Last week I read an article with suggestions on how to produce abstract photographs. One technique mentioned was to set a long shutter speed (around 1/30s) and deliberately introduce movement, either by moving the camera while the shutter is open, or zooming in or out during this time. This I had to try out. The Botanical Gardens seemed a good bet, with lots of colours and textures available.

It sounded really quite simple, just move the camera. It turns out that the resulting pictures look pretty much indistinguishable from camera shake. So, out came the tripod, and, after experimentation, the best results were obtained using a smooth zooming motion while gently pressing the shutter button. (Possibly even better results could be obtained using a cable release.)

Regarding composition, the images benefitted from having a fixed point at their exact centre. I experimented with a duck that snoozed conveniently just in front of a clutch of bamboo.

But the winner of the day, in my opinion, these beautiful giant bamboo stalks in streaming sunlight.

More abstract shots can be seen in this gallery.