Abstract Photos as Art

I’ve started a year-long course in creative photography with Lori Lankford. The course is designed to expand my photographic vision and stimulate me to take new approaches to creativity. The class is conducted on-line, with participants sharing their work and offering helpful comments on the postings.

Each month we will have a new theme. Lori provides guidance for approaching that theme, along with inspirational materials to stimulate us.

The theme for January was abstracts. Three subjects were suggested for creating abstract art through photography:

  • Natural elements
  • Household objects
  • Reflections of light through glass

Lori stresses several elements that go to make up successful abstract photos:

  • Simplicity
  • Angle of View
  • Shape, Texture, Line and Form
  • Composition
  • Lighting
  • Mystery

I had a lot of fun with these themes, and here I share some of the work I created. I hope you find it enjoyable and I look forward to your thoughts about these images. As you can see, I had the most fun, and I think success, with the third theme–capturing the lines and colors of light as it passes through glass of different hues.

This image is a close-up of a thistle teasel, edited first in Adobe Lightroom and then in PHotoshop.
This image is a row of staples, highly magnified, and lit with a blue Lume Cube light.
This photos is a macro shot of several glass bottles backlit with a small Lume Cube light. I focused on the intersection between the bottles to get the linear effect.
Another close-up shot, highly magnified, of the intersection between several differently colored bottles.
This image is also a highly magnified close-up. I think it has a mysterious look to it, which Lori emphasizes as an important aspect of successful abstracts.
The brilliant colors of this image, while eye catching, nonetheless show mystery.

Published by Norman Reid

I worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture for 27 years in the field of rural community and economic development. I retired a few years ago and have been devoting my time to photography and writing. I've been a semi-pro photographer for more than 25 years and sell my work on the Web. I live in rural Virginia not far from the Shenandoah Valley.

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