Weekly Abstract and Experimental Thread #29 (10-7-2025)

The weekly Abstract and Experimental thread
This weekly thread, starting on a Tuesday, allows us to showcase our abstract and experimental photos and get some feedback.
Opening up discussions, not only on content, style, composition & techniques, but also on the creativity of the image.

It’s easy to participate
Post an image with a title and description. To make it easier to view in the forum, all comments should include the original title and at least one of the original images as a quote.

Thread Guidelines:
This weekly thread is for sharing and developing abstract and experimental photography skills.
We want to see wild, creative photography.
Give your entry a clear title and mention the technique used.
Provide constructive feedback on others’ images.
Try to go beyond simple praise or dismissal and explain why you like it, or what caught your eye.
”Likes” are encouraged too.
Negative feedback and suggestions are also OK (be polite, honest, and constructive).
Giving feedback is just as important as receiving feedback, both help to improve our artistic and technical skills.

What is an abstract or experimental photo?
Different ways to see and investigate the world around us. Abstract photography reduces a subject to shapes, tones or colors making it unrecognizable. Abstract subjects are everywhere.

Experimentation might include, Stereo/3D, macro, Infrared, dragged shutter, zone plate, motion, fluorescence, multiple exposure, birefringence, ultra violet, optical including adapted lenses, tri color, fractals, manipulated Polaroids, pinhole, Kirlian (bioelectrography) and many other methods. Experimentation can be for artistic expression or pure science. It is often more difficult than standard types of photography. This is fine, we aren't expecting perfection. Every experiment enhances knowledge. Your idea can help others explore the universe around them. We love experimentation. You can explain your process or keep it a secret.

This will be a looser collection of photos compared to other weekly threads. This is good. It will be a place to get away from standard animals, babies & sunset photos. We don't hate animals, babies or sunsets. Show us your creative abstract and experimental images. Are you unsure if the image fits the category? Don't worry, just post it. FEEL FREE TO POST MULTIPLE TIMES TO THIS THREAD. This should be fun.

Thanks for looking and participating,
barondla

Lensbaby Composer double glass optic at F2.
Thanks for looking and participating,
barondla

The sweetgum tree by my driveway, and some of its fallen leaves, reflected in the windshield and hood of our car.

Wow! It moves from realistic to Japanese anime or painting. Impressive. Love the transition. You should enlarge and hang it on the wall.
Thanks for sharing and participating,
barondla

Multi exposure playing

Last week I mentioned in-camera multi exposure images, and that sometimes I play with changing the white balance between exposures. Here are a couple fo experiments;

Lasy week's lily pads by minniev reminded me of this little scene.

A different attempt. More architectural. A bit too busy I think.

I haven't quite worked out yet what sort of scene best suits this idea. Good to keep playing 😁

Wonderful!
A lesson to us all to keep the car clean 😅

A bit of a boat

Mirror lens doughnuts

Fascinating idea. I like the different white balances mixed with multiple exposures. Guessing you are using same exposure for each. Have you tried using different exposures for each part? Experimentation is part of the fun. You are on to something here and it might work better with slightly less complicated subjects than the industrial photo. Looking forward to more examples.
Thanks for sharing and participating,
barondla

Love how you distilled the boat down to an almost abstract image. The details in the wood keep it from being totally abstract.The red, white and blue stripes work well together. Very dramatic capture.
Thanks for sharing and participating,
barondla

Yes, I have tried varying exposure between shots. It affects which image becomes more dominant in the composite.
I believe some cameras have a variety of blending modes which you can select, but my Olympus just has the one mode. It also has 'auto gain' setting, which has the effect of compensating for the additional exposure. I usually turn it off, as I want to give equal weight to each exposure. But this means I have to 'compensate' manually; If I'm going to use two exposures, then dial in -1exp. compensation. -2 for four exposures and so on. It's not critical so long as the total doesn't blow important highlights.

Fine use of mirror lens donuts. That's a lot of donuts. Like the panoramic format you used. B&W is an interesting choice as well. Experimentation is good. What mirror lens do you have?
Thanks for sharing and participating,
barondla

These are a couple of photos I took in Adelaide Botanic Gardens a few months ago with an Infra Red filter on my lens. Unfortunately, Sony cameras have a pretty strong infra red cut filter on the sensor so it's not easy to get the effects you can get with some other brands but having said that, I'm pretty happy with these.

They turned out wonderful. Beautiful colors and quite sharp. As you've shown it is possible to shoot infrared with a stock camera. They just require many more stops of light. Hope you post more images.
Thanks for sharing and participating,
barondla

This one catches the dreamy vibe of IR the best I think.