Sure, it’s the end of the month, but which end? Oh, yeah, that one…
That leads us inexorably to the month-end abstract, and to a dictionary to find out how to properly pronounce, “inexorably,” but hopefully one that doesn’t use all those special pronunciation characters like, “/ɪn’ɛk.sə.ɹə.bli/” – who the fuck can read that? I bet anyone that can is a load of fun at parties. Regardless, we have this:
Now see? That’s a proper abstract – I really can accomplish them from time to time. No, this wasn’t a guest photographer, shut up. But when the sun was shining through one of the two Japanese maples that were already established in the yard when we moved in, it was a simple matter to pick the ones that had the best effects and a texture you can almost feel. Go ahead – reach out and touch your monitor. It’ll feel the same way it always does, but you’ll imagine something else anyway.
We’ll throw a couple more down, since we have them.
Yeah, I’ve done this before, but it’s a fun experiment. This is simply a collection of coals from a fire hours before, still smoldering in the fire pit, that I stirred up during the 30-second exposure at night. But if you’re paying attention you’ll see there’s a faint pattern, and may realize that a lot of the coals are duplicated, because as I came back to the camera after stirring them I bumped the tripod leg – smoove.
But that leads to this, naturally:
A simple effect, but one that takes a light touch, since this is racking the 18-135mm lens from wide to tele in that thirty seconds. Shaking and bumping and even less-than-steady zooming shows easily, so care must be taken – I actually used both hands on the zoom ring to keep the motion as smooth and regular as possible. If you zoom faster but then run out a few seconds at the long end, zoomed in tighter, then you’ll get fainter trails with bright ends, like flaming fragments leaving a path behind them. Here, the effect is very faint but more in the center, occurring at the wider/shorter focal length instead, which for me was the beginning of the exposure as I gently got my hands into position. You can always zoom in the opposite direction too, tele to wide, and use little tricks like covering the lens with a soft cloth until your hands are in position and can start the movement right away. Be creative.
Okay, that’s enough red/orange – let’s find something else.