Looking deeply into the whirls and eddies of a pool of water can reveal strange sights.

Abstract WaterCopyrighted Digital Photograph

Enlargement

I am always interested in photographing water and in the abstract forms hidden within otherwise banal sights. I photographed the ornamental pond at the bottom of the Parvis de la Defense in Paris, because I was attracted by the shapes and colours being created by a choppy wind. I used a fast speed to “stop” the movement of the water (by reducing aperture to 5.6 on a bright day), but at the time of image capture, my eyesight was unable to see the fine detail of the patterns being created on the surface.

In the “darkroom” I enlarged the scene to 100%, in order to correctly adjust the level of sharpening, particularly taking care to not overdo the sharpening and create excessive line delineations and/or artifacts. I was astounded to see fine linear patterns appear, revealing a beautifully detailed image of that frozen moment. At first I thought that my processing had created the effects because of over-sharpening, but I found that I had, in fact, just brought an ephemeral sight into existence, invisible to mortals, whose eyes and brains do not operate at 1/2000^th of a second.

Crop

With that revelation, I abandoned a full view the image to concentrate on making a crop, which would both enlarge the linear patterns I had discovered and create a satisfying composition from the swirling waters.  In order to see the full effect of what I saw on my monitor, you might like to hit the magnify keys on your keyboard, in order to expand the image to full screen.  

Contrast

My final decision was to brighten the scene a touch and to add some contrast to provide a little more depth to the shallow swell of the water. You can see the original image below and the area from which the final image was taken in the centre and lower third of the frame.

Abstract Water OriginalCopyrighted Digital Photograph

Settings

Camera: Nikon D800

Lens: 60mm f2.8G Prime

Focus Mode: AF-C

Autofocus Area Mode: Single

Aperture: f/5.6

Shutter Speed: 1/2000s

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Exposure Compensation : -0.7 EV

Metering: Spot

ISO Sensitivity: 640

Hand held

Given my enjoyment of photographic abstraction, I surprise myself that I am not an enormous fan of modern art, largely ceasing to be interested in it from the period of the late Impressionists, so I hope that you will be indulgent and enjoy this mildly hypocritical artistic exercise on my part. Let me know what you think about it by leaving a comment or emailing me.

Copyright Paul Grayson 2014