Best Abstract Photography

How did you get into abstract photography?
Well I guess it came from not really liking photographing humans!

I figured I was better at seeing details, or simply things which we might not normally perceive as interesting or visually pleasing in their everyday context, but when they're framed and taken out of their native surroundings they may get a different meaning, or lose meaning completely so that any interpretation is open to the viewer.

What draws you to abstract photography?
An abstract photograph strips real world imagery of its message and meaning and leaves only raw emotion and arbitrary associations, which might be different for each person viewing it. So it's not so much an artistic expression, more like a game of introspection offered to the potential viewer.

How did you get into abstract photography?
In recent years I've been looking to make more abstract and creative images, with club and other competitions in mind.

Talk us through how you come up with your ideas, set up and take a shot.
I have been using blur for creative images for some time, either using Photoshop filters or by the more satisfying method of using deliberate movement during exposure to get the effect wanted. Many shots are hand-held, a favourite being of windblown snow on a series of vertical tree trunks using aperture priority and low ISO to get an exposure of say 1/10 or 1/4 second, moving the camera vertically during the exposure. It is very hit and miss but less misses occur with practice.

I have favourite areas of local woods for this and sometimes will add a suitably blurred figure (often at reduced opacity to suit the image) in layers. For abstracts of rock formations, pebbles, ice etc., I do use a tripod & a wide-angle or macro lens. The same methods to produce abstracts or semi-abstracts have been used at beaches and local lochs - examples of these can be found in my portfolio and on my website. Even on holiday ideas come to mind - recently in Canada I spotted a lady in a long flowing dress, hanging onto her hat in the strong wind. She ended up in a semi-abstract of a windswept beach in Scotland.

What draws you to abstract photography?
I take inspiration from shapes, forms and textures found in nature, often photographing trees, rocks, sand, frost, ice etc.

How did you get into abstract photography?
I think the predilection for abstract photography came as a result of two factors: I like to photograph objects (products) and I like advertising. This way I can send a message associated to an object, as opposed to most commercials that have become unrealistic and therefore unreal.

Talk us through how you come up with your ideas.
Most ideas come as I try to associate unpredictable situations like shadows, angles, shapes. Also, I start from the concept of something and things flow from there.

Talk us through how you set up and take your shots.
I prefer natural light. At the beginning of my career, which was 12 years ago, I discovered how well a see-through curtain diffuses the natural light by the window. I’m still surprised by how many artists still totally depend on the interior lights for their shots. A basic set up (with or without interior lights) is generally what I need. That is a single source of light that falls at a 45 degree angle on the subject and a reflector. I take advantage of the circular polarization. I use it especially for light reflecting objects. All professional photographers prefer a set up that is as correct as possible. I am like that too – I spend as long as it takes until I have the perfect light on the product as well as on the background. If the background is white I add light on it too, so that I won’t have to adjust it in Photoshop afterwards. In terms of the interior lights I prefer 3 or 4 sources, of which the diagonal source is always underexposed by 1 or 2 steps.

What draws you to abstract photography?
As I said, I think I can visualise and associate lines and objects that lead to shapes and proportions that are correct, balanced yet diverse.

How did you get into abstract photography?
In one sense, I’ve always seen the world as a series of abstracts. From early childhood I would pick out small things and “frame them” by way of my attention. I perceived patterns everywhere. The world is full of abstract images, especially to a child. But at first I saw this way of viewing reality as something that everybody did continuously and so I didn’t value it, deeming it commonplace. When later, after leaving school, I worked in Liverpool’s Central Libraries, I was lucky enough to be assigned to the Arts and Recreations Library, where I acquired an appreciation of perspective and composition. I studied many images by a host of famous photographers, but always tended to undervalue the abstracts because they appeared to be images that I saw every day and everywhere. It took me some time to realise that such images are not seen easily by everybody all the time.

Another element which deterred my early pursuit of abstract photography was the cost involved. I speak of a time when film and cameras where barely within my reach financially speaking and had to compete with a wide range of other interests. I also did not have the space for my own darkroom and therefore had little control over the image, compared with these days of digital photography. Therefore, each and every shot was precious and the vast majority were expended on capturing my family, landscapes and the architecture of Liverpool, with abstracts as a poor fourth.