Wednesday, May 29, 2019

BROMELIAD IN THE ABSTRACT

Recently we acquired a bromeliad houseplant.  These tropical plants are relatives of the pineapple, which makes sense, given how stiff and waxen their top, colorful leaves are.  The plant we have stands about 18 inches high.



I thought the plant might make a nice photographic subject.  Given my penchant for abstracts, I decided to capture just parts of the colorful leaves, taking advantage of the varied colors and curves of the leaves.  Here is what I got.




These were extreme closeups taken with my macro lens only 2-3 inches from the leaves.  As a result, depth of field was extremely shallow, even when the camera was set at a very narrow aperture in order to maximize depth of field.  I decided that it was hopeless to keep everything in relatively good focus.  Instead, I focused on a leading edge of one of the leaves and let the remainder of the image fall out of focus.  By having a leaf edge in good focus served, I think, to preserve the idea that these were not just blurry images.  

Normally, when creating abstracts my goal is to retain enough so the subject matter is recognizable.  Here, I think the amount of abstraction makes the subject almost but not quite unrecognizable.  I particularly like these images, especially for their colors.

John M. Phillips

4 comments:

  1. I don't think I would have tried doing this John - now I will (altho' I certainly don't have the camera equipment that you do!).

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    Replies
    1. Are you going to try some photography or quilting? As to photography, I do have a macro lens that has served me well and that allows me to get closeups.

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    2. Nope, photography isn't my 'thing' - beyond just taking pictures for fun or for posting on my blog. I'll stick to needle and threads I think.

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  2. The main thing is to do something that allows us to express ourselves creatively.

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