Infrared

Newport – Westport 2018

October 14, 2018 by A. Cemal Ekin

This post and all the photographs are a long-winded get-well card for my sister Binnaz. Get well soon, Binnaz. Jan and I are sending you our love and best wishes along with these photographs.

A little over seven years ago I took a helicopter ride from Newport. There was no set destination and my friend Dennis and I flew towards Westport and back taking photographs as things emerged. You can see them in a dedicated portfolio on this site. That ride was a joint gift from my final capstone class students who totally surprised me and from my sister Binnaz, and brother in law and friend Ergun as a birthday gift.

This year, we took a similar ride with my friend Jim, we decided to do the same route. While we flew over the coastline and the salt marshes I remembered the first ride, my students, my sister, and Ergun. One can never guess exactly what one will see in these flights as the vista changes by the tides, the time of the day, the winds, and the route the pilot decides to take. This time was no exception. The chief pilot Jeff of Birds Eye Helicopter Tours gave us a great flight.

We flew by the coast watching the waves break on the sandy shore like lace, creating very intricate and interesting patterns against the underwater color and texture. Then, a rock emerged as if a giant manta ray with seaweed forming its long tail. The shoreline is filled with little islands in interesting shapes against the ever-changing color of the ocean.

Then, I saw a series of large ripples as if formed by the careful hand of an artist. One ripple followed the other, gently breaking into delicate bridal veils. At times the water was probably quite shallow and clear, the sea bottom providing interesting backgrounds for the surface detail.

As we flew over the land following small rivers, the salt marshes provided the artistry of collaboration between nature and humans. The carefully cut channels on the marshes were done many decades ago by the Army Corps of Engineers to speed up the water drainage after high tide to minimize mosquito’s breeding grounds. Aside from those channels cut by the engineers, nature herself created others using its forces as if to please the viewers. The points where these little rivers joined the ocean formed interesting swirling patterns of water and sand.

The creations by the human touch ranged from the settlements, towns, to villas and mansions. The elaborate mansions are quite an integral part of Newport but seeing them from the air gives them more of a jewel-like appearance. The boats of various kinds were sprinkled on the ocean resembling the grains of salt on a dark tablecloth. Of course, there is the unavoidable presence of the two bridges that connect the mainland on the west to the islands of Jamestown and Newport, the Jamestown Bridge and Claiborne Pell Bridge which is also known as the Newport Bridge.

In the following collections, you will see the photographs I took with two cameras. One was a regular DSLR, a Canon 5D Mark IV, and the other was a Canon M5 converted to take infrared photographs. The last two collections are the infrared photographs with their false colors. I decided to keep the false color versions instead of converting them to monochrome because the general blue presence fit the scenery quite well. And, the yellowish foliage, although technically incorrect, suits the season as if I photographed fall foliage.

Preparations and Pointers

If you are planning a similar experience, here are the things I planned for and one thing I totally overlooked! The following are not in any particular order.

First and foremost, look to see new and different things and respond to what you see instead of searching for what others have photographed. Let the photograph find you
Carry extra memory cards and batteries even if you think you will not need them. Make sure the batteries are newly charged and the cards formatted
Set your camera for auto ISO. If the setting allows, set the minimum shutter speed to 1/500 seconds. I shot in aperture priority mode on my Canon EOS 5D Mark IV.
But, the M5 infrared camera did not allow for setting the minimum shutter speed. So, I set that to auto ISO, manual mode with shutter speed at 1/750 seconds and f-stop of 7.5 or thereabouts. The exposure was handled essentially by varying the ISO as needed.
Set your camera profile to Landscape and shoot RAW format photographs
If your camera supports it, set your GPS to work during your flight to mark the locations of the photographs
The M5 did not have GPS but I got the Canon Camera Connect to record the locations on my phone and then automatically transferred the information to each frame
Make sure that your camera has a strong neck strap
Choose a suitable lens for the experience and your camera. On my full-frame 5D, I had a 24-70mm lens which at times felt too short. On the APS-C crop-sensor M5 was an 18-150 mm lens which worked very well for wide angle shots as well as good telephoto when I needed. The full-frame equivalent would be 28-240 mm but something in that range will be very comfortable
If you chose the date carefully you will likely have good weather with plenty of light, set your f-stop to around 6.3 – 8 and let the shutter speed fall wherever it may so long as it is not below /500 or 1/1000 seconds.
You will shoot from the left side of the helicopter, if there are two passengers you will both likely sit on the same side.
Shooting will be mostly looking out and slightly, or seriously down depending on the scenery.
Many photographs you will bring back may be almost abstract photographs, which I really like
The wave crests are very bright and may be blown out, so you may want to consider exposure bracketing
If you are interested in photographing particular structures, say the Newport Bridge, flying parallel to it does not give you good enough angles from the side of the helicopter. Try asking the pilot to rotate the chopper 30-45 degrees away from the bridge so you have a fuller view
If you get too close to the bridge, you may capture the traffic more than the bridge. For the bridge, a little distance gives a good outline of it.
Try to let the photograph find you rather than searching for a particular thing, for that may prevent you from seeing many other interesting frames. You will see plenty, try to react and respond to what you are seeing and capture your experience.
And, don’t forget to check all the settings of your camera. My Canon 5D was a little sluggish, taking a long time to write each frame to the card. In fact, I missed quite a few frames I wanted because it was “busy” writing the previous frame to the card. After returning home, I tried a different card which produced the same results. Then I reset the camera settings to their defaults which worked like a Heimlich maneuver! I could shoot multiple frames per second. Upon careful inspection, I found that the fluorescent light flicker detection and exposure adjustment was turned on (Anti-Flicker Shoot) and the poor camera was trying to figure out the rate of flicker in bright sunlight and adjust the exposure and its timing! Live and learn!

Now, the photographs (if you have really read this far, thank you!)

Gallery 1: The Shoreline

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Gallery 2: The Marshes

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Gallery 3: The Human Touch

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Gallery 4: The Human Touch in Infrared

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Gallery 5: The Shoreline in Infrared

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Green Trees Glow Under Infrared

August 18, 2018 by A. Cemal Ekin

A few days ago, when the weather seemed a tiny bit better, I accompanied Jim to visit Roger Williams Park in Providence. It was hot but not terribly so and the humidity seemed tolerable, at least initially. The sky had big puffy clouds and the trees glowed under infrared light. I sought foliage with big green leaves especially if I could get under them. The sun shining on them, I envisioned, would create brilliant leaves and dark branches. And, I was right!

Roger Williams Park occupies a large swath of land in Providence. With over 435 acres of land and many educational and recreational activities, it is one of the important landmarks in Rhode Island. The land sprawls around a body of water that creates pleasing scenery and probably provides moisture that may be necessary for the plant and wildlife. Visit their website for more information about the park. Below are the screen captures from Google Maps showing the park layout and its approximate width and length.

At the first stop, we came across a group of women and men dressed in period costumes going back to the 19^th century. They kindly stopped and posed for us. From there, we slowly walked around the Japanese Gardens with one of the sizeable ponds in the park, decorated with small landings connected with slightly arched wooden bridges. Around these landings on both sides were various trees arranged rather skillfully. As I photographed the small pine tree leaning over the water with a shapely rock next to it, I remembered taking bonsai classes from the designer of the Japanese Gardens; I think his name was Ronnie.

The next stop was at the Betsy Williams Cottage which recently opened after years of renovation. Jim parked the car under the impressive American Sycamore tree and we slowly walked towards the casino. As we approached the small covered bridge, I saw a group of young women taking photographs of one of their friends holding in her hands two balloons in the shape of a 2 and a 0, she turned 20! I took a few photographs and we moved along taking photographs of the glowing trees, ginkgo, maple, pink oak, purple beech and many others. See the Roger Williams Park Notable Trees brochure published by the Rhode Island Foundation.

Young woman celebrating her 20th birthday

As we approached the Casino Building I lost track of Jim, he was ahead and went in a direction I did not see. I looked around a little then decided to walk back to the car. I saw the young women still photographing the 20-year old friend and took a few more photographs, you see them all above. I made it back to the car as the weather was getting heavier. In the meantime, I managed to capture many frames of large tree branches covered with leaves against the sky. The stark contrast in infrared came out quite pleasing to me after processing them.

The long branch of the sycamore tree was quite impressive and extended quite a distance with twists and turns. The curved branch created quite an intriguing display from various angles. I passed more time photographing the huge branch and then decided to sit down on the steps of the Roger Williams statue and wait for Jim to return. A little later, Jim returned and I caught my breath and enjoyed the AC inside the car as we drove home.

All the photographs in this post were converted to B&W from the false-color infrared photographs.

Hot Weather – Good Infrared

July 29, 2018 by A. Cemal Ekin

The last week or ten days have been very hot and humid. Frequent threats of rain kept the clouds overhead almost all the time. When they were not totally covering the sun and creating a dreary sky, the clouds were very puffy, huge, varied in shape against the blue sky.

When the humidity and the heat came down to a point not to bother me, I took walks. At other outings, I drove here and there, and during the walks, in the parking lots, and at a special detour I took to get close to the wind turbines, I took infrared photographs. The stark contrast between the clouds and the dark sky provided a nice backdrop for various subjects. Before I talk about some of the photographs let me say something about the processing. They are all captured with a Canon EOS M5 converted for infrared, then converted to black and white, and split-toned. The colors you see are mostly in the tradition of darkroom toning, like platinum, bromoil, etc. The last few are also coming from the same path, the toning colors perhaps being reminiscent of the greenish photographs we used to get after taking a roll of film to the local photographer. One, the Black-eyed Susan flowers is also split toned using local adjustments, so that too is essentially a black and white photograph.

I took the first couple of photographs outside the door of my doctor’s office in Providence at the corner of Waterman St. and Wayland Avenue. The stark metal structure of the lights towering over the soft clouds and the clouds mimicking the old house’s dome caught my eye. On the way home, I noticed the wind turbines were operational and took a detour by their location near Allens Avenue in Providence.

The streamlined shapes and white color of the wind turbines gave them a look as if made from the cloud material, especially when they seemed to tower over huge puffy clouds. As luck would have it, a plane destined to the T. F. Greene Airport went behind one of them giving a couple of ironic frames. The huge wings of the turbines were moving while the structure was anchored to the ground and the wings of the plane were traveling to a different destination while firmly fixed to the fuselage and not moving.

All week long, wherever you looked you would see clouds, some puffy, some whispy, often times moving to drop their bucket somewhere. I photographed some clouds because of their interesting shapes and remembered the Equivalents series by Alfred Stieglitz. This I say not in a comparative way but in an inspirational one. In a parking lot, I was drawn to small trees against the huge clouds as backdrops. The two were made for each other, and I managed to maintain their separation in a gentle, soft-handed way. In the same parking lot, the trees were reaching out to touch the clouds.

Then, we come to the intersection at the end of my street, mere five houses down. Spring Green Rd. extends to the other side of Narragansett Parkway into the neighborhood known as Governor Francis Farms. The centrality of the strong light appealed to me, remembered Fung Ho as I pointed my camera and noted the power lines running into the light! Turning left on the Parkway, at the corner of the next street, Fair St. was a gorgeous tall tree glowing in the sun. Returning home, I went by the white fence I photographed many times. The flower bed in front of it along with a V-shaped set of tree trunks created an interesting frame.

Along the way, I went by the usual wilderness blocks with ivy growing around trees, an interesting low-growing fern-like plant and a bunch of Black-eyed Susans. Back at home, the tall and delicate Liatris created a lacey look. I decided to tone the low plant and the Liatris in the cool colors zone. The Black-eyed Susan cluster needed a different touch, with some local adjustments I gave them a little edgy and surreal look.

Let me hear what you think, and I hope you enjoy them like I enjoyed making them.

Infrared Walkabouts

June 8, 2018 by A. Cemal Ekin

With the Canon M5 converted for infrared photography, I enjoyed photographing the neighborhood and even drove about 2.5 miles from home to see the Narragansett Bay. From the end of Norwood Ave. in Cranston I photographed the wind turbines and the splash of small waves. When you look at those water photographs, try to imagine the movement and the sound of the waves. On the way there, I stopped near the RI Yacht Club and enjoyed the view, an empty bench inviting people to stop and smell the ocean.

From Norwood Ave. I drove back to the small, historic Pawtuxet Village and from one side of the Pawtuxet River rushing into Pawtuxet Cove, I photographed a few houses singly and then in a panorama. Since I was not planning to take panoramic photographs I did not bring my newly made panorama head but managed to take a sequence of photographs that stitched with no fuss.

Some of the photographs below are in color and others are black and white, yet some have versions in both. Keep in mind that the colors you see are false infrared colors I managed to extract by swapping the blue and the red color channels. Those in B&W are processed further to remove the color and some are slightly toned after that.

For those not familiar with infrared photography, it records wavelengths not visible to the naked eye and renders colors somewhat or significantly different from what we expect. Typically, the camera white balance is set to render the green foliage as neutral gray, thus the white appearance of the trees and the grass. Infrared sensors respond to the light bouncing off the chlorophyll-rich green foliage rendering them quite bright. The blue sky and water render quite dark mainly in the red channel. When the information in the red and blue channels are swapped the sky gets blue which is technically incorrect but looks more natural to our eyes. But, the foliage in color now turns yellowish and other colors finding some spot for themselves in the spectrum, all false colors.

Infrared photography is not for everyone. The effort to see with different sensibilities appeals to me. What are your thoughts on infrared photography, or any photography that sees in the wavelengths we cannot see with our eyes?

A New Infrared Camera: Canon M5

April 20, 2018 by A. Cemal Ekin

I have been doing infrared photography for quite a while now which started with a Canon G7 point-and-shoot converted for this purpose. With that camera, I took many photographs from the window of commercial airplanes as I flew from Providence to Salt Lake City over a course of four years. Eventually, that collection, Infrared Earthscapes, got published in the LensWork Magazine in December 2011.

Previous Infrared Cameras

Just a little before the publication of my Infrared Earthscapes collection, I replaced my infrared camera with a Canon Rebel T2i so that I could use different lenses on it and that camera gave me many photographs until late last year. My main challenge with the first one was the small image sizes and the lack of raw format images. The second one produced a different challenge with the focusing process. The DSLR format cameras normally use a secondary light path for focusing than the one actually hitting the sensor unless the live view mode is used. Although a solution, that proved to be difficult to use most of the time because outdoors the live view is very difficult to view let alone carefully focus.

Mirrorless Cameras Have Infrared Advantages

I decided to replace my last infrared camera with a mirrorless one since the focus is always done on the actual image capturing sensor and is as precise as it needs to be. The logical choice for me was a Canon M5 since I had been using one since its introduction. I found a refurbished unit on the Canon store at a good price and purchased it a couple of months ago.

I had the other two cameras converted to infrared at LifePixel and was generally satisfied with the results and decided to use their services again. Other than an unfortunate mistake on their part the battery lid required excessive force to open and closed, which caused me to send the camera back for service. They found that one screw was loose! I am not sure how, but they left it not properly tightened so the second service was easy but cost me $60 extra in shipping charges. Now, all is good.

(Note on 5/25/2018: I guess LifePixel was expecting me not to mention this snafu on their site, they strangely refunded $5 to me probably triggered by my review in which I mentioned the extra shipping cost. Petty! And, I no longer have faith in their work or judgment.)

(Note on 5/28/2018: The principal of LifePixel contacted me via e-mail to set up a phone appointment which we did. Due to some personal reasons, he missed it twice and on the third time, he offered his apologies for not handling the matter better. I told him that I was not asking for a refund but simply narrating the story with an ending “Now, all is good.” He also told me that they refunded my extra shipping cost of $60 as a gesture of goodwill. Had they not made that $5 refund all would still be good. I accepted his apology, goodwill will take time. I have donated the $60 to RI Center for Photographic Arts.)

Lightroom Has Become More Infrared Friendly

I have been trying to take some experimental photographs since I got it back as the weather and my health permitted. In the meantime, the new release of the Lightroom Classic CC and Adobe Camera Raw added features that made processing infrared images a lot easier than before as I wrote in a recent post. Here, I am sharing some photographs that I took back in March in the Roger Williams Park and this afternoon at the Garden City Shopping Center. I thank the staff of the Pottery Barn store for their cooperation and allowing me to photograph in the store.

Sample Photographs

You will find a mix of photographs in terms of subject matter and processing. Take them as the result of my experiments in infrared photography. Keep in mind that even when the photograph is in color and some parts may even look normal, all the colors are false colors. That’s the nature of infrared photography!

Infrared Channel Swapping in Lightroom

April 13, 2018 by A. Cemal Ekin

Lightroom has had some weaknesses when it came to processing infrared images like channel swap and white balance. The primary problem has been and continues to be the range of white balance options not being wide enough into the blue end of the slider. That has had a fix for quite some time which I will quickly outline here for completeness. The second shortcoming, although not an issue for me, is the inability to swap the red and the blue channels which results in blueish skies and yellowish foliage. That had to be done in Photoshop, until the latest release of Lightroom.

The stacked images you see in the opening of this article are all done in Lightroom, including the one that has the blue sky. That is the result of the newly added capability to Adobe Camera Raw to create extensive and flexible camera profiles that can also optionally make use of the Lookup Tables (LUT.) It is this newly acquired capability allowed me to create a camera profile for my infrared-modified Canon M5 that allows me to swap the red and the blue channels without constantly going to Photoshop and retaining the workflow completely nondestructive because there is no need to open a pixel version of the image in Photoshop. Interested? Read on! Although the content may conceptually sound geeky, procedurally it is a breeze to follow, don’t let the jargon fool you. The steps are very easy to follow.

A Camera Profile for Better White Balance Control

Although the following part can be done without this first step, going through this simple procedure will give you much better control on the white balance of your IR images. Even if you create a custom white balance in camera by photographing green grass or foliage, the white balance sliders in Lightroom do not have the range of adjustment to display that or even tweak further. Follow these steps with no thinking, at least initially:

Take a photograph of a grassy patch or green foliage of a plant with good coverage
Using your camera controls, set this image to be used for Custom White Balance
Take a few photographs showing some foliage and other subjects
Download Adobe DNG Profile Editor from their site, Mac, and Windows versions, even a short tutorial available there. It is an oldie but goodie! We are interested in doing one thing here, extending the range of the Color slider in Lightroom, nothing else
If you have not yet done it yet, in Lightroom, select the image you want to use for this purpose and export it to DNG, note the file location on your drive.
Open the IR photograph you prepared in step 5 from your camera in the DNG Profile Editor, any photo you took in step 3 will do. Depending on your camera brand and the white balance settings you will see something similar but not exactly identical to what I show in the images below.
Look for a tab on the top right “Color Matrices” and click on it to show the sliders
Move the “White Balance Calibration” Temperature slider down to -100 (Note: My original instructions indicated to move the Blue Primary Saturation slider to -100 and I did my work that way. However, for some reason, that does not work anymore! Sorry for the confusion I might have created. The profiles I created at the time of writing the original article look and work differently from the one I created in this “corrected” process. I will further study what might have changed and will update the post accordingly.)
Click on the “Options” tab and write a descriptive name for this profile
Now, click on File/Export and export this profile to a known folder
Close the DNG Profile Editor
Open the File Explorer and go to the folder where you saved the new profile and highlight it by clicking on it once
Press Ctrl-C to copy it to the clipboard
Navigate to C:\Users\<your name>\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\CameraRaw\CameraProfiles
Press Ctrl-V to paste the file into this folder
Restart Lightroom

Now in Lightroom, navigate to one of your IR images taken in step 3. How it will look is anybody’s guess, but navigate to the Profile Browser in its new location of the Basic Panel. You should see under the “Profiles” group, the new profile you created similar to my screen capture shows. You will see in my screen capture other profiles, stay tuned for those. Click on the new profile you created and then on “Close” to exit the profile browser. You should now see a very usable set of white balance sliders most likely showing “As Shot” setting. The following images should help following the steps above:

Up to this point, we have converted the unusable white balance sliders to fully functional ones that reflect the camera settings. Now, let us see how we can do the red-blue channel swap. I will not go too much into creating and using camera profiles in Lightroom and ACR as plenty have been written on the subject. I will mainly focus on one specific profile creation that will bring the ability to swap the Red and the Blue channels to achieve results like the ones below. All three images are direct export from Lightroom virtual copies of the same raw file.

Color Lookup Tables (LUT)

The idea of using LUTs for various purposes has been around from monitor profile and calibration to applying particular looks to video files. A LUT consists of a series of color values that link the measured to desired with the necessary adjustment so that they look as desired. It is a color mapping process. The new profiling capabilities in Adobe Camera Raw along with the ability to export a series of adjustments in Photoshop as Color Lookup Tables give us the ability to apply a set of adjustments once in the exclusive domain of Photoshop to the images in Lightroom. Although I will focus on processing infrared images, the same concept can be used to create profiles for other purposes as well.

Let us create first the necessary lookup table in Photoshop. For this purpose, I used three different images with no visible difference in the exported LUT, a regular color photograph, an infrared photograph, a file with a simple black background. Photoshop seems to be exporting the changes contained in the adjustment layers rather than any image content which probably makes sense. That said, for the purpose of visual consistency, I will use the same infrared image shown above as my base image, either raw or any other format.

Open the image you want to use for this purpose in Photoshop
Add a Channel Mixer adjustment layer
Select the Red channel, lower the Red value to zero and increase the Blue value to +100
Select the Blue channel, lower the Blue value to zero and increase the Red value to +100
You should now see the image with the altered colors
Now go to File/Export/Color Lookup Tables
Add a description, optionally add a copyright notice, leave other options as you see in the screen capture
Click to save and give it a descriptive name in a folder you can easily locate. Congratulations you now have the Channel Swap LUT ready to use
Open the raw image in Adobe Camera Raw by noting the file name and directly opening it from Photoshop rather than sending it from Lightroom. This will launch ACR and load the raw image
Click on the Presets tab at the top, and while holding the Alt key, click on the New Profile icon (next to the trash can, be careful) at the bottom
In the pop-up dialog window, give the profile a name, leave the default location as User Profiles, and put a checkmark in the box next to Color Lookup Table in the bottom block
Navigate to the folder where you saved the LUT in step #8 and load that file
Click OK to save the profile, it is now ready to use instantly in ACR
Load Lightroom and find the raw file you have been working with
In the Basic Panel, click on Profile Navigator, scroll down to see User Profiles, locate the new profile
As you move your cursor over the profile preview thumbnail you will see your image assuming that look. Now, click on that thumbnail to apply the profile.
You are now working with the image with its Red and Blue channels swapped. Adjust to taste.

Here are the sequential screen captures that correspond to the steps in this section for reference.

Additional Notes

I have experimented with several options and would like to share my conclusions. You may or may not agree with them, but they may point you in some additional directions to try different settings.

In creating the initial camera profile using the DNG Profile editor, the recommended setting for the Blue Primary saturation is -100 in many articles I have read. I did try other values, -50 and -75 and have seen subtle differences. Simply create three different DCP profiles and see how they behave in Lightroom for your taste. The only cost is the few extra minutes of saving them.
Read the DNG Profile Editor tutorial, it has many other paths to follow for different and even better results in your IR camera profiles. There is a very short segment about this in the manual/tutorial.
The creation of a Color Lookup Table in Photoshop will accommodate multiple adjustment layers and their impact on the image. I thought it might be a good idea to add a curves adjustment layer and apply different levels of contrast on top of the Channel Mixer. I found this to be helpful with moderate and strong contrast curves for quick results.
Additional settings may be applied in the ACR to be saved as part of the same profile such as pulling all the saturation sliders in the HSL panel to -100 to save time in Lightroom to convert the image to B&W. I found this to be a little confusing because all the sliders will remain in the middle but there will be no saturation. To regain the saturation they need to be pushed to +100 essentially shortening the slider travel distance. Sliders remaining unmoved in Lightroom may be of benefit for some sliders but not all, at least not for me.
If you apply the Channel Swap profile and then want to adjust the darkness of the sky or other color channels, remember they are no longer where they were before. To darken the sky you will most likely use the Red, Orange, and Yellow sliders. Likewise, the foliage may be found in the Blue, Purple, or Magenta.

Summary

The new Lightroom and ACR updates provide additional capabilities in creating and using camera profiles. The few simple features explored in the article will be welcome by most infrared photography fans. The following photograph is a panoramic stitch done in Lightroom and then adjusted using the processes outlined above without opening it in Photoshop.

Abstract Photography

March 16, 2017 by A. Cemal Ekin

Abstract photography seems to be an elusive subject, hard to nail down to a single definition. This may be due to the abstract nature of the idea of “abstraction” and perpetuating misconceptions about abstract photography. Many have written on the subject from their particular perspective and this article will be my attempt to present my framework of abstract photography. It will be neither wrong or right, but a framework you may consider applying to your work, thought process, creative impulses.

What is abstraction? That should be at the heart of the discussion about abstract photography. Photographs are inextricably and forever tied to the objects that were before the camera. This unbreakable link to “reality” creates the illusion that photographs are always of something and that something makes or breaks the photograph. This view of a photograph looks through it with an effort to see the object which relies on this strong link between a photograph and the real world.

Abstraction, in general, is a process by which some information is carefully eliminated leaving the parts that deemphasize the object-photograph relationship. For instance, get a sheet of paper and a pen, put your hand with fingers slightly separated, and draw an outline of your hand. You now have just the outline information, the shape of your hand, by eliminating the skin texture, color, depth, form, etc. It has no fingerprints! This is how abstraction in general works, we leave some information behind and keep the parts we want to include in the photograph. The outline you have just drawn is “just a hand” not necessarily your hand, breaking the linkage between the subject and the image drawn. Abstract ideas are more general than their specific instances. For instance, food is more abstract than fruit, then comes “apple,” and can even get more specific as “a green apple,” going from abstract to concrete.

But, you may say, it is recognizable as a hand. How can it be an abstract image? I see this as a trap, abstract images, photographs are so not because they are unrecognizable, but because they are mainly not about the object but other graphic qualities like line, texture, color, shape, patterns, rhythm, and so on.

Ways to Abstract Photography

If abstraction progressively moves away from the specific, the concrete, how do we facilitate this move away from the object linked photography? Let me say that all photographs are abstractions to some degree! Any time you take a photograph, you point your camera to a three-dimensional world and produce a two-dimensional, flat photograph. You have just left one dimension behind. This is one layer of abstraction even though we are so accustomed to this transformation and this never occurs to us. Furthermore, you may take a color photograph and convert it to black and white, leaving the color information behind. This is another layer of abstraction. But, the intended meaning of abstract photography goes beyond the simple abstractions mentioned above.

Abstraction by Isolation, or Elimination

When looking at an object, you may recognize the possibility of an abstract photograph because some sections of it may present strong lines, texture, color, shape, or form, detached from the object itself. Either while you take the photograph by careful framing, or in post-processing by careful cropping you may isolate the part that is of interest to you. The photograph on the left is one such abstraction where the main object, whatever that may be, is left behind leaving me with two strong lines with sharp edges, and interesting surface texture and sheen. It is no longer a photograph “of something” but an object in and of itself, separated from the object, fully reliant on its content of lines, shapes, patterns, texture, color, rhythm, and structure.

Abstraction by Increasing the Distance

As we move away from an object, we progressively lose information. This may become particularly pronounced at great distances like aerial photography where the view is minified as we rise above it. The photograph on the right is one of my Infrared Earthscape series. I took these from the window of commercial flights between Providence and Salt Lake City using a camera modified for infrared sensitivity. The texture-like detail consists of large hills, mountains, and valleys. Yet, everything looks small, as if it is enlarged skin texture. Of course, the extensive snow cover also helps in the abstraction process by hiding additional details.

Abstraction by Decreasing the Distance

As we get increasingly close to some subjects, the detail that was not apparent at regular viewing distance may emerge as an abstract photograph separate from the object photographed. What you see on the left presents strong lines that seem to radiate from an arc and puncturing the black edges. The actual object becomes immaterial. The strong monochromatic orange color accentuates the abstraction even further.

Abstraction by Movement

One way to reduce information, thus creating an abstract photograph is by using motion. This may be subject motion, photographer motion, camera motion, or a combination of any of the above. You may have experimented with this by moving the camera upwards while photographing a bunch of trees. Although that may remove some information, it still retains the trees as dominant elements, albeit in a more impressionistic manner. I am talking about the movement that mostly demolishes the information, leaving behind some color, patterns, and lines. The photograph on the left was taken from a moving train on a late afternoon, somewhere between Providence and Washington, DC. The lines and colors are due to the moving train and my deliberate rotational movement of the camera.

Abstraction by Randomized Patterns

You may or may not recognize what the image on the left represents, that does not matter. The important thing to know is that I had no control over the creation of the pattern. My only decision was to decide when to click the shutter, not based on what I was seeing at that moment but on my expectation that the camera would record the event as it occurred in the next 5-6 seconds, whatever shape it may take. Clearly, in this process, I discarded many frames as the resulting abstract was not interesting to me for one reason or another.

Abstraction by Alteration

Color and tones are strong elements of a photograph. We expect certain relationships between different areas of the photograph and colors and tones in them. Either while photographing or in post-production, it is possible to alter this expected structure and create a different kind of abstract photograph. The photograph on the left is one of my Infrared Earthscapes series and done using an infrared sensitive camera. Typically, these photographs are recorded in false colors depending on how they may interact with infrared light and the camera sensor. I have altered the colors further to add to their surreal qualities. The result is a photograph of an anonymous place, filled with detail that is difficult to recognize. The textures, patterns, lines, and the altered color become the structural elements rather than the particular location on the map. Even simple reversal from positive to negative may create interesting abstracts from some photographs.

Final Thoughts

Recognizability of the object has little to do with abstract photography. The fundamental distinction for me is whether the photographer is presenting an object or another graphical structure to me. Look at the work of Aaron Siskind where you can identify the peeling paint or a stack of rocks. As that recognition quickly fades, you are left with the surface of the photograph and its contents to enjoy, separated from the object photographed. Or look at the photograph of the side of a building by André Kertész where you clearly recognize that it is a building but you have no reason to focus on the building because the frame is rich with geometric shapes creating a strong photographic structure for you to enjoy. It is quite possible for a photograph to have abstract qualities as well as being read in different ways.

I have presented my framework for creating abstract photographs for you to consider. I also use the same framework when I view abstract works by other photographers. You may or may not find this framework useful to you in your work, or in understanding abstract photography. Whatever you may think, we will benefit from your input in the comments that I believe generally enrich my posts.

Now, it’s your turn! Take some abstract photographs, and share your thoughts in the comments.

Below are more of what I consider as abstract photography, at least at some level along with possibly a different reading of the work. You can study them and decide which approach I outlined above might have been used in their creation, and perhaps find a different reading of some of them.

(Some of the photographs are screen captures from Sotheby’s photo auctions with their full-screen rendering and even labels for some. My photographs in this group have titles but no photographer name. All the others have the name of their photographers.)

A Gift of Learning

December 28, 2015 by A. Cemal Ekin

This will likely be the last post of 2015. I wrote a little less than a year ago my wishes for 2015, some of which came true and I am glad for that. As we close 2015, I write to stoke the idea of learning with some resources I will share as my holiday gift to you all. Some will actually get you things you can keep and refer to later on, others will keep you busy potentially for hours, even days (don’t say I did not warn you!)

As my friends and readers of this blog know, I am a big fan of photography, its history, tradition, tools, artistry, craft, … In that line of thinking I would like to introduce you to some photographers, you may or may not “like” their work but again, I am not sharing them with you for liking or disliking.

I often wonder “should photographs answer questions or raise questions” and come on the side of the latter. Those that “answer” questions seem to address the same simple question: “What is it?” Where I would like you to think “what else is it” or “what is it about”. So, I invite you to look at the works of the following photographers with these in mind and with the intention of understanding and appreciating rather than liking or disliking. Some of them are well-known, others probably among their circles, but they all offer something we can appreciate. I do not know most of them personally, or even remotely and they are not in any particular order or preference, just as I pulled them from my browser. Here we go!

Abelardo Morell

He is a Cuban-born photographer who has a highly recognizable series of camera obscura photographs. Beyond that, his interests are highly eclectic. Make sure to view his camera obscura series but don’t skip the books and maps collection and others.

Brook Jensen

The publisher of the acclaimed photography magazine LensWork and a practicing photographer, writer, thinker. You may have seen the LensWork Magazine Web site or its sister sites but quite possibly not visited his personal work Web site. It is well worth your time and you will also be rewarded by downloadable PDF documents that he makes available just to share the love of photography.

Markham Starr

Mark is a New England photographer living in Connecticut. His photographs span familiar territory, including Rhode Island, and unfamiliar techniques. I met him at a photography group meeting and got a chance to see his tintype prints, they are gorgeous. His collection, Native American Stonework is part photography, part anthropology, and part detective work.

Michael Kenna

Kenna was born in England, now living in Seattle, WA. His black-and-white photographs carry his signature style and have been exhibited in many venues. The Web site offers an extensive collection of his photographs and some of his interviews are in PDF format for saving if you wish to do so.

I better stop introducing photographers whose work I enjoy, the list is long, too long. Let me share a few other interesting Web sites before coming to the free downloads of many e-books (ah-ha! you are interested!) If there is enough interest, I may introduce others in future posts, let me know with your comments. I started introducing some, one at a time, on the sidebar under the “Hear This” section too.

Photography Now

It is a large collection of the works of master photographers. The presentation is clean and extensive. Many photographers, time periods, styles are included in the collection. I give you a fair warning, this site is one of those that looks a few pages long but you realize how big it is after several hours, in other words, a time sink! Enter at your own risk! (Regrettably, the link to photography-now dot net seems to be broken.)

Life

Life was photography for the most part of the last century. It feels strange to be able to refer to “the last century” with first-hand experience! Life covered all aspects of life, from icons and celebrities to war and poverty, from movies to sports, from all corners of the world to space. This collection will let you explore its vast collection. The time-sink warning should be over your head. Did you know that Walker Evans photographed Rolls Royce’s? See the photograph on the left.

Freebies

And, we come to the freebies, courtesy of ProDesign Tools, an Adobe partner. Enter your e-mail address and follow the link to download the free books, bookmark the sources of videos, and do not start watching them until you have a vacation! Not all the books, actually e-books, may be of interest to everyone but there is enough variety to satisfy all. Watch the videos with curiosity and some level of suspicion, especially when the presenter declares that his work is “epic, sensational, magnificent” and many other self-congratulatory adjectives. Find out what they are doing and question the validity of their claims before trying to reproduce the same.

Infrared Earthscapes

And here is one from my collection, Infrared Earthscapes Second Edition. You can download a copy for your viewing any time you like. I think a print version is better but I cannot make it freely available. If you like to have a print copy, you can get one direct from MagCloud.

Infrared

Preparations and Pointers

Gallery 1: The Shoreline

Gallery 2: The Marshes

Gallery 3: The Human Touch

Gallery 4: The Human Touch in Infrared

Gallery 5: The Shoreline in Infrared

Previous Infrared Cameras

Mirrorless Cameras Have Infrared Advantages

Lightroom Has Become More Infrared Friendly

Sample Photographs

A Camera Profile for Better White Balance Control

Color Lookup Tables (LUT)

Additional Notes

Summary

Ways to Abstract Photography

Abstraction by Isolation, or Elimination

Abstraction by Increasing the Distance

Abstraction by Decreasing the Distance

Abstraction by Movement

Abstraction by Randomized Patterns

Abstraction by Alteration

Final Thoughts

Abelardo Morell

Brook Jensen

Markham Starr

Michael Kenna

Photography Now

Life

Freebies

Infrared Earthscapes

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