MY Impressionistic Celebration of Summer

Summer 2023 has arrived, and I have decided to challenge myself and celebrate the season by creating a series of impressionistic photographs that I hope will remind you of, or make you think of summer. You might be wondering what exactly is an impressionistic photograph? My answer to that is: think Monet. Better yet, think of paintings of Monet’s Garden and you will get the idea.

Okay, but what is it really?

Impressionistic photography is a style of photography that utilizes several techniques including long exposures, multiple exposures and intentional camera movement (ICM) to add blur to a photograph, creating a dreamy look to the image which is reminiscent of the impressionist art of the 19th century. The resulting photographs are recognizable but not literal.

01- Church_0628

At the beginning of summer here in southern California the Jacaranda trees are still in bloom, but the beautiful purplish-blue flowers are beginning to fall. I knew that I wanted to include Jacarandas as part of this project, so I made them an early priority. This is the very first exposure I made and I just love how it turned out.

The Gear and Technique:

Gear:

Camera
Tripod
70 – 200mm lens with collar

Technique:

[The Rotate Right Technique]

I enabled Multiple Exposures on my camera and selected 3 exposures (the maximum on my camera (Nikon D750).
With my camera on my tripod, I picked out and framed up a colorful section high up in my chosen tree with the partly cloudy sky as the background.
I stopped down the aperture to f22 and worked out the exposure. There was a slight breeze, and the branches and leaves were obviously wiggling, so I adjusted my ISO to 400 so that I could use a quicker shutter.

Camera Settings:

F22, 1/50 SEC, ISO 400, Focal Length 122mm

1. I released the shutter and took the first shot.

2. I loosened the collar lock on the lens and rotated (ever so slightly) the camera to the right, then took the second shot.

3. Then, again I rotated the camera slightly to the right and took the third shot.

4. The camera then merges all three shots into one image. This is the result (after processing the RAW file in Lightroom of course.)

5. Like I said before, I really like how this turned out. I named it “Church” because it reminds me of the stained-glass windows at church.

02 - Jacaranda Blossoms Abstract_0634

This is the same Jacaranda tree a few minutes later. Here I isolated a small section of dangling purple blossoms, but this time the partly cloudy sky played a more dominant role in my final result.

Technique:

[The Rotate Right Technique]

See number 1 above.

03 - Flower Blossoms Abstract_0368

This is a small patch of flowers that grow close to the ground.

Technique:

[Multiple Exposures Tilt Up Technique]

Multiple Exposures enabled.
Camera on my tripod.
I zoomed in on the most pleasing section of flowers I could find.
I worked out the proper exposure.

Camera Settings:

F22, 1/100 SEC, ISO 500 Focal Length 200mm

1. I released the shutter and took the first shot.

2. This time instead of loosening the collar, I held the camera steady while looking through the view finder and loosened the ball head so that I could now move the camera up and down as required.

3. Now I simply tilted the camera up a tiny amount and took the second shot.

4. Then again, I tilted the camera up a tiny bit more and took the third shot.

5. This is the result. It’s a very busy shot, but I find it interesting.

04 - Flower Garden Abstract_0363

Within 15 minutes of my house there are 3 high schools. Each school plays in a different division. I found these flowers growing on the grounds of the one the furthest from my house. I liked the color contrast, the lines and depth of this scene, so I thought I would give this a try.

Technique:

[Follow The Lines]

Multiple Exposures enabled.
Camera on my tripod.
I framed up my starting composition.
Then I worked out the proper exposure.

Camera Settings:

F22, 1/100 SEC, ISO 500 Focal Length 200mm

1. I took the first shot.

2. Then I loosened the ball head and moved my camera very slightly up and to the left (following the flower lines) and took the second shot.

3. Next, I once again moved my camera very slightly up and to the left once again following the flower lines and took my third shot.

I do like how this turned out. I especially like the texture in this one.

05 - A Tree in the Park_MEM_0439

I walk in this park almost every day. It’s a very peaceful place to visit. The walking path is lined with several species of trees. This is one of the beautiful pepper trees I get to enjoy.

Technique:

[Multiple Exposure Tilt Down]

Multiple Exposures enabled.
Camera on my tripod.
I framed up my starting composition.
Then I worked out the proper exposure.

Camera Settings:

F22, 1/40 SEC, ISO 500 Focal Length 200mm

1. I took the first shot.

2. Then I loosened the ball head and tilted my camera very slightly straight down and took the second shot.

3. Next, I once again tilted my camera very slightly straight down and took my third shot.

I think this photograph is a very good example of the Monet-like and feel I was after.

06 - Celebration

Yellow and orange flowers provide a vivid high contrast background for the blue flowers and green foliage in the foreground.

Technique:

[Multiple Exposure Opposing Twists and Zooms]

Multiple Exposures enabled.
Camera on my tripod.
I framed up my starting composition.
6-stop Neutral Density Filter installed.
Then I worked out the proper exposure.

Camera Settings:

F22, 1 SEC, ISO 500 Focal Length 200mm

1. I took the first shot.

2. Then I loosened the lens collar. With my left hand I squeezed the zoom ring on the lens. With my right hand I held the right side of my camera and reached out with my right index finger and pressed the shutter release while smoothly rotating the camera down and holding the zoom ring causing the camera to zoom out as I rotated the camera for the duration of the 1 second exposure.

3. Next, with my hands set just as described above, I reached out with my right index finger and pressed the shutter release while smoothly rotating the camera up and holding the zoom ring causing the camera to zoom in as I rotated the camera for the duration of the one second exposure.

This is kind of a crazy looking shot, but I like the effect and result.

I think this photograph is a very good example of the Monet-like and feel I was after.

07 - Flower Garden Abstract_0366

A single yellow flower surrounded by purple flowers caught my attention.

Technique:

[Multiple Exposures Tilt Up Technique]

Multiple Exposures enabled.
Camera on my tripod.
I framed up a composition that I liked.
I worked out the proper exposure.

Camera Settings:

F22, 1/100 SEC, ISO 500 Focal Length 200mm

1. I released the shutter and took the first shot.

2. I held the camera steady while looking through the view finder and loosened the ball head so that I could now move the camera up and down as required.

3. Now I simply tilted the camera up a tiny amount and took the second shot.

4. Then again, I tilted the camera up a tiny bit more and took the third shot.

I was really excited by the yellow/purple contrast, so I did three more captures in order to have more choices to work with. This is the one I liked best. I love the pop of yellow and textures.

08 - Rancho Santa Margarita Lake Abstract_0622

Santa Margarita Lake. One of my favorite walking locations. One trip around the lake is one mile.

Technique:

[Multiple Exposures Tilt Up Technique]

See number 7 above.

This was a challenge! There were so many lines to pay attention to and I was also trying to include people in this scene as well.

09 - School Grounds_0650

A small piece of the landscape in front of Portola High School (home of the Bulldogs.) This is one of my best attempts to achieve the Monet look and feel I have been after.

Technique:

[Multiple Exposures Tilt Down Technique]

See number 5 above.

10 - Dreaming About Flowers_760 #2

After spending the last three days driving around town searching for photographic opportunities for this project and putting in a ton of effort to make the photographs I actually dreamt about photographing flowers last night. So today I set out to make a photograph about “dreaming about flowers.” This is what I came up with.

Technique:

[Multiple Long Exposures with Opposing Twists Technique]

Multiple Exposures enabled.
Camera on my tripod.
I framed up my starting composition.
6-stop Neutral Density Filter installed.
Then I worked out the proper exposure.

Camera Settings:

F22, 1 SEC, ISO 500 Focal Length 200mm

1. I took the first shot.

2. Then I loosened the lens collar. With my right hand I held the right side of my camera and reached out with my right index finger and pressed the shutter release while smoothly rotating the camera down for the duration of the 1 second exposure.

3. Next, I returned the camera to the starting point where I made the first shot. Then, I reached out with my right index finger and pressed the shutter release while smoothly rotating the camera up for the duration of the one second exposure.

I think it’s pretty cool. Kind of a psychedelic tie-dye look and feel.

This was a fun project! I am going to continue to experiment with this style of photography going forward and will share any interesting creations.

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