Image copyright Stephen D'Agostino, used with permission.

I was reminded of a technique I stumbled across called "In the Round" photography by its creator, Pep Ventosa.

The technique is this: Find a stationary subject that is roughly symmetrical on all sides (Trees, carousels, and monuments make good subjects). Take at least 20 photos of the subject in a 360 degree arc. The photos must keep the subject in the same relative position in the frame (This means consistent distance from the subject, and careful framing) Then, in post, stack all of the photos with opacity blending. Adjust things to taste until you have the image you want.

Stephen D'Agostino is who I saw do the technique via his blog, and his images have stuck with me over the years. His images of trees especially capture the impressionist look. I reached out to him, and he graciously gave permission for me to use his photo here. If you look at that photo, the effect is that the tree remains recognizable but the background is completely abstract.

I'm not sure why I like these images so much, but it's probably because it is a complete rejection of "sharpness" that most photographers are going for. It truly is impressionist, I can't tell you anything about the location in the photo above, but you can get a feeling of the scene. It's overcast, it's autumn. It's probably a cool day.

This is something that I want to try this year, if a suitable subject appears. I never tried it in the past as it seemed super technical, but after re-reading Stephen's blog, it's a pretty straightforward process. The hardest part is that this technique requires very careful composition. Something that may help is that my camera has a multiple exposure mode, so I can use that to help with framing. It creates a ghost image on the screen to help guide. I won't actually take the photo using this mode, as I would want to combine the images in post, as it would be easier to get rid of any anomalies that could ruin a photo like this.

Stacking the photos will be interesting. Affinity should be able to do it, but I've only ever used Photoshop in the past to stack photos. I might try Hugin first, I like the way it handles panoramic photos, so maybe it can do this as well?

#photography #intheround