I was so excited about this new topic for The Slow Photography Movement. I just love colour, especially spectrums (my twins' room is decorated with a rainbow theme which has permeated more into my own wardrobe and life - I love my rainbow keyring, it cheers me up!) so as soon as I saw that colour was the theme I thought of doing a rainbow collection of photos. To me colour means bright and happy, I don't tend to do muted tones.
I had thought I'd base it on my kids as usual and try to capture them either wearing or surrounded by each colour but then I received a beautiful bunch of flowers after I was trapped at home for days/weeks with poorly kids and it had almost all the colours (does anyone know of an indigo flower??) so I turned to macro for a more abstract approach. I used to love a bit of macro out in nature but had got out of the habit since having the twins and focusing my photography on improving from a lifestyle/documentary approach. I'd seen a technique I hadn't tried before which was freelensing but with your lens reversed to give an extreme macro effect. I decided to go for it and do my flowery rainbow series all using this technique.
As you can see, they have a very shallow DOF (depth of field or focus) so they are quite soft images with just a hint of focus wherever you make it land with a twist of the lens or movement back/forwards. I liked seeing the effects I could get on various areas of flowers/leaves to produce something pretty. Plus - SO much easier doing this with a still subject!
I also wanted to try getting some more colour out in nature, I've been enjoying wandering in the woods lately to help clear my head as well as getting some exercise and fresh air. It's so lovely now the weather has improved! Of course I take my camera each time and hoped to get some nice landscapes with the bluebells but they weren't quite out initially then they were flattened by the rain. I have a few macro shots of individual ones but I turned to another technique when they were looking a bit limp after the rain and used motion blur to capture another abstract colour image, moving my camera up and down as I took the shot.
I really like the effect it gives. You can still tell it's a woodland with bluebells scattered and some patches of sunlight drifting through the tree canopy but the overall impression is just the colours blending, ideal for an arty colour topic.
Of course once the sun came out, there was even more colour inspiration and the kids did in fact get in on this topic. I just love the colour and patterns in pools and Priya's similar coloured costume with flashes of fuchsia was just the ticket for another colour themed image or three!
And then there are all of my grassy green images of dew drops and unfurling ferns creating a beautiful collection with many shades of green.
Plus there was a literal flash of colour from the big plasma ball we found at the Observatory Science Centre on the bank holiday weekend which was technically after this topic ended but I couldn't help but include a couple.
In the end, I couldn't decide which of the above to submit for this project. I love them all and admittedly was a bit slap dash in my execution of the task, taking opportunities as they arose rather than setting out with a specific plan. I've left it up to Laura to choose which she thinks would best represent this topic so I can't wait to see which she chooses to feature in her blog post.
With my rainbow spectrum idea still in mind, I plan to participate more in The Color Chase Challenge group I joined on Facebook where there's a different colour every month to aim to include. I'd love to create a twin based rainbow selection so watch this space.