Impressionist Flower Photography

My recent visit to the Longwood Garden in Pennsylvania was a fruitful trip and I came back with full load of flower images. There are unlimited ways to photograph flower and one of my favorite approach is the impressionist photography. By simply pan or zoom the camera over about half a second to a few second (depend on the lighting condition), I was able to get the unique images as shown in this post. It's all about experimentation by varying the shutter speed, direction of panning, speed of panning, speed of zooming in or out, etc. After quite a number of trial and error, here is it - the flowers are now dancing happily! 

Flowers and Fly Impressionism

(To see the effect, click to enlarge the image.)

This image was originally taken at the Vidae Falls in Crater Lake National Park, Oregon a few week ago. After seeing an oil paint-like flower image on Facebook yesterday, I was very tempted to create one too. The resulting image just looks like a Van Gogh's impressionist painting! It is really simple, just apply the oil paint filter in the Photoshop CS6 or earlier version (this feature was removed in the newer version of Photoshop). If you want to be a digital Van Gogh, just a click away! 

Dancing Trees

It was another fantastic morning at Manasquan Reservoir County Park, New Jersey. The light was great and I was planning to try something different other than grand landscape.

I switched to the telephoto lens and search for a nice piece of dried trees for abstract shot. The location that I was standing is facing east, which add a bonus as the beautiful light forming a nice background and the tree trunks became the silhouette. So I panned my camera vertically, with experimentation of different exposures and speed/direction of camera movement. After quite a number of trial and error, here is it - the trees is dancing happily!

Lesson of the day - abstract is one of the best way to train your creativity, anywhere and anytime.

Sea Stripes

Inspired by Katherine Gendreau, these pictures was taken at Spring Lake and Belmar Beach in New Jersey. The idea is simple, just by panning your camera horizontally over the long exposure. The composition is simple too, with just a few elements - sky, sea and sand. Yet, the creativity are endless - it is the weather, time of the day, lighting condition, movement of cloud and tide that create the infinite combination of color, pattern and mood.

If you have a chance, take a look at the sea stripes series by Katherine Gendreau. Her works are magnificent! 

Abstract Painting

When you stand on a point of 5476fts height (Dante's View) and look down at the North America's lowest point of 286fts below see level (Badwater Basin), you will be amaze with the majestic of our mother nature. To the West-Northwest from the Dante's view, Death Valley National Park, you will find the abstract painting-like landscape of Badwater Basin. The current view is formed by periodical flooding and evaporation, which lead to the redeposition of salt over the years and thus appear as the irregular pattern of salt crystals. 

BTW, Dante's View is a filming location in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. The scene is where Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, R2-D2 and C-3PO approach a city in Mos Eisley and stop to watch the city from a view point, which is the Dante's View (Source: Wikipedia - Dante's View).

White Domes Trail, Valley of Fire State Park

Valley of Fire State Park is the oldest state park in Nevada. The name is derived from red sandstone formations which appear to be on fire when reflecting the sunshine. The park is located just 50 miles northeast of Las Vegas. It is a place with full of surprise, regardless whether you are a nature lover or a photographer!

This picture was taken at the trail head of White Domes Trail. The trail leads the way to a beautiful White Domes slot canyon. The trail itself is extremely photogenic, thereby provide endless creative opportunities particularly for intimate landscape photography. This picture is one of my favorite creation, where I spotted the tree and glass lie on the beautiful stripe-patterned cliff. What's a perfect combination!

Noteworthy, White Domes area was the location for the 1966 movie "The Professionals", a typical 1960s western genre starred by Lee Marvin, Burt Lancaster and Claudia Cardinale.

Abstract in the Forest

Delaware & Raritan Canal State Park, NJ

Forest can be a great subject for abstract photography. One of the most popular techniques is vertical panning. The technique itself is simple - set your camera to long exposure, let's said 1/8 sec to 2 sec, press the shuttle, and pan vertically (or horizontally, rotation, whatever you want). You can swipe from top to bottom once, or vice verse, or back and forth. The key is to experiment, there is no rule to follow.

Duke Farms, NJ

I love this type of abstract shot, it's minimize the detail and leave only the major element to focus on - tree or grass. The interplay between the element and light is the important to make a good abstract. Autumn foliage render a colorful and painting-like abstract. Different time of the day render very different effects, e.g. heavy fog add the sense of depth to the scene; golden hour add the magical color to the scene.

Experiment is the key! Did I said that?