DSS #123 - C&C Needed

TJRidgway

I've honestly never tried an abstract before. For this I used one of my daughters toys with a long exposure, handheld, zooming. Used LR4 to adjust curves and levels, nothing else. Two options, one a bit flatter, one a bit more vibrant (literally a difference of 50 in the vibrance, -50 vs 0).





Looking forward to some C&C!

billseye

Looks like you have a good sense of appropriate shutter speed for hand held blur. There's enough time and motion to obscure the subject beyond recognition - making this an abstract that is purely about color and composition. I don't think there's a chance that anyone would be able to identify the subject, which is one of the challenges stated goals.

With that said, I think it's worthwhile to consider the colors and composition as being the subject. So... The issue of vibrance come down to which one supports visual interest best. For me this is a very cool shot there's some interesting stuff going on, and... I think you have the material here to make it even better.

There's a kind of symmetry that works around the central vertical and horizontal lines. It's strengthened by the leading diagonal lines that lead to the center. What captures my attention most is the contrasting left-right complemental red-green color shift which comes out best in the second shot.

I think you might be able to emphasize the complementary aspects of the colors with a bit more work in the HSL panel of LR by experimenting with isolated hue, saturation, and luminance adjustments of the reds, greens, and yellows.

It might be interesting to experiment with your crop and minor straightening to emphasize the aspects of symmetry too.

tinamarie52

Altho I agree with Bill in almost everyway, I see wooden beads on a string. I keep getting drawn to them and the image loses its abstract quality.

Love the colors and the sense of motion.

Chris

PedalGirl

I agree with Chris and Bill. Think you are on the right track here and really like the effect you've got going. But, I can see the bead on the right hand side especially... so if you can get that moving so that it blends in without being recognizable, it would really help this photo.

TJRidgway

I had a fairly complex setup for this without realizing it. I've been trying to replicate it, but I don't like any of the new shots quite as much as this one. I do wonder if it's because I'm not a big abstract fan so I like having a little bit of structure peeking through though...

Here goes, however:



Just for a note, I really like the less vibrant shot in my first post. I think I would name it "Fading Childhood". It really hits me with that, both colors and the spacial effect.

tinamarie52

It's more abstract and the colors are nice. You have recaptured the balance in this one, too.

chris

PedalGirl

This one keeps the nice abstract but gets rid of the item recognition problem. Nice job!

TJRidgway

Thanks! I adjusted the levels a touch more and aligned the colors a bit more directly on the diagonal. Curious what you think of this.



Thanks again!

Memol

I like your last entry better.

TJRidgway

Worked on both of those shots a bit more. I know the first shot was not favored, but I kept working on it because I like it. The second shot I balanced the colors a touch more.



This one I color balanced a bit and then washed out a touch as I think that speaks to what I see the photo as.



Added some clarity and fine tuned the colors a bit more. I like the contrast a bit more, but I'm curious what others think.

Memol

I like this last one better. The colors are much better.

lkbart

Agree - last one looks good! Although I didn't mind the first couple where the beads were slightly visible - made me think of olives!

WhatSheSaw

My personal preference is for the first. I like the more subtle tones and the beads add for me, rather than detract as they do for some of the others.

TJRidgway

I'd have to agree, personally.