A PHOTOGRAPH CAN CONVEY A STORY

A photograph can convey emotion, mood, ideas and messages, all important aspects of story telling...Stories come in all shapes and sizes and u can settle upon the form that suits ur style best....U can make singular, standalone pictures that capture the essence of an event or an experience.

2.Single image stories are powerful not only because of all the elements excluded by them...Unseen elements of a photograph can evoke a lot of thoughts as well. Avoid trying to put every single element of a story in every picture that u make....Instead try shooting a series, each photograph having a few elements encompassed within it.

RAINY SEASON SHOOT

THIS IS A DIFFERENT ENJOYMENT from ur round the year shooting schedule. U are afraid of lenses, cameras being wet, lenses catch fungus...and lots of worries.

2. Leave them aside and find out waterfalls, flowing rivers, lakes, foliage, grass are great subject to shoot in rain...Vegetation comes alive with the rains and new leaves and shoots will have beautiful green colour.

3. The even diffused lighting from the cloudy sky only helps to enhance this. Rain also has the ability to wash dirt and dust away so u can capture the original colours of the subject, be it a tree or a building.

4. Use a polarising filter to remove any glare coming off rocks or leaves, unless u intentionally want to retain the reflections....Avoid including the sky, since an overcast sky will appear white or almost white in ur final picture without lending any depth (can do some pp work on it later on, if shot).

5. Lots of insects growup in the rains which make a good subject for macro.

WATER PHOTOGRAPHY

Water is perhaps one of the most commonly photographed subjects -from waterfalls to ripples, waves, reflections, rivers, lakes, sea and so much more.

2. U can be extremely creative to exposures to bring out different images--use short exposures to freeze water in motion- unexpected shapes and droplets will reveal themselves...

3. In daylight add a Neutral Density filter to increase exposure times and give moving water a glossy marble effect....At dusk or night, u can achieve similar effects without the filter....

4. Try different shutter speeds to control the amount of effect u will achieve....U CAN CHOOSE COMPOSITIONS AND VANTAGE POINTS THAT WILL MAKE IT look like a water is coming right out of the image....Don't ignore rivers and falls in winter, when freezing temperatures turn swirling flows into excellent frozen shapes......The techniques are not difficult, but need some practise before venturing into thr job...

COMPOSING A PHOTOGRAPH PICTORIALLY

Every photographer's desire is to become a popular and esteemed cameraperson in the society....But there are some exercises which u have to observe to keep fit ur photograph to that extent....pl go thru below:

1. one main center of interest shd be there and it shd be placed in a suitable and strong position.(see below).

2. the rest of the things in the photograph shd be in harmony with the main subject and not confusing.

3. there shd not be too many things to compete with each other and distract the attention from the main subject.

4. background and foreground shd be simple and not disturbing.

5. leading lines shd carry the eye to the main subject.

6. tonal gradation shd be well balanced and in proper order.

7. never place the main subject right in the centre. Best wud be to use rule of thirds i.e. divide the picture area, vertically and horizontally into three parts. This way u get four points of intersection., and any of these points are good for the placement of ur main subject.

8. in landscape outdoors,always keep the horizon line either below or above the centre of the picture and never in the middle.

9. if the picture has action, i.e. moving figures in it, than allow more space in front, towards the direction of the movement.

10. similarly in portraiture, leave more space towards the side in which the model is looking.

11. always see that the horizon line is parellel to the base of the picture. Never tilt it to any one side.

12. however, there are times for the subject to be strong in position, that u wish to avoid some of the rules listed above, u are free to do it in the interest of the picture..........gshroti@gmail.com

TECHNICALLY EVALUATE UR IMAGES

Generally the photographers, particularly the enthusiasts become critical over their images, especially in following the pictorial photography rules. We do not deny, that the rules cannot be broken...But first go through the below:

Good images have certain basic requirements, beginning with a good exposure. The focus, control over depth and main subject sharpness are also important properties of a good image. Images that conform to these wud interest a viewer.
Conforming to compositional rules and guides are also quite important and come next...SOMETIMES, u will deliberately BREAK THE RULES. EITHER TO SUIT THE SUBJECT OR TO EXPLORE UR CREATIVITY. Your reasons for doing so shd be strong and valid for the image to stand out.

Also ask, are there details in the image? Is the tonal range, colour rendition, and saturation of colours, true to the original scene? Is the technique that has been used to shoot apt for the subject?......THE CRITICAL QUESTION is: have u managed to capture the image that u previsualised? If not, what exactly went wrong with ur capturing methods?

You answer these questions in ur mind and try to emulate the above to make a picture perfect. Not necessarily u may be an artist, but aesthetically u are mature enough to have a correct judgement.

PHOTOGRAPHY - COPYRIGHT

Many of the photographers are unaware of the copyright of their images and those who are aware may not be serious about their hard efforts in clicking the images which come under their copyright....please note that the owner of the copyright has the unquestioned right to do several acts with regard to his/her created works....This right is the exclusive one ensured in section 14 of the 1957 Act.

Nature of the aforesaid exclusive right or rights varies according to the type of work or works. Grouping of the said works run as under:
Copyright dwells in literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works. It is also found in a cinematograph film and in the case of a record, CD, DVD etc.

A photograph - good,bad, or otherwise - falls into the group in an artistic work. The exclusive rights afforded to the owner under the 1957 Act go as follows:

1. to reproduce the work in any material form;
2. to publish the work;
3. to include the work in any cinematograph film (not to mix cinematograph film and photograph - both are different -and here we concentrate on photographs taken by still cameras and handicams.)
4. to make any adaption of work;
5. to do in relation to an adaptation of the work.-any of the acts specified in relation to the work in sl.no. 1 to 3 above.....besides this copyright is a statutory right. It is an intellectual property right. And offence against it can be set right under the Act and its provisions.

It is obvious that such a right vests in someone and that someone is classified as the owner of such right. AS far as photography is concerned Section 02(d)(iv) states that in relation to a photograph, the person taking the photograph, ''remains its author''.

If a photograph taken in a studio of a client of the photographer, though the client has paid the charges, he cannot claim to handover the film or CD to him by the photographer, unless he had a contract in writing with the photographer about his/her photographs...The copyright vests into the photographer.

EXPOSING DANCE PHOTOS IN AUDITORIUM

Dance itself is a great subject, on which lots have been written....But here I wish to convey my co-photographers some code of conduct and regarding exposure in this sort of photography, where the dancer is giving his/her performance and the auditorium is full of the admirers of this art form.

Some expert said that why the photographers shouldn't have the code of conduct of their own?..there is nothing more annoying that the photographer attending a function or performance disturbing everyone by cutting across their view and firing his flash in their faces.

For an example during a dance recital, the noted Bharat Natyam dancer Bala Saraswati was so annoyed with a photographer's flash that she stopped dancing and refused to proceed till the photographer was thrown out of the auditorium.....Here the clear answer wud be to do away with the flash completely and increasing the ISO of ur camera to 400 to 800.Thus u can standardise ur technique for getting consistently good results. And with the onset of the DCAMs it has become more easy than in the days of film, finding out the higher ISO film of ISO1000...so photographers of that time used ISO 400 film by changing after every 36 exposure...But in dcam just u turn the dial,or press a button and any ISO is ready upto 3200 to 6400. so getting 400 or 800 is easy and set the shutter for ISO 400 as 1/60 AT F5.6 AND WITH THE BRILLIANT LIGHT OF THE STAGE, u can capture the perfect performances....however still in doubt, there is the LCD screen to tell u to increase or reduce the ISO or shutter speed....

Make sure for ur sitting, there is a press gallery, where u can set ur tripod or some solid support if u use big zoom and are afraid that pictures may go blurry...Here the fast lenses are of great help e.g.f2.8 in zooms or if u are close enough to the dancer, the prime lens with f1.4 is again of great value....and hand held shots upto 1/125 can be taken easily....there is no binding in exposure since u already have a 2GB or higher GB memory card....the editing u can do later at ur home since u are not a prss photographer...u can do it leisurely and use them for magazines, brochures etc later on....U are lucky enough, if the background is black where u can shoot multi exposures....with different postures.....so good with dance photography......shroti08@live.com