Project 52: Week 15: Photographing blades of grass to create natural abstracts

I love natural abstracts – their variability allows you to make soothing modern interpretations, as well as vibrant colorful creations.  This week’s project was to take something simple, plain, and ho-hum, and try to create abstract interpretations.

For image capture I used my Lensbaby with the Double Glass optic and stacked both macro filters on top.  I raised my ISO to 3200, changed to burst mode, and moved my body back and forth until something came into focus.  Because the range of focus was minuscule moving my body was easier than using a tripod (Jack don’t kill me), and burst mode helped me to capture it, even though I couldn’t keep absolutely still.  In some images nothing was in focus – but I liked those too (much to Peter’s chagrin).

For processing I used Nik’s Color Effects Pro and played with both the Cross Balance and Film presets to give me different feels – warm and cool.  Sometimes I liked stacking these presets.  As I look at these images, I still can’t decide if some are just too “mellow” – if there isn’t enough contrast or vibrancy.  I like the minimal modern feel, but wonder if it is too boring.

Here is a before and after to get a sense of how much changing the color can alter an image.

Before
After

These week’s images.

Injury index:  No injuries this week (except a few bug bites).  7 weeks with injuries/8 weeks without.

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