SOFT IMPRESSIONS: SMEARED SKIES

SMEARED SKIES - MATT MOLLOY

Ever wish you could fingerpaint in the sky? You might smear the soft pastel colors of sunsets and clouds around… you might lay back on a bed soft green grass, wave your hand across the universe above and play artist...

You might think that’s how these incredible images in this photo series, entitled Smeared Sky, were created. But Canadian photographer Matt Molloy does it by taking hundreds of time lapse images of the sky, all from the same location, and stacking them.

Molloy calls his technique “timestacking.” As clouds, light, birds, planes, and stars move with the passage of time, the layered photos show them as bright streaks across the sky.

The images look more like impressionist paintings than like photographs.

Each final picture is composed from 100 to 200 images, depending on weather conditions, cloudiness, and other factors.

Molloy earned a degree in graphic design from Sara Lawrence. He is also a composer, drummer, and guitarist. No wonder his photos are so layered with art!

Want to try your hand at sky-painting photography? Watch Molloy’s Time Stack Tutorial here.

Basically, you need a good camera, an intervalometer (a device to make your camera take pictures repeatedly at a given interval), a tripod, Adobe Photoshop (or other photo-editing software), time, patience, and… oh yes, a beautiful eye.

Check out Molloy’s techniques and tips on the nuances to learn more here. Send Molloy a message if you're having trouble, and he’ll do his best to help you out.

Read more about Soft Beauty all this week on BeautifulNow, including Soft Places to Land, Soft Furry Feathered Beauties, The Beauty of Soft Dawns, Soft Grey Inspiration, A Beautiful New Kind of Cloud, and Soft Sweet Scrumptious Clouds. And check out more beautiful things happening now in BN Wellness, Impact, Nature/Science, Food, Arts/Design, and Travel, Daily Fix posts.

IMAGE CREDITS:

1. Photo: by Matt Molloy. Smeared Sky Series: “Sunset Spectrum.”
2. Photo: by Matt Molloy. Smeared Sky Series: “Burning Cotton Candy.”
3. Photo: by Matt Molloy. Smeared Sky Series: “Smeared Sky.”
4. Photo: by Matt Molloy. Smeared Sky Series: “Smoke Stack.”
5. Photo: by Matt Molloy. Smeared Sky Series: “Sky Stitches.”
6. Photo: by Matt Molloy. Smeared Sky Series: “Land of the Giant Lollipops.”
7. Photo: by Matt Molloy. Smeared Sky Series: “Sky Vertebrae.”
8. Photo: by Matt Molloy. Smeared Sky Series: “Crosshatching Clouds.”
9. Photo: by Matt Molloy. Smeared Sky Series: “Cloud Chaos.”