Search Results for: abstract

These Photographs of Parisian Rooftops Look Like Abstract Paintings

Despite living in one of the most photographed locations on earth, Michael Wolf has never been short of creative, unique ideas. Be it photographing street view scenes or, in this case, showing off his incredible composition skill with photographs of Parisian rooftops that look like two-dimensional, abstract paintings.

Photo Series Uses Laundry Machines to Frame Colorful and Abstract Shots

"Inspirational" probably isn’t the first word that comes to mind when you think about laundry, but for photographer Yvette Meltzer, that’s exactly what it turned out to be. Shirts strung over a clothesline, laundry being sloshed around with suds, and most recently, piles of clothes being tossed about inside the confines of a dryer.

‘Sandscapes’ Series Reveals the Abstract World of Patterns Left by the Tides

We’ve featured the work of German photographer Jakob Wagner a number of times before. If you remember the previous features, you’ll know he enjoys capturing ‘scapes’ of all kinds: winterscapes, aerialscapes, nightscapes and more.

But today, his subject is none of these. Today we explore the strangely patterned world of sand and water revealed in his series Sandscapes.

Abstract Photos Created by Repeating Everyday Household Items

To imitate photographer Nick Albertson's work, you'll need a camera, household items purchased in bulk, and an eye for the beautiful and abstract. Take a look at Albertson's project titled "Work in Progress," and you'll find photographs of things such as rubber bands, straws, and napkins. They don't look like your everyday objects, though: Albertson turns them into works of art by carefully arranging them into repeating patterns.

Undoctored Abstract Aerial Photos of the World’s Largest Beta Carotene Farm

Australian engineer turned photographer Steve Back has been working for several years to put together the completely un-edited images you see here. Although they may seem like abstract art you might find on a museum wall, they're actually aerial photos of Kalbarri, Western Australia's Hutt Lagoon, the world's largest Beta Carotene farm.

Photographer Captures Abstract Photos Showing Lava Up Close

Want to see what lava from a volcano looks like up close? Photographer Daniel Fox has spent a number of weeks this year photographing lava near Kalapana on the Big Island of Hawaii. Rather than photograph the lava in the context of its surroundings, he decided to get in close and create abstract images showing its intensity.

Abstract Art Created by Combining High Voltages with Instant Film

After working with standard photography and digital cameras, Brooklyn-based artist Phillip Stearns decided to experiment with creating works of art using old photographic technologies. He ended up studying the effects of high voltages and household cleaning products on instant pull apart color film. The results are pretty wild.

Big Bang: Abstract Photograms Created by Exposing Photo Paper to Fireworks

What kind of imagery results when you mix photo paper and fireworks? That's a question photographic artist Ross Sonnenberg has been exploring for the past few years. He creates one-of-a-kind camera-less photograms that look like abstract images of galaxies, but are actually random and colorful patterns created by the light of firecrackers.

Abstract Long-Exposure Photographs of Colored Paper in a Cave

Los Angeles-based photographer Brice Bischoff has a project titled Bronson Caves. Between 2009 and 2010, Bischoff visited the caves in Los Angeles' Griffith Park with his 4x5 large format camera and some very large sheets of colored paper. He then used long exposure times to paint colorful blurs into the photographs by waving the papers around.

Abstract Art Created by Exposing Photo Paper with a Dripping Candle

Photographer Caleb Charland is an artist who perpetually thinks outside the box for his photo concepts. In the past we've featured experiments that include a 14-hour exposure of a lightbulb powered by an orange and using scientific principles for creative images.

Charland's latest project continues this outside-the-box trend. The yet-to-be-named series features abstract images created without a camera -- the artist simply used photo paper and a candle.

Abstract Photographs of Human Bodies in Motion

Japanese photographer Shinichi Maruyama has an interesting series of photos simply titled, "Nude." Each image shows an abstract flesh-colored shape that's created by a nude subject dancing in front of the camera.

Abstract Photos of Light Streaming Through a Barn Door

Photographer Rick Giles' project Light features abstract long-exposure shots of light pouring in through the door of a barn. He tells us,

The shots were created in camera by moving the camera across the surface of where the light is penetrating the barn. This draws the light in, and depending on the movement of the camera, creates shapes on the dark interior of the barn. Sometimes in quite abstract formations breaking the light down into the hues of the season. Other times mirroring the complete landscape of the exterior onto the interior wall.

It's awesome how the colors in the light offer a hint of what's on the other side of the door.

Ruined Polaroid Pictures as Abstract Art

While many photographers aim for technical perfection, photographer William Miller goes the opposite route. After "rescuing" an old and barely functional Polaroid SX-70 instant camera from a yard sale, he began taking advantage of its glitches by viewing the resulting photographs as abstract art. He states,

The camera sometimes spills out 2 pictures at a time and the film often gets stuck in the gears, exposing and mangling the images in unpredictable ways.

Over time I’ve figured out how to control and accentuate aspects of the camera’s flaws but the images themselves are always a surprise. Each one is determined by the idiosyncrasies of the film and the camera.

The images look like landscapes taken on strange alien planets. He has titled the project Ruined Polaroids.

Abstract Photos of Bullets Fragmented on Bulletproof Plexiglass

For her project "The Big Bang", photographer Deborah Bay captured macro photographs of plexiglass sheets that had various types of firearms fired at them. After having professional law enforcement officers fire bullets into the glass, she brought the sheets into a studio and "shot" them again with a Contax 645 and a 120 macro lens. She writes,

I began thinking about "The Big Bang" after seeing a sales display of bullet-proof plexiglas that had projectiles embedded in it. The plexiglas captured the fragmentation of the bullets and provided a visual record of the energy released on impact. As I began to explore this concept further, I also was intrigued by the psychological tension created between the jewel-like beauty and the inherent destructiveness of the fragmented projectiles. Many of the images resemble exploding galaxies, and visions of intergalactic bling sublimate the horror of bullets meeting muscle and bone. In fact, Susan Sontag described the camera as "a sublimation of the gun" -- load, aim and shoot.

Abstract Images of Famous Landmarks Created by Blending Snapshots

"The Collective Snapshot" is a series by Spanish photographer Pep Ventosa (previously featured here) that consists of abstract images of famous landmarks created by blending together dozens of ordinary snapshots. His goal is to "create an abstraction of the places we've been an the things we've seen", and to create images that are both familiar and foreign at the same time.

Abstract Images Created by Tearing and Layering Photographs

Raleigh, North Carolina-based artist Scott Hazard creates abstract images by tearing shapes into multiple prints of the same photograph, and then stacking the images on top of each other. He uses the technique to create things such as smoke, clouds, and portals in walls. He calls the project "Photo Constructs".

Abstract Photos of Faces That Resemble Exploding Fireworks

Photographer and makeup artist Nadia Wicker has a beautiful series of abstract photographs titled Ursides in which she captures self-portraits in which her face looks like exploding fireworks. While her method is secret, Wicker says that she uses her experience with makeup -- rather than Photoshop -- to create the photos.

Shoot Abstract Photos of Fireworks with Long Exposures and No Tripod

There's plenty of tutorials online teaching you the "proper" techniques for photographing fireworks, but have you ever tried shooting them "incorrectly" on purpose? When photography enthusiast Pete Rogina took his Canon 5D Mark II out to capture fireworks this past Independence Day, he decided to try "light painting" with the fireworks by shooting them at long exposures without a tripod, waving the camera so that the streaks of light would take on abstract shapes.

Lake Photographs Made Abstract Using Lake Water

For his project Lakes and Reservoirs, photographer Matthew Brandt exposed using both light and water -- after shooting photos of each lake or reservoir (i.e. exposing with light), he made a chromogenic print and then soaked the photo in the water that was photographed, thus exposing it to water.

Abstract Pinhole Photos Created with Distressed Color Film

Drew Kunz has a pretty neat way of creating abstract pinhole photographs. Using a film canister as his "camera", he drills small holes into rolls of color film, distresses the film further with a small nail, and then develops the exposed film first with coffee and sodium carbonate, and finally with C-41.

Close-up image of a quantum computer chip installed in a gold casing with visible intricate wiring and cooling mechanisms, highlighting advanced technology components.

NASA Develops Tiny Yet Mighty 36-Pixel Sensor

While NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is helping astronomers craft 122-megapixel photos 1.5 million kilometers from Earth, the agency's newest camera performs groundbreaking space science with just 36 pixels. Yes, 36 pixels, not 36 megapixels.