Greg Molyneux Photography

Tag: low key

  • Circular Motion

    Circular Motion

    Low key square format black and white photo of a circular form sculpture.
    Circular Motion — 35mm | f/1.4 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/3200

    Circular motion will be something of a recurring theme as we spiral toward the 2016 Labor Day Weekend along U.S. the eastern seaboard. Recently named Tropical Storm Hermine is spooling up in the Gulf of Mexico as she creeps slowly toward the Florida Panhandle. While it’s hardly locked down there’s growing consensus that after initial landfall the storm will look to spin its way up the east coast, potentially wreaking havoc on weekend plans, fresh hairstyles, and coastal communities up and down the seaboard. Prolonged rain, wind, and tidal surge will open the door to disruptive conditions for the foreseeable future. Such is the way of things, the way of the weather.

    Subject to storm surge and flooding is LBI’s own Long Beach Island Foundation—also known as the place I made this photograph. Scattered about the grounds are a litany of visually appealing and thought provoking sculptures. I was particularly drawn to a vertical array of circular forms orderly arranged on a ladder type apparatus. If my memory serves me the whole piece was in the ballpark of three feet wide and nine feet high. I tucked in close with my 35mm lens set wide open at f/1.4 to create a shallow depth of field image that accentuated the form and contrast of the circular disks. This one is all about form fleshed out through light and shadow play.

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  • In The Abstract

    In The Abstract

    Square format black and white photo of hydrangea leaves in low key abstract noir.
    In The Abstract — 35mm | f/1.4 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/1600

    Real talk—

    This—black and white photography brought to life in shallow depth of field, presented in a brooding low key light on abstract terms—is my favorite type of photography. Yes, the sweeping landscapes are great, and I am far better technician than I am a creative right-braining on the more artistic side of the room; but there’s just something about the weirdness and soft forms, not to mention my lifelong love of black and white mediums, that draws me to this type of look. Now don’t get me wrong I wish I was better at it, and more purposeful in my execution of photographs like you see above. I have no process, I just wing it. There’s no real plan until I look at the viewfinder and have a very ground floor superficial thought of hey, this looks cool. This photo was no different. I was barreling up my hydrangea plant from ground level with my 35mm lens and simply liked what I saw. A happy accident you might say.

    Admittedly while I like this kind of shot more than my typical landscape I become increasingly insecure about posting shots of its ilk. Not so much here on this website, more so on my Facebook page which frankly reaches more eyes. The People like my landscape work, anything else is more or less a crap shoot that runs the gamut from yawn to completely ignored. The burden of expectations. I get it, of course, this style is far more niche and lacks the widespread appeal of a stunning marsh sunset. As a result I’ve been sitting on this shot for over a month now, but I can wait no more. Be bold. Be removed from the comfort zone. Be. If nothing else it’s good to weigh the merits of popularity versus personal fulfillment. I don’t think it’s a binary choice, instead it’s more about finding the right spot on the great sliding scale of life. (Let’s see how all of this shakes out since I’ll be following this shot with another square format black and white picture. Gasp!)

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  • Darkest Light

    Darkest Light

    Low key black and white macro photograph of a hibiscus flower framed in vertical orientation.
    Darkest Light — 100mm | f/3.5 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/800

    It’s been a good long while since I’ve made a black and white photograph. A quick look at the archive reveals other than a onetime blip back in April, it had been since August of 2015 that I had made a proper black and white. Too long!

    Interestingly enough this photograph was yesterday’s output of no more than a five minute photo detour I took along my parents’ side yard before transitioning to camera-less Fourth of July activities. It’d be wrong to categorize the 16 exposures as throw-away shots, but I’d be lying if I said I knew I was going to walk away with at least three keepers from the brief session. The lighting seemed unremarkable and the wind was blowing just enough to frustrate any handheld macro shooter; and yet the results populating my Lightroom catalog run entirely to the contrary. (A good reminder that I still have plenty to learn.)

    I really like black and white, and I really like this shot. It’s sporting all the key ingredients required for a well executed black and white photograph—macro or otherwise. The composition is strong, moving the eye from the deep darkness of the bottom left corner up and through the stamen and pistils of the hibiscus flower. The selective focus adds moodiness and depth to the photograph, enhancing the sharpness of the pollen resting atop its anthers. But what really kicks this into black and white overdrive is the contrast; the dramatic shifts from near total black to the intensity and brightness of near total white. The image runs the grayscale gamut and locks away the final dimension necessary for a fine low key finished product.

    Oh, and check out this post if you’d like to learn more about the anatomy of a hibiscus flower. This will help clear up some of the flower parts I referenced in the paragraph above if you’d like to further your learning. The post features some solid macro photos, too! Related: I can’t believe this is the first hibiscus photograph I’ve posted in the now two and a half year history of this website. I would have definitely lost that bet…

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  • Center Mass

    Center Mass

    Sunset photograph from Surf City Sunset Park gazebo with sunlight casting a strong orange glow.
    Center Mass — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 400 | EXP 1/30

    More Sunday action, people. One more to go and then I can finally move on from last week. As far as the sequence of shots goes, this was the first photo made. Before the rainbow and before the sunset I first posted. Rain was just starting to fall and I was enthralled by the orange glow bouncing off the stormy cloud deck. All was awash in orange, and while I was left to hide under gazebo cover as the rains came I made this handheld shot. (Hence the ISO 400 to get the exposure time up to 1/30—no tripod for this one.)

    What drew me to this composition, aside from notable light, was the symmetry of the scene. While I try to bring balance to all my shots it’s rare when I center up all the key elements of the frame. That’s essentially what we have here—with the sun just a tick to the left of center. It’s a soothing shot. A calming photograph leaving behind two empty benches to fill in with your own story.

  • Just Dandy

    Just Dandy

    Low key shallow depth of field photograph of a lone dandelion seed head amid grass
    Just Dandy — 35mm | f/1.4 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/5000

    Dandelions are a mixed bag. As young child roaming free in East Brunswick they filled my senses with wonder. My friends and I would blow on the seed heads until we were gasping for air; when the seed heads were barren and useless like popped bubble wrap we’d move on to their yellow-headed counterparts. Here we became more savage, plucking them from the earth and discarding the yellow crowns with a pop of our thumbs. This was not without ritual either as we’d chant, “momma had a baby and its head popped off.” Problematic, I know. I’d like to think I’ve grown from such barbarous beginnings.

    In my “adult” years my mistreatment of dandelions has become somewhat more conventional. Now I just deal with them chemically so as to keep my lawn relatively weed free. Of course, the occasional seed head still serves as a dignified photo subject.

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  • I Saw Red

    I Saw Red

    Shallow depth of field vertical orientation photograph of a blooming Japanese Maple at golden hour
    I Saw Red — 35mm | f/1.4 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/320

    Nouns, can we talk about how hard pictures have been to come by lately? I can’t buy a photograph and it’s weighing on me. Desperate to make something out of nothing, tonight I tried to work with the quality golden hour light pouring over my currently in bloom Japanese Maple. A staple of my front yard for years now, this is certainly the best tree my humble property has to offer. While it’s been wide angle sunset goodness I’ve been craving for weeks this is just going to have to hold me over. In the meantime the drought continues. Peaks and valleys. Peaks and valleys.

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  • Two Together

    Two Together

    Low key sunset photo of two pieces of wood standing upright in a marsh
    Two Together — 35mm | f/1.4 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/500

    Here it is—my first photograph with the new 35mm lens. Finally. Despite having this bad boy for a week now, up until tonight I had yet been able to piece together a serviceable shot. Sure there’ve been a few passable photographs, but nothing of real interest or note. This isn’t entirely unexpected: 1) I’ve never shot at a 35mm focal length before; and 2) there’s always a learning curve with a new lens. Where are its sweet spots? How sharp is it wide open? What kind of bokeh and depth of field are we dealing with? How shallow is the area of focus and how does it change throughout all f-stops? How fast? How does it focus in low light? In hyperfocal how close to my foreground subject can I get while keeping it and the horizon in acceptable focus? And so it goes. While this learning curve can feel tedious and restrictive at times, it’s a necessary period in trial and error as you learn the limits and capabilities of your lens. So here’s to a spring and summer of experimentation, and a few expletives.

    Through limited period of field time so far, my primary observations orbit damn this thing is heavy, and holy smokes, this thing is sharp wide open! The latter has me excited, and the former I don’t mind—I actually prefer a heavier rig, I have strong, sizable hands and prefer the heft; though I suspect I may be in the minority here. However, the combination of sharp focus and shallow depth of field—particularly wide open at f/1.4—has me salivating for flower season. This should afford some cool looks with all the flora about the area that’s about to bloom.

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  • Weather Ahead

    Weather Ahead

    Monochrome photograph of light snow covered pygmy pines of the New Jersey Pinelands
    Weather Ahead — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/50

    Let’s talk about the weather, Mid-Atlantic. In case you hadn’t heard there’s a potential snow storm looming, turning its tentative gaze toward the weekend. But first, proceed with caution. It’s been a tough winter for snow lovers, and we would do well to consider the unreliable performance of operational models of late. Despite a conducive pattern for coastal storm development we’ve seen one promising event after another appear, disappear, only to reemerge late in the game sending cutter after cutter into the Great Lakes. Whereas today we saw a storm widely thought to be out to sea, hang close enough to the coast to bring a mostly unexpected 1–3″ of snow to southeastern New Jersey—with an even bigger hit along the Delmarva. Were it not for marginal temperatures just above freezing this would have been a major bust. Suffice to say, faith in the models has been tested, and we should all feel justified in our skepticism. Of course there’s a lesson in here: despite improving datasets, more powerful processing, and better defined atmospheric dynamics there’s still plenty to get wrong in forecasting. We’re still a ways from perfect and that’s perfectly okay.

    Tempered emotions aside, it’s tough not to get a least a wee bit excited for this weekend. Some factors driving our optimism? Consistent plotting of the storm on the major weather models for at least the past 48–72 hours; we’re now progressing well into mid-range forecasting (less than 120 hours out); and most importantly, the pattern at 500mb looks favorable. Tonight’s 00z runs will be huge, and weenies (a term for weather enthusiasts like me who know just enough about weather to be dangerous) will be staying up late on this Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend waiting for the Euro. While it’ll be fun to get caught up in the excitement, we should at least wait until Tuesday when this storm is properly sampled. Said sampling allows real data to be input into the model algorithms, ensuring much greater accuracy as the models will be relying on fewer unknowns/hypotheticals. By then if the trends still look good it’ll be game on and milk and bread memes will be in full effect. In the meantime, stay tuned to Weather NJ for the latest.

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  • Kylo Ren and The Dark Side of the Force

    Kylo Ren and The Dark Side of the Force

    Kylo Ren Christmas tree ornament photographed as a low key miniature replica
    Kylo Ren and The Dark Side of the Force — 100mm | f/4 | ISO 100 | EXP 8 sec

    The dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural.

    —Supreme Chancellor Palpatine

    What’s happening, Star Wars fans? For those of you yet to see The Force Awakens I promise this is a spoiler free post.

    Making this miniature photograph was a blast! But first let’s circle back to Christmas. I received a Kylo Ren Christmas tree ornament—excellent—and almost immediately had the idea to utilize my macro lens and tripod in combination with a dark room and a red candle; setting the stage for a miniature portraiture shoot with little Kylo Ren. It was my hope to execute a dramatic, lifelike photograph of the next generation of dark side wielders. Discounting the lightsaber, which still rendered several notches better than I expected, the finished product far exceeded my expectations in terms of this picture looking like there’s a real human in there, full of conflict. The eyes behind the mask are piercing right through you, calling you to the dark side, making you see eyes where there most certainly are none.

    Initially I assumed I’d go for low key black and white processing, but as I first saw the exposures loading into Lightroom it was clear I should play off the warm and brooding color cast from the flame of an off screen candle. The light not only creates the right mood through shadow play, it also infuses just enough red into the lightsaber to keep things realistic enough. On the ornament itself the saber is quite dark, it was a pleasant surprise to see the candle charge it up quite powerfully. I’m sure someone worth their Photoshop salt could create effects that bring Kylo Ren’s kyber crystal to its full cinematic glory.

    All told I managed to end up with a few Kylo keepers. They may make an appearance later down the line on this website, especially one of the extreme close-ups. But if not I can say this: I’m left excited and challenged by shooting macro miniatures. It’s a technique I’d like to experiment with more. Long term it’d be pretty wild to put together whole miniature diorama concepts. Who knows? While I haven’t seen it yet, it’s fair to say I’ve been quite obsessed with the film techniques used in Anomalisa. With any luck you’ve enjoyed this half as much as I did. Cheers!

    Oh, and while I’m at it I think I’ll be going to see The Force Awakens again tonight. You know, for inspiration. Cheers!