STREET PHOTOGRAPHY....a preview....(post no.175)

WHAT can we presume here......yes STREET PHOTOGRAPHY.....one of the difficult tasks, though there is no dearth of pictures, but without emotions and treating it as a piece of art, there needs to be some qualities worthy of Street photography.

2. There is a classical style which is always associated with an era gone by. In 1960, earlier and a bit later the period was treated to be a golden time when a lot of photographers documented street cultures around the world. For example photographers like Henri Cartier-Bresson and William Eggleston who captured American life in the mid 20th century, hv come to be regarded as the founders of street photography today.

3. Their style was largely documentary and characterized by striking a balance between form and subject, using camera as a way to document the social conditions of that time. 

4. There are styles defining street photography e.g. going close, depends upon ur subject's importance rather than more powerful bg.  Besides striking realism, there are chances to experiment producing truth in the form of blurs, shadows, silhouettes and reflections. It moves away from other documentary styles of photography that strive to be objective.

5. It may include various aspects, which u hv to take in consideration like abstracts, graphic style, patterns, structures, shadows, tones, textures, color, b&w. Angles do play a good role to achieve a good street photograph.....It depends mostly on the subject and ur satisfaction to  have a demanding effect. Exploring distinct cultures will give opportunity to have varieties to choose and shoot....................

6 The above shot is a good example of man's earning so moving on road, the items, the guy in curiosity and the movement of vehicles and other objects.

 Exposure under sun 1/80, f5.9, and ISO100......from my Canon.........................keep up and listen more......to come.

''Fast'' food....food u take when u observe fast..post.no.174

We Indians, however modern we look, think, still, there are lots of festivals and other important days, like Ekadashi, teej and many more days when our men and women folk observe fast, eating once in a day and generally i.e. evening. Besides there r bigger festivals like Deepawali, DUSSEHRA NAVRATR., Janmashtami, Ganesh Chaturthi etc. So I think, our India is the country of fasting day, small and big festivals when the ''fasts'' are observed.............

Naturally, the days, festivals are very important and dear to India, and Indians keep the flag high in abroad observing these fasts and festivals, making Indians a different community, still at core of heart, they are Indians, may be American, Russian, Canadian, Australian etc................ So come the special food, as regular meal are prohibited, as being breaking of the sanctity of the fast......So in homes, hotels special food is prepared, from Singhada, Rajgira, Potato, other fruits which checks THE REGULAR DIET ENTRY on the day of fast........This is small history, I put forth before u in support of my dish above, where the ''Vadas'' are made of Saboodana, Potato 'Halva' and chatney.....

I generally shoot food pictures in natural light supported or coming from doors and windows.or in Verandahs where good shadowed light well illuminates ur subjects and changing the subjects' position, some light and shadow is created easily......since we are after the ultimate result, which observe the norms of good lighting of studio and other areas. ........The exposure has to be changed and a tripod is must as there are less movements and u can adjust camera for proper lighting..............................

The exposure above is using ISO 800, Aperture of f8 and shutter speed of 1/15. ......I do not stay here but keep changing exposures according to light and depth of field...............................................

Shooting against light...most enchanting part of photography.(post no.176)

Shooting against light brings out the subject from the background and make it stand on its own strength.....i.e. separation from bg is easy and powerful......You will hve to be on the knees, since the flower plants are small except few like sunflower, stand like king in flowers....THE IMP.ASPECT OF AGAINST LIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY IS THAT THE SUBJECT MAY BE UNDEREXPOSED.......SO INCREASE APERTURE OF ONE TO TWO STOPS TO GET DETAILS IN all areas of the subject, until and unless u need to tone down part of it for some special effect.

Giving or using bigger aperture will help to diffuse the background......The most important benefit u get while shooting against light is the easy transparency of details in flowers and in many objects.................................................Here I used shutter speed of 1/200, aperturef8 and ISO200.

U can go on my back posts on many subjects as I viewed the subject  and  wrote on it.

Flower Photography-Easy Steps...post no.175.

I have not seen my previous titles in this blog...As I continue posting, there are chances of repetition of photo headings......like flower here.
----I consider it the best angle for flowers if taken sideways......the flower has good contrast with its counterparts i.e. green leave, while the flower shows its pink tone......There is a good framing support to the main flower from top to below right, the it is well framed within the frame. Yes the other growing flowers may be bodyguards. 

The camera focused on flower and there were no distractions behind except some wall portion, which has become diffused because of some distance from the flower. 

The diffusion of background depends upon the aperture u are using in the camera. As is understood, the wider the aperture the more diffused is the background so vice-versa, the narrow is the aperture the more prominent will be the background. 

Distance also plays its part.....if the camera with bigger aperture is used, the background --say a distance of one feet will be more diffused in comparision of the small aperture with same distance, there may be some details in the back ground. This u have to decide, if u want a sharper bg or a diffused bg......Sometimes there may be some useful elements connecting with the subject, using small aperture will be a good idea. The smaller the aperture, the more depth of field and more the background objects gets clearer.

------------Here in this picture I used SS of 1/80, aperture f2.8 and ISO200......................jUST CHECK THESE BEFORE U START TAKING PICTURES.

ONCE, I BECAME PREY OF ABOVE HABIT OF NOT CHECKING THE CAMERA SETTINGS BEFORE ENTERING INTO THE ARENA SHOOTING FOR SELF........I started clicking, irrecspective of knowing the settings.......In half way, I found out in the viewfinder that I am a bit more engaged in objects, thus forgetting the settings....Then I awarely shot rest of the pictures and the previous picture, being at wider aperture gave more of the DOF than needed so I lost some of my best shots.....u cannot help TIME GONE CANNOT BE STRETCHED BACK......U CAN ASK any queries.

Prayer Wheel in Laddakh. (post no.174).

This is the PRAYER WHEEL situated in Laddakh......the pic is shot from a museum.
Preserving the legacy thru camera is most important a subject........this help people in their studies......below is the close up of the wheel, that will help to understand the dimention of the subject. That is nearly 4 feet in height.

Macro of stamens of a flower........

When chance applies, I like to shoot macros.......as I hv earlier mentioned....this time a great pink comes in camera.
.............................Camera Canon compact....(compacts work well with macros as their closeup distance is 1cm to 3cm).....................1/200, f2.8, ISO80...diffused sky.

Star-trails by Bartosz W.....a real hard work.(post no.173)

We value other photographers' great work....This is one of them.....Just read yourself.....

“Star trails over Observatorio del Teide” by Bartosz Wojczyński. (Via Imgur. Click image to see full size.)

Photographer Bartosz Wojczyński took the photographs at Teide Observeratory, which is located on Tenerife, one of Spain’s Canary Islands. The observatory’s prime location (close to the equator) and clear, dark night skies offer stargazers and astrophotographers full views of the northern hemisphere. Here, Wojczyński was able to position Polaris, the North Star, at the center of his star trail rings.

He used a Nikon D5100 camera with a Samyang AE 10mm lens at f/4.8 and ISO 1600 on a Baader Astro & Nature tripod.

MOST memorable BENEFITS OF PHOTOGRAPHY.(post no.172)

MOST MEMORABLE BENEFITS OF PHOTOGRAPHY......

1. Photography affords immortality.

2. Photography documents your journey thru life.

3. Photography is a wonderful stress reliever.

4. Photography inspires your imagination.

5. Photography as a career is possible for anyone.

6. Photography is a wonderful, safe and natural self-esteem booster.

7. Photography brings closure to ur spirituality.

8. Photography helps the things that you may never notice otherwise.

9. Photography preserve old and new memories.

10. Photography helps you to have Camera as your best friend in happiness & sorrow.

Macro/closeup photography......(post no.171)

The only magic of MACRO PHOTOGRAPHY lies in usual objects appearing unusual....Such stamens will be found in different shapes in different flowers....but bringing them closure has its own charm, as we never see all flowers from stamen point of view, but in general looks.

I have already mentioned somewhere in other post about the gear used....However here I will take this as shot from a reversal ring......the kit lens attached to the ring from front. This allows going near to the objects.

Though macro photography looks extremely tough, requiring better technical knowledge., it makes us wonder anew. It brings out an exceptional level of detail and makes it easily visible, thus letting the viewer feel texture. Natural elements that have rhythmical and beautiful lines often help create lyrical emotion in this genre of photography......Macro photography has more human touch as the photographer remains in close contact with the object, using various angles constantly.

Being feeling close, observe the subject and ask urself what fascinates u. Isolate the most interesting aspect and find ways to highlight it. To the thing u are attracted, will certainly attract a viewer as well.

Remember, being closure the focusing may becomes difficult  Use tripod, some sturdy supports, beanbags to steady your camera, while shooting macros......If u hv an SLR, USE YOUR CAMERA'S MIRROR LOCK UP FUNCTION AND a shutter release cable  or self timer to prevent shake/blurs resulted by camera movement.

It is always better to use manual focus as it offers precision over which area of ur subject is in focus. Besides, manual focus system works quicker than auto focus system.............

Kathal's surface makes good patterned image. (one inch area of a Kathal fruit). Can be used as a pattern on a fabric.

Tribal portraits....b&w and color.(post no.170)

The tribals in a dance programme.......both are cropped images.....means from one photograph, u can make 2-3 photographs, selecting ares which contains the best part of scene or images.

Many photographers are interested in b&w images of the color photographs......b&w will look good when there are almost less elements emphasizing on one whole area of a photograph.....may be a portrait of an old persons with wrinkled face...........................BUT IN CONTRAST here the lady above has her face blouse, dupatta and bindi, nosering......in color and that all suit in color....Right side background provides good depth.....Now u can view B&W in single tone turning so many beautiful color things in monotone........To me that also looks good.....to some extent.

The first image impressed me, as Indian women fill their forehead line with 'sindoor', being a married woman.Beauty of dress u can imagine.

        SHOT ON D3000, 55-200 Nikkor----1/200, f5,6, ISO800.......................just shoot something like this.

USING FILL FLASH WHILE SHOOTING ANY PICTURE.(post no.168).

Using FILL-IN OR FILL-FLASH........IN A PHOTOGRAPH, which is otherwise commonly underexposed  if  it is  exposed against light.....may be morning time or evening or the noon time under shadow, as in case of above photograph of the labour......He is moving under the shadow of tree and next his color is dark.....Thus ur camera reading in Aperture Priority will read correctly but the skin tone as u see in the photograph is not upto correct exposure.

There are other techniques.....Use Manual take the reading from his face keeping shutter speed of suppose 1/250.....turn the aperture setting and where it is in between + or - sign, u can click the shutter.....The result will be almost same as my camera on A.P. read the face and exposed correctly at f6.3, which may perhaps be your aperture at Manual setting. ....In both ways there is an alternative......exposure compensation, towards + or - (minus)......On Manual setting come to exposure compensation mark and increase the aperture by one stop i.e. 5.6 and the picture will be more brightly lit. That is ur correct exposure. Still if u do not wish to alter the aperture, bring down the shutter speed at 1/125. You are getting the same result.....the best time is evening when u hv soft light and subject is against the sun.

As in case of Aperture priority I choose exposure compensation towards plus side, the picture will be rightly exposed if I set the aperture at f6.3.....In this case the aperture is stable and the compensation affected the shutter speed to give me a correct exposure, which may have come down to 1/100.   .............................. In these cases still we feel that because of shadow of tree the details of man's face are not that much clear or visible, since his skin is dark

Now we come to our point of using a fill-in flash.........the example is given below. The camera flash did it work good.......There is no artificiality on his face as may be having some sunlight on his body, yea u can view his abs..........The moral is have a sharp eye, understand the exposure, and cleverly use the fill-in flash, bring out the finer details of the skin of person, animal, birds or anything u are exposing.....remember this small thing rather than being tensioned.

I think this will help u a lot.......THE EXIF DATA IN CASE OF ABOVE PHOTO WAS SS 1/200, AT F6.3 AND ISO at 400.........................I keep my camera setting at ISO 400 in expectation of the situation I may encounter.....but at leisure I experiment on ISO100,200,800,1600,3200. Latest cameras are even providing ISO6400.....yes due to some loss of quality.

Portraiture again......(post no.165)

The picture is taken at a carnival....the winter sun is always wonderful, throwing good shadows on ur subject.....However, while shooting portraits, the person in the picture may be ur close friend, but a viewer of the photograph may not know this. THE TRICK is to capture mood and emotions that make a universal appeal. What is in the photograph makes it universal, is the glow of the face with a soft smile and the viewer is compelled to give his attention to the picture...........

-----FURTHER to give face a longer look, I used the long shadow on his face, which is more evident below his nose. Besides, from his sitting straight, I moved myself slightly and asked him to look into the camera, thus he turned his face to his right, putting more balance on his face in comparison to his dress, which is evident from his tie, that is not in line of the face as normally we look towards a face. Besides, to show a carnival look, there are people moving behind, somebody is sitting in the chair visible at right......In normal course, we will say, these things distract from the face. But many a time u cannot go stereotyped and taking risk of making the picture successful thru his/her plain background.

--We generally encounter two types of portraits.....Portraits taken in studio or generally with plain background....The next will include the local surroundings, consisting of many thing as u face at that time. It helps to know ur subject really well, thus the actual personality is taken out in a portrait.

---Such types of portraits are best taken in winter, when the sun is low even during noon time...The picture above is taken at 3pm and the sun is well casting shadow at nearly 45degree. The best angle mostly used in studios. Here I cud add a small thing a reflector of white newspaper, hanky etc.....but as I have to say...these things can be balanced in studios.....but are rather difficult where public movement is there and nobody knows, somebody may jump on u, while  u are shooting.

----It is generally ISO400 I use....Thus the shutter speed used was 1/200 and aperture f16. Light's intensity was low as it was December in winter.

----Sorry, I write straight and do not have time to edit, pl do not mind language, as it may go sometimes not of editorial language.

Good study in PORTRAITURE......(POST NO.166)

Portriture is the craze of the day.....with entry of mob-cams, every second, photos are taken may be in India and the world over.....The trend starts from birth to the end when the person is departed and going to his new abode.......Well said.....Still they are unable to give a fight to the professionals......There is lot of difference in raw/amateur photography than the professional one. There are every minute an occasion and the PROFESSIONAL are hired to photograph any occasion, worth preserving for long, with all its beauty depicted in their photographs.

However, in portraiture photography, every moment is as precious as gold....this it is to be taken seriously and the moments are preserved for ever.............As I said it starts from the birth till departure, every care is to be taken for preservation of the photographs......NOWADAYS, despite introduction of cameras in many forms, the INDUSTRY thrives limitlessly and the professionals have their own  share in the marketting. So, if u are one of the upcoming candidates in the market, there is no need to nervousness, as newcomers will feel.Only it will take some time to establish, if u deliver top class work, maintaining time and quality with reasonable rates in the beginning..........AS WE INDIANS have lots of festivals round the year, there will be no dearth of work.

Further talk next time, now let's see the portrait of great singer Anup Jalota, taken long time back by using two flashgun in the Green Room, during interval. I asked his permission and he was too happy to permit me for his portraits. I did take one portrait and he had a call from stage....He begged sorry....but I got my photograph. On film camera, perhaps Pentax, I mounted one small flash and with a 10ft long cord, attached another powerful Vivitar flash hand hold at the left side with some aide, then maintaining f8 aperture, clicked the shot.....The exposure was spot on having good details in shadow areas of half his face and half lighted well with good tonal range......The cameras were synchronized at 1/60 or 1/125 when using flashguns.

I sent this photograph to him and he acknowledged and made sure to meet me at his next visit to our town. Notwithstanding the fact, I also took his permission for morning shoot and he obliged me,...........that is another story......haha..........Carry on with ur camera working on portraiture with different lights, inside, outside, flash using various angles, to get novelty everytime..................