How I Got The Shot #12 - Look For The Abstract

Whenever I go somewhere or go on a shoot, I'm always looking around me....I've trained myself like that to see if there is anything out of the ordinary.  You can thank my father and brother for that.  I was trained at a young age in various martial arts and how to survive on my own.

Weird how that can translate over into other things....but it does help you find those things that don't belong or objects of interest.

I've compiled a few images of some abstract or out of the way things.  I'd love for you to check them out!

Check out the details after the break...

Creative Process:

Sometimes you set out to find the abstract and different and sometimes it just falls in your lap.  Nothing wrong with either approach.

Location/Gear/EXIF Info

Various - They will be listed with the images.

Lighting Setup:

Unless otherwise noted, we are working with the ambient light at the location.

Image #1

Location:  Interior of the Newport Aquarium in Newport, KY

Gear:  Nikon D300, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6 VR

Lighting:  Flourescents and cannister track lighting

EXIF:  ISO 1600, F/4.8, 1/8 sec VR active

We were waiting in line to see a show at the shark tank and I saw this door.  I was intrigued by the portal color and the shape of the lines.  Besides...what else are you gonna do when waiting for 10 minutes in line?  VR helped here.  We were shooting at 122mm for this shot and normally, 1/8 second shutter speed just wouldn't give us anything useable at that focal length hand held(for those who want to know why, do a little research on the "hand holding rule" - shutter speed should be the reciprocal of the focal length).

Image #2

Location:  Interior of the COSI, Ocean Area, Columbus Ohio

Gear:  Nikon D50, Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8

Lighting:  Cannister track lighting

EXIF:  ISO 1600, f/2.8, 1/50 sec   -.7 exposure comp

I've been to the COSI a couple of times and I always seem to find something new every time.  They do make it easy as they always have something going on there.  There were a lot of these kinds of abstract objects on the walls of the Ocean Area.  This image was a bit of a challenge because the dynamic range of the light here was really tricking the meter.  What I wound up doing  was having to setup the shot so that I was getting no blown highlights and letting the rest of the image go a little darker.  I knew that I would be able to pull back some of the shadow detail in post pretty easy, especially when shooting in RAW.  The Nikon D50 is a great low light performer.  The nautilus shape is a classic and the way this was lit, the colors all made for an outstanding image.

Image #3

Location:  Disney World, Orlando, Florida

Gear:  Nikon D50, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6 VR

Lighting:  The image is the lights!

EXIF:  ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/50 sec

On a family vacation to Disney, I think I took over 600 images for whole week we were there.  Priceless family memories to be sure....and some abstract images too!   One of the old photographic adages states that after you get the image that is in front of you, always look behind you too.  I'd like to amend that and add, look above you as well.  I believe we were going into a Little Mermaid show of some kind and I looked up and saw these lights.  I honestly got lucky on the exposure - the camera did me a solid.  I didn't have time to get all technical and check the exposure.  The line was moving fast, so I got off two images.  Aperture priority was my friend.

I've got tones of other images that are abstract in nature and I keep picking up new ones all the time.  It helps me think outside the box and keeps my stocked with a fresh inventory of stock images.

Post Processing:  Not a ton really.  Just some basic exposure adjustments via Camera RAW.