• Members 334 posts
    May 13, 2025, 4:46 a.m.

    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, Infrared, dragged shutter, zone plate, motion, 3D, 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.
    IMGP4544yellowflowersKA.jpg
    This is a digital version of Kodak Aerochrome ( a color infrared film). It requires a full spectrum modified camera. Pentax K-1 full frame DSLR modified by Kolari vision. A Kolari IRChrome filter is also required. This leans a little more pink/orange than the films bright red. Post processing channel swapping isn't needed with this method
    Thanks for looking,
    barondla.

    IMGP4544yellowflowersKA.jpg

    JPG, 559.5 KB, uploaded by barondla on May 13, 2025.

  • Members 2095 posts
    May 13, 2025, 12:10 p.m.

    Tatoine Sunset - A landscape abstract

    Shot at Gulf Shores, AL, including the umbrella stand on the veranda in the composition on purpose. I tried an angle that let the sun sit directly on the post and one without the post but I liked this version more. I imagine the tiny puff of cloud as the second sun, and the oil rigs as the walkers... but I have an overactive imagination.

    pretty-2.jpg

    pretty-2.jpg

    JPG, 483.0 KB, uploaded by minniev on May 13, 2025.

  • Members 1362 posts
    May 13, 2025, 2:41 p.m.

    Rainbow web

    The physics behind the colours in a spider's web is tricky
    Found these webs in my garage 14 years ago,...

    dprevived.com/media/attachments/5c/6b/A6Yd5AiWdUxxgkrPL6oBND3vOeb0WcVkJYlQS6DYdUn90c2N7RG8o0Jb44Y10IAA/dsc-4319a-crop-s.jpg

    dprevived.com/media/attachments/29/21/oKTMi80lSjdNWRse594gzbe3s9Q1Sn4mABeArEjjzUc5SP0bwjMWmw99oVyUYjGT/rainbow-web-trev.jpg

    I spoke to a colour scientist (Prof. Dieter Zawischa ) about them, at that time, and he wrote,...
    " Due to constant temperature and humidity and absence of wind in your garage when the spider spun its net, the sticky droplets on the catching threads arranged themselves in extremely regular arrays, such that the interference conditions, i.e. colours, stay almost constant over large areas. All my spider web photos have been taken in the open air and none of them was so uniform in the colours it produced. Congratulations also to the spider!”

    For a while he had these pictures displayed on his uni website 😊

    The individual strands of a web are much too far apart to work like a diffraction grating but the many individual drops of glue all lined up on the strands can work like a diffraction grating. There’s also refraction, reflection and interference going on 😉

    Here's two more links to other interesting colour related things from Prof. Zawischa (retired) from Hannover uni.
    Maybe there's some ideas here for more photo experiments in this weekly thread 😊
    link 1

    link 2

    DSC_4319a crop smaller.JPG

    JPG, 1.8 MB, uploaded by Fireplace33 on May 13, 2025.

    Rainbow Web- Trevor smaller.JPG

    JPG, 1.0 MB, uploaded by Fireplace33 on May 13, 2025.

  • Members 334 posts
    May 14, 2025, 1:03 a.m.

    Excellent concept and execution. Now that you mention it, the walkers and second sun are apparent.
    Thanks for sharing,
    barondla

  • Members 334 posts
    May 14, 2025, 1:11 a.m.

    Wow! Fantastic. I've seen outdoor webs that have slight, but inconsistent, rainbow colors. Never anything like these. The science is fascinating. No wonder Prof. Zawischa featured them on his website. Now I have to check out my garage.
    Thanks for sharing,
    barondla