Abstract photography is an art that transcends reality and relies on creativity and simplicity at the same time. Using your smartphone, whose built-in camera is now capable of shooting across all available genres, you can capture amazing abstract photos without the need for professional equipment. All it takes is some basic skills and a deep understanding of how to play with light and shadow, colors and shapes.
Once you understand what abstract photography is, learn how to take abstract photos, and edit your existing shots into abstract images, you'll have a whole new genre to explore. Check out How to Get Started with Abstract Photography: Helpful Tips.
What is abstract photography anyway?
Abstract photography, in short, is any image that is removed from reality in some way. It is an image that is not immediately recognizable as belonging to the actual world we live in. An abstract photographer uses light, texture, perspective, movement, extreme close-ups, and more to create images that are both satisfying and unusual.
All photography can be art (and your photos can be displayed in an art gallery), but abstract photography straddles the line between photography and art like any other genre. And for this reason—the feeling that it’s too much for the average person—many people don’t even try it.
The best abstract images in the world can be very attractive to look at, and contain meaning attributed by the artist/photographer. However, there is no pressure to treat them as art if you don't want to.
Abstract photography is a wonderful form of photography, and when done right, it should be able to satisfy anyone’s creative yearnings. However, it can seem a bit daunting at first, so, as with many creative projects, the trick is to just try it and see what happens. We’re here to help with some tips on how to get started shooting and editing abstract photos on your smartphone.
What to Look for When Shooting Abstract Images
If there’s one word that sums up what you need to look for when shooting abstract photography, it’s “opportunities.” Photographers are (or should be) constantly looking for photographic opportunities. And abstract photography is no different than any other genre in this regard. You should always be on the lookout for interesting shapes, patterns, textures, reflections, light sources, and angles.
However, unlike other types of photography, you need to have abstract photography in mind when looking for these opportunities. You can also take advantage of opportunities that reveal themselves organically, or engineer your own opportunities by using different objects, angles, and light sources around you.
Organic opportunities are those that you discover and can photograph without changing anything. Tree bark, when photographed in certain light, will stop looking like tree bark. Grainy material, when photographed up close, reveals its fibers and creates something that looks otherworldly without context. This photo is of a tree, but it could also be the eye of a lizard.
Designed opportunities are those that require your input to exist. This can mean anything from shining a light source on an object to change its appearance, to arranging a series of objects in a certain way to get the look you want. As long as the results are abstract to the viewer, it doesn’t matter how the image is set up. This image is of the inside of a washing machine, with a blue object added for a pop of color. Check out how I turned boring photos into abstract art using AI.
How to Take Great Abstract Photos on Your Phone
There is no real difference between taking abstract photos on your smartphone and taking them with other equipment. The only exception is when you use extreme close-ups to create abstract images. While many smartphones have decent zoom, they lose focus much faster than a dedicated DSLR with a macro lens attached.
However, this doesn’t have to be a deterrent. If you want, you can buy a mountable macro lens for your smartphone. These lenses vary in price and quality, but if you can find a suitable one, it will allow you to get closer to a subject without your smartphone camera losing focus. Good macro photography can form the basis of great abstract photography.
However, this is not the only way to capture beautiful abstract images that will wow viewers. Experiment with different angles, lighting conditions, and objects that don’t normally make good subjects for photography. When taking abstract photographs, you are the architect who bends and shapes the world around you to find otherworldly qualities.
For me, I start by pointing the camera at something that I think has the potential to become something abstract. If it doesn't, I move on to something else, but if it does, I'll zoom in on the most interesting part, change the angle to subvert expectations, or turn on the flash (even in bright light) to make something ordinary seem extraordinary.
Experimentation is key.
In writing this article, I shot and edited over 20 abstract images; some of which I uploaded. Some came out better than I expected, while others didn’t work at all. Some were perfect as-shot, while others needed extensive editing before they lost touch with the natural world. If anything, editing is the most important part of the process. Check out the areas where a smartphone outperforms a DSLR in photography.
How to Edit Your Photos to Make Them More Abstract
Editing is crucial to creating satisfying and memorable abstract images. So much so that it’s rare to leave a smartphone shot as is without touching it up a bit in post-production to create the abstract effect you’re looking for. There are a few tweaks I apply to all my images, but you need to dig deeper to create compelling abstract images.
With editing, any photo you take on your smartphone can be transformed into an abstract image. By cropping, rotating, adding a filter, and changing various other elements, you can turn ordinary shots into abstract artwork. Once you get a taste of it, I guarantee you’ll be hooked.
Just like photography, editing an image to make it more abstract requires experimentation. Even if you have a clear end result in mind, once you start editing, you may find yourself going in a different direction. Let your creativity take over, and edit the image in whatever way feels right. That way, you may be surprised by the results.
Start by cropping the image to the exact part you want in the frame, even if that means focusing on a small portion of a larger image. Then try rotating the image and adding a filter. Once you’ve made these initial adjustments, you can adjust individual specific elements like contrast, shadows, warmth, tint, and sharpness to create the exact effect you’re looking for.
The image above is actually my hand holding a drink, with a TV in the background, and a purple light illuminating the room. Now that I’ve explained what it is, you can probably see it (especially if you tilt your head to the left). But thanks to some extreme editing, the individual elements no longer make sense without context.
I personally recommend using Google Photos Or Snapseed (Android and iOS) to edit smartphone photos, as both feature a set of tools that can be used to make the image abstract. Unlike traditional photography, it is almost impossible to over-edit an abstract image, and the more edits you make, the less realistic the image becomes.
In short, abstract photography may seem too artistic and elaborate for the average person to handle. But it’s not really. Instead, it’s a compelling way to explore your creativity, and one you’ll enjoy more than you think. Look for opportunities to take abstract photos, then spend some time editing them. And if you’re not happy with the results, there are endless objects and textures you can try working with. You can check out How I Take Professional Portraits With My Smartphone .
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