Fine art photography is a term sometimes used a little bit recklessly. What is a fine art image really? Well…. Basically an image that is created for its artistic and aesthetic values rather than its documentary or descriptive values. Although a phrase loaded with a bit of tension, creating fine art photography doesn’t have to be expensive nor complicated. Some people will tell you that you need to get out early in the morning for the best light, travel far and wide for the best view or buy a specific piece of equipment. Although they are all well-meaning advice it is not the whole truth.
“Blue Bird” is one of my most popular fine art photos. It is a double exposure made in-camera with an Olympus Micro Four Thirds system (MFT or M4/3) camera and a non pro lens at 1pm in the harsh Mediterranean sun.
It is a few weeks into the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak here in Malta. Schools are closed and homeschooling is taking its toll on me and my 2 children. Children were not allowed to meet with friends but we still needed to see something else than the inside of our house. I tried to take them out every so often. Safe places, away from people ad preferably in a natural setting.
I was more or less sure the local orchids were all dried out at this time of the year. We decided to take our chances just in case. A visit to one of the local nature-reserves for the odd chance of seeing the Pyramidal orchids in bloom proved to be unsuccessful. But once there, we decided to take a walk in the reserve anyway. There is so much else to discover. My son and daughter are both budding photographers, so they enjoy a country walk (as long as it is not too far :).
On the way back from our short walk, we came across this little sparrow sitting on some kind of reed with a relatively clean background. I raised the camera slowly and fired a few shots. Without anything else to photograph I kept on trying to work with what I had in front of me. The little bird stayed surprisingly still and let me try different things. I decided to try a double exposure. It would give this rather simple scene in front of me a somewhat dreamy look. One shot with the bird in focus. The other with a slower shutter speed and using intentional camera movements (ICM) for that smudged/surreal look. Both shots are sandwiched in the camera and with a bit of tweaking of the white balance in post this image is the result. Creating Fine Art Photography is not all about exotic places and new equipment 🙂
