Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Softness




Out on the beach in the late afternoon, I was playing around with "sweeps," selecting a small aperture, forcing a long exposure, and then slowly moving my camera right/left or left/right, seeing what would happen. The top photo is a good example of that. I love the softness, the pastel yet tropical colors. Then I spotted a couple as they walked the beach, collecting shells, all crisp in their red/white/blue colors. Without changing my camera settings, I took a slow-speed photo of them, not caring that they would blur out, thinking the blur might (a) anonymous-ize them and (b) might indicate a feeling of movement. The final photo was taken the same way — slow shutter speed, no details, just shapes, forms, colors of people walking on the beach.

And isn't this the beauty of digital photography? How we can play, experiment, try things, without spending anything but our time ... ©Carol Leigh