The World of Photography -1

This series is for the new joiners in the field of photography; Experts you may want to ignore this blog or in case you want to add anything for improvisation you are more than welcome.

I am not the best in the line but have tried to put what whatever best I can for you all to learn. There would be many photographers out there who would come up and say I know much more than this guy knows but the question isn’t that how much you know, it is about how much have you shared. This is an attempt from my side to help new comers learn a few basic things about photography. This is not a tutorial but a few basic guidelines about photography so as to know what all lies in this field besides picking up an SLR and pressing the Click button. What I may state here might not be even equivalent to an iota of what lies in the technical side of photography so please don’t only resort to this and do your own research and practice. What inspired me to write this series was when I started off I realized there were many a people to criticize my pics but no one came up to help me and improvise. I did try to approach quite a few photographers but many of them didn’t even respond back, a couple of them summarized whole of photography in 5 minutes while as some quoted exorbitant fees as high as 40,000 per month so had to resort on self learning and thanks to few important people in my life who have always been there to share their learning’s with me and help me grow.

World of Photography – 1

The word photography by itself mean creations with light so I would say  that the most important thing in photography is LIGHT which most of us I have seen seem to ignore big time. When I started off with photography one of my teachers said “try to understand light” and I used to think what is there to understand in light and now after spending couple of years in photography I have started to learn the meaning of this sentence and realized that there is whole new world of light that I need to understand. Like every new comer even I used to click anything and everything under the sun without thinking about the light or how It can be improvised and as I started gaining experience I started realizing how light plays a very important role in photography. One needs to understand the different types of light whether it is soft light, Hard light, Diffused light and what impact It would have on object and how it can be manipulated to bring in the desired or improvised result.

Besides the types of light  another important aspect is that light has a temperature as well which plays an very important role in the way your pics will turn out. The Morning light is always cold and evening light is always warm and you will see bluish tinge in morning light and yellowness in evening light and the best time you will always find to shoot a subject under the sun is from morning 6 – 8:30 A.M and evening 4-6 or 5-6:30 this is mostly when objects won’t BURN or OVEREXPOSE.( This is an approx time and may vary) Post these timings you would need to have a diffused light or a shadow under which you can place your subject to shoot. You would have seen big frames having white clothes for ad shoots called skimmers they are used to diffused the harsh light and prevent picture from getting Overexposed.

The various types of lights are :

Hard light: The basic characteristic of hard light is that it creates clearly defined shadows. A hard light won’t change its characteristics with distance but it will definitely change it power and become weak light source. Hard lights are used to increase the contrast of subject. The areas directly lit might be burnt and the shadows would be dark.

Soft light:  The shadows are clearly visible but they are not as sharply defined as they are in Hard Light. The contrast in this type of light is much lower than the hard light

Diffused light: In this case the light source is huge and there is no contrast being seen. The object looks flat without any light direction.

Now that we have talked about the basics of types of light we also need to understand whether the light is strong or weak and what contrast light has. I am not talking about the contrast light produces but the color contrast light has which changes significantly from morning to evening and how that contrast can be used to your added advantage is something again you might want to think before shooting a picture.

One of most commonly faced problems with every new photographer is that they suffer from vision problems. This is usually called shortsightedness and it is seen to get cured only if a photographer spends some serious time in learning the technicalities otherwise to every photographer his picture seems to be nothing less than a Master Art which should be kept in an Art Museum in Paris . Well I don’t blame others, I too have suffered from this as well when I started off even when I used to click pics on Auto mode and when I started learning  I started realizing that the pic I had clicked was a complete crap.

Mentioned below are some of the things that if you think of before clicking a picture would definitely change your output significantly.

1)      Light

2)      Background

3)      Object

4)      Colors ( Foreground and background)

5)      Lens

6)      Focal length

7)      Aperture

8)      Shutter speed

9)      White balance

10)  ISO

11)  Angle of shooting

12)  Perspective

13)  Composition

14)  Metering

15)   Correct Exposure( Whether to underexpose, Overexpose or have Exposure of Camera)

16)  Picture balancing

17)  Leading lines in a pic

18)  Geometrical objects

Note : Picture is always created one feet behind the lens: Camera is just an equipment to capture it

Hi!! I am a Model!!!....

Hi!! I am a Model!!!....Well this is the most commonly heard statement when u meet a good
looking face with a  sculpted body!!! And to be honest who wouldn't like all the attention models get when they walk on the runway and flashes go berserk or when they receive the second glance from a common man. It gives one a different kind of an adrenalin rush and that is what inspires all good looking faces to reach the heights of well known models.Most of upcoming models that I have interacted with just want to become a top model without even knowing what their next step is going to be like. Well, it is good to have a vision and dream big but unless you have a plan to achieve it, it is always going to remain a dream.What One can only see is the the glam and success of the top models without even knowing about the "struggle" one has gone thru. I Can't lay a path for you to succeed, all i can do here is share some of my experiences which will definitely help you to move up from the position where you are  today.

No one can define a path for your success, you gotta tread it on your own:

The first  and a foremost thing to achieve a vision is to have focus and determination,just having a thought won't work. It is good to wake up one fine day with a thought of becoming a  model but being consistent about the thought and working hard towards it is the only thing that will help you achieve it.

• A majority of upcoming models usually suffer from myopia (short sightedness) when they see their pics. They usually feel sitting on a dining table or posing with their pet in the sofa as a appropriate fit for VOGUE cover. It is good to assume and have that feeling that you are unique but on a serious note isn't that what everyone thinks about himself.  Getting 10 likes and 20 comments on a pic on facebook doesn't make it a portfolio.A professional photographer enhances your best features and subdues your flaws in the portfolio and not only that it is important to have a folio which has a complete mix showcasing your personality in different perspectives. It is  important to understand your strengths and improvement areas and work on them before getting a folio done.

• Be realistic and be ready to accept the feedback. I see a very miniscule percentage of  models who are ready to accept the fact that they have their improvement areas which they need to work upon. I have models asking for work and when I tell them about to work on certain areas I can see a big wall of ego standing in front of them. Unless you aren't open to feedback how will you improve?.

• Whenever agencies or photographers ask for your pics most of the time they would mention the details of the shoot along with, so please understand that and send your pics accordingly. If you feel you will send them 40 pics and leaving them with option to choose then trust me most of the times your pics will land up in trash box. You are not the only model who would be competing for that advertisement. There would be at least 20 more models so if the agency or photographer has to choose from 800 pics (40 pics of each model * 20 models) they would go crazy. Understand the requirement and send your best pics which suit the requirement. There have been times when I have specified the requirement as corporate shoot and  have received bikini pics from models. I haven't seen any corporate company having girls roaming in bikini in office, might be playboy has it but i don't think any of Indian photographers has shot for playboy as yet and needless to say all those bikini pics couldn't be forwarded to the client and models lost on the chance of getting work even if some of them might have deserved it.

•  Lot of models think that they would be able to perform in front of camera and that is their biggest pit fall. Most of upcoming models have 2-3 poses with them and they feel that it would suffice them the entire life and when photographer asks them to change the posing or expression in midst of a shoot they simply keep on wondering what to do and go blank. Work on your expressions, body language, style, attitude because that is what would differentiate you from others.

• Networking is the key to be successful in this field. You have to have a good network with agencies, Photographers and coordinator's as that increases the spectrum of work you will be exposed to and the chances you will get to try your luck.

• Periodic introspection helps a lot , I can quote a real life example where a very good friend of mine wasn't able to crack a single assignment for more than a year and rather than feeling depressed and leaving the industry, he analysed his weakness,  worked on his body, acting skills and got a new folio done and trust me he must have done more than 100 advertisements which includes sharing the screen with MR Amitabh Bachhan

Lastly as they said it is the ATTITUDE which Determines ones ALTITUDE and same holds true in this field as well. A model not only needs to have a good looking face but style, confidence ( Not Over Confidence), poise, grace and an attitude to make it a complete package.

P.N: This blog is not written with the intent to show anyone down or to give gyan but over a period of time there have been periodic requests coming over to me from a lot of models asking for guidance and i realised it was becoming increasingly difficult for me to educate them one by one. This is just an effort from my side to guide those who need it.