Feeling a creative urge, but not sure where to begin? Or perhaps you can’t get out of the house to try any kind of photography that you need to leave your own space to find, because: kids.

Don’t despair! Abstract is the perfect technique for stretching your creativity. And the fabulous thing about abstract photography is you will never run out of things to photograph, and you don’t even need to leave home!

Our grads totally inspired us with these amazing abstract images… never again will I despair that there’s “nothing to shoot”.

Get in Close

Close up photography is distinct from macro in that it’s not a 1:1 reproduction, so you don’t need a macro lens to try it. In other words… it’s close, just not that close.

But you can definitely make magic by getting as close as your lens will allow you and still be able to grab focus. And if that’s not close enough for you, use the sharpest lens you have then crop a little after the fact.

Fill the frame and remove all context, or hone in on a specific detail.

Related: 50 Beautiful Photo Ideas (when you have no one to shoot!)

Texture

Texture can work as a subject in its own right. Look around for it in both nature and man made objects.

Fabric

Speaking of texture, get up close to all kinds of fabric and make the most of the detail.

Intentional Blur

Deliberately capturing an object out of focus to render it unrecognisable is an easy and fun way to create abstract images. There are a few ways you can create intentional blur:

1. Manual focus
2. Slow shutter speed
3. Intentional Camera Movement (ICM)

Manual Focus

Flick your lens to manual focus mode. Then use your focus ring until your subject is out of focus to the extent you like what you see. If the subject isn’t flat, and the light is bouncing off it, you can create beautiful coloured bokeh at the same time.

This subject is backlit and combined with shootingn it deliberately out of focus, gives this abstract shot a dreamy feel.

Slow Shutter

Use a slow shutter speed to capture motion blur. Essentially you need to choose a shutter speed that is too slow to freeze the motion of your subject, so having a good understanding of the exposure triangle really helps.

Related: The Exposure Triangle – How to Shoot in Manual Mode

Ultimately the trick is to make sure the motion you capture looks intentional and not accidental. You may need a tripod if the shutter speed is slow enough to capture camera shake, which is not a desireable kind of motion blur. Depending on how steady your hands are, you could expect to capture camera shake at shutter speeds of slower than around 1/30.

Intentional Camera Movement (ICM)

ICM is an abstract style of shooting that has no rules! It’s a technique where you move your camera and combined with a slow shutter speed, it produces eye catching streaking.

You can either move just the camera, or yourself as well. Start with a shutter speed of 1/4 and experiment from there. If you’re shooting outdoors, you may find the slow shutter speed lets in too much light. So you’ll either need to try this at dawn or dusk when there’s not a lot of ambient light, on try it indoors.

You can also control the pattern of the blur by the physical way in which you move the camera or yourself. For example to create vertical streaking like Hope’s shot below, you’d move the camera in a vertical motion.

Shadows

Wander around the house and garden, especially during the golden hours, and look for interesting shadows.

Related: Shadow Photography (Embrace Hard Light)

 

I hope this blog post gives you inspiration and helps you get out of that creative rut! Happy shooting!

 

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