter is not the best time to 

try to make ICM fine art. But it

is fun to practice.

Here is a sample of an image that really defines the beauty of ICM.

A flower by: 
KarenWallerphotography

It looks like a stunning painting and something I'd hang on my wall for its soothing effect. 

Obviously none of my shots have reached this caliber!

This summer, I did do a few shots with ICM and absolutely you do need brilliant color to do this with any good results. 

I did this shot in September and it is the only one so far that I really like.

----

So without further ado, I went back to something I know when I defrosted myself after my hike.

Some high key work. I put a white sheet over a kitchen chair and arranged some dried flowers to photo their textures.

When the outdoors suck, I can always do Still Life.

Since I had the white sheet set up, I pulled up the embroidered border and thought that Teddy Bears exchanging flowers would be cute.

I thought I'd work with my Lensbaby and the Teddy Bears. I really enjoy working with that lens as it makes you slooooowwwww way down and really work at getting the exposure and area of focus just right.

The ICM tutorials make everything look so easy. I have so much to learn!

I will try some more practicing to figure out what movements might look good. I wonder if I set up my dried flowers and did an ICM with Still Life?

Ahhh, you will have to wait to see what I may do next!

Otherwise. Have a good day and stay warm.

A bit of fun

Just goofing around.

When the temps get way below zero and the winds are blowing, I do stay inside and mess around with photography experiments and make a mess.

I check in on a photographer who does 'macro' work indoors when the weather is nasty. He has some extremely creative ideas and he explores them.

He used a piece of cotton [like thick cotton balls] glued to a popsicle frame he made. He put a small hole in the middle of it and shot his flower shots through the cotton.

I thought this was interesting so I grabbed an old picture frame and did something similar with felt and bubble wrap.

I set things up on the table and then used a colored light to bounce of my background made out of tin foil.

Of course there were quite a few shots that didn't turn out as I would have liked, but then I kept experimenting. These were tiny dried flowers for crafting.

Finally I got one I could live with. 

I didn't have to do any editing for this shot as 'shooting' through the torn cotton gave the edges a soft hazy look. I thought I'd try it again and do a Lego Minifigure portrait.

Here are two samples. In the first you can see the foil background that creates a cool pattern behind this Dnd minifig. Her name is Lady of Pain. 

This second shot is with more of the cotton in the way and the lens slight pulled back. I also stood her on a Lego brick that lights up red to highlight her from inside. This shot almost looks as if she has cold air circulating around her or a mist of some sort.

What the set up looked like. 

What my table looked like on our first subzero day:

I had three sets of scenes built. My $1 dinosaur fit into a storyline I'd was creating for a series on Flickr.

The Queen of Pain sent her Zombie Emissary to the Minibots and spoke to Iggy [the minibot with one eye]. She wished to have a custom Ferrari built for her.

Iggy can usually get anything or steal it so he agreed to get a red Ferrari for her.

They got parts but had no idea how to put things together. Todd, the maintenance guy offered to help.

Since Iggy and his Minibots were taking too much time to do this. The Lady of Pain sent her messenger to Iggy to tell him to hurry up. Pretty nasty threat, I'd say!

[Don't worry, no toys were actually harmed in this photoshoot]

I guess all they had to do was ask Todd the Zombie Maintenance guy to help out.

It seemed Todd took it upon himself to help out the Minibots. He called in a couple of Zombie friends....they worked all through the night sorting and building.

I guess if you want a job done quickly and correctly, you hire Zombies. After all, they don't sleep and apparently their work ethic is fantastic.

Hopefully the Lady of Pain will enjoy her new ride.

Yippee! It is the Polar Plunge!

 

 

Cloudscapes and creative in camera stuff.

 I had a sudden inspiration yesterday after reading She Who Seeks blog. It was the photo of a thousand sunsets.

I recognized how it was done immediately and decided to try it too. The photo clearly was done with an Olympus camera LiveComp mode. I've done this too but not with the brilliant colors.

There were some clouds in the sky when I set the camera out for an experiment. I set the LiveComp mode to 4 second intervals and let it go for about 7 minutes. The camera takes a shot every 4 seconds and composites anything that has changed in the last 4 seconds on to the first shot. Every 4 seconds for 7 minutes means about 105 shots.

This mode is fantastic for Star Trails and it is what I always use it for. Doing a daylight photo was a bit tricky as I had to add a heavy lifter ND filter and use the internal ND filter of the OM-5.

So this was my view out the window from our eating area of the 'subject matter'.

Yup, the yard pony, Lil' Richard. He has been fantastic this spring at keeping the yard trimmed. Yes, I have to pick up his droppings, but he crops evenly and in circles from his tether.

This is what I shot. At first I wasn't going to even use it anywhere, but then I thought it was pretty funny to see how much Lil' Richard moved in 7 minutes time. He really moves around quite a bit! 

This morning I got up before dawn and decided to try this again with the camera pointing SW from our porch. This one turned out pretty cool and was an 8 minute LiveComp.

Oh that was cool and kind of fun! So I let the camera go for 17 minutes [yes, it is hard on the battery especially since it was 35 F outside]...and this is what I got.

I love it, but sadly...also since I zoomed in on a section of sky...it shows the dust spots on the lens!

I think the most interesting thing is...the different layers of clouds that are moving in different directions. I find that totally captivating. 

Next? I'm going to try some fun experiments that Anvilcloud has done. In camera double exposures. I did this a long time ago and had some fun results. Time to try it again. If you haven't seen his crocus photos, you need to jump over there and take a look.

Experimentation and taking chances on a new way of seeing things adds so much to the creative juices.

Stuck indoors

If anyone at all was following the Midwest weather, then they know about the string of subzero weather we had.

It was kind of nasty but not the worst string of cold we've had. It is no secret that I like winter and enjoy snow sports.

Getting stuck inside for days on end except for chores makes me stir crazy. 

While hubby took his morning nap, I checked on my outdoor critters then decided to do a bit of Fun Fotography. 

My camera assistant helped of course.

Charlie carefully rearranged my herd of unicorns.

So happy that he got them rounded up!

I got out the woodsy guys and placed them on the floor. The light could have been better, but I'm still working on that. 

The hard part was bouncing the dim light from the windows onto the characters I was using and keeping the black foam board in back black.

When the boss woke up, he immediately tuned into ESPN, YouTube, and Showtime for boxing and sports at volume  ~~ VERY LOUD. I guess all the excitement of wearing hearing aides have worn off as they sit on the table gathering dust again.

There is nothing in the world that drives me more crazy than screaming fans and commentators that yell.

My cell phone was charged up so I grabbed my cheapo ear buds and plugged them in. Pandora, take me away!

Thunder from Imagine Dragons was the first thing I heard. 
Music seems to inspire and make me move and -- sometimes do a bit of a dance. It cheers me up and gets me motivated.

I danced in my own head and swayed to the music. One good tune after another. Charlie looked at me and closed his eyes. 

Thank goodness for music and ear buds!

This is what things look like for taking some fun still life stuff. No fancy studio. Just some black felt or white boards on top of the old trunk next to the back door.

Let there be Lego People and Monsters!

Tea time anyone?

Feed the monsters and they will be happy!

Minimalism

I like minimalism in photography. 

The definition according to Wikipedia: a type of photography that is distinguished by extreme austere simplicity. It focuses on the smallest number of objects in the composition process.

The simplicity is left up to the photographer of course to interpret. 

I always felt that I needed to drive to the river, or to some other place to get a minimal type of photo. 
My dream shot would be a single oak tree in a long open field. It would be encased in fog or perhaps a snow storm. Early morning with shadows or late evening.

Stark. Black and white.

Well. I don't have the luxury at the moment to just drive around looking for that perfect shot. So I think by forcing myself to try and find it within walking/snowshoeing distance from the house would be an excellent challenge.

The crows that I 'shot' earlier this week sort of set me on this course.

The crow shot: 

I'd also taken a photo of Queen Anne's Lace which I edited from this:

to this:

Saturday morning I set out with the intent of really getting minimal. I mean a shot that would not need  any edits at all, other than perhaps a color edit to black and white.

This was the place I choose to experiment. I put on snowshoes and goggles and carried my glasses until I got here. 
This is the Meadow east of us with all its weeds, lumps, and bumps. Getting  a tree isolated in this land is ... well impossible.

And I put the battery in my Oly and set to 'work'. Actually, I started looking around and basically got lost in the moment. Well, perhaps I should say moments. I just kept wandering about carefully trying not to make tracks where I might find something awesome.

Finding Queen Anne's Lace isolated was hard! But I kept looking and trying different angles. 
I was happy enough to get this one that was still holding some snow.

And then I got distracted by these fellows...

Looks like they'd been out playing in the snow too! Gosh, weren't they cold???

I kept hunting and hunting. I wanted to find something very small. I kept looking at milkweeds, Queen Anne's Lace, small tufts of brown grass, and thorny wild bushes. I was going to give up when I glanced down.

It isn't much but it was exactly what I had in mind. A photo of almost nothing surrounded by white glaring snow and slight dips where shadows are.

Then I found this stick while hiking back towards the farm.  An oak branch blown down by the winds casting a shadow.

When I came up through the pastures where the winds had blown hard I found patterns in the snow. It reminded me of sand dune patterns.

I really struggle sometimes with the color and whiteness of snow. The two shots above were taken with 'snow' settings on my little point and shoot. 

Snow color is supposed to be 'white' with grey shadows.

In some light it seems more yellow/red/orange if the sun is just rising. Midday? It can cast bluish shadows to my eyes and grey shadows at other times.

I think I will struggle with that forever. 

However, if I am editing to black and white it won't matter much.

That's my story, and I am stickin' to it.

In the mean time

The Brown Season is here. I am not going to complain at all this year. I decided to find some sort of inspiration for when I am un-

inspired.

Part of the issue is that I get stuck in a rut. It is getting cold and sort of dull looking outside. I await the first snow with great anticipation.

Meanwhile I adjust to looking at brown stuff. And that is partly the reason I decided to pursue a few different photographic projects. I know. It seems that is all I do.

Believe me, the mules don't feed themselves or pick out their own hooves. The goat doesn't clean his pen, the pony won't haul buckets of water. And Charlie does not clean up the dog hair and dirt he brings into the house. Hubby would eat instant oatmeal 3 times a day if left to himself and I have yet to figure out how to get the errands to Run To Me, instead of Me Running Errands.

Photography and learning more about nature and Still Life are my mental distractions from being a CareGiver. Usually I can spend about about an hour doing something for myself. I wake up very early to have time before the day arrives to have some quiet writing time. Or time for a cup of coffee and browsing a book on Moss or Lichens. Or another more recent book regarding photography.

I purchased Photography and the Art of Seeing by Freeman Patterson. 

I like some of the photography exercises he suggests that are mental viewing exercises. He reminds us that as children, we think in pictures. I can relate to that. I always preview something that is important to me by trying to imagine how it will go. The steps needed to get there. I think most folks do this anyway. 

One exercise I am looking forward to is walking out to the woods and tossing Charlie's leash in a random spot. The leash is 8 foot long. I will use the leash to make a circle in which I will explore.

Patterson has an exercise with those who take his classes. They toss a hula hoop out and have to photograph what is outside or inside that hula hoop. However, they cannot not move from that circle until the session is done and they have found 30 things to shoot. They don't have to be perfect things, but it is a way to discover that what is around you can be a lesson in learning to 'see'.

The point is to learn to observe. The point is also, that one does not have to travel 100's of miles to search for one good photo.

Some of what he writes about is stuff I just sort of scrunch my face up and say to myself NO WAY! That is stupid! However, being open to new or different ideas is always good.

Five years ago I was challenged in an on line class to do all Black and White photography. When they asked us to do Still Life, I was horrified. But I found I enjoyed it. 

At one point I found that taking photos of two little toys I had paired together reflected my angst and stress at taking care of such an ill and frail person. [This while my husband was struggling with several major health events and depression at the same time]

I was expressing myself through photos. I was expressing care, love, thoughtfulness and not really realizing I was doing so.

Example here:

I wonder if I go out and try the 'hula hoop' exercise or the exercise where he sent his students into a bathroom for an hour!  With the winds, rain, and cold weather I think I will opt for the bathroom.

What on earth can I do there?

~~~~ 

Girry and his adventures are still being worked on. Updates soon.

Photographic Techniques

That I have never heard of:
Pep Ventosa Technique

Shooting in the round.

So the theory is to 'create' a painterly scene by walking around a subject and taking multiple shots to create a painterly effect once you put all the layers together.

Below is a first attempt with only 4 photos. I used flowers in a vase and put the camera on a tripod with the settings all set up manually. 

For each photo, I slightly turned the vases by hand. 

I dropped them into an old photoshop program as layers and changed the opacity and blend. Truly, I had NO idea of what I was doing. I used Soft Overlay at 40%, Harsh Light, Lighten, Screen...I tried them all. This was sort of cool....

It felt very odd working this up but I went through with it anyway. Experimentation is fun.

 

Okay, the results are sort of meh. What if I try it again?

In this one I made the bottom original layer opaque.

Much more 'painterly' and satisfying. I like the BW version as well as the soft colored version.

Maybe I'd try some more.

Goodness, I stopped editing at around 9 layers. I cannot imagine doing 20 or so. I think my computer or the old CS2 would blow up and crash big time. 

I sort of like this one of the garden dragon. It feels as if I were taking photos of it while it was moving around. Something like double exposures combined.

[Hey that is an idea!]

Here is the Dragon on his own in the yard. 

Apparently the Pep Ventosa Technique can include up to or about 100 frames while walking around the subject.

I would like to explore this method more. I have some creative ideas stemming from this method that I may try with Still Life. I've looked up some tutorials and like some of what I see. Not sure it is really my cup of tea, but I can try! Some of the still life suggestions make more sense.

I've also heard it called: Impressionist Photography.

"What grows is a unique new narrative space that never actually happened, where the whole world has traveled mysteriously further than what the camera documented. Part memory, part imagination. Not unlike the way we see."  Pep Ventosa

I think it may be a fun project for those days that I don't have outdoor work to do. 

Pep Ventosa Link...

Leavesnbloom

In the mean time...

I'll be out mowing the yard and doing all those other fun things....