SUBJECTS TO photograph.....100 (here)..(post no.129).

SUBJECTS TO PHOTOGRAPH, MAY BE AMONGST THESE OR MORE FROM UR IMAGINATION........................................................................................................................................  THIS is a general problem for newcomers and sometimes with amateur photographers to find out the subject to photograph and the mind remained confused, what to photograph. here i am giving some subjects from which the photographers can select according to their location/circumstances/nearness of the subject...........otherwise serious photographers in India and abroad go for shooting spree, once in a year or as per time available to them and send to magazines/calendars/editorials etc. and earn a bit good amount. here are they:
1. arts...2. books....3.culture...4. entertainment(fairs etc)...5. family....6. food....7. friends....8. people....9. life around...10. love...11. music...12.news.....13. personal(belongings etc)....14. cars....15. random....
16. religion....17. sports....18. thoughts(creativity)...19. travel....20. health...
21. technology....22. writing(to get ideas)....23. cities....24. young/old women
25. children...26. business....27. backgrounds....28. youth/old men....29.....
girls....30. sea...31. sky....32. water....33. clouds....34. sand....35. beaches.....
36. houses/buildings....37. monuments.....38. weddings....39. rituals.....40.
festivals....41. portraits(infant to old)....42. animals...43. pets....44.lakes....
45. bridges...46. birds....47. flowers....48. designs....49. abstract....50. party....
51. computers....52. hands/feet....53. icons....54. offices....55. money.....56.
trees...57. nature....58. wildlife....59. coastline....60. railways....61. hospitals....62. schools....63. playgrounds...64. local matches....65. holi,diwali,id,x-mas,guru nanak jayanti(under festivals)....66. gardens.....
67. landscapes....68. bikes...69. mountains....70. environment....71. seasonal theme(summer,rains,winter)....72. night scenes....73. fairgrounds/lightings...74. sunrise...75. sunsets....76. storms....77. lightening
78. different regions....79. interiors...80. architecture.....81. farms.....82.
macros...83. couples.....84.home...85. beauty/beauty pageants....86.rivers....
87.highways....88. flyovers....89. beggers...90. tribals....91. pan/thela shops...
92. village life...93...crops....94. fire....95. kitchenware....96. temples......
97. vegetables.....98. local markets...99. vehicles(diff.types)....100. traffic...
etc. etc.(think urself).......

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Use of Soft Focus Filters....(post no.128).

My one friend got an old 135mm Canon lens with inbuilt Soft Focus filter. This is an effective portrait lens and a telephoto also in varied conditions, particularly outdoors. Regarding use of SF filter: This was the trend during film days to render flattering effect to the clients in portraits, particularly children and young ladies.

As a general definition, in SF, the light is spread out in the image, which is more evident in whites, covering the whole image,though.

Yes a slight OOF image was able to show the effect of soft focus. Though, the photographers in general never used it. They depended on soft focus filters, a white stretch of net cloth, star effect filters: on faces, flowers, scenes that had most of different kinds or single color flowers, still life, decorated lights in functions. As there was no post processing, as is, for example ''gaussian blur''tool in Adobe photoshop can be used to achieve SF effect. These effects cud range from subtle to the extremes of 'Fog' or 'misty' type of effects.

The trend is low now as I did not see a single soft-focused image of any kind in the many forums, since the photographers are not using on lens SF filters in studios or weddings(bridal & other portraits) so the public also remains unaware of the subtlity/beauty of the image, for which we got accolades in studio and marriage portraits. Second, if used, the clients do not understand and feel the image is not taken sharp. Therefore, on their part photographers too do not hv it as an imp accessory in their camera bags, as we had. Even in abroad sites in fashion, modelling, glamour the sharp images are preferred becoz of non-use of SF filters. SO TO DIVERT THE TREND IS NOT POSSIBLE. Only few interested photopersons use Soft Focus filter for special effect or just to give a different look to their image.

Since in digital sims, thousands of photographs can be exposed as opposed to 36 exposure films, u can use, reject the SF lens effects, unless the subject in ur choice most demands it or what sort of work u are doing in photography.
We cud find where to use SF Filters, as we did portraiture, bridal photography, photography for competitions. All in all, SF filter or lens has its own use but not in Industrial photography, wild life, photo-journalism, travel, monuments etc.

Simple thing is - if photoperson uses SF filters for special effects.......PEOPLE OR CLIENTS ARE NOT USED TO feel/understand....!!!!!!!!!!!!

The thing has gone down history, as it seems to me.

A studio portrait of a child with Nikon soft focus filter.....The effect is wonderful in my view as I had a trend of shooting them in studio with SF filter, importantly the closeups, upto waist or knee level where faces had prominence.....The effect is seen enhanced in these shots, with 3D lighting... In full portraits I didn't use SF.

Bird pic-Nature Photography (post no.127).

Bird photography comes under Nature photography......There are bird sanctuaries, where the migratory and local birds can be found....But they are limited to big cities and that too not all. However, there are photography clubs made for Bird Watching and shooting (of course,with cameras). Most difficult is finding out the undistracted perch of the bird. That may be a secluded branch or with less branches where u can approach the bird with its prominency. Besides every time, the birds are not within the reach of ur telephoto lenses....but u hv urge of compulsion to take their pictures, may be smaller.

Here comes the post processing softwares handy and the bird can be cropped to rectangle or vertical format, as it suits the placement of the bird more beautifully, not because u want to place it somewhere else u want. This comes under composition rules which depicts the pic aesthetically superb.

Many people do not like their sitting on electric wires, poles as they do not represent the natural view of the trees, jungle. But, in cities it is compelling, not to miss the shot, whether the perch may be artificial, as in the above picture.

METERING: I GENERALLY USE SPOT METERING with birds and other wildlife animals, whose head is always in movement. So doing our best to focus on eyes, as they sit with their tails towards u. Here u hv to struggle for correct focusing on their eye(s), beak to get the mouth sharp (not to disgrace the bird or ur picture with focus on tail or wings, the mouth less recognizable being fuzzy).

In the picture above,same thing happened....While keeping vigil on eye or beak, as I clicked, the focus with even middle aperture of f8, maintaining higher shutter speed avoiding shake with weighty lens and camera, the focus on eye missed by few centimeters, as also the bird was moving its wings, which came nicely blurred. I took this picture as an example, with the bird's companion just left the perch and filled the space, which otherwise, wud hv been a negative space and I had to crop the image further to keep the bird at ''RULE OF THIRDS'' The flying bird made my picture stronger, though oof, becoz of off focus from the camera lens.. The wire also is slight diagonal putting the picture in two dimensions of different width and length. Here the eyes comfortable move from short area to broader one and vice-versa.

I sometimes apply vignette in pictures, but avoid in sky picture where space does not need confinement.
(You can kindly view old posts for references,as also the subjects may be repeated with change of time.)

Sunil Paul---At a programme in my town(post no.126).

It is a pleasure to photograph a celebrity like Sunil Paul, who recently visited our town in a programme. I had my compact in my pocket, went out to the stage and angled the camera towards him....He immediately snapped...'oh uncle aap photo kheench rahe hain'...I retorted...'I am a big fan of u and watch u on TV'....He felt rather obliged and said ''thank u, thank u'' and carried on his programme.

IN SUCH PROGRAMMES, THE LIGHTS ARE FIXED VERY  judiciously to highlight the artist and his surroundings....Here the spotlight at his left was nicely making a kick light and detatching him out of the background....Showing the guy behind was also important to let people know that there was a team accompanying Sunil Paul...

I hv taken several photographs of celebs, who were available to me. I mean without camera, I had not gone in any celebs programme, better stay at home. My first priority was to photograph the artist then give attention to his performance. 'He does his work and I mine' was my motto. Even I paid for tickets, but camera shd hang on my shoulder.

As the light at Sunil Paul's right face was low, as it looks here in correct exposure, I had to increase the ISO to 200, as I shoot on compact at its minimum. Raising camera above was also a problem of shake but I managed with the shutter speed at 1/30 and aperture f3.5 as I zoomed slightly. I took 3-4 shots as he changed his mood always differently. This was a good one, when he stopped awhile..............This can come under category ''portraiture'', as u hv some chance of cropping or if hv a stable support, zoom more and take individual shot.