Lens testing, lens testing, lens testing - again!

If you wonder, why it's (again) a little slow on my blog:
I've been testing the new Nikon AF-S DX Micro-Nikkor 40mm f/2.8G lens, the Nikon AF-S DX Micro-Nikkor 85mm f/3.5G ED VR, and the Nikon AF-S Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED VR for Camera Labs. Plus finally drawing up a big comparison of those results.
Pretty interesting stuff for myself as it is the first time ever that I used a DIY test-target captured on 24x36 mm ISO 50 black&white negative film Ilford Pan F plus for testing the lenses at magnifications of 1:2.6
You can easily jump to all my lens reviews and comparisons through this page.

And now that Nikon has announced the new AF-S 85/1.8G lens I'll sure be doing some further lens-testing soon...

Striped Foliage

Looking through whatever is in front of your subject may create interesting effects. The following image was caught looking out of a barn.



If you look at the large original (just click through the image and choose the action "View all sizes") you can see that the image is overlayed with a white fibre structure. That may give you a hint as to what the "filter" for shooting the foliage was...

Rust and green

As you already know I cannot resist rust. In this case the rusty wall was contrasted with some signs of life: some green leaves and a grapevine shoot. The texture of the wall was interesting as some layers seem to peel off - the ultimate state of decay. So I called this vista...

Peel the paint:


It was captured in Venice - so salty moist from the sea might have aided in creating this aging wall. Processing was done to emphasize the texture.

Are photographs of abstract art abstract art?

I very much enjoyed my stay in Venice, where old meets new, modern art meets "classic art". Interestingly the question arises whether photographing abstract art in itself creates abstract art!? Naturally not, because a reproduction of someone else's art will never create art in itself. But...
What is a reproduction? Does a shot of a piece of abstract art constitute an "objet trouve"? Well, I'm pretty sure it depends. And as all this certainly contains some degree of self-reference I'm also pretty sure that if you do it "right" you could create some imagery that simply is publishable.
But enough of the theory, I just incidentally went on a tangent before presenting two images I captured because: they are images of other people's "art". We may now philosophize endlessly but in the end all that counts is: Are these images worth your time looking at it? I (at least) hope so. Enjoy!





But to come back to the initial question: Are photographs of abstract art abstract art? In this case I really don't think so. But "objet trouve"? Yeah, well, maybe ;-)

Rust again...

I cannot simply walk by when I see "something" rusty! I makes me grip my camera automatically and put it to my eye. The result is just a small crop from a larger photo that I might one day reveal (see: "slow reveal" ;-)). It looks like multiple suns over a calm sea.
This study in rust shows (again) how powerful the orange/blue contrast is...



Quite heavily post-processed with curves and color-tuning, but still only emphasizing what was originally there.

Thoughts on reflections

The example of a reflective shot in the previous post show-cases some of the distinctive effects you can achieve by shooting into some reflective surface:
- The image acquires a tint from the color of the reflective surface. If strong enough the original colors are drained out and you get a two-toned image*
- the reflected image becomes structured by the uneven surface*
- you can use the frame of the reflector for creating a frame around your subject that's often astonishing, like a puddle after rain.
- you can play objects on the surface against the reflected image of the background in ways that are often not possible without the reflector (like your own person, or clouds that reflect in water or other wet surfaces)

And there are other quite interesting effects that do not show up in this specific example:
- Esp. when shooting against wet surfaces on ground level while standing on them you create the illusion of a "submerged" vantage point. For this effect to work properly it helps to display the image upside down so that the reflected subjects appear in their normal upright position.
- You can show the front and the (reflected) backside of a subject at the same time, sort of "bending the light" around your subject
- With curved reflectors (like Christmas tree balls) you get a strong warping of the subject
- Capturing the original and the reflected subject in one image creates symmetry
- Or you use the reflective surface simply to project additional (colored, structured) light on your subject. Which seems the least "intrusive" way of using a reflector.

Btw. If you want to find all my blogposts related to the topic of reflections simply click on the label "reflection" under this post or head over to the page "Use Keyword Search!" and click on the respective keyword there.
There you can find further examples of the effects described above.

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*does not work when you use a mirror, so mirrors are not as interesting as other reflective surfaces.

Re-Flections

Next-up will be some thoughts about the abstractifying powers of reflections:



I'm just posting this so you can enjoy one of the most interesting shots I did while visiting (again) one of the most beautiful cities in North-Holland: Alkmaar.
Will post some thoughts on the special effects of this image after a short break...