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Texture

janet Smith

pro member
Another theme I'm working on through the winter is texture - capturing the gnarled frostbitten texture and shapes of the plant remains through the winter months...

IMG_0115SSclean001.jpg


IMG_0117cleanSS001.jpg


IMG_0126SSAclean001.jpg


This last one interests me as a starting point for another piece of work, the grass and frost melting upon it, it's taken on an abstract quality - which seems to be sparking off yet more ideas......

I welcome all advice, comments and opinions...
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Janet,

Just a quick 2:46 am comment on the beauty in the 3rd photograph. It's outstandingly delicate and so worthy of your devotion.

Let me just point to the space within which the curve of the wisp of magic sits. It's perhaps restrictive. This placement is a challenge because one has to deal with a complex background to find harmony.

Whatever other decisions are made, it would seem more fitting to allow much more space in which the drops might be thought of being able to fall. In that line of thinking, it's possible that you would even like to see better a more vertical composition in "portrait" form.

Asher
 

janet Smith

pro member
Hello Asher

You are most kind to be responding at 2.46 am!

I'm glad you like the thrid one, but the second one is growing on me too, the mistiness is my breath, which I blew into shot, I'll go through some more of the shots from the cold day I took these on, I think I took some verticals too.

Good night Asher, have a good sleep....
 

Doug Earle

New member
Jan:
I love number two, it works in every way---color, texture, movement, mist, depth of field, vignetting.

Number three doesn't work so well for me, I think because the depth of field is so shallow there's not enough in focus. I think you could go either way with this one, either increasing the dof a little bit to make the droplets stand out more, or decrease the dof and go for a total blur.
 

janet Smith

pro member
Jan:
I love number two, it works in every way---color, texture, movement, mist, depth of field, vignetting.

Number three doesn't work so well for me, I think because the depth of field is so shallow there's not enough in focus. I think you could go either way with this one, either increasing the dof a little bit to make the droplets stand out more, or decrease the dof and go for a total blur.

Hello Doug

I'm glad you like No 2 it's still growing on me, thank you for your kind comments. I'll try and find time to go through the rest of the one's that I took, I did use varying apertures throughout, so there will be many differing but similar versions. No 3 I think is one of those shots that you either love or hate, for me it has caught the delicacy of the grasses and the colours of a sunny winter day in my garden, I think the full size version looks much better than the small version here. I may work on it some more and blur the background further, thanks for your input...
 

Jim Galli

Member
Number 3 is hopeful. Those greens tell me summer will yet return sustained by winters wet. Brrrr. See, that's the good thing about film. When it's cold you lock yourself in a 5X7 foot darkroom, turn on the heater, and print all day (or sometimes all night!) Cozy. Warm.
 

janet Smith

pro member
When it's cold you lock yourself in a 5X7 foot darkroom, turn on the heater, and print all day (or sometimes all night!) Cozy. Warm.

Thanks Jim, LOL, I remember all too well long days shut in a smelly dark room, emerging feeling like a mole! Thank goodness for digital!!!!

Daniel, thanks for stopping by..
 

fahim mohammed

Well-known member
Janet, number 3 does it for me. I am with Asher on this one...a little more space for the pearl drops to fall.

Were you using a macro?

We might be heading into winter late dec..for the birth of my grandchild in canada...brrr. your pictures
have got me thinking.

Take care.
 

janet Smith

pro member
Were you using a macro?

We might be heading into winter late dec..for the birth of my grandchild in canada...brrr. your pictures
have got me thinking

Hi Fahim

My macro lens just about lives on my camera (except when we're in Scotland) but these shots were taken with the 50mm, the third one was shot wide open at 1.4 if I remember correctly. I'll try again this weekend if we get some good light.

You must be very excited to be going to Canada for the arrival of your granchild, my best wishes to you and yours....
 

janet Smith

pro member
Another try...

IMG_0049SS001.jpg


100mm macro lens f2.8 iso 200 1/800

I took this one yesterday, when the sun was low in the sky, late afternoon, the sun was bouncing off drops of water where the frost had melted on the grasses, which were moving gently.

I was trying again for an abstract feel, trying to bring some life into a dull apparently lifeless subject, whilst emphasising the delicate texture and movement of the grasses.

I'm not at all sure that it works, opinions please....
 

janet Smith

pro member
Hi Janet
nothing as abstract for me. Sorry…

BUT I love it!

Hi Nic

Hmmm, I'll try again if I get time over the next few days, I'm a bit busy with other things at the moment, but I'm like a dog with a bone, once I've got my teeth into something I don't want to let go, I'm determind to get something that meets the vision that I have, either that or go nuts in the attempt!

I think I may try layering multiple images next time although I was trying to be a purist and make it in one shot, I don't want to bore everyone with my shots of dead plants though, I realise this is not everyone's cup of tea - thank you for your encouragement, very much appreciated.
 

Clayton Lofgren

New member
Bear in mind that this comes from the least artistic visitor to the forum, but I like your first effort much more, especially the third one. The bokeh in the last one destroys it for me.
 

Cem_Usakligil

Well-known member
Hi Jan,

I dare write this since I know you'll forgive me for being brutally honest. But I don't see how "texture" can be the main topic of these shots. Yes, there is also texture in there but a texture shot would be frame filling and the texture would be predominant feature. Here, it is halfway in the middle and the pictures are not strong enough in the areas of subject, focal point, framing and holding the attention. Much of this can be readily improved simply by cropping. Below are a few examples of what I mean but there are other crop possibilities as well. But my advice is, if you want texture, get in close. You are an excellent photographer and you can do much, much better than this. :)

janetsmith_1.jpg


janetsmith_2.jpg



Cheers,
 

Charlotte Thompson

Well-known member
Janet

this for me shows a very female creation most I love it! Sort of fare like but it seems to beg for some strength for balance-

Charlotte-
 

janet Smith

pro member
Clayton - thank you for your comments, this is a work in progress/challenge for me, so I appreciate all opinions, it helps to steer me. I keep coming back to the third one too, glad you liked it.
 

janet Smith

pro member
Hi Jan,

I dare write this since I know you'll forgive me for being brutally honest

Absolutely, it's just what I want/need....


But I don't see how "texture" can be the main topic of these shots. Yes, there is also texture in there but a texture shot would be frame filling and the texture would be predominant feature. Here, it is halfway in the middle and the pictures are not strong enough in the areas of subject, focal point, framing and holding the attention. Much of this can be readily improved simply by cropping. Below are a few examples of what I mean but there are other crop possibilities as well. But my advice is, if you want texture, get in close. You are an excellent photographer and you can do much, much better than this. :-

janetsmith_1.jpg

Not too sure about this version


janetsmith_2.jpg
But I like this idea very much, guess what I'll be trying to reproduce next time!

Again, thank you Cem, for your time and ideas, it's funny isn't it how we all take a different approach to the same subject, I'm not happy with any of these shots, but they are helpful in showing me what doesn't work, which is as important as what does, when it comes to developing a new style. As always your help and input are very much appreciated.....
 

janet Smith

pro member
Janet

this for me shows a very female creation most I love it! Sort of fare like but it seems to beg for some strength for balance-

Charlotte-

Hi Charlotte

Thank you for commenting, I do appreciate it, funnily enough my son said to me that he thought it was very feminine too, he didn't think a man would shoot that way, it would be interesting to see how a man would approach it. I think a lot of your photography shows a feminine hand too, funny isn't it...

I'll bear in mind your point about strength when I go through some of the other shots from the shoot, thank you.

BTW how did you get on with your book cover?
 

Cem_Usakligil

Well-known member
Absolutely, it's just what I want/need....


But I like this idea very much, guess what I'll be trying to reproduce next time!

Again, thank you Cem, for your time and ideas, it's funny isn't it how we all take a different approach to the same subject, I'm not happy with any of these shots, but they are helpful in showing me what doesn't work, which is as important as what does, when it comes to developing a new style. As always your help and input are very much appreciated.....
Hi Jan,

I am glad you did not misunderstand me but I wasn't really worried in that department.
The first one was just to demonstrate the texture aspect, I did not like the end result particularly either. So you are right in saying: "Not too sure about this version"

The second one has got the potential to develop further. Please show us more of such pictures when you get to shoot them :)

Cheers,
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
I'm glad that you feel able to be frank with me, it's what I want, thank you for your honesty...

Will do:)
Hi Janet,

This is essentially what we must do. Somehow we have to tell the truth. Otherwise we don't serve to help each other, each on his or her personal journey. Other fora are saturated with either rudeness or too much praise.

Asher
 

janet Smith

pro member
IMG_0034cleanSSJS.jpg

100mm macro lens f5 1/25

It's the twisted, shrivelled, gnarled, frostbitten texture of these Monarda's that fascinated me. I have some close ups too, which I'll try to find time to process in the next few days.
 

janet Smith

pro member
Shadow play

Miscanthus grass from yesterday, moving gently in a soft breeze, taken in the afternoon when the sun was very low, I was interested by the texture of the wall and the dancing of the shadows the grasses had cast and the warmth of the low sunlight on the biscuit coloured wall

IMG_0063cleanSSJS.jpg

20D 100 - 300 lens
Close up of the shadows, has become almost abstract, I'm going to work some more with these moving shadows. Do you think it works?

IMG_0080v2cleanSS001.jpg

5D 100mm macro lens. What do you think?
 

nicolas claris

OPF Co-founder/Administrator
Close up of the shadows, has become almost abstract, I'm going to work some more with these moving shadows. Do you think it works?

Bonsoir Janet

Interesting! I did a personnal work 2 years ago about shadows and the relation between the light (of course!) and the support of the shadow (a wall by instance) without showing the initial "material" that created the shadow… you have PM…
 

Mike Shimwell

New member
Janet

Sorry to be so late to this. I saw the first set at a time I was busy... and returned today. Of the first 3 I actually like the middle one - I too have blown into frame recently:) The vignetting and breath give it an other worldly appearance or like peering through an old window.

My favourite though is the pure shadow shot above. Now you are getting onto something I think that is far better than the earlier work in this thread - the image genuinely raises questions about it's origin and the movement adds to this.

Mike
 

John Angulat

pro member
Hi Janet,
I absolutely love the image of the miscanthus shadow upon the wall.
I once had a cherished Japanese print in a similar style, lost long ago.
Thanks for the memory of that.
Well done and I hope you explore this more!
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Hi Janet,
I absolutely love the image of the miscanthus shadow upon the wall.
I once had a cherished Japanese print in a similar style, lost long ago.
Thanks for the memory of that.
Well done and I hope you explore this more!
I looked up miscanthus. Here's for those who don't recognize the name, the Wikipedia picture:

Miscanthus_sinensis_ja01.jpg


Now Janet's special picture again,

IMG_0063cleanSSJS.jpg



"Close up of the shadows, has become almost abstract, I'm going to work some more with these moving shadows. Do you think it works?"

Yes, Janet, yes! Still, I think you have just started and perhaps you might explore adding more of the wall as a canvas. We might need more space in which the world of the shadow needs live.

Asher
 

janet Smith

pro member
Interesting! I did a personnal work 2 years ago about shadows and the relation between the light (of course!) and the support of the shadow (a wall by instance) without showing the initial "material" that created the shadow… you have PM…

Thank you very much Nic for your help, I'll read with interest...
 

janet Smith

pro member
Of the first 3 I actually like the middle one.....the vignetting and breath give it an other worldly appearance or like peering through an old window....My favourite though is the pure shadow shot above. Now you are getting onto something I think that is far better than the earlier work in this thread - the image genuinely raises questions about it's origin and the movement adds to this

Hi Mike

Thank you very much for your comments, it's very helpful to me. Your comment 'like peering through an old window' resonates with me. It's fascinating to me to hear what other people see.... I will keep on working on this theme, but I think shadows are possibly going to feature heavily now....
 
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