Abstract Thursday

It has, to be honest, been a bit of a day. Never mind - it's nearly over.

This is an entry for youoregon1's July challenge Abstract Thursday - it's a simple zoom burst shot, kicked about a bit in Lightroom. The bad news is how obviously my sensor needs cleaning. The good news is that the subject is an agapanthus, grown from a bulb, planted out last year and now flowering for the first time - I had no expectations that it would even survive because I've never had much luck with them before, so I'm very pleased with it.

I had some strong entries for this week's wide angle Wednesday challenge (as well as a few which were ruled out for not having any figures in them or for being taken at telephoto length rather than wide angle, and in one case for having been posted on Tuesday - you know who you are!). In choosing my winners and mentions I looked for shots in which the special perspective provided by the wide lens set the figure or figures in context or emphasised them or their surroundings.

In no particular order my five winners this week are:

Daring2Go for The High Track... - the exaggerated perspective makes the track look very steep and the people very far away; there are also great leading lines in this and the processing is very effective.

youoregon1 for Aurora - here the close use of the wide angle sets the young woman within the context of her workplace and gives us an image that's full of detail and interest.

greg_lovett for Isolation - I really like the tension between the exaggerated perspective, which draws you through the shot to the distant view, and the dramatic lighting which makes the eye pause on the bicycles and the human figure.

WildMooseChase for Buttons... - I like the drama in the cliff, sea and sky, and the tension between the waiting dog and the approaching figures.

hildasrose for Gone fishing - this sets the man in the context of his environment, and because it's taken from a reasonable distance behind him it isolates him and points up the solitary nature of his pursuit; there's good foreground interest in the bicycle too.

My Honourable Mentions this week go to:

Skeena - I like the way the foreground elements frame the people.

JHH1964 - fascinating foreground elements here.

Paladian - a truly original shot!

Chantler63 - if you're going to exaggerate perspective, you may as well emphasise the point still more by using a stilt walker!

Dollykgray - a lovely environmental setting for this portrait.

Thank you to everyone who played this week. Next week I thought we might try the thing which most people would probably instinctively associate with a wide angle lens, but which in my opinion isn't actually all that easy to get right. The topic will be Landscape, and the tag will be widwed21. Landscape in this context can be waterscape, if you're lucky enough to live in a watery place.

If you want a refresher on some of the elements that can turn a wide angle shot from a photo with a lot of stuff in it to a truly interesting image, I'd recommend going back to some of hobbs' early topics:
Distortion
Leading lines
Foreground interest
Looking down
Looking up.