Black & white......(post no.198)pl do not misuderstand?

.The two little ones….both are happy…..I can feel color bar or others too go same way…..but it is my mistake…..God made them or us equal as human beings….We are living legends….not necessary that u are famous…U do ur duty as assigned by HIM…..He made here the difference—men, women with different characters to play their part and depart, as Shakespeare has said. The world is a theatre…we play our parts and merge into the almighty….There is no difference in good men or women…..All rest in his lap.

We have a beautiful song in a hindi movie: ”kahe ko duniya banai”…..The man is deeply hurt and ask Him ”Dunia banane wale kahe ko dunia banai”…..the meaning is clear, that we get so many sufferings in various forms, our heart bleeds and we ask ”Oh God, why u have created this world, when u gave us so many ways of sufferings. This is the meaning of song. But u cannot deny not to live….otherwise if intolerable ”leave” this mortal world,(I am not in favour of suicide)—-u may retreat  for some peaceful achievement. where destiny of everybody is written in bold letters and that is intrigueing that we do not know our fate……IS IT NOT MYSTERY?…..hahaha….In last post I opined  just to have a laugh and u r relieved of the burden of life.

In the last, I love both children above equally. However this inequality of color is deeply hurting many sensitive or emotional persons which is deeply rooted in their hearts since ages……I am sorry, the ‘war’ will go on…..Lord forbid.
In the last, I love both children above equally. However this inequality of color is deeply hurting many sensitive or emotional persons which is deeply rooted in their hearts since ages……I am sorry, the ‘war’ will go on…..Lord forbid.

As a photographer, it is ur duty to honestly depict the social environrment.
The contrast is very much apparent in the photograph and that is the real life in front of camera...as camera always speaks truth.

20 Photography rules.to MAKE PHOTOGRAPHY EASY.(post no.197)

1. Digital Camera Modes Explained – I spoke with a family friend recently who had just bought a new point and shoot camera. She came up to me with her camera when no one was watching and embarrassedly asked me if I could tell her what all the little icons on the dial on top of her camera meant. This article explains what each of these most common digital camera modes means and does. Knowing them can take your shots to the next level.

2..Aperture and shutter priority modes..... this introduction talks you through these two very useful settings that can be found on many digital cameras. Aperture and Shutter Priority modes take you out of Automatic mode giving you more control over your images – but don’t thrust you fully into manual mode – they are great settings to explore and master.
 3......Introduction to white balance.......one of the most common problems that I see in beginner photographer images are shots with incorrect color. We’ve all seen them – portraits where your subjects teeth and eyeballs (and everything else) has a yellowish tinge. Learn what causes this and how to combat it with this tutorial on White Balance.

4..Understanding Histograms...........histograms are scary’ – this is what one reader said to me recently when they discovered that they could view these little graphs or charts on their camera. While they might seem a little technical it is amazing how simple a histogram is to interpret. Know what you’re looking for and with just a glance you’ll know if your image is under or over exposed. It’s a useful tool to master.

5. Automatic exposure bracketing:..........this feature is another of those often unexplored settings that many cameras have built into them that will allow you to get well exposed shots in even the trickiest of lighting situations.
6....How to hold a digital camera..........this beginner tutorial covers a topic that most camera owners skip over without realizing that it is a foundational lesson in photography. Get this wrong and it can impact the quality of your shots.
7........shutter release technique.........another ‘basic’ or ‘beginner’ type tip that many do intuitively – but which can drastically improve your photography if you don’t do it.

8. How to use focus lock........ yet another beginner technique that many of us take for granted yet which is at the core of how all digital cameras focus automatically. Get this wrong and you’ll take a lot of shots of out of focus subjects and in focus backgrounds!

9. hOW TO TAKE SHARP DIGITAL IMAGES........‘my shots are fuzzy’ – it’s a common problem that we’re asked about at DPS so we wrote this tutorial to refer people to to help them get the sharpest images that their camera can take.

10. SHOOTING WITH INCAMERA FLASH.........flash photography with an in built flash can lead to some terribly blown out images – here are a few tips on how to avoid them. On a similar topic .
11, HOW TO GET SHALLOW DOF .......a great technique to learn if you’re into many types of photography (portraits, macro etc) is how to control the depth of field in your shots and make your main subject ‘pop’ out by making your background nicely blurred – this tutorial talks you through how to do it.
12. UNDERSTANDING EXPOSURE........ this post talks new camera owners through the three main elements of Exposure. Once you’ve read it also check out our introductions toISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed.
13. How to avoid a dirty digital sensor.......one of the fastest ways to ruin every single shot you take with your new DSLR is to end up with a dirty image sensor. This tutorial gives some basic tips on how to ensure it stays as clean as possible.


14. how to clean a dslr lens........as much as you try to protect them – lenses tend to get a little grimy over time. This tutorial shares some basic tips on how to clean them up so that your shots will be as clear as possible.

15. Rule of Thirds........whether you know it to follow it or break it – it’s something you should at least know about.

16. Point of interest...............an image without some visual point of interest in it is unlikely to hold the eye of anyone viewing it.

17. GETTING HORIZON HORIZONTAL...... the perfect way to ruin that lovely sunset or landscape shot is to make it lean to one side. Get your Horizon Horizontal!

18. fILL UR FRAME.......... this is not applicable to every shot you take but many photographers could drastically improve their photography by getting in close to their subject and filling their frame.
19. GETTING BACKGROUND RIGHT............T.he background of your shot can make or break your image. This tutorial talks you through a number of things to look out for and techniques to use to get them just right


20....ADDING RANDOMNESS TO UR SUBJECT......learn how to set your images apart from everyone else’s by injecting creativity, variety and a little randomness into your shots
(ctsy...Darren Rowse).

Still Life....a bit gorgeous....(post no.196)

Who does not like colors.......I have seen good photographs on still life.....and tried some. THIS TIME when we were in a hotel for dinner, these four things caught mt attention. a BIT OF EFFORT SETTING THEM BROUGHT ME THIS WONDERFUL RESULT....The lettuce is a focal of attention.

There are no hard and fast rules, but while composition of a photograph we have few things in mind...first the beauty,....I mean it will not distract ur attention and compel u to move from the frame.

Behind these, we think of arrangement, colors (in b&w) it is straight, not moving much of ur attention being in monotone. ...Color a bit difficult while thinking centre of attention, long exposure, short exposure, If a live subject, expression......However still life photographs are made of inanimated object, as above....perspective means from front to back it is well adjusted, as a railway track....it is good example of perspective study and comparing other subject photographs, keeping that perspective.....though there is a good definition of perspective....Take from eyes to ears and back if hairs are long. throw light from either side with a distance...u will see the shadow go smaller at the other end....that is perspective control.......to continue

1)Shy to look at u...2).a lake scene

Little lady blushes....so innocence....shot in my camphone.

An evening at lake....the curved boundary helps to sustain the guy.....it makes good triangle with the horizon...the boats are supporting elements.....Still the eyes spot the boy.

Photography discussion on one of my portraits of a damsel,in a forum(post no....

When color photography was in its infantile stage in India, 1985 onwards, there were small machines to print and almost raw way of developing films...20 films hanged in a long tank (film size 63'') by pegs moved to solutions till went to dry.

That was a golden period for me, as there were no softwares (Adobe came in 1998,as per my understanding) Then for a 5x7 studios in metros, as they cud afford, charged Rs 125/ for a 5x7....We were satisfied with 35 or 40/.  

Then color films or prints cud not be retouched, so my skill of makeup worked for me for hundreds  of  girls as the maximum photographs were for marriage proposals......and most faces of girls needed makeup on pimples, dark circles below eyes, nose, lips and more negative points which needed correction. There is lot to write for dresses, hairs etc, as the God put all natures' beauty in women.

The pic is one of them, duly makeuped. Her face is broad so needed short lighting thus I took several for my satisfaction. Here I kept it plain and flat, using three lighting as can be seen in the eyes, one at 45 degree and another near to camera and one top flash to light hairs,using Nikon soft focus filter....In total I had 5 lights, besides diffused daylight. There is no dearth of light anywhere, outdoors too...which sometimes I used with off-camera flash triggered by a slave or radio unit or otherwise a 10ft chord attached to camera socket....For stages I made a 20ft chord., so on so forth, as we dived into photography on all subjects (strangely enough without any modern gadget yet to be invented,as today), except underwater and ariel, as my town not a big one and these subjects were left for western highlife photographers.........ur valuable opinion will be welcome.

................................photograph.............

------Rajkumar...............Lovely. Golden days of analog. Remember my Darkroom days

------Sagar....................Respect! 

------hvyas....................Lovely. Golden days of analog. Remember my Darkroom days .....+1
------yndesai................The pic is really cool. The girl would be very satisfied by the result.

I never processed the film myself but It was "Wait" for the film 
to get developed and then see the result was added excitement.

Also you never had a second chance with the subject once film is developed as
it was too late..
ISO.......................Dreamy look nice
------gopalji (me).....thnx Rajkumarji, ......we were our own masters.....that  satisfaction still goes on, since we hv become slave to the gadgetry and other techniques,invented daily.

------thnx Sagar, I value ur word.

------Thnx Vyasji.......I know what u were feeling, since we passed nearly 10 years together on forums.

------thnx. yndesai.....Girl came to her sister in summer vacations from 150kms town she resided, and got thrilled by my work of her. ....For fear of color labs not to our satisfaction, even we developed color films. The figure will go in thousands in both mediums.
''at home'' for 6 years for color film dev.in Kodak C41, kit and B&W film developed in solutions made at home with 2 to 5 ingredients....that charge was with my daughter.

thnx.Mukund, ur three words are equal to 30 for me.
-----toofan...............Awesome Portrait with solid composition. Just its lacking the contrast a bit.
----dashillol.........Soft and dreamy look of the model. Your make-up skill and of course photography skill were on display to the fullest extent. Very nice.

-----(me)...........thnx Das for ur kind and appreciative remark......I owe gratitude.

------binoybhushan......------t's good to see one from the good old days. I remember shooting film with my father's Konica Hexar and then waiting for the film to get developed and print. Somehow I feel the whole waiting process made the images all the more endearing. 

Coming to the image, loved the soft lighting and the classic 80s pose( though the flashing ring is a bit distracting but not a biggie).

------(me).............Dear Binoy......it was a whole time work of 24 hours for we 4 persons, as I had a service in a company, not photography. The interest developed since my school days, with painting.

I took photography as trial and error, printing 6x6 neg. on a box of tea, fixing one red and one white bulb. Solutions in Kodak bottles from photo shops then bought enlarger,trays etc, later getting full fledged studio working off hours on week days and Sunday full day, covering weddings, cultural functions of schools, colleges, clubs, big factories, also Indian Oil etc for years and till today using all types cameras till day.......The story will go long.

thnx for taking interest and appreciating those good old days, the basis of today's technology. Reg. Ring her hand, that makes the pic more beautiful....Imagine  empty fingers how cud they look, besides it stops the eye and take back to her amazingly beautiful face..

------Henry......I absolutely love it.  

Wonderful use of soft effects in representing that young lady. Very pleasant expression, pose, and composition too.

------Hyperdrive......Very nice picture  Which year was this taken?

Sir ji, I shot with colour negative & slide films (Kodak or Agfa primarily) as a school boy back in 1979-80. Major camera labs in Mumbai, or Bombay as it was called back then, had machines to process & print the rolls. And even by the standards of those days it was really expensive to develop. Those lab machines were new and colour film was not so widely available. So yes, it was a bit of a niche market because most amateurs shot B&W to save on costs. By 1985-86 lab machine film processing was far more wide spread and was available in smaller cities like Pune (yeah, it was a relatively small city then) not just the metros.

------(me)..............I love ur appreciation, Henry.......Soft focus, yes used widely in 80s and onwards......
Why: There were good b&w studios, delivering glamorous work with 6x6 negatives, retouched with pencil and red color to control shadows. Then when the print came out of lab, again  very fine edged blade was use to scratch the remaing spots.......Two-three  studios were thronged with people coming from locals and other states,getting those results...Keralites first moved to our places and became good clients of those studios. Except for us the customer did not understand the technique, who originally with pitched cheeks went with full face glamoured looks in photos . and hanged proudly on walls.

This is how b&w were soft focused with TLR cameras, people not aware of original soft focus lenses with those TLRs,  ...The theme became more popular when 70s and 80s alongwith TLRs, 35mm came into being., using various lenses and filters, including Sft focus....In India Sonia filters and suppl. lenses were worth appreciating....though we were finding place for foreign filters.

----(me)....reply........Dear friend......I was doing work almost commercially with a service of 9 hours at hand.....rest 15 hours to photography and cameras......Kodachrome was not developed in India and was sent to Australia.
I used Ektachrome ( tolerating sometimes a blue cast on some transparencies)....The film was sent to Central Camera Co, Fort, Mumbai....taking a month to deliver.

85 onwards we had got regular color film suplies, from Kodacolor, Agfacolor and a bit cheaper Konica color was in our bags in dozens. Actually Konica pro machine was established in our town in 90s.....(may be earlier in Bombat) with good enterpreneurs.....we were close to Delhi, so our purchasing system based on materials introduced/imported in Delhi........So our work was carried on with b&w and colors too. There was no machines even in 90s with newspapers to print from color prints. So side-by-side our work was daily printed in b&w for newspapers, as we worked journalists too for our commercial clients....getting published in  newspapers. Even Delhi sent b&w prints for newspapers as the technique was more later develpoed to print from color prints.

the girl's photo was taken in early nineties in color.

Somewhere above I hv written that being, journalists, semi-pros, we did our own developing in color and b&w that too thousands of films...since it was a 24 hr bread and butter......we had every subject  dealt with or processing knowledge of every thing.....even in 1983, We took pix of late PM Indira Gandhi, when she came for a day to inaugurate cong.session........Thus we handled all sorts of cameras in TLR-RolliefleX Rolleicord Yashi635mMamiyaC33,Yashica 124G with meter. and in 35mm-Nikons, Pentaxes, Olumpus OM1, OM2, CANON, MILOLTA SRT101, MAMIYA, Minox, Olumpus35, Minolta compacts. I AN NOT TIRED YET, SIRJI...THNK U VERY MUCH.....Who can forget their golden days.

------(me)........Being interested in painting in school days, I participated in exhibitions of photography winning few plaques and certificate and  over these International award  from Asia and the Pacific contest from Japan, a sum of Rs- 1500/ for my photograph under their caption ''People and their dwelling.'' in 1988.

-----drsjkatre......beautiful dreamy image, really creative...

-------thnks Dr Katre for liking the picture.