Weekly Abstract and Experimental Thread #8 (5-13-2025)

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, 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.

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.

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.

Rainbow web

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

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

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

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

I just read your text again and looked at the high res version, then realised that this is a different planet!!
The birthplace of little Anakin, who went on to have quite an impressive carreer in the Star Wars world ;-)
Who would have thought that it all began here, on Tatooine !

Lovely intensive colours, I like the double sun and walker too :-)
The composition works well!

I am re-posting this pic here because of the interest in web reflections.

I visited the links Trevor provided to Prof. Dr. Dietrich Zawischa's website. I never knew there were so many different physical effects that occur with light...

I have occasionally noticed the effect in webs before when backlit and the sun is at a shallow angle between the viewing location and the web. This one was vertical originally but I accidentally broke one of the lower strands holding it in place. Then the breeze was lifting it up in the air which made it a touch difficult to capture but the effect was somewhat enhanced at times (if I was at the right angle).

Bee Bruschetta with Bokeh...

Australian Tiger

Excellent capture. I've never done as well. Outdoors everything is against us, especially the wind. The simple background helps the web stand out. Good job
Thanks for sharing,
barondla

The semi-silhouette is complimented by the bokeh balls of the background. This is an excellent document of nature in the macro realm. Imagine it took quite a few shots to land this one.
Thanks for sharing,
barondla

stack gone wrong, or maybe right 🤔

Definitely right. Very dynamic and a little alien. For me, it is hyper dramatic with a sense of dread. Your new technique is a keeper.
Thanks for sharing,
barondla