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Welcome to Frames... This magazine looks upon the people who are aspiring to become a photographer. I can relate so much to this magazine because, this is the same way I came in. Starting off myself as a photographer, slowly I started knowing about more and more photography techniques and tips. I’m happy to have shared this information with all the readers and bring in more people into photography. I’m so glad to have an opportunity to create and design this magazine. Please look into the magazine and I hope you enjoy.
Vishnu
Vishnu R Shekhar Editor & Designer vishnurshekhar@gmail.com
........................................................................ Stay in touch. www.facebook.com/frames www.twitter.com/frames Website: www.frames.ae Cover page model: Zohra Ameen Special thanks to Maneef M koya from twiching.com for providing his website content for the article ‘Inventory’.
Special thanks to (Models) Mariyam Kisat Zohra Ameen Ehsan Madadi Fathima Miyadha Dina Mohammed Aiman Fatima
Special thanks to Thomson George Wesley Kurian For providing their cameras for reviewing..
All Articles and Photographs(Except the content from the article “Inventory”) are written and photographed by Vishnu R Shekhar. 3
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C O N T E N T S 8
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Monochrome Magic
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10 Best Lenses
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LOL - Lots Of Light
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The Canon or The Nikon.
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Which is Full ON? Long Exposure
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Inventory
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Spacing & Composition
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10 Tips for Portraits
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Photography is an art of observation. It has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them. - Elliott Erwitt
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Monochrome Magic. One of the best way to learn composition in photography. Nothing can stand against the classic feel of a black & white photograph. Check out how avoiding colour brings the magic.
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T
he monochrome or black and white photography is not just an edit option in Photoshop, its where all began. Before there Technicolor photographs came out, photographers in the earlier days started off with black and white pictures. It’s one of the challenging and artistic fields of photography. Black and white pictures can attract viewers who don’t even care about photography. This area of photography concentrates on a photographer’s skill to control the texture, contrast and most importantly composition of a photograph. In a normal colour photograph taken, the colour in the picture is a distraction and makes the viewer loose out a lot of minute details of the picture. But, if it’s a black and white picture the attention to detail increases as there is no colour to distract. Sometimes certain photos in colour when converted to black and white
may not look pleasing to the eye and sometimes a photo you never thought is special might look amazing in black and white. Black and white photography makes you choose your subject and composition with an entirely different perspective. Even though black and white sounds too boring and plain compared to a colour picture, the fact is that there is actually so many variety of shades from black to white. Black and white images are well known for their powerful messages. Many award winning photographs are composed in black and white. Because the fact that black and white represents the olden times, this style of photography best works with old fashioned themes. A landscape of field or a mountain range or an old fashioned letter box, and old fence all can be good examples of some black and white photography, and when it comes to portraits of people,
a close up portrait of an old person in black and white depicting their age and lines on their face will have a good impact in black and white. A method to approach for black and white photography is that when you approach a subject or frame something in your mind, try to imagine how it’ll look without color, your mind should work like Photoshop emitting out all the colours and seeing the shadows and highlights of the subject. Look at them in terms of shapes, lines and shadows. You will find yourself amazed to see the difference; you might even try out an angle you’ve never even thought of in your life. Once you get your hang of the black and white field of photography you’re going to love it and your photos can express the subject in an entirely different format. Main thing to keep in mind is that, black and white photographs plays with light
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and its shadow caused by your subject, where as when you go for a colour picture carious other factors of colour combinations and colour contrast and everything else come in your way, here it’s all about light and shadow. The variation on black to white caused by the light falling on the subject and the shadow formed, all shades of white, black and grey creates an amazing combination of photography. Because of the fact that light plays an important role, personally I try bringing the effect of light in a very different way when it comes to black and white exposure. You must have heard from professional photographers that the best time of the day for pictures is during sunrise and sunset where the light is soft, but in terms of black and white it’ll make a huge difference if you choose the middle of the day or where light is harsh and creates sharp shadows, again coming back to the point that light and shadow plays the game in black and white, this time of the day will make a huge impact on your monochrome pictures. For example when photographing an older person in this lighting, make sure the light falls in such a way that it creates shadows along the person face and lines on the face, which won’t look good in a colour photograph but here it’s a totally different story. So basically looking at black and white photography as a whole, you don’t have to be a technically good in terms of camera, its all about the creative approach. Most of the time monochrome photography requires a different approach when considering colour photographs. There is no magic in the camera or any camera trick to obtain an amazing photo in black and white it’s all about how you use light, shadow and composition in the right way. Right now if you get a camera and try out clicking something around you in black and white you can figure out a whole new perspective and something so simple and something which you never thought might become your subject. If you love experimenting in photography, I’m sure you’ll enjoy this new world of Monochrome Magic.
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Always try to make use of the natural light or the ambient light available. The natural beauty of the photos is something very pleasing to the eyes.
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10 Best Lenses Looking for some good lenses out there? Here are the best 10 lenses you would want in your kit.
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1. Prime Factor - Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM Lens
7. Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM Lens
One of the most favorite lens of every photographer out there. Amazing for low light condition and a must have if you love portrait photography.
The super build, mechanical and picture quality of this lens is simply superb. One of Canon’s most common and famous lenses is the 24-105 L series. Few professional photographers quoted this as ‘If they had only one lens, it would be this’. Best for portrait photography.
2. The Telephoto Zoom - Nikon Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II One of the most popular zoom lens from Nikkor, with a large aperture like f 2.8 and stabilizer technology anyone looking for some wildlife? This lens is suitable for both Dx and Fx bodies from Nikon. 3. The Standard Zoom - Canon EF-S 1755mm f/2.8 IS USM This lens might be a little pricy considering the fact that its not an L series lens. But the quality delivered by this lens is as good as any L series lens. The barrel and the finishing of this lens won’t be same or comparable to that of an L series lens but the quality is almost the same considering the performance. 4. The Wide-angle Zoom - Nikon Nikkor 12-24mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S DX Zoom If you have a Nikon DX body camera, then there is no other option for a wide angle lens other than a DX lens. This lens delivers a decent wide angle range similar to a 35mm. 5. The Super Telephoto Zoom - Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM When the ultra telephoto prime lenses can give you awesome quality in your photos, you’ll be better off with little bit of flexibility, specially when it come to wildlife photography, maximum aperture and a good zoom function can help a lot. Especially when you can’t move from a particular position to a closer position to the subject.
8. Defocus control – 135mm f/2 DC AF
Nikon
Nikkor
The 135 mm DC “Defocus Control” is one of Nikon’s sharpest lenses. Now here, defocus control means that the sharpness of the background or the out of focus area can be controlled and made it to be soft smooth or take it all the way to bokeh level.
9. Fisheye effect - Canon 8-15mm f/4 L 180º Circular and Full-Frame Fisheye Talking about fisheye effect the canon 8-15mm is the one of the widest in range and the picture taken using this lens floats like a ball in the middle of your frame. The 180º coverage fills whatever is around on your frame and it gives a unique effects.
10. Wedding prime time - Nikon Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 DX Looking ahead for some wedding photography? This is the piece of glass you need. It’s cheap, super sharp, fast and strong. One favorite lens of any wedding photographer and one must have in the kit if you are looking forward to attend one.
6. The Macro Prime - Nikon Nikkor 105mm f/2.8G AF-S VR Micro One of the best Macro lens from the Nikon range is this one. This lens is very reliable and is good for both long term and short term usage. If you are looking for shooting small bugs and beetles around your garden then this is for you.
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There are many photographers out there... Get INSPIRED by them... Don’t IMITATE... Bring your own style into your photographs.
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LOL - Lots Of Light Studio lighting techniques are not that complicated if you know what goes where. Its all about visualizing your subject and knowing which angle to choose and which light goes where.
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L
ights! Yes one of the main things that comes to your mind when you hear the word camera. Lights are one of the main components of a photograph, another definition of photography could be painting with light, it’s an art in which how you control the light in a photograph depending on your subject, theme and your camera. Your professional DSLR camera plays an important role in controlling the light in the photograph, and this ability to control these features on your own is what separates DSLR camera from rest of the normal cameras. Now, for instance if you are shooting in the outdoors just with a camera, you are stuck with the ambient light or the available light and your camera, here you have place your subject in according to the light to get your best shot. What if you can control the light? What if you can decide where a shadow should fall and where not to. This is what lighting is all about; depending on the mood or theme of the photo and depending on the subject in the photo you can set your lighting. There are many methods followed by professional photographers in the studio. Studio lighting confuses a lot of photographers, but there is nothing so mysterious about it. It’s all about the aspects of lighting, exposure and shadow, and if you are doing a model shoot, things like hair, make-up, colour and everything else comes into play. In the studio, high importance has to be given to the exposure between different light source and placement of lights so as to make the subject look good. This is where the shadows come into play. Let’s look at the basic setup of light in the studio. About the light, there are studio lights which provide hard light to the subject; this means the subject will produce hard shadow if placed next to a background. Then the next technique used is something called a soft box, what this does is that it softens out the light and spreads it evenly on the subject. The basic form of light is a 3 point lighting, where one is a key light, one is a fill light that is to fill the shadows caused on the subject with the fill light and a backlight, this is
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to basically give the subject a 3 dimensional feel and to separate it from the backdrop. This gives a good feeling to the picture, for example if it’s a person this gives a good rim lighting and a glow around the subject and at times gives good highlights for the hair. The number of lights used also matters. For example, if there is one light used, the effect given will be very dramatic with lots of shadow covering most of the areas and this will give a good depth for the photograph. This can create a very dramatic feeling and can bring a particular mood to the photograph. When using two lights, which is a key light and a fill light, the shadow, is reduced and a brighter glowing effect is added, here the shadow is covered up and the subject is lit up in a decent manner. Rule says that the main light has to be in 45 degrees to the subject in respect to the camera and 45 degrees above the subject, the fill light has to be in 22degrees in respect to the camera and usually the fill light should be half as bright as the key light. But this measurement can change according to the desired lighting style. If it’s three point lighting, along with the key
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light, the fill light there is one more light that is the back light, here the light is given from behind the subject to illuminate the top area and to separate the subject from the background. This gives a good rim light and gives a glow around the subject. Lighting can be taken into the next level by adding extra lights to light up the background, called the background light. This effect at times gives a good gradient on the background and adds more impact to the photograph. There are more lighting methods called as kicker light.
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This light is to add some light right opposite to the main light, most of the time the subject will be facing the main light and this kicker light is placed directly opposite the main light or the key light. This mean the subject’s hair and backside will get lit up. Now if it’s for a fashion shoot, usually lighting drama is very less because of the fact that the garment has to be well lit in detail and nothing should be a distraction. You can barely find any shadow in a fashion shoot. Here the photographer tries to avoid shadow in the best way possible. Using all these lights in different proportions, for example by only using backlight, you can get an amazing effect, by using a kicker light and a key light there can be another style to the same picture. Basically, the lighting sets the mood for the picture. Depending on the lighting, the subject and the mood of the picture, each picture varies and varies in its method of lighting as well. Another device used in studio lighting is the light meter, when in studio lighting or in any other conditions, this device is very handy when it comes to photography. As you know the right exposure is important for any picture to
A basic 3 point studio lighting setup.
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look good. This job is usually done by the photographer by taking one or two photos in an approximate exposure and finally getting the right exposure. An extremely good photographer can guess the exposure by looking at the lighting conditions and get the digits somewhere close enough but in case of the light meter, it is far more accurate. It collects the light from the camera point of view and tells you the correct exposure required for the photograph. At times, for example in a sunset shot, if there is a silhouette effect that is causing a darker area in the photograph, this can confuse the light meter. So you have to be careful when you use one. Modern day DSLR are equipped with multiple light meters, but the final decision is made by the photographer.
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Did
you Ever try to photograph the moon? People think its hard because of the fact that its night and there is no enough light. The fact is that the moon is a lot brighter than you think it is and its not that hard to get a clean picture of the moon. Try it out and see how it looks.
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The Canon or The Nikon Which is full ON? Both the kings of DSLR camera making comes up with their new models. They are almost so similar that you can’t choose one from the other. If you are looking for your new camera. See which one do you like.
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W
ith amazing video quality and spot on image quality, the Canon 600D and Nikon D5100 are those cameras that anyone would love to have. For people who are in a lower range of cameras like a Canon 1100D or a Nikon D3100 the update won’t need a second thought. Before we go further ahead let’s look at the basic specs of both the cameras
a new person, looking at these cameras, one of them has to be better. I will be looking at this perspective and pointing out those which you won’t look at unless you had the cameras in your hands. But these points not necessarily be new features to the camera, the only addition both brands did to the cameras was a flipon LCD screen. Looking at everything else they are similar
different from each other, both are comfortable and doesn’t stick out too much, means you will nose bumping you LCD screen quite a lot. But on the visibility side of it, the Nikon viewfinder shows more than that of the Canon’s, the scale in numbers will come to really small and will be noticeable only if you are looking for the difference. Now coming to the camera info read outs in the
Sensor
18MP APS-C
16MP APS-C
LCD
3”, 720x480
3”, 640x480
ISO Range
100-6400(12800)
100-6400(12800, 24600, NV(mode)
Movie formats
1080p/24,25,30-720p/50,60 – VGA 25, 30
1080p, 720p-24,25,30 – VGA 25,30
Autofocus
9 points
11 points
Dimensions
5.2 x 3.9 x 3.1 in
5.0 x 3.8 x 3.1 in
Weight
515 g
560 g
As you can see the table above not so much of a difference, even though Nikon has little extra on its number of focus points and on ISO edge, but the ISO performance of both these cameras can’t be called amazing either. But both the cameras are close enough to confuse anyone who wants to choose either one. Both Nikon and Canon are known for their DSLR cameras all the way from beginner level to professional, and every photographer out there will have his or her mind set onto one brand which they love, either Canon or Nikon. But for
to the previous models. But since the fact that they are out there in the moderate range of cameras and is confusing a lot of peoples on which to choose a straight head to head comparison will be helpful. Both cameras were used with their kit lens, that is, the Canon 600D came with an 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS and the Nikon D5100 came with a 1855 f/3.5-5.6. Looking at the viewfinder, both the cameras were run-of-the– mill pentamirror, so both are on a draw there, even though the rubber eye rest is a little
viewfinder canon stands out on this one, its more brighter and clear. Coming to the LCD of the both the cameras, both are of the same size, but Canon’s LCD is slightly of a higher resolution, this looks more cleaner and crispier and the images look better to review, in a photo I took I could read number plates of cars few feet away in the Canon but not in the Nikon. The main spotlight for both these cameras is the articulating LCD screen. The screen articulate out to the left
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180 degrees and spins 270 degrees vertically. The movement is very smooth and both are strong and feel steady. The option to lock down the screens with the back facing outwards is helpful to keep the screens safe. To pull the screens out the Canon has a small cut out whereas the Nikon has small two grips on the top and bottom of the screen. These matter on an individual’s taste. Without looking at the normal difference on the placement of buttons on both the cameras as the traditional Nikon or Canon style, the Canon’s buttons merge with the shape of the body so well, some of the buttons have been shaped to go along with the shape of the camera. The D5100 buttons are circular The Canon’s buttons merge so much with the body that some of them are hard to find if shooting in the dark. But the menu navigation button on Canon feels sturdy whereas in the Nikon it’s soft. I prefer canon’s shutter button because of the angled position and the placement of the On/off button placement of the Nikon around the shutter button, the traditional way, is good as well. As a Canon user, I’m used to the jog dial being on where it is on the Canon, but whether you
like it or not is something for you to find out. And the fact that the Nikon’s dial keeps spinning forever is a real confusion, I feel that knowing the starting and ending position of the dial is very helpful, especially when clicking in a busy situation. The ISO button on the Canon which is separately a dedicated button is very helpful, where in the Nikon you have to go into the menu and set it, it’s weird the fact that Nikon didn’t make this important because they have a upper side when it comes to noise performance. When it comes to live view, switching into the LV mode is pretty much easy the same way in both, as the Canon has a small button next to the LCD where it switches to LV mode and the Nikon has a small snappy on top of the body. The time taken to switch to LV is faster on Nikon compared to that of the Canon. The autofocus on both the cameras once it’s in live mode is very slow and Canon takes a little extra time than Nikon on deciding, I would say using the manual focus in Live view would be better or if you are particular about autofocus switch back to the viewfinder mode. Coming into video mode, Canon has a movie mode button where you can switch into but in the Nikon you need to go to live view and then use a separate button to be in the movie mode. The formats have a variety of options on both cameras. The 1080p option in Canon doesn’t support 50fps which I find a little need, where as the Nikon supports both 30fps and 50fps for both. The other option Nikon has is the in camera effects for video like miniature or night vision etc. But honestly speaking I don’t think you need in camera effects for video, you are better off doing it in a video editing software. Looking at the image quality in general without going deep into technical details, the Canon is better off in picture quality, even thought the Nikon gives you amazing picture quality and it gives you exactly what you want, where as the Canon brushes it up and makes it a little better for you. One thing I found in this, basically processing of the image is that Canon has a slight warm tint to the pictures, where as Nikon sees it as it is. In low light conditions, the Nikon is better off with less grain in the picture but more detail is given out by Canon on higher ISO levels. To conclude, both these Cameras are amazing in its own ways, the Canon is more sturdy, better body grip, especially for big hands and whereas the Nikon is compact and for some people a better option for video as well.
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B
eauty can be seen in all things, seeing and composing the beauty is what separates the snap shot from a photograph.
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LONG EXPOSURE
The photography technique that dates back in time, the wonders these images can create is beyond words can speak. 33
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eople have started hearing about long exposure photography recently after the DSLR cameras became popular, but really, long exposure dates years back to the time photography was invented where people had to remain still for their images to get coated on a silver polished plate. Even though technology has developed a lot ever since, the long exposure style of taking photos still was going on, be it a low light condition or to add some dramatic effect to the photos. What exactly is long exposure, basically when you take a photo the shutter inside the camera opens and closes in the designated shutter speed, whatever the sensor see during this duration is captured. The
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faster the shutter speeds, the less the sensor can see and less the amount of light enters. Now when we slow down the shutter speed to a few seconds, the shutter of the camera remains open for that much time and all that time whatever the sensor sees gets captured. The aperture also plays an important role in controlling the amount of light entering the camera. So basically long exposure captures whatever happens that can be seen through the lens in give time interval. In this process, the effect makes
most of the pictures look like a painting or an artistic work. If taken a photo of a beach, the waters become smooth, sky becomes smooth and at night a long exposure photo of the sky can show you millions of stars that are not visible to the naked eye. Long exposure photography is a great form of art. The photographs you can take using this technique is mind blowing. The most important devices needed for long exposure is a tripod or something that can make the camera steady during exposure, a remote
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or a setting inside a camera with timer, this is needed because even the tiny movement caused due to pressing the shutter button can cause the picture to get blurry. Anything more than 1 second on a camera can be considered long exposure, there are presets like 10 sec, 15sec, 20sec, 30sec etc. there is also a option called bulb in your digital DSLR camera. This lets you decide the time you need to expose for. This can go beyond 30 seconds which is the maximum preset time. When you are shooting just after sunset, even though the sky might look really dark during that time, the little rays of light still brightens up the sky which is not visible to the naked eyes. In a long exposure shot the sky might get burned out, so you may be better off with an ND (Neutral Density) filter. Same goes to the glow before the sunrise as well. During sunsets or sunrise, even with little light in the sky and even with your aperture closed down all the way to the maximum, it’s impossible to get a long exposure shot without getting it burned out. For this, photographers use ND filter that can cut down light up to 10 stops. When using these filters make sure before you screw them onto your lens, you have to do your composition and focus and all other procedures because once you fit these filters you can’t see
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anything through the lens because they are that dark. Another thing to be taken care for long exposure shots is the ISO. As you know the purpose of ISO is to increase the light sensitivity of the sensor, so here in this case it’s advisable to keep the ISO as low as possible that is ISO 100 in a Canon or ‘L 1’ in a Nikon. This is because long exposure causes lot of light to enter the camera and if the light sensitivity of the sensor is high, there are chances for the picture to get grainy and will lose picture quality. One another fun aspect of long exposure is light painting. This is a beautiful form of art you can try out. The best part is all you need is a DSLR camera with a tripod and a pen light. Put the camera to long exposure mode and during the exposure period, with the pen light turned on, draw lines on the air as if you are drawing in the air. You can even write names and it’ll come as if you’ve written it on thin air. Experiment this with different coloured light source. Shooting moving traffic or a beach could give you excellent dramatic look to the photograph. Try out with different exposure settings and different locations. The beauty of long exposure has to be experienced on your own, you may take little time figuring out the settings, but eventually you’ll get a hang of it.
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Inventory
Some of the photography related products you might find helpful. Thanks to Mr. Maneef M Koya from twitching.com for providing the details. Caden Single Strap for Camera The Caden quick strap is made of neoprene and nylon for comfort and durability. Fits most SLR cameras on the market. Comes with a tripod quick-release plate with 1/4” threaded screw for connecting the camera to the strap. Also features ergonomic design for better weight distribution on the shoulder when shooting for long hours.
AED 99
Nikon Lens To Canon Body Adaptor Some lenses can never be replaced and you have for sure wished if you could use it. We are bringing you this small gadget to use your admired Nikor Lens onto a Canon camera.
AED 149
Lens Pen A superb new tool in optical lens cleaning technology.
AED 35
Lens Cup Canon 24 105mm It’s a Coffee Cup in the shape n size of yourCanon 24105mm Lens. It something you would love to posses as a Canon Fan !
AED 80
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Godox ThinkLite TT660 Speedlite Camera Flash Godox Thinklite TT660 Speedlite is an affordable offcamera hotshoe flash. It is compatible with all cameras which is with a stand hot shoe.
AED 295
Electronic Automatic Extension Tube Set for Macro This high quality automatic macro Extension Tube Set is designed to enable a lens to focus closer than its normal set minimum focusing distance. Getting closer has the effect of magnifying your subject (making it appear larger in the viewfinder and in your pictures).Â
AED 390
Camera Cleaning Kit This professional cleaning kit is exclusively designed for clearing digital and analog photographic devices, especially glass, plastic and multicoated lens and filters. Photographic devices should be cleaned softly and immediately after using.
AED 49
Light Painting Kit Light Painting Kit with five torches and a saber.
AED 180
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Spacing & Composition Spacing and composition plays one of the most important roles in photography. They are interrelated and these both combine together to form a beautiful photograph.
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I
n the world of photography, there are a lot of things a photographer deals with such as, aperture, shutter speed, lighting, focus etc. There is a lot to control and keep in mind, and one thing that is part of it in a subconscious way is ‘spacing’. The right spacing will give you the right composition. They play together a huge role in making your photos look the best. Like anything else in the world everyone needs space, so does photographs. Let’s see the basics of spacing and how it affects your photo. There are two kinds of spacing basically, negative space and positive space. Positive space is spacing around a subject that goes along with the picture or in simple terms, the space that goes according to the photographic rules and adds a perspective to the picture. Negative space is the space around the subject that kind of looks like unimportant or looks empty and looks like something which can be cropped. Controlling this spacing in the correct order is a very important factor and that’s where photographer’s true skills come into play. Having negative space can help you composition, but having too much or too little of space can completely ruin a good photograph. So to improve a photograph always look for the correct amount of space, especially when there is a particular area of focus on the subject, such
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as close up of eyes or a particular flower or even contrast of colour from one area to the other can matter. There is a rule in photography called ‘rule of space’ this rule says that, if the subject is not looking into the camera and is looking out from the picture, there should be enough space left for the subject to look into, means space should be left to the side to which the subject is looking at. This rule even though has nothing to do technically, it affects the minds of the people subconsciously and a photographer will know the rule and can tell you what is wrong in such conditions, but where as a normal person will look at the photograph and find something missing, means, subconsciously the person’s mind doesn’t agree with the picture. The rule applies same way if you are taking photos of moving objects like, animals running, vehicles etc. There should more of positive space towards the direction in the subject is moving and less space behind the subject. If the subject is facing towards the camera or opposite to the camera the subject can be on the centre. This effect creates an impact that the subject is moving and there is enough space in the photo, also it adds to the fact that this creates a lot of drama into the photo and adds dynamism. There is a saying that, it’s easy to break rules
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if you know them well. Same theory goes here as well; it could be amazing at times if you can break the rule. It can bring out a totally different meaning or totally different perspective to the photograph. If you can visualize this, there is a photograph in which a person is walking to the right side of the picture and the person is placed on the right side of the picture and on the left side there is an empty bench. This can give a meaning to the picture that the person jus left from the bench. The same spacing has to be done vertical to the photograph as well, this is called headroom. This comes into play if there is a photo of a person and if it’s a mid close up, there shouldn’t too much empty space on the top of the subject. This can also be called as negative space. Too much headroom can again make meaning if its composed in that way, by breaking the rule. To learn composition, best method is to start taking photos in black and white. In this way you can avoid the distraction of colour and give importance to your spacing and composition and this will help you improve your composing skills as well. Try breaking the rules and maybe in future you might find out something that nobody knew. Experiment and keep trying various stuffs, that’s what photography is all about and that’s what will bring the photographer out of you.
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A little bit of Macro.
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10 Tips for Portraits 10 tips to try different types of portrait photographs, experiment with angles and spacing.
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P
ortraits are known for their ‘wow’ factor. There are many pictures out there with amazing composition for portraits. But what is more amazing is that most of them don’t go by the rules. There are many ways to either break or bend the rule and take some amazing stunning photographs. Change your view point. Think out of the box. A portrait of a person doesn’t necessarily have to be from eye level. Go around and try something different. Go high, come really down close to ground as possible etc. Eye contact. Eye contact sparks a direct connection between a picture and a viewer, while this is good there are many other things also. Looking out of the frame Make your subject look like he or she is looking at something outside the camera and is not seen in your frame. This can create a feeling in the viewer and make them interested to the picture thinking what the subject is looking at. You can add onto this if the subject has an emotion going on, for example laughing or a serious face can get the viewer more anxious about the photograph. Looking between each other You can have the subject looking at something and have the point of interest to be in the frame. For example a dog looking at a light, you can have both the dog and light in the frame, telling the viewers what the dog is looking at. A mother looking at her baby could be another example as this can bring a lot of emotion. Break the Rules There are tones of rules out there when it comes to composition. Its always good to know them so that in case of an exception you can break those rules and bring it your way. The rule of third can be one of the rules easily broken to try out some amazing stuff. Placing your subject somewhere else where
the rule doesn’t tell you can make this happen. Looking space is another rule when it comes to portraits, try cutting this out and try out some shots, see how it looks. Work with lights. One of the main elements of photography, try out different kinds of lighting. There are numerous styles of lighting you can try when it comes to portraits. Each one can give each mood to the picture. Take the subject from their comfort zone. There are shots which are standard in every style, the theme and style used by numerous photographers depending on the theme, for example we all can stereotype a photograph taken for a romantic theme or a corporate theme etc. Think out of the box, think something different. Break those stereotypes and take things your way. For example imagine a business shoot in which a corporate person is wearing a suit and is going to jump into a pool. Even though this may sound silly, these are the things that can make you different from others. Capture the right moment. Posed shots can look posed as always, and people know it is posed, wait for that moment when your subject is out of the posing mode and is jus in his or her own time. Take shots of your subject with family or working with something they love, this will bring their reactions naturally into the picture, something more like a paparazzi I would say. These kind of shots are best if you are working with children. Props. Extra props can create a lot of distraction in the picture which will help you, the point of interest will shift from the subject to the prop and you can try out a lot of stuffs with this. Close up without giving full picture. Focus on one part of their body, maybe jus the legs or eyes or half their face, try out different stuffs and leave the remaining hidden factors for the viewers to imagine. 49
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This will get the viewer attracted to the picture. Sometimes what is not seen says more than what is seen in a photograph. Frame within the frame. Framing of a particular shot is done by the photographer to include or exclude certain things that he or she wants in the picture to be. Do little more into this by framing a photo and then make the subject to exclude certain things, for example ask the subject to cover half the face with clothe and let the viewer imagine the rest. Continuous shots. Put the camera in burst mode and get a series of shots of the same subject with more than one reaction at a time, it’s more like photo storytelling, or maybe even stop motion. This can work if your photographing anything like an animal which is very active and doesn’t stop giving different reactions.
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frames | www.frames.ae
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Little things matter in
Photography
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