Background patterns

Alpine flora. Image: Su Leslie 2018

Jude at Travel Words has embarked on a year-long project to improve her photography through a series of personal challenges (#2020PhotoChallenge) and she’s invited us to join her. You can find out more here.

I think it’s a great project, and when I found myself critiquing images for this week’s challenge, I realised it’s definitely time I took part and offered some of my images for critique.

Agapanthus, and more agapanthus. Using depth of field to create patterns. Image: Su Leslie 2019

The challenge is ‘to photograph a subject using a background which is a pattern without distracting from the subject’ — and Jude acknowledges that it’s a difficult one.

The issue of distraction is central I think. Too much overwhelms the subject, too little runs the risk of not being seen as a pattern at all. And then there’s the question of what the pattern is formed by — and does it make sense in terms of the subject?

I think some of the most effective photos I’ve seen that incorporate patterns into the background are urban scenes –think brick walls, multi-stories with endless glass, graffitti. Trawling my archives failed to turn up anything even remotely appropriate.

So my background patterns are made of light — bokeh if you like. Do they work? Do they fit the brief? I’m not really sure.

Making patterns with light; bokeh is my friend (I think). Image: Su Leslie 2019

And what about this one? Too tongue-in-cheek?

A necessary pattern. Image; Su Leslie.

Do visit Jude’s challenge posts, and those of other bloggers who are taking part. We learn so much from each other’s comments.

Rainy-day pattern making

It’s too wet and cold to go out today, so I’ve been amusing myself with some photo-editing toys to create kaleidoscopic and fractal patterns.

I love the simplicity of kaleidoscopes, using mirrors to create a seemingly infinite number of possible patterns from whatever objects are placed inside them.

I’m not even going to try and understand the maths that replicates those mirrors in software, nor that which creates fractals.

According to Wikipedia, in mathematics, a fractal is a subset of a Euclidean space for which the Hausdorff dimension strictly exceeds the topological dimension.

Luckily, the Fractal Foundation has a definition for the more mathematically challenged:

A fractal is a never-ending pattern … They are created by repeating a simple process over and over in an ongoing feedback loop.

Posted to the Ragtag Daily Prompt | patterns

Pretty maths

Algorithm as art. Image: Su Leslie 2018

Nature is full of fractals; endlessly repeating patterns of elements that remain the same regardless of scale. Trees, seashells, hurricanes and galaxies are all examples.

In mathematics, an equation can be calculated over and over to produce complexity from simplicity. From this, fractal generating software will process familiar images into detailed (and beautiful) patterns.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge |patterns