Shoot for Cognizant

Wedding Video Of Sapan-Lekhya

Ten Tips to Shoot Great Pix

1.Shoot at Eye level. Whenever you look at a portrait you first look at the eyes of the person, hence to get better portraits shoot at eye level & most importantly put the subject at ease & in good mood. Asking the subject to just smile is not enough. Creating a right mood with a good humour, music or ambience is very important to make those eyes sparkle.

2.Place the subject Off center. It appears more dynamic & leads the eye to the scene or tells the story. This is called the rule of the thirds &; is often used by all professionals. Shooting the picture dead center makes the picture dead & lifeless.

3.Explore Different angles. Don’t just shoot from where you get down from the car or from you are standing. Walk a bit, climb some stairs, ask some people about the place & shoot lot of pictures. You can always choose from the lot.

4.Choose Backgrounds carefully. Again shoot portraits carefully. Do not let cluttered backgrounds interfere with your subject. Here you can use a small secret. Just use the zoom in case you cannot avoid the background as the telephoto makes the background blur. But otherwise try to select a plain backdrop.

5.Get Up Early. The best times to shoot landscapes, portraits (outdoors), flowers etc is up to 2 hours after sunrise & just 2 hours before sunset. My experience shows early mornings as better than evenings especially for winters & hill stations as we can capture the fog, people & animals in their best moods. Plus you get a good chai. Also while shooting landscapes include some foreground elements like an arch, branch of a tree to frame the picture.

6.Use Flash Outdoors? What? Yes you should be using flash outdoors too to avoid dark shadows under the eyes, neck. This happens especially during noontime, when the sun is directly above your head. In the night urge people to face some bright light so that you do not get red eye effect. Finally wait a few extra seconds even after the flash is charged to get a brighter picture.

7.Study & Use Light Properly. Early morning & late afternoon light is good for portraits, landscapes, architecture, and nature. Hazy/ Cloudy light is good for portraits, architecture, and nature. Side harsh lighting is good to bring about texture in the subject like wrinkles in an old person. In the same way soft hazy light is good to flatter a good-looking woman with a glowing skin.

8.Be a Photo Director. Ever wondered that you can be a director of photography. It’s very easy. As I said earlier don’t just shoot. Think. Suppose you are shooting a group of people. Think of innovative ways to pose them. Shoot from some creative angles & they too would respond with good ideas

9.Get rid of Horizontalitis. Everybody shoots horizontal pix because it is easy to hold the camera that way & get used to it that way. But if you start shooting some verticals you will get to know a new perspective in life. Portraits look stunning because backgrounds are cut off the rest I leave it you discover……

10.Finally Keep Shooting. The best way to learn is shoot and learn & not theorizing & I am sure you guys are shooting. You can always contact me at gunshe@gmail.com or call me (9849191550) before you plan any photo trip.

Cactus, Vulture & Desert in Studio

This image was created in the pre digital era with a 120 camera & believe me it was great fun. 

It took all of 3 days to complete the shoot, not because of the complexity of the shoot, but the 1^st two days were spent in hunting for the right cactus.

The concept was to show 3 benefits of a particular medical product & we were looking for a cactus plant with 3 branches.

 We searched the whole of Hyderabad, but the best we could lay our hands on was a plant with 2 branches. So the Art Director decided to use a 3^rd one as a separate plant and show it as if growing from the earth.

The lighting had to be dramatic, since we needed to show the sun along with a sunset.

The lighting set up is very simple. Behind the set up of the sand is an acrylic sheet of 4’x6’ size. From top of that we gave a yellow light on the sand & cactus, which is also spilling on the acrylic.

One light with an orange gel from behind the acrylic sheet to give the orange glow & finally one spot light as the sun behind the acrylic sheet.

Of course there were lots of Polaroids taken & lots coffee cups guzzled. Lots of discussions on how to make it look like a painting.

By the way the bird is paper cutout pasted on the acrylic sheet.

Enjoy

Apples on Shoelaces

Apples on Shoelaces

Photographers need to be observant all the time, if they want to churn out good creative stuff, which is different and has the WOW factor in their images.

I had created this picture long ago, by observing the fruit sellers tying the apples on threads on their carts to display the same. The apples looked very cute in such groups, so I thought of replicating the same in the studio.

But when I was in the process of creating the image, my eye fell on one of my assistant’s shoes, which were sports shoes with colored shoelaces. I thought, why not use shoelaces of different colors instead of plain threads and the rest is History.

Enjoy

Advertising Photography

Year: 1995

Assignment: Create beautiful photography for brochures & other communication

Model: Anjali Joshi

Makeup: Madhu

Client: Royal Chairs

Camera: Zenza Bronica 120 film format

Lights: 5 Elinchromes & 1 Bowens

Location: Rani Art Studio, Tourist Hotel Building, Kachiguda Stn Road, Hyd-27 (Estb 1966)

This was a typical shoot, in which the texture, colours, contours, beauty, shape of the chairs along with the usage of the same with a beautiful model, was to be shown.

Being a very disciplined photographer, I used to take out lots of Polaroids with every lighting set up & shoot only after being fully satisfied with the results.

The advantage with Polaroids was manifold.

It used to give me documentation of lighting, angles, lighting ratios, & other parameters.

It also used to make good scrapbook for portfolios in those days when we did not have laptops

Photo No 1:  Blue Chair

As shown in the visual I have given 2 soft lights from opposite directions in full power mode & there is a thermocole placed on the left side light to reflect some highlights on the chair’s lower portion. One light is placed facing the ceiling to soften the shadows on the chair. And the last light is from the back left with a grid to highlight the chair and separate it from the background.

The power ratio is given on the visual itself & is arrived on the previous Polaroids taken during the shoot.

The final result was a nice Product shot with a graduated backdrop, which was repeated for all the products with a slight variation.

Photo No 2: Model with executive chair

Here I had to highlight both the chair & the model equally, which was very challenging. Here I must mention that Anjali the model was a very professional & would know & read the photographer’s mind very quickly. She would also remember her poses & stand or sit in the same pose after the Polaroids, for the final shot. I really miss such models.

Coming back to lighting again the left & right combo for the chair, but this time on the ground to get details on the wheels. One soft box from front top on the model & chair to see the texture in the chair. One light from left back of the model as the visual shows & one from the right of the model to highlight her hair & shoulder & arms. Finally one filler from front to fill the shadows & soften the scene.

This shot was used as it is without any corrections & changes.

Photo No 3: Waiting room chairs in an office environment

Again shot in shot studio, with 5 lights. One soft box for the model & to bring out the textures in the chairs. 2 lights bounced off the ceiling from either side of the camera to soften the shadows and also to brighten the scene. We also placed a big plant behind the frosted glass lit it from behind to give a silhouette effect.

The basket of fruits was replaced with a bouquet of flowers.

All in all it was good fun and very challenging & the best part came when the client appreciated the shoot & paid without bargaining & on time, which makes it more worthwhile.

I would be very glad to answer any technical queries regarding this shoot.

Cheers

Flash outdoors?

Yes using flash outdoors in daylight!

This may sound surprising, but there are various advantages & good things about using flash in daylight.

You may have seen in film shootings, lights & reflectors being used even in broad daylight.

Due to heavy schedules, date problems they need to shoot through out the day. They cannot wait for ideal lighting conditions always so they have create the same with reflectors, lights even in broad daylight.

Same thing applies to us. We too travel & go places. It is not possible to reach a place at the right time every time.

Also we do not have the luxury of Lights, reflectors & assistants.

Even if we had, we would lose our privacy, it will add to our cost & most importantly lose the fun of spontaneity

 So what do we amateurs do? What do we have?

We Have the most powerful & Jamesbondish weapon  

The built in flash.

So what does it do? How can it help improve our outdoor photography?

Flash in Daylight acts as fill in light especially when you are shooting during noon times or against the light or even in overcast light conditions.

The advantages are

1.     Shadows under the eyes, nose, and chin get filled up

2.     You will get uniform detail when shooting against the light, say around 3 ‘0 clock  & you need to have that particular scene in the background

3.     You will also get nice hair light with some practice & luck

4.     Your subject also brightens up on a cloudy day or in the shade

5.     It also adds a sparkle in the eye like a catch light

6.     If somebody is wearing a hat it will light up his/her face

7.     Also most importantly people will come to know that their picture has been clicked

8.     Even if you shoot in ideal lighting conditions, fill in flash will act as second light to soften the shadows & give your images the pro look

Try it next time and see the results for yourself.

Cheers