I have been back in my backyard. You know shooting for my backyard project. If you have followed my blog for a while, you don’t need any introduction to this project. But for new readers, here is a short and quick outline: Every so often—since 2011 in fact—I have used my backyard experimenting with my photography, shooting in ways I would normally not.
Now that autumn is about to fade out into the next season, the colours are maybe less intense than a month ago, but still plentiful. However, instead of focusing on the autumn colours in a traditional way, this time I went for a more abstract approach.
Moving the camera while using a longer shutter speed is nothing new. But playing around with direction and different ways of moving the camera, I discovered that shooting up against the sky created some beautiful, mixed shapes in the boundaries between highlights and the much darker leaves. I experimented with the shutter time, and shot with anything from a ¼ of a second to a couple of seconds. The images captured were extremely low contrasting, though, so in postproduction I had to amp up the contrast significantly. Usually increasing the contrast will also increase the saturation, so I chose to de-saturate the colours drastically.
If you haven’t seen my previous photos, here is the links to post about my backyard project: Shooting Sideways, Backyard Bliss, Experimental Backyard, My Photographic Retreat, My Backyard Project, My Personal Challenge, The World from the Backyard, Instagram my Backyard, Out of Comfort Zone and Challenge and Expand.
In Flow with Otto 
Hey, I just came across your series of ‘backyard’ images. Very nice. I especially like the images where you are striving for abstraction. All are interesting. You might be interested in recent work of mine, Visions of Nature – Images at my website https://www.joannemasonphotography.com/visions-of-nature. And a recently published book with many of the images, https://www.joannemasonphotography.com/books.
Thank you for visiting and commenting, Joanne. I certainly will look up your website.
I really like these Otto, the first one looks like water.
Thank you so much.
I love abstract art and photography, here you have captured the colors of Autumn. Very intriguing Otto.
I am glad you like them. Thank you, Holly.
Very much! I like the idea of having a place to photograph just for the enjoyment. It’s wonderful.
The last one really pulls me into its elegant movement.
Thanks a lot, Sally.
I love your backyard experiments – and these, everyone different but still in autumn colours, are very much alive.
Thank you for the much appreciated feedback, Ann-Christine.
Love it! New way of looking at the same stuff.
Thank you, Mary.
Excellent !
Thank you so much, Helen.
What wonderful images, Otto — I really love the ethereal light and movement in this set. Just as I love your lesson that even familiar subjects can be fascinating when seen through new eyes.
It’s always fun to try to make the family into something different. Sometimes I succeed and sometimes not. 🙂
Well, you succeeded this time! 🙂
Best backyard on the block! I like these, Otto. You have given me inspiration to go in mine and try this. I can’t wait!
I hope to see some of your photos on your blog!
I like to play around occasionally with this method too. I call my end product “light paintings” LOL!
That is a good description of the process. 🙂
Love the abstract images and different ways of viewing nature. In fact many of your images in this personal project are interesting to view.
(I have my own 2 series called ‘Nature Memories’ and another folder of ‘World in a Puddle’, which, would you believe, I was just looking through deciding on one for my B & W blog. Talk about co-incidence).
Or synchronicity… I look forward to seeing what you are posting.
Doing something out of usual way once in a while is a good way to have a fresh mind. These pictures just exactly the examples. They are nice abstract form – no agenda or real life story to be told. Your mind just stays sink in.
Thank you for the lovely words.
It’s almost time for the Beaujolais Nouveau-style wines to be released, in the region where I grew up, and these are good visualizations for finishing the second bottle of that event. 🙂 just kidding. They have a very pleasing feeling of vapor streams, and capture the dazzling effect of looking up through the leaves in bright sunlight.
I could go with a second bottle of Beaujolais Nouveau. Thank you for the comment, Robert.
The variety is especially pleasing: each image differs from the others in significant ways, and yet the play of light and colors join them as a set. The third reminds me of an urban landscape — skyscrapers! — and I do like the touch of realism in the last photo of the leaf.
It’s the most realistic of the four, isn’t it. I like the idea of the third looking like an urban landscape. Thank you, Linda.
Thanks for your excellent post
And thank you for the comment.
I love your experiments, Otto, something out of the “normal”, which some of us photographers have the desire for. My vote would be strongly for the last and the first images.
Thank you so much, Cornelia. Appreciate your feedback.
Neat 🙂 I did the same a couple of years ago. Backyards can be a huge source of inspiration 🙂
I do have great fun in my backyard. Thank you for the comment, Inese.
I love these. It’s nice to see a creative approach to autumn beauty 🙂
Thank you, Linda.
These images demonstrate that it is not always necessary to travel to exotic locations to find subjects. I estimate that over the last five or six years around 80% of my posts have been derived from or inspired by material sourced from my garden/backyard.
Which, more than anything, go to shows your point. And with conviction.
I don’t go in our backyard, it belongs to the upstairs tenants, mine are front yard pictures, generally in the summer… i love these abstractions!
I am sure a front yard is just as nice to have as a backyard. 🙂
I love these, Otto. Makes me want to go out and play with my camera, and see what happens. 🙂
I recommend to do exactly that. It’s really fun. 🙂
These are amazing – they strike me as abstract paintings!. The flow and movement, feels so etheric.
Thank you for the feedback, Deb. Much appreciated.
You created some interesting effects, Otto. All images evoke moving water for me, some more than others.
Interesting, as no water was involved. But I agree with you, visually they do have a feel of running water. Thank you, Tanja.
I always enjoy what you do for this project, and these are no exception. They’re different from other intentional camera movement images I see, and I love the first and last photos. I can see how shooting into the light helped make this interesting. Very expressive!
I am happy you like them. Thank you for the feedback, Lynn.
Whenever I see the results of your Backyard Abstraction posts, I imagine you dancing with your camera. No need for heavy contemplations; just a time to breathe and let loose. Fantastic!
That might be my next approach: Dancing while shooting. 🙂
😁 📷🕺🏻
What a lovely comment! 😀
Lovely work, Otto. I very much enjoy playing with my camera in this way too. Mostly I favour the image where I can still make out what the image is, like the and the last one here, and sometimes the totally abstract ones looks the best because of the wonderful display of colours. Your backyard images are always a source of inspiration.
I am happy you think so. Playing with the camera like this, you never know what you get. And that is something I really enjoy, since most of the time I need to be in control.