How to Take Fantastic Abstract Photography

Image Credit – Pixabay

The artistic medium of photography is an incredibly versatile one. Depending on the techniques and equipment you use, you can achieve the most diverse and stunning results. It gives you the freedom to play with shapes, lines, and colors, and produce something worthwhile. But what should you do when you want to shoot something conceptual?

5 Useful Tips

When a picture displays something that is irregular or nonconcrete, it is known as abstract photography. Because it veers away from the rules of traditional imagery, approaching it as a beginner can be tricky. Here are five useful tips that will help you get started.

1:- Isolate and Eliminate

Everything around us has the potential to create an amazing abstract photograph. Look for plants, objects, or buildings that present strong textures and sharp lines, or irregular form and lines. Combined with interesting or unconventional colors, these elements of design can lay the perfect foundation for a unique work of art.

After identifying the abstract potential of an item, work by isolation and elimination to single out the portions that will produce the best photograph. This can be done either by playing with angles, or by cropping out the unnecessary parts in post-processing. This can easily be done with any basic editing program, so you don’t have to invest in Adobe Photoshop just yet.

2:- Tweak the Distance

Tweaking the distance at which you take a photo is also a way to produce a fantastic abstract photograph. There are two ways to go about this, as you might have inferred already. You may either increase the distance or diminish it. In the case of the former, you can easily conceptualize aerial photography of land formations by playing with techniques.

From the window of an airplane, rivers, hills, valleys, or mountains progressively lose detail as you increase altitude. This is already abstract enough, but you can also take it up a notch by using an infrared camera for added texture. In this way, you will achieve the appearance of an enlarged texture, rather than well-defined structures.

The second option is, of course, diminishing the distance between your lens and the photographed object or being. This is especially beautiful when your subject is a flower, the fur of an animal, or insect wings. Close in on a portion of the body, and you will notice incredible details that form a new meaning for themselves.

3:- Encapsulate Motion

Generally speaking, photographers tend to steer clear of blurriness and inconclusiveness. But while this might be the case with traditional portrait or landscape photography, the opposite is true for abstract works. In fact, motion is an interesting aspect to capture in a photograph when you are aiming for a nonconcrete end result.

Move your camera at the exact moment you are shooting to create a mix of texture, color, and light. If you want to do it the professional way and achieve an extreme result, secure it to the tripod and spin the entire structure around. Nevertheless, a gentler tilt works as well, as long as you do it fast enough.

4:- Play with Lighting

Another tip that is especially helpful for beginners has to do with lighting, more specifically playing around with it to achieve different results. The same surface can change its appearance drastically depending on this factor. For example, if the light source shines directly on it, it will emphasize certain features.

Similarly, a light shining from one side casts a shadow, which can engulf facets of the object into darkness, while highlighting others. What is more, you also have the option of using different colored sources to change the entire chromatic palette of the scene. It’s all about to you to let those creative juices flowing and produce an unforgettable image.

5:- Shoot Through Objects

Finally, another neat trick that will produce a striking image is shooting through an object, such as glass for example. This creates a natural overlay to the original picture that lends it that unique touch. Post-processing can help you achieve similar results by overlapping two images and toying around with various settings, but it’s better when you achieve it all with the lens.

Conclusion

Abstract photography is simple to shoot with the right technique. Simply put, all you need to do is play around with several essential aspects of the art, such as distance, motion, and lighting. What is more, you can always make use of additional objects and surfaces to create an image that is exceptional and inimitable. So, what are you waiting for? Grab your camera and have some fun.