MAKING PICTURE IMPRESSIVE-CROP

A SILHOUETTE OF BOATS. In general people do not follow the purist's photography. No doubt, purists have their opinions on clicking images and what they shoot, do not touch part of it for anything whether for statement or enhancement. However, there are many who follow part of purism and part of their own addition/correction, until they are satisfied.

2.Nevertheless, in my opinion, u might have made a good picture but the presence of some unwanted elements ruin the beauty of the composition. In some cases, obstructive elements like these can easily be eliminated by use of 'crop' tool in photoshop. Thus u can employ changing the focus and format of ur image, besides emphazing the subject in different ways. The crop tool help to cut imperfections and make the picture perfect.

3. Would u like to view the composition of the above picture, converted to b&w, removing two elements by the crop tool. Now the emphasis is at the right side boats and the man entering from left balancing the picture with his presence in front of the inanimated objects. The middle boat joins them and the distant water adds depth to the scene...some vignetting puts ur attention in the centre and then to the rest of elements. That is why in some cases vignetting is important.

DRESSING UP DURING FESTIVALS-RAKHI

DRESS SENSES PREVAILS EVERYWHERE whether a family in India, Western countries or far East such as China, Korea, Indonesia etc. because it is a sort of decoration of the human body, in gents or in ladies. But being a witness to thousands of occasions, I witnessed that it is the ladies who overrides man in sense of colour, gorgeousness, draping, where men can but to see without closing their eyelids. Nobody leaves behind in getting the best of ornaments, new, polished, gold, silver, hybrid...but they have to decor the women bodies, whether in more tradional ways or keeping pace with modern gadgetry. They are to look wonderful. Mirror is the witness? How many times a lady came before it. Count for example 10 ladies and the mirror score??? From photography pov look for coordination in the colour of clothes and try to pose your subject in the way that the importance is given to colour hormony. Most suit them are the vibrant, bold or even pastel colours. If u wish to break the monotony, try mixing around the colours to get a more casual and elegant look... This is one of the most important of hindu festivals where the sisters' tie 'rakhi' on the right wrist of their brothers and in case ladies to ladies they tie on left hand (what an importance is given in India)-the man-on right hand, woman-on left hand. Thus the brother assures security to the sisters in their life to come. The brother give gifts to sisters for bond of love. gshroti@gmail.com

PHOTOGRAPHY:EXPRESSIONS

In pictorial or rather general photography, expressions count much, whether they are human beings or other things part of nature, besides animals.

2.Here I uploaded a photograph of two statues, one is cutting the tree and other stopping it. Though they do not have life, but convey much to protect our environment, than the thousand words.

3. A human being or animals cannot remain without expressing their inner feelings which are normally manifested through their faces. First when a child is born, we are tended to see his face what expressions he conveys as ordained by God. When he/she smiles, our hearts are full of happiness...When he cries, with mother we too become dull, what has happened. So the expressions of happiness, sorrow, anxiety, boredum, yawning, crying, laughing etc are felt throught the life. They are captured in the camera of men, women, children. As with above, the animals too rejoice, suffer and express in their silent way...birds too show feelings by their voice, their leg movements, their wings.

4. Even in nature, the plant express themselves. See them or their forms in the morning, before and after rising of sun, see sunflowers, how do they express that even a child can describe their movement. The noon sunlight affect them--the flowers, leaves, branches etc and evening it may be a different formation of expressing themselves. In India, we feel that the trees sleep as the night sets in, so we do not touch or even refuse our children not to disturb a sleeping tree.

VISUALISE IMAGES BEFORE U CLICKS.

Many photographers in enthusiasm or mesmerised by the digital camera start shooting randomly..Not a single shot will be worth the viewing, only because of so many or unnecessary elements and otherwise going idle in composing the picture either in the LCD panel or viewfinder...Result? They feel dismayed....WHY? Only some of your brain skill, which is already in you, may help a lot with some carefulness. Here I wuld like to emphasise that pl learn to see your shot without having to look through your camera's viewfinder or LCD. You shd use your hands to make a virtual viewfinder frame and see your scene through it (like a film director). This will pave way for you to understand composition, position of lighting, selecting or removing unnecessary objects from ur ultimate image. These are the basic steps. If you wish to go ahead, there are several branches of photography, which will entertain you or help you to be a professional photographer earning livelihood from your camera, as I did.
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RAINS--LET COME ALIVE

IT is interesting to photograph in rains. It is a different sort of feeling holding camera during rains, hiding yourself in some shop, bus stand or ant protective where your equipments are safe. Since the atmosphere may go darker, u wud need slower shutter speeds. Therefore, it is essential to avoid camera shakes and improper focusing.U will have to use a UV filter over the lens to protect the lens from rain drops and then getting it scratched while wiping out rain drops. A good filter is ND filter when it is raining and light is brighter to use it to get slower shutter speeds. Rain photographs need not be restricted to rainshowers only....u can shoot ripples and coronets that are formed when rain water hits the ground/roads.

2. The light during rain is so low, that u may need to increase the ISO during daytime too. This will add noise to the photograph. I think noise is a part of a photograph...u can use noise to your advantage converting images to b&w.

3. The above photo i shot from the windscreen of my car, while it was drizzling. You can view the light reflection of scooter on the road and the distorted lamp post because of slipping water on the glass, with more diffusing effects. This is an example. finding out possibilities is endless.

MOISTURE IS ENEMY OF CAMERA EQUIPMENTS-(40)

YOUR CAMERA EQUIPMENTS are not safe round the year, particularly in rainy season or when more humidity persists in the atmosphere. Therefore, the camera owners have to be more cautious about their costly gear, in handling and storage especially. If they are travelling to a wet humid place, carry a large plastic bag, which can be quickly draped over the camera bag and can protect them too from a light shower. It would be better if silica gel pouches are kept inside the camera bag. It will protect the camera from moisture. At the end of their shoot, they can sit in a dry place in home/hotel and wipe all the equipments with a dry lint free cloth. It may happen that the camera bag might have gotten wet. Take out and pl do not store the equipments in it. Let the bag dry fully, while cameras can remain in some dry place like a table. If they have a table lamp with a tungsten bulb in it, switch it on and focus the light onto the equipments. It will keep them dry and ready for the next shoot. A cupboard's column may be used by placing a tungsten light bulb and keep it on for half an hour over the equipments. When sun comes out from clouds, particularly in winter, the equipments can be placed in an open verandah for some time. the light of the sun should not be too hot, like summer or in other months. The above procedure will prolong the life of the equipments and save them from fungi and costly repairing charges.

MONSOON ENTERS--BE PREPARED.

THE RAINS JUST STARTED. I switched my ISO TO 3200...therefore a good amount of noise. Took it on manual mode at f3.5 and 1/13. The light is against the lamp-post. you can visibly see the yellow effect of an halogen lamp...the rest blue area is lighted by tubelights and was 200ft away. Therefore i got the distance in the picture. The rains were close to my gate...and it was a good downpour. The halo effect i could not get because there were tree branches near the lamp-post.

2. However one way to capture the droplets of water on a glass pane, try to include the light source like a street lamp in the background. This will show droplets more vibrant and make them stand out clearly. One easy way is to keep the light source out of focus so that the water droplets stand out clearly. Next, you can create another interesting effect by shooting the droplets as bokeh by blurring them out.

3. The lighting conditions during daytime with a good directional sunlight will capture rain effectively. The backlight plays a good role here to bring out the drops of water more clearly. Thus you can try several angles for the prominence of the rains. The sidelight will help light up raindrops partially and add a three dimentional effect to the overall picture. You can use your on camera flash to freeze the droplets during night or after it is dark...Making still life objects, freeze raindrops in closeup mode inside the room by using on/off camera flashes.....LOOK out for the perspective of your subject including with rain water. Avoid camera shakes and wrong focus, not to lose your best efforts.