Abstract/Special Effects Page

AbStRaCt - sPeCiAl EfFeCtS
Abstract photography is a very peculiar category. Almost every shot taken could be put into this category. It all depends on how you look at it (and perhaps, how you crop it). I'm not going to get into that though, because it has such a broad range of different views.
Special effects are fun to use if you know what you're doing, and sometimes even more fun if you don't. There are several different techniques, including: double exposures, night photography; which could be in a category of its own, high contrast, painting with light, Sabattier, etc.

Sabattier of Rock Stream
This print, of a stream made of rocks leading to a small pond (which is blocked by a tree), shows a technique called: Sabattier (suh-boh-tee-ay). This is sometimes mistakenly called, 'Solarized', or 'Solarization'. If you're familiar with Adobe Photoshop, you may have seen this technique before. It's actually a very simple and fun process. This print is also in the Landscapes/Architecture section of my Portfolio.

Kaleidoscope
Kaleidoscope is a picture taken on high contrast 'Tech Pan' film. Can you guess what it is? It's the roof of a gazebo. I thought the structure of it was interesting, and took a few shots. This one, of three, went to State Competition and placed Fifth in the Open category. There really is no top or bottom to this picture, you could look at it any way you wanted to, but I decided that this way was my favorite.

Denver at Night
You have to look at the full version of this to get the best impact. Click on the picture to see a larger version.
I actually saw this one on a postcard after I took it! I guess you could say that's pretty good, considering a pro shot the same scene and had it published. This was a twenty second exposure, which is why the lights from the cars on the free way (I-25) are streaked. If you look closely, you can see one of the cars turn signals.

Larimer Square
This was taken at a four second exposure, which is why the people walking in front of the camera are blurred (perhaps a little too blurred, but it's still a nice effect). Notice the far right side of the picture. The store fronts are lined up just along the side of the frame. When you look at a picture, your eye moves from left to right, and in a downward motion, just like reading a book. The store fronts give a nice man-made border to the picture, and they kind of force your eye back up the side of the picture, towards the middle.

Truck at Larimer Square
I wish it would have been a Lexus, but you take what you can get. This was a four second exposure, which gives the streaked head lights running down the right side from a passing car. Check out the larger version!