Photo Impressionism

Photo Impressionistic Red Serrano Chili Peppers

After emailing with a friend about macro lenses, I felt inspired this week to dust off my macro lens and try some new approaches I hadn't done before. My macro lens is the sharpest lens I own and typically I use it for photographing trees and forests to get as much detail possible, but I wanted to do exactly opposite of that with these shots while putting an emphasis on light and abstract shapes.

To get this image, I used a large Mag-Lite on the wide angle setting to illuminate the chili peppers since they would have been silhouettes otherwise. Then I used the macro lens at f2.8 up close and framed the composition how I wanted it on a tripod while searching for a pleasing background color. I adjusted my polarizer to cut the reflections then kept adjusting the focus until it had a painterly look to it. I didn't want abstract blobs either so it took some fine-tuning of the focusing to get it how I envisioned. As is, I'm not sure I could duplicate this image.

To see some more of what I have photographed this week check out these images:

Serrano Hot Chili Peppers Impressions

Red Chili Pepper Impressionism

Red Serrano Hot Chili Peppers Abstract Impressionism Blur

Oak Tree Fall Color Forest Photo Impressionism, Big Dalton Canyon Wilderness Park, Glendora, California

Oak Tree Autumn Leaves Orton Effect, Big Dalton Canyon Wilderness Park, California