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« One Sweet Shot February 2009 | Main | Tool Around »
Saturday
07Feb2009

Superhero Photo Challenge: Abstract

Do you remember Highlights magazine from when you were a kid? I remember poring through it at the dentist's office or the eye doctor, always flipping as quickly as I could to the back section where the photography was. There was always a page full of photographs of things that were taken so close is was hard to decipher what the object was anymore- a tennis ball, a waffle, someone's skin. The game of course was to guess what each thing was.

I still have a love of the super macro and the indecipherable abstract image. This week's challenge is to capture an abstract image, either by photographing something extremely closeup or simply by seeing color and form in a new way.

References (2)

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Reader Comments (38)

I think it's a stucco wall with a layer of blue paint chipping off.
February 6, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterTiffany
looks like an old ship - well worn and maybe now retired
February 6, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterCharlane
Oh my gosh, I loved Highlights! What a trip down memory lane.

I posted this last summer, but I still love how the first shot turned out. I definitely need to make more of an effort to take the obscure macro shots. It's such a unique world at that level.

http://tumblieweed.blogspot.com/2008/09/everyone-is-lamenting-close-of-summer.html
February 6, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterShawna
I posted a closeup a while back just for fun.

http://lifesignatures.wordpress.com/2008/10/12/princess/
February 6, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterPuna
an overhead light fixture, looking abstract both in the photo and at the store.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/margela/3258111358/
February 6, 2009 | Unregistered Commentermargie
i took this yesterday, not knowing what the chellenge was going to be.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sivyerfamily/3256252765/
February 6, 2009 | Unregistered Commenterbrittany
Love this challenge! I took this shot awhile ago and it reminded me how much I love abstract.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ewhitaker/3177922115/
February 6, 2009 | Unregistered Commenterliz
I love close, I love abstract :) Here is one of my favorites to date:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7565577@N04/3232792732/

Enjoy your weekend!
February 6, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterMeg
I get as close as possible..because Yes I too love the small details. And the abstract. Sometimes people around me look at me like "what"? They just dont get it lol.

I am hoping and saving for a 100mm Macro lens. But until I have the cash I do what I can do. Here are a few of my fav shots =)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jodyangel/3225662129/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jodyangel/3215481119/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jodyangel/3191690824/
February 6, 2009 | Unregistered Commenterjody
I love close-ups. Sometimes I feel like I need to step back a little. But here's a recent shot:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7550209@N04/3195113427/
February 7, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterJeannette
i loved that section of highlights magazine too! this photo if i didnt' know it was an extreme macro i'd think it was a satellite image of the earth from space! i see land and ocean and atmosphere and weather!

i really like doing abstracts, they feel like art to me. turning raindrops into tents at night and that sort of thing :)
here's an oldie but a goodie
http://www.flickr.com/photos/camerashymomma/2220070098/
February 7, 2009 | Unregistered Commentercamerashymomma
February 7, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterMarcie
Although I'm trying to teach myself to capture the wide angle too, close-ups are my favorites: http://noapathyallowed.com/2009/02/07/abstract/
February 7, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterMandi
I posted this last summer, but immediately thought of it when I read this post:

http://inventingliz.blogspot.com/2008/08/sedum-up-close.html

The title gives away what it is, so no challenge there! I love all the different shades of pink and red in this one spot.
February 7, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterLiz
I love Highlights! This one should be fun. Off I go in search of abstract awesomeness!
February 7, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterKaryn
This is an incredibly timely challenge (Yet again, Andrea, your powers of connection astound me), as I just found the macro button on my new camera this morning, so I've spent the day doing extreme close-ups. These are the three I'm submitting for this challenge - not difficult to guess, but fun to take. The third photo is probably my favourite out of the lot, as it was a complete accident:


http://www.flickr.com/photos/selfsufficiencygirl/3260258289/in/set-72157613124180947/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/selfsufficiencygirl/3260258469/in/set-72157613124180947/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/selfsufficiencygirl/3260278475/in/set-72157613124180947/
February 7, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterBelinda
Sometimes I think that I can't do much on this area with the camera I use to take... But still, some things are just like that and they turn out like abstract paintings or something...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliealvarez/3258657878/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliealvarez/3118888284/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliealvarez/2915249206/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliealvarez/2914391847/
February 7, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterJulie Alvarez
i loved the look of this chandelier while laying underneath it.
http://flickr.com/photos/shoot_photography/2252048580/in/photostream
February 7, 2009 | Unregistered Commentermegmanionsilliker
I have no idea what that photo is, but I love it. Such pretty colors, such a "stop and look, I'm lovely!" I have an abstract set on Flickr: things I see every day that I never really see. Lovely challenge, giving us permission to find what we see but don't dare to capture because it doesn't seem to stand out.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8702729@N02/sets/72157613447664371/
February 7, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterKelly
I like abstract photographs because it reminds me to look at ordinary things in a new way.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ewhitaker/3258904537/
February 7, 2009 | Unregistered Commenterliz
i loved highlights, too! I especially like this challenge...to see things differently. i spent some time yesterday trying to get a few closeups of a great antique water pail and the texture in all its flaky paint...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/myinspiredheart/3261503498/
February 7, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterSandra
It almost looks like a penny or something else coppery. What a fun idea!
February 7, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterMeryl
Inside of an ice formation that I call the Ice Blob on Belle Isle in Detroit, MI:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cstangis/3259825126/
February 7, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterCherie S.
i used to love that magazine. wow it really brings back memories.
this is an old photo but I like this challenge and will try to look at things differently this week in order to get some new ones..

http://autumnsun08.blogspot.com/2009/02/ss-superhero-photo-challenge-abstract.html
February 7, 2009 | Unregistered Commenterspread your wings
Highlights magazine must have improved since I was a child...I always hated it if that was the only thing to read in the doctor or dentist office because it was boring!...and I don't remember it having photos...I love taking pictures of things close up even tho I use a point and shoot camera...some times it works and sometimes it doesn't...here is an example...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22733432@N08/3261473789/
http://picturingtheyear.blogspot.com/
February 8, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterOliag
This was an accident. I didn't even know I was taking it at the time. Oh, well....

http://whatwouldwandado.blogspot.com/2009/01/what-if-we-were-really-meant-to-live-in.html
February 8, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterWanda
I took this a while back and loved the color that this exposure produced.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/31299004@N02/3263418293/
February 8, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterJoAnne
love abstract macro. this is oxidized copper

http://www.flickr.com/photos/artfromm/3231374117/
February 9, 2009 | Unregistered Commentermelia
February 9, 2009 | Unregistered Commenterkeli
I LOVE abstract macros! I'm looking forward to a whole week of them! To start with, though - a serendipity of colour and form: http://fleetingreality.blogspot.com/2009/02/41.html
February 9, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterSchelle
not too difficult to guess, but I finally found something.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kayak57/3271360291/
February 11, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterKaryn
Here is one of my more recent abstract offerings

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27458974@N00/3274917562/
February 12, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterDiane Schuller
i took this around the time this entry was published but haven't had time to upload it till now....it was fun to play around with, but made me realize that i REALLY need a better macro camera!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lilybeth29/3285607512/in/pool-shuttersisters
February 16, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterLiz

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