Everyday household objects can be fun subjects for creativity - especially on days like today (I'm looking out of a rain-spattered window as I type this). Turning ostensibly banal objects into abstract art is a good exercise in creativity; ask yourself, "how can I present this item in a new and interesting way?"
It can also be done on a budget. For these images I put a 60mm macro lens on my tripod-mounted SLR, and used natural light. If you don't have an SLR and macro lens, a compact camera will probably let you get just as close. A couple of the images also involved a laptop screen, and some minimal Photoshop editing was done - but nothing that could not be achieved in open source / free software or even the software packaged with your camera.
In the first two images a set of drinking straws were bundled together and secured with an elastic band. Each bundle was rested on its side in front of a white background, and shot in (frontal) natural light. Photoshop editing was required to remove the surface on which the straws rested; this could be avoided by balancing your straw bundle on top of the white surface and shooting down on it (a technique employed for the final two images in this set).
I spot metered the dark surface of the straws so the white background would over-expose and the black straws would render mid to dark grey. Small changes in camera position and angle dictated which straws allowed (reflected) light through from the background.
For the next image I simply moved the camera much closer and dialled in an 'incorrect' white balance setting on my camera. Setting the white balance to 'tungsten bulb' rendered the diffuse natural daylight blue. This shift could also be accomplished easily in Photoshop's RAW Processor if you shoot RAW.
The last two images were shot looking down over a horizontal laptop screen (be VERY careful what you put onto your screen - it can be easily damaged!)
A background image was displayed such that it covered most of the laptop screen, and the camera postioned so the image filled the frame. The straws were cut to half their original length to help them stand up and to allow more light through.
Something to look out for with macro images are stray hairs, fluff, dust and so on. What may be barely noticeable to the naked eye can be enfuriatingly apparent in a macro photograph. I left a largish hair in the image above because I decided it looked interesting, but removed it from the image below using Photoshop's clone stamp and patch tool.
Remember, you don't have to copy these ideas - what items are laying around in your kitchen, bathroom, garage etc that might form the basis for interesting abstracts?
