Symmetry

[Bob_B]

A sea urchin shell, a beautiful example of radial symmetry in nature. This is part one of a multipart series on symmetry. More to come.

I appreciate your thoughts and comments, and thank you for stopping to view my photographs.

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Elegant.

[David Eckels]

A terrific idea, Bob, I hope you will share your exploration in this thread.

[Bob_B]

Thank you, Eric and David. I'll post more symmetries here in the days to come.

[John R]

A terrific idea, Bob, I hope you will share your exploration in this thread.

Yes, and the lighting is right on.

JR

[Bob_B]

The second photograph in my symmetry series: "Greek Dish 1". (Working on improving the titles, but for now, please accept it as is.)

[Bob_B]

Thanks, John R.

[Bob_B]

Yet another greek plate.

[David Eckels]

Now these plates do not do it for me as much as the sea urchin, although the plates are certainly lovely and the images well-executed. I guess I am showing my "biologist bias."

[John R]

These are well taken. But when it comes design, it tickles your fancy or it doesn't. I really like the second plate.

JR

[Bob_B]

Thank you, David and John. Backstory: I had a good idea of what I wanted from the sea urchin. I shot that first. As I had taken the effort to set up everything, I figured I'd roam around my house and see what other objects had the symmetry, and the results are here.

[EricV]

The photographs are great, particularly the sea urchin.

Maybe you could organize the portfolio according to radial symmetry.  The urchin has 5-fold rotation symmetry.  Lots of flowers also have this symmetry, if you are looking for other common subjects.

[Bob_B]

EricV: Thank you very much.

[Bob_B]

The fourth in my symmetry series. This time, a carved, wooden plate from Poland.

[David Eckels]

Perfect, or damn near!

[Bob_B]

David: I greatly appreciate your kind words. Thanks!

[Bob_B]

One final photo. A Ukrainian Easter egg passed down in my family. Several different symmetries on display here.

Backstory: As a young boy, my dad, brother and I would work on coloring these eggs. It's tedious work, requiring multiple steps of wax-dye-remove wax and repeat to build up the different layers and colors. Not to mention, first removing the contents of the raw egg involved using a pin to make holes at either end and carefully blowing out the egg's contents using your lips and lung pressure. There were plenty of failed attempts at this resulting in the egg being crushed or exploding, with raw egg over everything. Good memories.

[David Eckels]

A work of art!
On re-examining your series, how did you achieve your flat, or near flat lighting? Your work inspired me to think of a small studio project.

[Bob_B]

A work of art!
On re-examining your series, how did you achieve your flat, or near flat lighting? Your work inspired me to think of a small studio project.

My "studio" is my kitchen floor with a black velvet cloth backdrop. It was raining when I made these photos, so the light was naturally soft (for the most part). The only modifiers I used were a small white reflector to control shadows and a large diffuser over the larger of two windows that provided light for the scene.

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

That egg is truly spectacular!