Are you Instagramed yet?

Instagram is the newest rage that has hit the digital world. Especially if you notice it on sites like Facebook and Twitter, and if you have either one, chances are you’ve seen the glossy, filtered Smartphone photos. If not, then go ahead and look up that one Facebook friend who posts ten pictures a day of him- or herself doing mundane things like eating lunch and riding in the car.

Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger developed it in San Francisco in October 2010 due to their interest in mobile photography.

Thanks to surprisingly good-quality camera phones and apps like Instagram, the days of using a dark room or a big fancy camera to take cool photographs are over. So why is everyone using Instagram? Studies have shown that Instagram users have the intention of creating beautiful art and joining communities with this relatively new app.

Definitely photography is still easier than ever. And I am happy enough that the app is seriously helping users to get back to mobile phone clicking which has recently vanished into the sky cos of the cheap deals on digital cameras.

Personally, I think Instagram is a great app. I recently downloaded it and Instagramed a few photos of my own. A lot of my friends also have the app and I really enjoy seeing them posted on Facebook and Twitter. Instagram brings together people who have a common interest and encourages them to display their creativity. It is a fun way to make art and I believe that this app will only gain in popularity with the social savvy world.

Instagram is free, too, and can be downloaded on IPhone and Androids. So if you’re exhausted of your regular old photos and want to dapper them up with color and some cool filter effects, check out Instagram! And don’t forget to post the tons of test shots on your Facebook. I want to see them, really! :)

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Roll Down to the ‘Blues’

I certainly am writing a post after a long long time, so do spare me if you find my language a bit unpolished ;) you know what I mean! Anyways – The main point was that recently, I managed to enter the ‘Mahindra Blues’ festival that was held in Mumbai. & boy it was fab!!. Blues Music has always fascinated me in & out in recent years. The plus point was the photographs that I managed to click while listening to the whimsical music at the fest.

So thought I might dig deep into the form & get some info. On how the ‘Blues’ came to life. Also sharing some of the photographs from the event:

Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. - Plato

Blues is a Native American musical and verse form, with no direct European and African antecedents of which we know. In other words, it is a blending of both traditions. Something special and entirely different from either of its parent traditions. In the early nineteen-sixties, the urban bluesmen were "discovered" by young white American and European musicians. Many of these blues-based bands like the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, the Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Cream, Canned Heat, and Fleetwood Mac, brought the blues to young white audiences, something the black blues artists had been unable to do in America except through the purloined white cross-over covers of black rhythm and blues songs.

Music expresses feeling and thought, without language; it was below and before speech, and it is above and beyond all words.

Since the sixties, rock has undergone several blues revivals. Some rock guitarists, such as Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, and Eddie Van Halen have used the blues as a foundation for offshoot styles. While the originators like John Lee Hooker, Albert Collins and B.B. King - and their heirs Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, and later Eric Clapton and the late Roy Buchanan, among many others, continued to make fantastic music in the blues tradition. The latest generations of blues players like Robert Cray and the late Stevie Ray Vaughan, among others, as well as gracing the blues tradition with their incredible technicality, have drawn a new generation of listeners to the blues.

“Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music”

The photographs feature 2 amazing Indian Bands. – Blackstratblues & Soulmate.

Post your comments & feedback in the box below :)
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The Way of Light

It may be a little late for this, but it is a process I suppose. I’m still editing pictures from the year 2010 now that I think about it. Just thinking about editing all of the hundreds of thousands of pictures I made from 2011 is intimidating. That is where I am, buried in pixels.

I take a long time to do this. Of course, my favorite part of doing photography is looking at pictures. When it comes to my own work, I tend to be very critical, and this can make the process drawn out even longer. One of my most important goals from this effort is to get a better understanding of how I worked that year, how I’ve grown visually and where I need to improve.

So as I continue this process over 2012 or so, I figured I might share some on the blog:

If I had to choose a religion, the sun as the universal giver of life would be my god.

This photo was randomly clicked over an afternoon chat session with my office mates. Sometimes it’s best to capture that moment.

We continue to shape our personality all our life. If we knew ourselves perfectly, we should die. - Albert Camus

A photo – featuring my cousin was clicked when he was walking through the sun & shade. Never thought I’ll get a good response for this click. But did :p ..People actually loved this snap.

“There are three forms of visual art: Painting is art to look at, sculpture is art you can walk around, and architecture is art you can walk through” – Mumbai City

Architecture is the learned game, correct and magnificent, of forms assembled in the light. The photo clicked walking along the busy street of Mumbai

The pursuit of perfection, then, is the pursuit of sweetness and light.

A magnificent lantern or ‘kandil’ as we call it, lights the way through the sky. Was happy to see 10 of em attached to a kite.

Hope to work hard & click some more ...

Stay Safe. & Happy Clicking.. :)

Any advice or Feedback ? Do share your views with me on the comment box below. Thank You.

Life Under the Skies

A cloud does not know why it moves in just such a direction and at such a speed... It feels an impulsion... this is the place to go now.  But the sky knows the reasons and the patterns behind all clouds, and you will know, too, when you lift yourself high enough to see beyond horizons.

When scattered clouds are resting on the bosoms of hills, it seems as if one might climb into the heavenly region, earth being so intermixed with sky, and gradually transformed into it.  ~Nathaniel Hawthorne

The quietness, the empty streets on a rainy Monday evening, inspires you to click more & more. Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love, to work, to play, and to look up at the stars.

When we look up, it widens our horizons.  We see what a little speck we are in the universe, so insignificant, and we all take ourselves so seriously, but in the sky, there are no boundaries.  No differences of caste or religion or race.

Without a wish, without a will, I stood upon that silent hill, and stared into the sky until, my eyes were blind with stars and still, I stared into the sky. - Ralph Hodgson

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Take Stunning Abstract Pictures with Movement & Zoom

Camera movements have been used a lot to create an abstraction from a scene. The recipe is very simple: in a long exposure times move the camera while exposing. The result will look similar to the scene but in a more abstract way, in this small article I will discuss how to do it and what kind of results you can expect.

Equipment

Many of these images can be done handheld but it will be a lot easier with a tripod. If you handhold the camera it will be really difficult to get motion in only one direction and the result will probably look messy. If you have a tripod you also need a good head, a head that can allow you to move the camera in only one direction. Three way tripod heads or geared heads are perfect for the task. A ballhead will not be very useful but you can use it to pan horizontally if it has a panning knob as most ballheads have.

On a Sunny day you may also need some ND filters are you will be trying to achieve long exposure times. A ND8 filter is probably enough if you stop down the lens to F16 or F22. Diffraction is not a big problem as nothing in the image will be totally sharp.

A zoom lens is a good idea to create different compositions and to do some zooming!

Exposure Time

This depends a lot on the scene and what you plan to do. Very long exposure times or very short exposure times usually produce an unpleasant result. If you can try to use exposures from 1/30 to 4 seconds. With 1/30 you need a fast wrist!

Movements

The movements you can try depend on your equipment and the scene some basic ideas are:

• Vertical panning (typical for trees)
• Horizontal panning
• Circular panning
• Zooming

Circular movements are nice for fisheye views of a forest with the lens pointed straight up or for the opposite effect with the lens pointed 90 degrees down on a flower field or some scene with a lot of contrast.

Camera movements can be fun to try and can help you create a beautiful scene with bad light or when there are distracting elements in the middle of your composition. It’s a simple way to create abstract representations of what you see and if you process them strongly they can be beautiful prints.

Courtesy: Photography Blogger

Composition Tips for Landscape Photography

To get impressive landscape images, you have to think outside of the box and beyond the stunning vista before you. Composition is a key component in any image, but it can take an average vacation snapshot and transform it into a true work of art. Below are a few key points to look for when composing your landscape image.

Leading Lines - Landscape images call for a viewer to look across the entire frame to take it all in. This is accomplished much easier when there’s a leading line guiding the viewer. Whether literal lines like the boardwalk in the image below or strong horizon lines such as a mountain range or treeline, leading lines can easily direct the attention where you want it.

Minimalism - Sometimes the best landscape images are the ones that say the least, using negative space and contrast to make a prominent point. You can either isolate part of your photo by composition or by using a wide aperture (shallow depth of field) - either way, it’s a fantastic method to create a stunning landscape in a clean, crisp manner.

Layers - Landscape images are known for creating layers within a composition, both subtle and prominent. They can come in the form of sharp lines across several mountain ranges or the gradual transition between foreground and background. Whatever your image is composed of, layers of color or content can make for a powerful landscape photo.

Patterns - When you have a repeated pattern in your image, it can create a visually striking composition. Patterns can come in the form of textures, colors, or physical elements in your scene (such as the rows of lavender plants below).

Foreground Interest - The power foreground interest can bring to a landscape is considerable – it can take a beautiful vista and turn it into a well-balanced image with multiple focal points. While many beginner landscape photographers may focus on a beautiful backdrop of a sunset or hillsides in the distance, someone with a bit more experience would look for a strong focal point in the immediate foreground (such as the rocks below) to bring the image together, creating a complete and breathtaking photo.

These are just a few of the many composition tips you can follow to create stunning landscape images. The goal is to create a photo that is unique, but also strong in presentation. Once you’ve developed your own sense of style, finding a powerful composition will be like second nature, where incredible photos come naturally to you.

Article Courtesy: - Christopher O' Donnell

Life - By the Sea

Life By the Sea -


We all like the Sea Shore. Calm and Silent. Always provides me with different meanings whenever i look at the water and the shore. The noise of the water on the rocks, the crystal clear shoreline and many more.
There is so much to learn from it. You just need some imagination and the scene gives you with all the Life's answers


Every time I have some moment on a seashore, i see the dark water. The story they tell.. The lesson they teach.

Every moment and every wave on the shore plants something to my soul.

I would like to share some of my clicks on the Shore - with you guys :)

To put meaning in one's life may end in madness, But life without meaning is the torture Of restlessness and vague desire-It is a boat longing for the sea and yet afraid.

When you live by the sea, there are definite seasons when you can see the weather coming and going, which lends itself to photography.

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Travel Photography – In Monochrome

As I was surfing through the net, I came across some works from some the leading snappers. You might have doubted how black and white pictures make an impression sturdier than colour snapshots.

When clicked with full passion and knowledge - black and white pictures can successfully tell a story and suggestively convey attitudes not seen in colour images. Yet, not every theme may be appropriate for capturing in black and white.

Here are few pointers to select when to you go for monotone images instead of colour &how to make a picture that leaves a long-lasting impression.

• B&W or color - Select to go for black and white when colour in the subject is not important, but you are trying to convey a mood, a story or an action related to your subject. A good illustration is a portrait of an elderly person, where you are trying to focus the wrinkles on his face but you are not very interested in the colors of his clothes.

• Subject Selection - Black and Whites work well in photographing portraits of people, people at work and in documenting an action or a process. It would also work well in comparatively darker surroundings where colours can’t be highlighted, high-contrast states and in places that have an old-fashioned feeling. Roadside chai stalls, lively markets in thin lanes are some good samples.

• Process your photograph - Use more innovative processing methods such as ‘Channel Mixer’ in Adobe Photoshop, where you have a superior control in deciding how the final image should look.

Mobile Phone Photography - Keep Clicking

The rise of mobile phone photography as an art form, rather than just a convenient way to grab casual snapshots, has greatly inspired me.

We have developed a habit of clicking photographs from our cell phone devices and cherish them later. In most cases, our phone has become our primary camera, but despite tech developments that can see high-end options, most of us have 3.2-megapixel or less with limited functionality. But this doesn't mean you can’t take great photos — it just means you have to be smart about getting the right shot.

If you’re interested in taking better photos with your phone, then have a look through the article for some hints, tips, tricks and ideas for shooting success with your camera phone.

Manage Light - Camera phones always fight with the adjustment of lights. Try using manual settings on your camera phone and experiment on shooting with and without flash. Use the natural light available and try to reduce the harsh flash while shooting portraits.

Lessen the Camera Wobble – One of the greatest challenges with mobile phone cameras is the wobble while clicking images. Although this might help creating a special effect for certain pictures but more often it is an annoying result. Try using both your hands while clicking and try to reduce the shake to click stunning pictures...

Try Black & White – In certain circumstances, the image looks more striking when clicked in Black & white. Some angles enhance the objects and the overall effect of the click when turned to black & white. Portraits and close shots are mostly advisable when clicking in monotone.

Experiment on Different Angles – Experiment with your photography by clicking pictures from different angles. Get near to the ground, shoot from above, and keep clicking on different angles.

The best thing about camera phone snapping is that we never run out of film. So keep trying new approaches on your clicks and categorize the best of them. Remember – “The Best Images are born by imaginative experimentation.”

Do tell me your advices in the comments below.