Tuesday, January 7, 2014

2013 Favorites: Lines

This is the fifth post about my favorite shots of 2013.  If anyone's counting, this brings the number of shots to ten and I know back in the beginning I said something about a "top ten".  In 2012, when I tried to collect my top ten, I only came up with eight.  This year I think my top ten will include twelve or thirteen.

So, lines.  Leading lines, horizontal or vertical lines, diagonal or converging lines, crazy erratic lines.  I like them, really I do.  I just don't seem to see them as often as maybe I should.

Here are some lines I like from 2013.


As you descend into Devil's Gulch in Natural Bridge State Resort Park in Kentucky, you travel down narrow stone steps before you get here, to a more user-friendly path.  I recently used this to fulfill the "leading lines" assignment.  I suppose it's not as straightforward as some leading lines but I still think it counts.

I really like the perspective of this shot.  I think it's pretty obvious that I'm just standing at my normal height, ready to go down the steps.  A common tip is to be wary of shooting from the easy, obvious spot, but in this case I think it works.

I took this with my wide angle zoom (18-55mm or something) and in the unprocessed image, the vertical posts were all splayed out from center - the opposite of the "tall buildings falling over" effect.  It feels a little funny to use the perspective tool with such a heavy hand, but I like where this one ended up.

I might also point out that this is an exposure blend of three different versions of the raw file.  That's a lot of processing for me but it wouldn't have worked without it.


This is a decrepit fire escape behind a building in Akron, Indiana.  I don't really know but I suspect that this is one of those shots that I like a lot more than other people do.  As a photo, I like the deep colors and sharp contrast and straight lines going every which way.  And I'm just a sucker for decay, like falling-down old barns or weather-worn gravestones.

The ol' Dutch tilt thing isn't something I do very often but here it gives that little nudge towards abstract that I think is necessary.


No comments:

Post a Comment