Look at the two images below and compare. They’re from the same image, but rendered in a slightly different manner.
Schoolyard Abstract, Color
Schoolyard Abstract, Black & White
The first is full color (despite appearances). The second has been converted to B&W with Silver Efex Pro. Any preference?
I personally lean toward the full B&W version – I find that the appearance of selective color distracts a bit due to the proximity to cliche.
pure bokeh - nothing to distract you from blurriness
Yesterday I posted about bokeh. This is actually a rare post for me, in that it was taken on an SLR.
So I was later asked: how to take that photo? Well, on an SLR it’s fairly easy: turn focus to manual (on my SLR, I just move a switch), and make sure the background is nice and blurry. Tot the right: an exact example.
If you’re focusing on something, then the background needs to be a suitable distance away, and the f/stop needs to be as large (low number) as possible.
On a point & shoot? It can be done, but it’s trickier. That may come in a later post, someday.
Indian Pass - a hike to the south of Anchorage on the New Seward Hwy
When I originally started this blog, I had a stated purpose. I believe it’s on my “about” page right now: to learn. Well, I’m learning. For example, I’ve learned that I like to take abstracts. I never really thought about it before, but they’re always there. Even when I take landscape photos, it’s not about the obvious subject, but the way the subjects trace lines in the picture frame.
For example, when I took the photo to the right (in hindsight), I was seeing the sloping lines to the sides of the photo. Blame it on my (old, long in the past) background in economics. I like graphs, and I saw one in this photo.
I just didn’t know it until I started this blog.
Now, I’m no abstract photographer. Wouldn’t consider myself a fan, or even knowledgable. But sometimes things just jump out at you. Below is one of those things: crossing power lines (maybe telephone lines?) that I’ve passed a thousand times. On my Sunday bike ride, I finally looked up.
A series of shapes, drawn by the lines