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dmmacdonald

Machine Drum i

Stainless steel washing machine drum

Stainless steel washing machine drum
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Oct, 2017

Views

188

Likes

+10

Awards

Winner in abstract steel Photo Challenge

Peer Award

Superb Composition

Top Choice

Outstanding Creativity

Emotions

Impressed

Top Ranks

Top 20 rank week 2

Top 30 rank week 1

Top 20 rank

Top 20 rank week 1

Top 30 rank week 1

Behind The Lens

Location

Sometimes a great subject is right under your nose - like in your own laundry. I've not done much work in the abstract field and when the challenge topic of Abstract Steel came up I knew immediately what I wanted to enter. This was my favourite of three similar shots taken.

Time

This was an indoor shot taken late afternoon.

Lighting

Because of the reflective surface of the stainless steel I decided not to use flash, but rather opt for a relatively slow shutter speed to ensure the highlights and shadows were well defined. The area has warm white fluorescent interior lights which were on for the shoot. As the subject's surface is slightly satin finished through use, I hoped that I and the camera would not be clearly reflected. I was right.

Equipment

The camera used is a Sony Nex 6 - tripod mounted - and 10 second delay was set to ensure stability. Lens is Sony's 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS, set at 21mm, f4, 0.25(1/4)s. No flash used - opting rather for a relatively slow shutter speed due to the reflective surface of the subject.

Inspiration

I haven't explored abstract subjects much and was initially inspired by a challenge subject of "Machines". Not wanting to go for the obvious car engines or the like I knew the interior of a washing machine drum could offer some interesting options. Turning the drum to a position that offered symmetry in the composition I felt I was onto 'something' that would work. This one I felt met the subject of the "Abstract Steel" challenge well.

Editing

Although I took both raw and jpg records of this I used only the 'out of camera' jpg. Slight adjustments were made to both highlight and shadow levels to give some added drama and contrast, the aspect ratio was cropped to 25:20 (which 'felt' right for this image), and a vignette was added to draw attention to the centre focus and symmetry.

In my camera bag

I'm not one for lugging around several days' worth of production output from any manufacturer. Despite it's 'old generation' status in today's world of mirror-less cameras I find my Sony Nex 6 is the perfect companion when I want great results, (big) pocket sized portability, and more than point and shoot capabilities. I have one prime 50mm lens and the trusty kit 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS lens always on hand - fitted with a ND filter (more for easier cleaning and dust prevention than filter properties) I always have a clean 'fine hair' dusting brush on hand, my tripod and a wrist strap for use in tricky situations (boating or near water). The EVF is great for high-light outdoor shooting, and I find the built in flash covers most fill in flash needs for me. My Ricoh Caplio R6 is a good standby and will usually find space in some corner of the bag ;-) .........

Feedback

Think a little laterally about abstract subjects, and try and find something you already know will fit a concept. In the original "Machine" challenge the word machine was my starting point , and washing machine was a next step'no-brainer' for me. Several abstracts of the glass, the drum , the switches and even the back cover panel of a washing machine all made interesting studies. By taking high resolution shots and cropping and editing I turned those several original shots into an almost infinite number of abstracts. This one just seemed a great fit for this challenge (Abstract Steel).

See more amazing photos, follow dmmacdonald

dmmacdonald

dmmacdonald

Machine Drum i

Stainless steel washing machine drum

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow dmmacdonald

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