You are currently viewing Day 2 – Abstract Quill photography

Continuing to play with colors and paper, I bring you a set of abstracts created using stuff available at home.

Shot using a single light source for illumination, with a Nikon 50mm lens and my trusted Nikon D850. Here are the images.

Below is the schematic and image of the set-up to give you an idea how it was done.

Materials used:

  1. A4 size white printer paper – realized A3 worked better for the folds & loops
  2. Transparent color sheets to use as color gels
  3. A large sheet of white paper to diffuse the light
  4. Clips to hold the folded paper – I used some hair clips
  5. A table with glass top for light to pass through or plain glass placed on a steady surface as I did
  6. A table lamp – I used one with a 60W incandescent lamp
  7. Camera, preferably with a zoom lens – I used a 50mm as my zoom lens was with a friend. Macro lens would work better / would give more  creative possibilities

As you can see in the above schematic diagram the light is placed at the bottom on the floor, the glass surface about a foot from there.

The colored gel sheet on top of the glass (I used a sheet that comes on a spiral-bound book, transparent colored sheet available in stationery stores can be used as well).

Place a plain white paper on the gel sheet to diffuse the light evenly, else you will see a hot spot.

Fold the A3 / A4 white sheets in loops or any design that you can come up with, clip them so they don’t move. Place it vertically standing on the white sheet. You should now be able to see the patterns from the top angle.

Focus your camera to the top edge of the paper (using a tripod would help as the camera would remain at the same position for most shots) compose your frame and shoot.

I set my camera at f/1.8 looking for a shallow DOF, shutter speed at 1/40 – 1/100s and ISO 100 – 600.

Change the patterns, the color gel and get a variety of shots.

Below images show the setup and materials used.

Do share your images in the comments if you try this out, would love to see them 🙂

This Post Has 2 Comments

  1. Seema Aarella

    Lovely pictures, thanks for sharing the instructions. Will definitely try.

    1. Ajay Salanky

      Thank you. Do share the results. All the best!!! 🙂

Leave a Reply