Welcome to my checkered past

Welcome to my checkered past, a photo by fangleman on Flickr.

Photography as a whole is a journey for me.

There isn't any specific destination. Some images are started with a specific idea of what it is to become, what the final result is to be.

Other images are started without a clear destination, or are started with a clear destination that evolves into something completely different as the process continues.

Much as the whole of photography is a journey for me, so this image followed its own journey from conception to final image. I had a blurry concept of a sharp image with well defined edges, perfect lighting, using strobes and a white background. So that is where I started.

After I made images that appeared to me near the desired result, I went off plan, and started wondering about other concepts.

From that small seed grew this final image. A photo made through a pinhole lens cap on a dSLR, and processed in software much more than I would normally consider.

What I have created is a pinhole image that is reminiscent of photography of days long gone, as well as art made by the stroke of a brush, pictorialism. So this is where I ended. I much prefer this over the stark sharp, and cold image I initially was driving for. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Below in the comments is a 100% crop that shows the wonderful grain, along with the "dust and scratches", etc.

Feel free to comment! Even if you don't like it...

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Photo Recipe
Place glass of water and blue bottle, or color of your choice, as shown. The lens axis should be centered to the glass and the bottle should have the edge centered to the glass. Separate the pieces enough when looking through the glass the refraction fills half the glass as shown. Use a white or other simple background.

Using a pinhole lens cap, expose for best exposure using a high ISO for the lovely noise, or for a more positive and less negative name, grain. If one has a more diffuse lighting the specular highlights will be missing. In my case, the room lights made clear specular highlights.

Finish in software. I spent a long time with the spot healing brush fixing all the sensor dirt circles. Process for age. I added more grain, vignette, dust and scratches, etc.

Be sure to see the 100% crop below.

Added to the Weekly Challenge: Refraction.