SUNSETS=THE MOST COLOURFUL FROM DAWN TO DUSK

DURING WHOLE DAY, THE MOST SOOTHING ATMOSPHERE IS THE TIME OF THE SUN SET...the animals are returning home, the birds too are returning and chirping all around the trees...and if we get a support of a lake, the cold breeze welcomes...and sun's last salute of the day is shown in grand colours, close to orange, yellow and red.

2. Adding a foreground interest to sunset shots can add depth and interest to an image...Exposing for the sky will throw the foreground into a silhouette, so look for objects that have a defined shape....As told above, a lake or other water bodies will make a great reflection, showing all glitters of a sun and sky colours for an interesting composition.

3. Clouds add to a sunset shot and they change position and hues very fast at sunset....They may obscure the sun creating a dramatic effect....use of slow shutter speed may help record their movements.....IN my personal opinion the sunset is the most shot subject....let's click too.

INDUSTRIAL PHOTOGRAPHY--ARE U BOOKED?

A little bit of difficult part of general or other events photography...In big scale industries, they generally have a post or two of the photographers...But for specialised shoot, they hire photographers from outside....The small scale industries also need photographers from time to rime, for which they hire as i mentioned....I feel, this sort of photography is more challenging and needs clever manipulation of lighting and equipments.

2. If you are a reputed photographer, u have a pamphlet, showing ur to and fro charges, time spent, besides on package or per shot charge...They have regular visitors, company meetings, the mfg work in the shop floor, the loading of material or machines....Therefore they will agree on per shot charge, set in an album....if work is more specialised like arranging for assistants, climbing on cranes/ladders, using more of the lighting, then a package system works well for ur pocket. Next is your polite behavious with the GMs, Managers etc. which will help u to befriend them, giving the best of output from you.

3. Equipment may consist of flash guns with triggering facility for other flash units, artificial light like halogen lamps with stands, tripod, cameras with different focal length lenses---in lower range 24mm and in higher range 200mm are more than sufficient......If u lke to use zooms 24-70mm, 28-105mm, 70-210mm will work well, besides having prime lens of f1.4 will work best...The locations may include, office of the GM/Manager, convention hall--differ in sizes, shop floor, office galleries, outside fy premises, where the material is loaded in trucks etc/being dispatched, during pooja days, during employees unrest---there are several opportunities when the photographer is needed...therefore u have to be clever enough to grab the opportunity, and if well paid regularly, can become a permanent photographer of that unit.............gshroti@gmail.com

BIRDS IN SKY-PHOTOGRAPHY

WHEN U SHOOT BIRDS in the sky, mentally u are also flying with them, rather feeling that gush of air in the sky....The sense is an enormous energy giver. Thus while shooting birds or any flying object like a helicopter, the shutter must be fast enough to freeze the object....ENSURE that the shutter speed is just right to register that little bit of motion and make the picture extremely dynamic.

2. It is important to focus on the subject and lock the focus....and then wait for the right moment to shoot.This exercise may take several ''cuts'', because the creature is not posing for the photographer, but the photographer is after it.....Better have long focal length lenses, i.e. 200mm and/or above....and here the SLR will be of much help, rather than p&s or prosumers in terms of quality....in SLR u will use the best lens u can afford...so will be the result.

3. The bird above, was 100 ft on top of tree..I USED 300mm and the light was very low, because the evening was going....the sh speed may have been 1/60...so the blur was inevitable with handheld camera.....I cropped to bring it more closer.

PHOTOGRAPHY - DO U FORGET??--2

d) NOT TAKING CARE OF UR EQUIPMENT:

is it not ur habit to change lenses in dusty conditions or at the beach?...not protecting the lenses and camera LCD from getting scratched....forgetting to clean ur equipments from time to time....more importantly immediately after a long shoot.

e) that for customers, the prints are correctely printed in the lab...or u lack that judgement.....for a consistent reputation, it is most important to check/get reprinted before delivering them to clients.

f) with camera in hand, do not have a habit of walking around...lose patience so early? ...without trying other angles, u fall prey to laziness to shoot from the regular COMFORTABLE angle.

g)to know that it is most important to have an eye for the distracting or disturbing elements.....or do u forget to have the straight horizon while shooting and leave the shot as it is....do u remember to correct the tilt in the photoshop?

h)not to rely on the camera's LCD TO CHECK THE EXPOSURE OF AN IMAGE....avoid learning how to read the histogram.

i) using the on-camera flash indiscriminately, forgetting that the reflective surfaces cannot be shot with a flash, avoiding using the camera flash in noon time or in back light conditions.

j)not to over-sharpening, over-saturating the images in an effort to make technically bad image look good.

k) not allowing urself to change with the time....particularly getting stuck in the same kind of photography.....not expanding the horizons and pushing the limits.....avoiding further exploring the different fields.

l) not allowing urself ready to participate in the contests, exhibitions on photography....or having good work lying in the cupboards....even avoiding to show ur extraordinary work to public thru solo exhibitions.

PHOTOGRAPHY - DO U FORGET??

Regular photographer, enthusiasts, amateurs all have different natures while handling photography equipments and allied accessories before and during shooting....Sometimes, this may lead to frustration...

2. As happened with my friend, who went to shoot group photographs of an institution....generally. he uses manual mode, bracketing exposures, but on that day he used Av mode and the dresses of the groups were of maroon colour and the camera read the darker area thus overexposing the photograph...It was day light, difficult to judge on the monitor...He also forgot to use exp.compensation mode to minus side....thus again had to shoot after a week....wasting his own time, energy and the time of the customer......I feel there are many things we can avoid not forgetting them, but they still happen; what they are:

a) Forgetting to carry the right equipment:
Keeping a slow lens to shoot an event that has very low lighting, carrying a mid range zoom or a telephoto lens for a place where u wud have wanted a wider view , forgetting to carry along a lens, or even a camera or the right choice of camera, if u have more than one.

b) Not carry enough charge and memory:
Keeping almost discharged batteries or not charging long enough, not taking spare sets of charged batteries, not taking additional memory card, even forgetting to insert the memory card in camera after downloading the images in the computer via card reader.

c) Shooting in the wrong settings or formats:
Forgetting to change the settings back to optimal after experimentation, or shooting in the different white balance forgetting to switch over to the existing lighting, thus at least disturbing some frames or whole shoot......to continue....gshroti@gmail.com

PERSPECTIVE AND SCALE

The distance between objects in pictures are represented by perspective and scale. U can make use of perspective to control the appearance of depth in ur photograph.Also u can make use of people as measures of scale and distance...

2. The human being is consistent in size and instantly recognisable... Humans are perhaps the most valuable yardstick for measuring distance in landscape and other pictures....

3. It is important to bear in mind that the degree of shrinking with distance is affected by viewpoint....IT IS THE VIEWPOINT AND NOT THE FOCAL LENGTH THAT CHANGES PERSPECTIVE.

FOR A SOFT EFFECT USE WINDOW LIGHT

If u are not happy using ur flashgun indoors, try using the light from a window instead. If u have a window that is facing the direction of the sun , half the problem remains solved....If necessary, u may use a couple of reflectors to fill the shadows especially when shooting portraits and STILL LIFE. It wud be a good practice to keep two pieces of thermocol handy to use as reflectors. Light seeping in thru the window normally has a softening effect....If the light is too harsh, u can cover the window with a thin white curtain, or a sheet of tracing paper to diffuse the light ...thus getting the soft lighting effect with softer shadows, as in the picture at left.

HELP CREATURES--SAVE ENVIRONMENT.

There are beautiful little creatures that exist around...These creatures play important roles in nature's lifecycle...

2. There are few enthusiast photographers who will break twigs or cut plant just to get a shot of an ant, hanging on the edge of a leaf....Some other will force a little creature to keep a pose that they are not really accustomed to....

3. As a photographer it is our job to respect these creatures and ensure that they are not disturbed in their natural habitat.....This is just going beyond limitations of nature's existence., not in order to save but to destroy it, and disrespect it.

4. It is also our duty to document and spread awareness, not to destroy their natural functions for the sake of a sensational photograph....The earth will be grateful, if these small things are followed, otherwise, the mother earth is laden with lots of unnatural loads on its chest and one day it will be helpless to save ur existence.....RESTRAIN URSELF FRIENDS..TO SAVE NATURE, TO SAVE ENVIRONMENT.

IS PHOTOGRAPHY DIFFICULT?--SEE ANSWERS..

continue......
READ BOOKS, MAGS & WEBSITES....

Books and websites on photography provide u with a lot of information on various types of photography. They are also a great way to seek ur own areas of interest....besides reading books, mags...practise the techniques featured therein....This will help u to be a perfectionist as far as the few rules of photography are concerned.

ENROLL IN A COURSE....

YOU will find courses available locally.Govt recognized colleges and technical institutes that offer degrees in Art, Design, Physics etc., often have basic courses...Besides some experts also run their own institutes and get help the students appear in the examinations.

ATTEMPT PERSONAL ASSIGNMENTS...

Self-assignments allow u to sharpen your skills... Choose topics that are interested to you and make a project and try to fulfil in a limited time span...Moreso taking part in photography contests is also a great way to hone ur skills.....U have locally many of ur friends, acquaintances to whom u can photograph and once u get good skill, u can get offers from ur own circle and outside...that will help in making some part time money as well.

IS PHOTOGRAPHY DIFFICULT?...SEE ANSWERS

1. EVERYTHING is difficult...until and unless u dive deep into it even for a learning point of view....Therefore photography is no exception.....Generally it is ur intense desire which enables u to reach ur goals, like a footballer..

2. For expending knowledge it takes nothing but perseverance...If u have that guts then nothing is impossible...Here I relate few important things which will help u to motivate u as a photographer, or in any field of photography u wish to join.

JOIN PHOTOGRAPHY CLUBS:
1. THERE ARE A LOT OF OFFLINE AND ONLINE CLUBS THAT ARE QUITE ACTIVE, interacting with other club members, sharing ur pix for critical feedback, discussing mutual areas of interest. Finding solutions to common problems are greater learning experiences...the club members are eager to help, since in this way they also enrich their knowledge.

PARTICIPATE in WORKSHOPS:
1. WORKSHOPS, SEMINARS, GROUP OUTINGS, EXHIBITIONS AND OTHER EVENTS TAKING PLACE near u are a nice way to learn....Clubs often participate in groups so the monetary burden on each member can be reduced...........to continue.....gshroti@gmail.com

WHITE BALANCE--A BALANCING ACT.

1.The human eye sees white objects as white, regardless of the light source. ON THE OTHER HAND A DIGITAL CAMERA does not. The colour of lighted off a subject also reflects the colour of the main light source.

2.The white balance setting on a digital camera , which is set on automatic by default, adjusts the brightest part of a scene so that it appears as clean white.....Auto WB does a good job under most circumstances. However there are times when white balance needs to be changed manually to match the inside or outside lighting in order to obtain more true to life colours....

3. The dcams generally have WHITE BALANCE settings as auto, daylight, cloudy, open shade, sunset, tungsten, fluorescent, custom WB 1/2/3 which u can save upto three custom white balance settings for later retrieval as well.

4. In the above photograph, the photo is showing green cast....here daylight WB setting wud have helped.

VISITING LOCAL NATIONAL PARK--2

continue.....2

FIND OUT DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES:

1. WALK AROUND AND MORE TO EXPLORE VARIOUS VANTAGE POINTS TO FIND OUT DIFFERENT SHOOTING OPPORTUNITIES.
2. zoo photography is not all about shooting animals. People make great subjects too. Shoot the candid expressions of people watching the animals, birds etc. Experiment with panoramas near the large enclosures.

EXPECT THE OPPORTUNITY:

Animals do the funniest things....observe and anticipate the photograph....For example, keep ur camera ready near the monkeys' enclosures, so that u do not miss ur shot.

2. Try to get an experienced friend's opinion, that can help u focus on what kind of subjects u can shoot there. ...Have a talk to zoo-guides about animal patterns and the way the animals react to various things around them.....A better understanding of ur subjects will help u to click the better pictures u are after.......

3. Find out the pond of the birds, which come season-wise...there u can also find crocodiles, tortoise etc.......see the picture above taken hurriedly while the bird just flew from the upper tree branch......good luck.........gshroti@gmail.com

VISITING LOCAL NATIONAL PARK

I THINK, MOST OF THE PEOPLE WITH CHILDREN VISIT LOCAL ZOO, with film or dcams....it gives them a good experience of using their cameras, whether expensive or inexpensive...even now with good mobile cameras, people visit with interest and bring a good number of photographs....here u will find animals, raptiles, crocodiles, deers, bears, birds and many more.

1.GOOD time to click: generally it is best either early morning upto 10 am and/or after 4 pm in the evening....particularly in the evening, the warm, golden light that adds a beauty....Like the photograph above, the best time to shoot animals while they are fed(or served lunch/supper).....

2. PREVIOUSLY THERE WERE CHARGES for taking the cameras inside the premises, but thanks to good mobile cameras, the authorities were compelled to withdraw this unnecessary burden on the visitors.

3. the most uncontrolled animal is the leopard and in some places it is kept 40 ft away from the boundary and in a big cage.....while the lion and tigers have some patience to give good poses.
Therefore it is wise on the part of the photographer to carry a SLR with long focal length lens...There are now coming good prosumer cameras with 10x to 24x zooms...U can get good benefit of them in good sunlight.

4. Check for distractions: THERE is a necessary problem of iron bars or nets at viewing places..however if u have a 300mm focal length zoom and the net is somewhat wide, u can take photograph at 300mm end where the net becomes out of focus and ur lens focuses on the subject with a wider aperture of f2.8 or f3.5

5. If u are using a compact that does not allow u to control the aperture, use here the 'portrait' mode, which gives the facility of automatically keeping aperture at wider aperture.

6. When shooting, try to focus on the eyes. THIS establishes a contact with the viewer and make u feel that the animal is staring back to u or the viewer........to continue.....gshroti@gmail.com

PHOTOGRAPHY THE WAY U WANT

EXPLORING UR OWN VANTAGE POINTS:

This may look unusual, but it is a part of ur shoots/experiments with dcam....here the position of the camera determines the attention paid to details within the frame as well as the message we plan to communicate to the viewer...

2. most people hold their cameras at eye level and shoot their subjects, head on. Doing this usually produces static, unimpressive photographs.

3. However, by positioning the camera , above, beneath, in, out, around, and even behind the subject, u can make images that say a lot more.

4. Try different vantage points to reveal details that wud usually go unseen....In photographic parlance, less often means more.....if we are slightly lazy, then that time never returns, and the 'more's lost....

DEBUT FOR WORLD'S FASTEST CAMERA

THE fastest imaging system ever devised has been demonstrated by the researchers reporting in the journal NATURE. THE shutter speed of the camera is half a billionth of a second, and has the ability to capture over 6 million images per second continuously. Its flash bulb is a fast laser pulse dispersed in space and then stretched in time and detected electronically. ALSO the camera works on one detector.

The approach will be instrumental in imaging fast-moving or random events, for example communication between neurons or flowing blood samples in a search for diseased cells......awesome.

NIGHT SHOOT WITH A DIFFERENCE--2

For the second exposure of the same frame(multiple exposure), twist the focus barrel to get the light sources completely OOF...For the exposure, u cud either maintain the aperture and set the shutter speed for the remaining amount of time. i.e. one second, or u cud reduce the aperture value by one or two stops and set the shutter to less than one second. The second choice is preferable because the small aperture will minimise the effect of making the image OOF. The unfocused image becomes larger in the viewfinder, than it wud be sharply focused, creating the oversizing halo surrounding the corredtly focused subject in the picture.. This wud particularly be visible on the bright spots of the image--which is why u need to have light sources like street lamps in the frame. The halo is dependent on the out of focus factor of the second image.. The more it is out of focus, the larger the halo. To get a good effect, keep 'out of focused' image slightly underexposed than the original sharp shot.

NIGHT SHOOT WITH A DIFFERENCE

THE ATMOSPHERE of a street at night lit by strong street lights can be made to look a lot more dramatic without using any spl filters. For instance u cud get a 'halo' effect around a street light (or any light source) can be achieved using the simple double exposure method. U wud need to shoot one correctly focused shot of the street having a few street light that are lit. And immediately after, u will need to again expose the same frame, but this time completely out of focus....Use a lowest possible ISO in ur camera, set it to the aperture priority and mount the camera on a tripod...Choose an aperture that will give u a good DOF and a long exposure time for the main image. Once u have determined the exposure time required for a given aperture, switch the camera to Manual mode and set the decided aperture...If the exposure time required was say four seconds, set the aperture to three seconds and shoot the first image......to continue

2-PHOTOGRAPHY-EARN MONEY-PHOTO-JOURNALISM

Continue......the guys from the press rushed to their respective newspaper HQs to process the images, select the best for the next morning....If I also tried to cover like them, nobody wud have accepted my photos since their press-men were already there.

After few days, i lined up my pictures, selected the best half a dozen photos and prepared a photofeature with 500 words of text, all high-lighting the human side of the day, including the football match photo....I contacted one my friend photo-editor and he accepted to publish it as a review on the next sunday's foto-feature plus i kept it for the next year, before beginning of the annual event of the same....again it was published as a start-up with two newpapers and a magazine and brought me some good amount of money.

Not necessarily u have high end camera...but any camera with good contrast and pin-sharp photos will do. In photojournalism, round the year u get photographs of different events in ur town or nearby city plus several local festivals.....where leisurely u can do ur job and present it at the appropriate time to the newspapers, magazines and fetch a good amount to further ur hobby and become a known photo-journalist. Then u will find calls from newspapers and magazines without ur efforts to reach them.....and in due course of time, u get friendly with them and they treat u as a part of their journal.

PHOTOGRAPHY-EARN MONEY-PHOTO-JOURNALISM

Clicking,clicking......why do not try to monetyse ur hobby....there is vast field of photojournalism and ensure a continuous source of income.

Is press photography and photo-journalism same?.....nay....press photography is a fire-brigade type of operation where u hear of the event or directed by the photo-editor of the concerned newspaper and rush to the scene with ur camera.....Whereas the P-J is a leisurely operation.....A press photographer must get his photos somehow with no emphasis on quality.....NEXT MORNING THE PEOPLE WAIT FOR HIS PHOTOGRAPH...so word ANYHOW...however, some more conscious ones manage with their colleagues and may attend other event....While in photo-journalism, the photographer has all the time to plan his strategy and produce the work of High Order.

For example, once i went to a football match with my friend press photographer to shoot from the press stand....While his attention was fully on the players and the ball to catch the best of photographs for his news paper, so he may rank high alongwith the reputation of the newspaper.....I took 2-3 shots of players with ball and turned to the masses with different shoutings, expressions, jumping, whistling, fighting etc. and grabbed some very off-beat shots................to continue......gshroti@in.com

PHOTOGRAPHY-DOCTORS' ROLE IN OT.

I think this aspect of photography is found less to read. Here the professional photographer plays his role with the team of Doctors...who understands the delicacy of this branch....However, many a times. when a pro photographer or a trained assistant is not available in the operating room, this work can be done by the operating surgeon himself....Before permitting a camera, the permission of Anesthetist is most essential....The equipment shd be clean though not sterilized and can be wraped in the sterile towels....Tripod, too, when taken into shd be cleaned with antiseptic lotions.
TO photograph different stages in surgery, one has to select the field of operation and mount a pro dcam on a tripod away from the OT table.....Short focal length lenses are to be avoided and shd not be used as we have to go very close to the area of operation....Hence the area to be photographed has to be prefocused and composed on the LCD or viewfinder....A long focal length macro lens say 100mm or 200mm (medical nikon) with ring flash around the front element of the lenses is fixed.....To expose and to operate the shutter by the surgeon himself, there are few options: 1. change the sterile glove after each expose by wearing two gloves one over the other...2.stainless steel long flexible cable releases are available which can be auto calved...3. the shutter release is operated by a foot switch as u operate a cautery....Above all the operator has to take extra precaution to maintain sterile while photographing eye and dental....there are special cameras available with a fixed 200mm lens and ring flash designed for clinical photography work.

Surgeons use their eyes to operate as much as their hands for instrumentation. The same eye to hand coordination is also used in medical photography.....However, by virtue of their profession, most surgeons are as aesthetically visual as graphic artists, photographers, film-doyens......

For photographers: having an artistic approach to the subject make u a better scientific photographer....Everthing is becoming much more artistic....u can take pix with dramatic lighting, intense colours, otherwise just plain photographs.......so buddies, if anybody is interested in this field of photography, and u become an expert, u are most necessarily required.

MODELLLING

PEOPLE understand, particularly young gals and guys, that the profession of modelling is very easy to enter...besides they
are at the high when one or two photos of them are published....
HERE ARE SOME POINTS TO PONDER WHEN ENTERING IN THIS TOUGH COMPETITION....HOWEVER NECESSITY NEVER ENDS:

A model is a person who is posed or displayed for the purpose of art, other products or advertising..

Modelling is distinguished from other types of public performances, such as acting, dancing or mime artistry. ...although the wall is not well defined. ..MODELS have to express emotions in their photographs...therefore, many models are defined as ''actors'', who enter big screen and get success.

TYPES of models include GLAMOUR, FASHION, FITNESS, BIKINI, FINE ART OR BODY-PART MODELS......regarding payments, female models are paid higher than male counterparts.....NOT NECESSARY, all models are beautiful....however FASHION modelling can be defined in two categories: 1) editorial, 2) runway:

Catalogue, catwalk, print, lingerie,showroom, swimsuit, fashion fitness,gym fitness etc.....the SIZES may well be: for gals:
34-24-34....height-5 ft 8 in.
35-24-35 '' ''
-For guys: chest: 32-40 in......height 5 ft 11 in to 6 ft 2 in
waist: 26-33 in.

The point to remember is that the SEXUALITY is emphasized in GLAMOUR
CLOTHES are emphasized in FASHION.

THERE is general demand in cat-walking, and have to tour from local cities to foreign counties, where supermodels are highly paid.

THE requirements go for, photographers, painters, sculptors and other artists to pose live for their art........