Picking Poppies: painting with a lens

Showing posts with label painting with a lens. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Abstract flower painting . . .

Good morning, and happy Tuesday!

I'm behind, again, well maybe I'm just not ever not behind? Is that to many double negatives?

*** (insert smiley face here) ***

I had fully expected to get this post done last night, or better yet after my metals class yesterday,

but I stayed all day...and playing with fire and glass and saws, well that tends to wear a person out.

In a good way, a very good way....I slept well last night!!

Last week I shared some fun stuff I'm doing with my lens, painting with movement. But I've also

found that I can get a "painted look" without movement as well. I love flowers, I love the way they

look, the way they feel, and smell and I just love taking pictures of them. Since I never planted any

cool season flowers in my garden, I've been enjoying the $4 specials at the grocery store and we've been

spending quality time together on my front porch. I've been playing with my 40mm macro lens with a wide open aperture to get lots and lots of blur.

I think when we first set out on our journey with our camera, I know this is true for me, we are happy to get photographs that are half way decent and NOT blurry, as in in focus. I didn't understand aperture, speed, and ISO and how any of it worked together. I just knew I had a new camera and wasn't getting results like others, like I wanted. And then after much practice I was beginning to get the shots I was looking for AND with some added bonus of the beloved bokeh, but I was just using my camera as a tool to record.

Revelation number two: My camera is a tool that can help me "create" rather than just record. It's taken me some time to realize my photographs don't have to have anything to do with exactly what the subject looked liked at the time, but rather about a creative vision based solely on my heart and my experience in that moment. And you know I'm all about the moment.

I'm just letting my heart create, rather than thinking too much about any of it . . .and taking full control

of the camera. Because so many of the times, "Nicki" just doesn't see things the way I do! lol

These were all taken on my covered front porch at different times of the day, in indirect light, on cloudy, sunny, and or overcast days.

{ Kim Klassen textures: Camomile, minus 43 and Oh my }

(Sooc), and slightly cropped

Added some textures to give the feel of a canvas.

(Sooc) and cropped.

Kim Klassen warm sun

Slight exposure adjustments, love this the way it is with the dark and muted background.

(Tones on Tuesday)

But I had to play - I was going for a an old painted look here.

I don't think I've ever gotten my moneys worth out of anything like my $4 finds at the grocery store, or killed so much time! But I have been having fun...You really don't need a macro lens to try this. Just grab a lens, one that you can switch to manual focus, find some good light and really pay attention to your background.

Ready...set....click! And P.S. - things just might get a little foggy on Thursday, just sayin'!!

Have a great day...

Love, Kim

Sharing with Texture Tuesday, Sweet Shot Tuesday, Tuesdays Around the World, Tones on Tuesday

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Painting in abstract . . .

Painting: the works of art painted in a particular manner, place, or period

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep."

- Scott Adams

I chose the part of the definition of painting that didn't mention "paint" for a reason . . .

I have had somewhat of a revelation about myself. I am a creative person. Well not that part, I've known that. But I'm also a pretty frugal, creative person. And by that I mean...there are many times that I hold myself back out of fear of making a mistake and wasting materials. I remember when I took a watercolor class, I would paint a little bit and stop out of fear of messing it up and when I got a little more confidence I would paint a little more, until I actually finished it. The only thing that would have been lost if I had messed it up, was a sheet of water color paper. But still, I tend to hold myself back from creating with abandon, that is until I discovered that all I have to do if I mess up with my camera is hit the delete button. That's it.

Like the next person I do like camera gear, but my gear doesn't make me an artist and it surely doesn't define my creativity, but my control of that gear does. In fact I feel like photography finally allows me to create with abandon, without fear of failure. (Disclaimer: But I'm not saying I haven't been frustrated) : )

One day last fall, while at a sunrise by the bay I decided to try a long shutter speed to get that nice blur in the water. And that created a chain reaction. I took my camera off the tripod, and took control of my camera and ever since then I've had a little obsession with speed, or lack of it.

The photo above was my first keeper in my first attempts at painting with my lens. It's taken me several months of practice to get a feel for what kind of movement and how fast or slow to make it to like my results.

I'm kind of obsessed with reflections too...but that's another day. That same morning I got the one above, I went to the boardwalk overlooking the bay and caught these incredible abstract reflections in the slightly wavy water from the flags up above. I didn't purposely put movement into the camera on this one but I allowed my speed to drop lower than the minimum required for my focal length ( in order to hand hold an in focus shot ) so I got a slightly out of focus, slightly blurry image. It created some interest though from people passing by wondering what on earth I was taking a picture of! ;)

I've never really thought of myself as someone who liked abstract art, but I believe that has changed as I have been experimenting and practicing. The next images are some of my more recent ones....slightly cropped, and the exposure adjusted for a bit more contrast. I happen to have a thing for trees...but have some different things to share with you next week. More painted looks, without movement of the camera.