I’ve continued to experiment with kaleidoscope botanicals. I’m especially drawn to the abstract nature of these images. I’ve tried different subjects and different ways of photographing them to make them more amenable to the kaleidoscope treatment. I’ve also tried different numbers of reflections.  Creating templates for four, eight and sixteen reflections is straightforward. Others, such as six or twelve reflections, are more challenging, but also produce a hexagonal shape that offers some interesting possibilities.

The two images above illustrate different compositional possibilities for a given subject – in this case a flower from a Lollipop Plant (Pachystachys lutea) – using different numbers of reflective elements. The upper image has four reflective elements. I like it with the reflections touching only at the center. To me this image evokes feelings of grace and freedom. The lower image has eight reflective elements. I liked the closed reflections in this one. They suggest figures dancing in a circle. This one seems to me to capture the essence of joy.

A few weeks ago I saw a tutorial on the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) site by Corey Barker that demonstrated how to produce a kaleidoscope effect using Photoshop. Corey illustrated the technique with an image of a dripping faucet but my mind went immediately to using flowers and other botanicals to produce abstract images. Since then, I’ve spent many hours exploring this technique and learning what works best for me. The image above is a portion of a Glacier Lily that has been reflected left to right and then top to bottom.

Although this image started out as two separate photographs, it’s no longer a photograph in the traditional sense. This “landscape” existed only in my mind’s eye. The foreground is a mirror montage constructed from a photograph of some waves in a rock formation taken during a trip to Moab, UT last spring. (To see more mirror montages, visit the Canyon Spirits post and gallery.) When I first saw the montage, I pictured a landscape and even imagined walking (carefully!) into it. While it looks forbidding and dangerous, there is also something about it that draws me in. I knew that I wanted to add a sky above it but it took several months to find one that worked for me. The sky in the image above is also a mirror montage constructed from a photograph of a cloud. After trying several possibilities – both straight cloud photographs and mirror montages – this was the one I liked best. Converting the overall image to black and white further abstracts it away from any earth-bound interpretation and enhances its spiritual quality.