Some Reflections

[jbtaylor]

Looking for reflections and posting all by myself.
It's good to be alive.

[Dr. Harout]

Aha, welcome to the posting thing.

Nice shots BTW, but you didn't need to rotate the pictures.

[Birma]

Hi jbtaylor - glad you've sorted out the posting thing .

Lovely reflections - I particularly like #2. Something a bit Monet about it I think.

[KevinBarrett]

Wow! These are wonderfully creative shots. I think your camera was focusing on the surface of the water--if you focused behind the surface, to the reflected image of the trees, they might be even more eye-catching. As it is, the soft "Monet" effect is lovely, though.

[jbtaylor]

Thanks for the feedback. I think you are correct. I was focusing on the part of the image that was supposed to be out of focus. I think I left some money on the table. I sometimes get so involved in composition that I forget to think about what can help me technically. Well, that's why we do this.
Thanks again.

[jbtaylor]

One more attempt at blurry or out of focus shapes.

[KevinBarrett]

Wow! This is very striking! I am loving this kind of creativity. The strange, violently sliced up bokeh is very captivating. For some reason I am thinking of welding...

[Dr. Harout]

I like it too.
Time to try it myself.

[jbtaylor]

The last shot is an out of focus palm tree branch with Christmas lights in the background. It was taken at the shopping mall near my home. I set the camera on MF and then defocused the frame. I was just trying to get the shapes to fill certain parts of the frame in a balanced way.

[jbtaylor]

Another attempt to find shape and color in a natural setting. This is rocks and algae in a stream.

[KevinBarrett]

This one is a good idea and a nice composition but could really benefit from being sharper. Also, the shadow at the bottom (I'm sure that you tried your hardest to exclude it) is detracting from the whole image.

[bossel]

The last shot is an out of focus palm tree branch with Christmas lights in the background.

Quite intriguing. Do you have any parental links to Picasso?

[jbtaylor]

Thanks for the comments Kevin and bossel.
Regarding the shadow, there is a dark section at the top of the rock in the upper center of the image. It is shaped like an arrowhead. I thought there was some color balance there but I can see what you mean.
Regarding my family tree and Picasso, not that I am aware of.

A client of mine is a fine arts photographer. I asked if the wife and I could visit her studio and talk about the trade. The images shown in this thread were inspired by her words and her work. She helped me begin to look for shapes and colors in the natural world outside of the traditional presentation of objects (trees, water, rocks). So I have been looking for patterns, shapes, and colors and that feeling that it's not quite real or a bending of reality.

I have no idea whether these are good images or just a flashback to my college days. However, they are different and are fun to do.

Two more. These are drive byes. The car was moving fast and I was trying to get images by holding the camera still and panning it as well. The first is panned, the second is not. Thanks for looking.

[bossel]

I kind of like the 'christmas tree' pic and the one with the red tree of your previous post. They're maybe not what I would hang on my wall but they're different. I'd say they're perfect for book covers. On the novel and thriller book covers I read I frequently see this style of picture. Haunted tree, reflection in the dark, mystic lights etc. DK is more experienced than me with stock pics, but I'd say you should try to sell yours for this purpose!

[jbtaylor]

Kind words bossel. Thanks. I had hoped to do some research on the whole stock photography thing.