CM YK
Do you see GHOSTS IN THE DARK? • easy ways TO draw stick figures WITH LIGHT
BETTER PHOTOGRAPHY
www.betterphotography.in
get creative WITH LONG EXPOSUREs • Master the art of LIGHT PAINTING • Review: RICOH GXR
Better Technique. Better Insight. Better Pictures
Simple tips to shoot light streaks & other spectacular effects outdoors LET’S GET CREATIVE WITH LONG
Exposure Zoom burst, camera toss, camera shake, light tracing & other fun techniques at your fingertips
Master the art of light painting
Vol. 13 • No. 10 • March 2010
EXCLUSIVE REVIEWS World’sew i Nikon S1000pj First Rev R X Panasonic ZR1 G oh c i le RInterchangeaebra Canon S90 cam sensor
PHOTOFEATURE
A glimpse into the life of pehalwans inside an akhara
HISTORY
The origins of the magic kamra—the camera obscura
EXCLUSIVE
An interview with American historian Judith Mara Gutman
CM YK
PROFILE
Jan Pohribný on the illusions he creates with his camera.
h iew it 1 ev n w -PL Pr ds-o s E n u Ha p ym Ol
March 2010 • Rs. 100
March 2010
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SnapShots
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Software of the Month Exposure Plot
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Book Review The Bride’s Guide to Wedding Photography
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GearGuide
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Shooting Technique
Canon PowerShot S90 Can this compact be a pro’s choice?
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Nikon COOLPIX S1000pj A camera with a projector inside!
The World is Your Canvas Shoot spectacular effects like light streaks and blurs
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Artistic Abstracts with Long Exposures Some easy ways to create beautiful abstracts!
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Panasonic LUMIX DMC-ZR1 A compact camera with substance
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HANDS-ON PREVIEW
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test
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Look Who’s Shooting Dr Avanish Rajan
ON THE COVER
Photograph: Amit K (et al) Design: Pradeep Kumar B Nambiar
BetterPictures
Olympus PEN E-PL1 An exclusive preview of this new entry-level PEN
Incredible Light Graffiti Simple steps to the art of light painting
Ricoh GXR World’s first camera with interchangeable sensors
InFocus
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ON ASSIGNMENT
Sketching with Light Draw stick figures with a simple torch
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Paint a Pretty Long Exposure Move the camera to create painting-like pictures Ghosts in the Dark An eerie world created with long exposures
Profile
Jan Pohribný On the illusions he creates with his camera My Best Shot
PhotoFinish
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DIFFERENT STROKES
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MARKET SENSE
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Story Behind the Picture
Ashok Dilwali
100 Mrs. Gutman’s Indian Exclusive profile
Eyes This historian’s take on the past, present & future
Old Reflections History of Photography
The Magic Kamra A journey into the world of the camera obscura
Stay Connected! To grow your professional network The Highest Paid Photograph in an Auction
Regulars
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TIPS & TRICKS
Shoot funny photos, outof-focus images and more
108 Idris Ahmed PHOTOFEATURE
Kushti in Sacred Soil
Feedback.............................................................12 PHOTOCRITIQUE................................................... 80 Q & A................................................................... 88 1000 WORDS........................................................106 Your Pictures................................................... 112 BP Buyer’s Guide...............................................156
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Ricoh CX3 This new superzoom compact from Ricoh is a 10MP camera with 10.7x optical zoom (28–300mm in 35mm parlance). It has a back-illuminated sensor for enhanced low-light performance and a 3-inch LCD with a resolution of 920k dots. The camera can shoot at 5fps (at full resolution) and also has an Ultra-High-Speed continuous shooting mode that can take images at 120fps during an interval of about one second, after the shutter-release button is pushed. It also has a Dynamic Range Double Shot mode that gives better details in shadows and highlights. It can also shoot 720p HD video.
Panasonic DMC-ZX3 and DMC-FX66
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The Panasonic ZX3 is an 8x optical zoom camera. It has 27 shooting modes including a new Happy Mode that optimises colour, saturation and exposure of photographs and videos. The company also unveiled the 14.1MP FX66, a camera with 5x optical zoom. Both cameras have an Intelligent Resolution technology that extends the zoom by 1.3x, while maintaining picture quality. Both cameras also shoot 720p HD video.
Panasonic LUMIX DMC-FT2 The new Panasonic LUMIX DMC-FT2 is a shockproof and waterproof camera and replaced the DMC‑FT1. Its 4.6x optical zoom gives an equivalent focal length of 28–128mm. The FT2 features HD movie recording capability, using AVHDC Lite format. It has a 14.1MP sensor and is waterproof up to 10m, shockproof to 2m, freezeproof to -10°C and dustproof. Along with scene modes like Sports, Snow, and Beach and Surf, the camera also has a High Dynamic mode to capture an expanded dynamic range.
18MP, Full HD Video in Canon’s Latest DSLR B arely 11 months after Canon introduced the EOS 500D, the company has launched its successor—the EOS 550D. The 550D has an 18MP sensor, similar to the one in the EOS 7D, and has a shooting speed of 3.7fps. The most significant feature of the camera is an upgraded Full HD video mode. The video is highly customisable, as you can shoot up to a resolution of 1920 X 1080 pixels at 24/30fps and 1280 X 720 pixels at 50/60fps with full manual control. The camera also has an improved iCFL metering system and a 63-zone DualLayer Metering sensor, which uses the colour information of the subject, while determining exposure. Its 10,40,000dot LCD is the highest-resolution LCD
among present-day DSLRs. Unlike previous cameras in the same series, this camera allows you to adjust exposure compensation by +/- 5 stops. The EOS 500D will continue to be available in the market.
Panasonic Optical Seminar 2010 in Melbourne P anasonic Australia conducted an optical seminar in Melbourne, from 27–28 January 2010. The focus of the seminar was the in-house production of key components for the digital still camera. Ikuo Miyamoto, Managing Director - Panasonic Asia Pacific, spoke at length during this event. He said, “The vision was to establish LUMIX as a top camera brand by creating a new photo culture in the digital era. Panasonic needs to add impetus and grow the LUMIX business in the [Asia Pacific] region including in India.” During this event, the company unveiled 14 new compact cameras and eight tapeless camcorders. It also launched a new range of SDXC cards.
Shridhar Kunte
Ikuo Miyamoto, MD – Panasonic Asia Pacific
It takes a lot of imagination to be a good photographer. You need less imagination to be a painter, because you can invent things. But in photography everything is so ordinary; it takes a lot of looking before you learn to see the ordinary. David Bailey (1938) British photographer David Bailey is regarded as one of the main trailblazers of the ‘Swinging London of The 60s’, which saw the emergence of high fashion and celebrity chic. Although he is highly regarded for his standout, brilliant fashion photography especially for Vogue, he has also shot celebrities like The Beatles, Jack Nicholson and the notorious gangsters the Kray twins. He has created extraordinary album art for musicians like The Rolling Stones, and has also directed many documentaries and TV commercials. Better Photography
Image source: 125magazine.blogspot.com
March 2010
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Olympus M.ZUIKO ED 9–18mm f/4-5.6 This is the company’s second Micro Four-Thirds lens to incorporate the collapsing barrel design, making it less than half the size of a conventional wide-angle zoom lens. The lens has a lightweight singleelement internal focus unit for silent, fast autofocus performance. It will be available from May 2010 and will be priced at USD 700 (approx. Rs. 31,500).
Olympus M.ZUIKO ED 14–150mm f/4-5.6 The Olympus M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 14–150mm f/4-5.6 is the first superzoom lens launched by the company for the Micro Four-Thirds format. Just like the M.ZUIKO 9–18mm lens, this lens too features an internal focusing unit for quick and silent autofocus operation. It will be available from June 2010 and will be priced at USD 600 (approx. Rs. 27,000).
Leaf Aptus-II 8 The Leaf Aptus-II 8 is a medium format digital back with a resolution of 40MP. Claiming to be the world’s fastest digital back, it has a capture rate of under 0.8sec per frame, and can deliver a burst of 60 full-resolution images per minute.
JOBO Card Readers Jobo has introduced new multi-card readers, writers and storage boxes. The new designs include the JOBO Cube CF (68-in-1), JOBO Cube HUB (57-in-1) and the 70-in-1 Standard High Speed JOBO USB Multi-card Reader/Writer. The JOBO Cube CF can store up to six CF cards or ten SD cards, while the Jobo Cube HUB features two USB HUB ports and can store up to eight SD cards.
Canon EOS E1 plug-in for Final Cut Pro The EOS E1 plug-in allows users of the Canon EOS 1D Mark IV, 5D Mark II and 7D to log and mark videos in Apple’s editing software Final Cut Pro. One can tag videos with the timecode, reel names and metadata before the video is imported into the software. A free Beta version of the plug-in will be available later this month.
Olympus Introduces the Budget PEN, the E-PL1 O lympus has launched the PEN EPL1, the third camera in its Micro Four-Thirds range. The E-PL1 has a number of features similar to the other PEN cameras, including a TruePic V Image Processor, 12.3MP sensor and 720p HD video. However, there are also many improvements, such as the inclusion of a pop-up flash, a bigger Live View button, and a dedicated REC button that can be customised to access any shooting function. Other features of the E-PL1 include 3-stop IS and a 2.7-inch LCD. The
E-PL1 with the 14–42mm kit lens is priced at USD 599.99 (approx. Rs. 27,000). Read our preview of the E-PL1 on page no. 32
Ebrahim Alkazi Honoured With Padma Vibhushan E brahim Alkazi, the founding head of India’s premier theatre training institute the National School of Drama (NSD), New Delhi, was awarded with the Padma Vibhushan—India’s second highest civilian of honour. Already the recipient of the Padma Shri, the Padma Bhushan and the
Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship, Alkazi won the Padma Vibhushan for his lifelong contribution to theatre. Though Alkazi retired from NSD 30 years ago, he has remained active in the artistic sphere. He has directed over 50 plays, including famous productions of Girish Karnad’s Thuglaq, and Dharmvir Bharati’s Andha Yug. He also established the Alkazi Foundation and began collecting old photographs and paintings, conceptualising and curating exhibitions.
Magnum Sells Press Archives to Dell Mogul B illionaire Michael Dell’s investment firm MSD Capital L P has purchased the entire New York press archive of renowned photo agency Magnum Photos. This is being touted as one of the largest photo transactions ever made. The collection totals to nearly 200,000 vintage photographic prints dating from the 1930s to 2003, from around 103 photographers and images. It includes some of the most iconic images in history, including photos of world leaders, celebrities, and major events such as World War II. Though the price was not disclosed, the collection was previously insured for over USD 100 million. The deal was initiated by Magnum director Mark Lubell, who had been charged with modernising the agency. Though it has had an impeccable
photojournalistic reputation, the agency has an uncertain financial future and Lubell is focused on getting the agency in order. Yet he explains that the company was founded not to be a profit centre, but to sustain its members. Under the agreement, the prints will be preserved, catalogued, and made accessible by the Harry Ransom Center, a humanities research library and museum at The University of Texas at Austin for a period of five years. The Center will promote the collection with exhibitions, research and fellowships. While MSD Capital purchased all of the physical prints and will contribute to maintenance and insurance costs, Magnum’s member photographers will retain the copyright and licensing rights to all of the photographs.
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GearGuide
How We Test Product Categorisation We first segregate products into categories for the purpose of equitability in testing. The DSLR is divided into entrylevel, semi-professional and professional categories. For compacts, we distinguish between advanced and basic compact cameras. Similarly, we also test consumer and pro lenses, flashguns, printers, and other photographic accessories and gear.
The Process We primarily test for features, performance, build, ergonomics, warranty and support. While this remains constant, the weightage we give to these parameter differs from category to category, because different types of consumers have diverse expectations from products.
Final Ratings Under each main parameter, we 32 list out hundreds of individual variables (for eg. colour accuracy for individual colours in different lighting, individual features, dynamic range, center-to-edge definition, light fall-off, etc.) against which we either give points or simply mark ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Thus, we arrive at a score for that parameter, and then, the final score, denoted as a percentage. Additionally, based on the current pricing of a product, a star rating for ‘Value for Money’ is considered. Value for Money does not affect the final percentage, because prices for products change constantly.
Our Seals of Approval Any product that scores 80% or higher in individual tests gets ‘BP Recommended’—a seal of approval from our team. In comparison tests, we also tag products as ‘BP Best Performer’ and ‘BP Best Value for Money’.
BP Excellence Awards At the end of the calendar year, the five highest rated products in each category automatically gets nominated for the ‘Better Photography Excellence Awards’. A panel of experts then decide the winners. This is BP’s recognition of the very best products launched in the course of the year, and the companies that made them. Better Photography
Olympus PEN E-PL1
The Baby Pen
In a special preview, Raj Lalwani uses the entry-level Olympus PEN E-PL1 only a few days after its worldwide announcement.
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he Olympus PEN E-P1 and E-P2 are two cameras that the BP team really enjoyed using. They are small, feature-packed and give excellent image quality. In fact, we often look at both cameras and only wish they were less expensive, so that we could add them to our personal camera collections. This was why we were quite pleased when Olympus announced an inexpensive version of the PEN, the E-PL1. Around the same time as its worldwide announcement, we used a pre-production
piece of the camera. It is even smaller than the previous PEN cameras, but the build quality and aesthetic appeal have been compromised to a certain extent.
Offers More at a Cheaper Price It might seem surprising that the PEN E‑PL1 offers a number of features that are not there in the twice-as-expensive E-P2. In that sense, a number of users may consider the PEN E-PL1 to be a much better deal. The headline feature of the E-PL1 is the inclusion of a pop-up flash. march 2010
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Ricoh GXR
PriceyTwo in One
When you change one lens unit for another, the Ricoh GXR becomes a whole new camera. KÂ Madhavan Pillai puts this completely unique camera system through its paces. Weightage of parameters 5% 15% 15% 20%
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Features Performance Build Quality Ergonomics Warranty & Support
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nce every few years, Ricoh comes up with something so unique that it captures a significant amount of attention. This innovative spirit is essential for smaller companies. It helps them compete with bigger manufacturers who do not care to make similar types of cameras for a small bunch of users with very specific, and often highend, requirements. The popular Ricoh GR series stands testimony to this. The Ricoh GXR, on test this month, is not just another mirrorless interchangeable lens camera, but a whole new, customisable camera system.
The GXR Interchangeable Lens Unit System The GXR is a camera in two parts. One part is the body, which has the LCD panel, the controls, battery and media card compartment, in-built flash, data ports and the hot-shoe which can take either an external flash or an electronic viewfinder. The lens unit of the camera is detachable and houses the imaging sensor, main image processing engine, focus motors, lens optics and the shutter. Each lens unit slides into the GXR body and locks in. All of the features of the camera body are available for either lens unit, menu options change depending on the unit attached.
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Canon PowerShot S90
A Pro’s Choice
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Raj Lalwani tests the Canon PowerShot S90, a tiny compact camera that offers a lot to the pro photographer.
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Features Performance Build Quality Ergonomics Warranty & Support Better Photography
ecently, there has been a surge in the demand for cameras that give excellent image quality in a small, pocketable body. These cameras have particularly caught the interest of serious hobbyists who are looking for advanced features, and also of professionals who need a compact camera that they can always keep with them. The past year has seen the introduction of many such cameras; however, manufacturers are still to get the concept right. While some cameras boast of excellent image quality and RAW shooting, their general ergonomics and usability are not as good. On the other hand, cameras of the Canon G series and the Olympus PEN series come packed almost all the features a pro would want, but are a lot bulkier than a regular compact camera.
This is why we were not surprised when Canon reintroduced its S series of pocketable, high-end compact cameras with the Canon PowerShot S90. This tiny compact camera can not only shoot in RAW, but also has a number of features designed for the pro on the go.
Features The Canon S90 along with the simultaneously launched G11 may just signal the end of the ‘big megapixel resolution’ race. As compared to the 14.7MP Canon PowerShot G10, Canon has chosen to use only a 10MP sensor in their latest high-end compact cameras. Due to this, the camera’s sensor is a lot less dense with pixels, which potentially means better image quality at higher ISO settings. Also, a resolution of 10MP is enough for almost every kind of application.
What’s in the box • S90 camera • Li-ion battery, charger and cord • Lens cap with strap • Software CD • USB, AV cables • User manual march 2010
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Nikon COOLPIX S1000pj
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Click and Project Nikon COOLPIX S1000pj is the world’s first compact camera with a built-in projector. Neha Mutreja takes a closer look at this novelty.
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ikon COOLPIX cameras have always had innovative features to offer to their customers. This time Nikon has launched the COOLPIX S1000pj—the world’s first compact camera with a built-in projector. This camera not only allows you to click images, but the added projector takes it to a whole new level.
Features This 12.1MP camera comes with a 5x optical zoom lens (28–140mm in 35mm parlance). Its unique feature is a projector that has been primarily designed for the basic user. It can project images of sizes between 5 and 40 inches. You can place it on the provided stand and adjust the distance between the camera and the screen in order to alter
the projection size. You can either project images individually or play a slideshow with effects and music. A projector focus slider helps adjust the clarity of the photographs. A remote control (included) allows you to shoot images and project wirelessly. The S1000pj is a very basic camera with no controls over shutterspeed and aperture settings. It features optical and electronic VR systems to produce blur-free images. Its Face-Priority AF focuses up to 12 faces, while the Skin Softening feature helps shoot better portraits. It also includes the Smile Timer and Blink Proof functions to help capture the right moment.
Handling The Nikon S1000pj is not a bulky camera even though a projector has been
What’s in the box • Nikon COOLPIX S1000pj • Camera strap • Instruction manual • Li-ion battery • Remote control • Battery charger • Projector stand • USB and AV cables • Warranty card march 2010
Sho ot ing T echniq ue
BetterPictures
Incredible Light Graffiti Have you ever splashed a canvas with paint? Ambarin Afsar shows you how you can do the same with light!
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Use a torch to slowly trace the outline of a vehicle, person or even the furniture in your living room. Exposure: Details not available Better Photography
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Shooting Technique
On Assignment
On Assignment
Artistic Abstracts With Long Exposures Painting images
Sketching With Light Drawing stick figures with a torch
Paint a Pretty Long Exposure Surrealist landscapes
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ou must have fond memories of dipping a brush into water colours and making fun paintings. You can make similar paintings with light as well! Even if you are not familiar with light painting, you must have probably already experimented with it. Remember that March 2010
brilliant light trail of fireworks that you captured with your camera last Diwali? Or have you photographed wonderful spirals and streaks of light coming from a twinkling, well-decorated Christmas tree? If your answer is “yes”, then you are already a light painter! Light painting is a photographic technique where you physically ‘paint’ or sketch light within your frame, during a long exposure. This can be done using a light source like a torch or even a bulb. What can you paint with light? Well, almost anything! Limited only by your creativity, light painting is as versatile as you want it Better Photography
Photography & Light painting: Jim Laurence
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Sho ot ing T echniq ue
The World is Your Canvas Ambarin Afsar helps you discover creative ways of making stunning long exposures of the most everyday scenes around you.
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ave you ever looked out of the window of a cab and wished that the traffic would disappear, leaving behind only a trail of light? Wish no more. You can make this happen with your camera! And this is just one of the uses of long exposures. Long exposures can transform Better Photography
dull subjects into magical photographs. Landscapes can look like fairy lands, waterfalls look silken and dreamlike and stars like streaks of light across the canvas of the sky. To achieve any of this, all you need to do is look for the most suitable subjects and then figure out the right settings for the same. march 2010
Sho o t ing T echnique
Set an exposure between 3–6 seconds, zoom in a little, pause for a second, zoom in a little more, pause for a second again, zoom in all the way, pause and voila–you have an unusual zoom burst! Exposure: 3.2sec at f/7.1 (ISO 100) march 2010
Better Photography
Samira Pillai
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Sho ot ing T echniq ue
Artistic Abstracts with Long Exposures Raj Lalwani tells you how you can keep the shutter open for extended periods of time to create magnificent abstract imagery.
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hotography is all about vision. You look at a regular scene in front of you, but the manner in which you shoot it can make it completely unrecognisable. The beauty of abstract photography is that it can make anything look attractive, mysterious or even gloomy. A simple way you can create such images is by using long exposures.
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Why Long Exposures Make Great Abstracts Long exposures are fascinating primarily because they show the world differently from how our eyes see it. Unlike conventional photography, you are not merely ‘recording’ a scene, but creating one of your own. The choice of technique and the length of your exposure can interpret your scene in completely different ways—it
A long exposure and a moving source of light can create unique lines and shapes that you can use within your frame. Exposure: 1sec at f/22 (ISO 200)
John Nyberg Better Photography
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Sho o t ing T echnique
The camera was tossed in the air while using a slow shutterspeed to capture this pattern of colours. Exposure: 1/15sec at f/6.3 (ISO 80) march 2010
Better Photography
Eric A Anderson
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A stick figure is shown climbing up the stairs. IÂ like this image, because it depicts the structure of the human body and how people move around. Exposure: 44.2sec at f/14 (ISO 200) Better Photography
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Sketching with Light Puneet Dembla attempts to draw stick figures using a torch instead of a pencil. My Assignment Description To draw human figures using simple lines while making use of the background as a prop
Duration Seven nights to shoot and one day to post-process
Notes While light painting, you need to use your imagination and make an approximation about where the first line ends and where the connecting line should begin. March 2010
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hotography means drawing with light. If you take the term literally and paint with light, you will be amazed with the results! You do not need brushes or colours to light paint. All you need to do is use a light source as your paint brush and the scene in front of you as your canvas. You can use different coloured lights for variety, include real people in your images or simply light paint the scene.
The possibilities in this fun, experimental technique are indeed, endless.
My Perspective I came across the concept of light painting accidentally when I was toying with my camera. While experimenting with the Bulb mode in the dark, I noticed that the light coming from the battery charger registered as a streak of light. This amazed me and I went on to write my name with Better Photography
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Paint a Pretty Long Exposure Chris Friel puts aside the ‘everything-must-look-sharp’ rule and experiments with long exposures while capturing landscapes.
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My Assignment Description To experiment with colour imagery and long exposures
Duration Work in progress since January 2010
Notes I feel that if an image is not right after five minutes of shooting or post-processing, then I have done something wrong. Better Photography
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ost photographers since Ansel Adams, have been obsessed with keeping everything in the frame in perfect focus. However, I try to leave a little more to imagination. People like the Russian photographer Alexey Titarenko, who have spent years trying to photograph the world in a unique way, inspire me. Titarenko creates long exposures in which humans appear
fragile, insubstantial and ghost-like against solid backdrops of streets and cityscapes. In my series, I have attempted to keep isolated elements sharp, while other elements in the frame are simplified by a motion blur.
My Perspective The series is an ongoing experiment with colour images. I spent ten years working as a painter, and bought a camera only March 2010
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I shot this just after sunset by moving the camera horizontally. The blue colouring is from shooting with the ‘wrong’ colour balance. Exposure: 1sec at f/14 (ISO 50) March 2010
Better Photography
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To capture this blur, I asked a friend to pose for a few seconds and then leave the frame. The dark clouds add to the eerieness of the image. Exposure: 8sec at f/18 (ISO 100)
Ghosts in the Dark Rohit S Krishnan experiments with low-key, blurry effects to create photographs that are full of mystery, eerieness and spooky characters.
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I added grain and did not mind sensor dust appearing in my photographs, since they simply added to the stark mood. Exposure: 15sec at f/22 (ISO 100)
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he beauty of photography is that every single click of the camera has its own story to tell. Also, a viewer reacts to each photograph differently, because of the memories and associations they think of, when they see the image. It is this correlation between photographs and memories that inspired me to start this abstract photo series.
My Perspective I wanted to create a series of images that are vague, abstract and open to interpretation, depending on the kind of memories one shares. The moment a viewer interprets these abstract images, they become a lot more personal to him, and he is bound to remember them for a long time. As Napoleon once said, “Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.” march 2010
My Assignment Description To create visuals that are spooky and obscure and can be interpreted by the viewer in different ways
Duration An ongoing series that I have been shooting since the past six months
Notes Forget the rules—the more you break them, the better your images will be!
To add to the ambiguity, I decided to make the subject vague and blurry—almost like a ghost. After all, spirits are fascinating, as they are shrouded in mystery and darkness. This was how this series of moody, ghost-like images was born.
The Process As a personal challenge to myself, I set out to identify moments in which a blurry
The moment a viewer interprets these abstract images, they become a lot more personal to him. Better Photography
Prof i l e
ShowCase
The Illusionist A glimpse into the world of Jan Pohribný’s stunning imagery will leave you thinking about the connection between objects and space. Samira Pillai finds out more about this artist.
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Better Photography
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My Best Shot
Great Masters
Photo Feature
Ashok Dilwali On his favourite moonlight image
Judith Mara Gutman On the past and future of Indian photography
Idris Ahmed P r o f i l e Kushti in Sacred Soil
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Jan Pohribný
• 49-year-old Jan lives in Unetice village which is close to Prague in Czech Republic. • He enjoys music and even plays the guitar. • He has produced a book called Magic Stones, which is a study of megalithic art in Europe. “It is fascinating what we did some thousand years ago,” he says.
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he more time you spend looking at his images, the more you discover something about yourself. Even though they are the results of creative photographic techniques, the images draw you in on a more basic level. You find yourself dipping into your March 2010
subconscious, pulling out events, memories and emotions that make up your life. Such is the impact of his photography. This is perhaps why Jan Pohribný’s work stands out in the chaotic world of visuals around us. “How I caption my photographs can show some direction
Heads, 2005: Jan took these plaster heads “for a swim” in Finland, lied down on the muddy shore and placed his camera close to the water. The water surface reflected flash light onto the faces. Better Photography
History
172 This 1658 painting titled The Milkmaid was done by Johannes Vermeer—one of the greatest Dutch painters who was rumoured to have used the camera obscura for his paintings.
Image source:Wikipedia Commons
The Magic Kamra
Ambarin Afsar discovers how the camera obscura captured lifelike images, centuries before photography was invented.
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alk into a very dark room on a bright day. Cover the window with black paper. Make a small hole in the paper and look at the opposite wall. You will see the world outside the window in full colour, but everything is upside down! This is the basic principle of the camera obscura. In Latin, ‘camera’ means ‘room’ (similar to the Hindi word kamra), and ‘obscura’ means ‘dark’. Put simply, the camera obscura is a dark room or a box with a hole at one end. Better Photography
How It Works This very large pinhole camera was used by early artists and painters to create realistic paintings. Light from outside would pass through the hole and strike a surface inside. Inside the camera obscura, the scene was reproduced upside down, but with colour and perspective preserved. The image formed could be traced on to paper, and colours could then be filled in, true to natural details. This principle was known to scholars and thinkers as early as 500 BC. march 2010
H i sto ry
Unique Camera Obscuras
Jack & Beverly Wilgus
Located in Hamilton Field, California and dated 16 September 1935, this camera obscura shows changes in its use in military aviation, between 1918 and 1935.
Jack & Beverly Wilgus
This Eastern influence building is a camera obscura. The text on the side announces in German, “Camera Obscura, Most beautiful panorama of the exhibition”.
Wikipedia Commons
A free-standing camera obscura in the shape of a camera was constructed on a deck overlooking the Ocean Beach, at the Cliff House in San Francisco.
Jack & Beverly Wilgus
A French artist’s portable camera obscura could focus by moving the lens back and forth. The image formed on the glass was traced on paper with a special ink.
Jack & Beverly Wilgus
This trade card shows an illustration linking the camera obscura to the invention of photography and was issued by the Imperialist Tobacco Co, Great Britain.
Jack & Beverly Wilgus
This is an 1800s collapsible camera obscura made of cardboard. It collapses to fit in a box and is covered with a glossy geometric patterned paper.
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Origins of the ‘Treasure Room’ Mo-Ti, a Chinese philosopher, was the first to mention this camera, in 4th century BC. He referred to it as a “collecting plate” or a “locked treasure room”. However, it was Islamic scientist Alhazen who built the first camera obscura in the mid 9th century BC. He viewed the crescent shape of a partially eclipsed sun projected on a wall opposite a small hole made in the window shutters, and explained this phenomenon in his essay ‘On The Form of The Eclipse’.
The Evolution of the Camera Obscura
Did you know that the camera was invented nearly two and a half thousand years before photography? march 2010
Leonardo Da Vinci, the legendary Italian painter, made the earliest known record of the uses of the camera obscura, in his notebook Codex Atlanticus in 1490. Although there is no evidence that he used one, his descriptions may have inspired future artists. However, it was Italian scholar Giovanni Battista Della Porta who first used the camera obscura as a drawing aid. He made a huge camera inside which he seated a few guests. He arranged for actors to perform outside so that the guests could view the images on the wall. Apparently, the upside-down performing images panicked the guests and they fled! Battista
was later brought to court on a charge of sorcery! Though artists and thinkers were familiar with the concept, the term ‘camera obscura’ was first coined by German astronomer Johannes Kepler in the early 17th century—he used the camera for astronomy in Upper Austria.
The Camera Obscura in Action Fast forward to the 18th century, the camera obscura was adapted as smaller, more portable drawing aids. It also became a prominent attraction at amusement parks, where they offered miniature views of scenes around the park. By the early 20th century, most piers at seaside resorts in UK and US had at least one structure. Other unusual applications were for training, bombing practises and measuring plane speeds during World Wars I and II.
Modern Magic Boxes The first camera that could take still images was invented only in the 19th century. But it is the camera obscura that led to the birth photography and the art as we know it. Today older camera obscuras are celebrated as historic treasures, while newer versions are being built around the world, for experimental purposes. Better Photography