Mystery in the Darkness – 5 Abstract Autumn Photos

As the days of autumn get shorter and more of my waking time is spent in dim light my photography has changed.  Perhaps not surprisingly but it s also getting darker – not just physically but also subject wise. I’m finding  my favorite images have a mysterious, dreamlike to them quality. One is not sure what one is looking at and that can lead to a feeling of cautiousness, apprehension.

Abstract 218-423

Abstract Landscape 319-519

Abstract 321-787

Stairs to Where?

Tunnel Entrance

So how have I created the dark, ominous feeling in these photos?  By keeping the edges soft the viewer is not able to focus in what is seeing and that gets the mind racing, bringing the viewers imagination into play. I frequently achieve those soft edges by using a long exposure (like 2 seconds) and I deliberately move the camera around. I will walk into the scene during the exposure and frequently also be shaking the camera as I do so. I also let the darks dominate in the image, sometimes with strategic highlights and increased contrasts and sometimes with an overall low contrast. Finally I find that black and white can really add to the mystery but as you can see I have also let a dark but saturated blue dominate in this last image, but still managed to convey that mystery that I was looking for.

What to you think makes these images work (in mysterious ways). Do you have any techniques or approaches for achieving similar moods?