Ruchika and Monish, is a young couple living in USA. Ruchika is working with ebay and Monish with Symantec. They came to India for their wedding and hired me for shooting the important event of their life. I was hired to make candid and mood shots of their wedding as they had hired other photographer for the regular shots. here I am presenting a few shots from their engagement ceremony.
Let’s keep the clients happy!
I was assigned by a bath fitting manufacturer for shooting some lead shots for his latest product catalog. I got the lead through a design and printing agency with whom I have worked earlier. He had suggested my name to the client but the client wanted to be sure that the person who is being suggested to him was the right person, so he asked for a sample shoot. Just to win over a client and develop a new working relationship I agreed for the test. He got two of his products delivered at my place. I shot the products in various ways on plain white background, black background, and by creating a small set. I sent the pictures through email to the client. I did not have a meeting with the client till now. Many days passed, and the client subsequently approached another agency for the same job. I had never worked with that agency before but we were known to each other and I had shown him my portfolio a few years ago. Interestingly he also suggested my name to the client. So I got a call a few days later from Mr. Vivek Kapoor the director of the company Called Jupiter Aqua Lines for discussing the shoot. Vivek is a fine guy with clear understanding as to what he wanted form me. He showed me a few catalogs of some foreign brands and just asked me to create something different and better than those. He also told me that he had a certain budget for the creation of the sets apart from my professional fee. My challenge was to be within that budget for creating sets for the bathroom.
I gave him a few ideas regarding the shoot and he gave me the go ahead, and a date was fixed for the shoot. There were a number of bath fixtures to be shot so it was going to go for number of days. We went to select the materials form the market which we were going to use to create bathroom sets. Mr. Vivek got me all that I wanted for the shoot and the work was started. Mr. Vivek was so much enthusiastic about the shoot that he used to be there with me on the shoot. We used to discuss a lot as to how a particular should be shot, what kind of props are we going to use and it was fun. Mr vivek had instructed his men to take good care of my self and a regular supply of tea and coffee was maintained. We use to have lunch together. He liked my style of working and I liked his supportive nature. I liked the way he used to take interest in the shooting process.
The shot in the beginning of this post was earlier not in the scheme of the things. One day as I was shooting, Mr Vivek showed me a catalogue of some foreign brand where a tap was shot with splash of water. He asked me to create some thing like that so that he can use that shot in his catalogue as a double spread. Though this shot was to take a lot in terms of prepration and execution and was on a different line that we were following , but I could not say no to him. I made this shot and he was over joyed with the outcome. I was shooting tethered so the results were immediately seen on the lap top. In about a weeks time the entire shoot was done and a couple of days later I delivered the images after doing the necessary processing. He was happy with results and so was I. Some more shots here:
Rami and Matt photo shoot
A few days back I did a photo shoot for this amazing couple from Austin, USA. Rami contacted me on email and cell phone and explained to me the kind of shoot she wanted me to do for them. They came to India and we met up for the pre shoot discussion. I found Rami an Indian born American an extremely charming, bubbly, beautiful girl full of life and Matt an attractive young American who initially was little reserved but soon opened up and we all mixed up well and were comfortable with each other. This warming up was very important for the shoot. I explained to them the kind of locations I would be shooting them on and we discussed the outfits they were going to wear for the shoot.For first session Rami had selected white and maroon lehnga choli with lot embellishments for her and for Matt she chose the off white sherwani with maroon stole. Since this was an Indian outfit and totally new for Matt, I was not sure weather he would be able to carry it well but he eventually carried it well. I had advised a very light subtle make up for Rami cos she really did not required much as her complexion was very nice and her skin looked perfect. I chose to shoot them In Yadvendra gardens for the first session.
Yadvendra gardens also known as Pinjor garden is situated in Harayana some 22Kms from Chandigarh on Ambala-Shimla road. It has beautiful Mughal Garden styled terraced gardens built by the Patiala Dynasty Rulers. The garden was designed by architect Nawab Fidal Khan. Now this place is managed by Haryana Tourism.( I had been on the panel of Haryana Tourism as photographer and have done many assignments for them.)
The shoot went on nicely as they followed my directions very well. For the next change we had decided for white Tee and blue denims for both and the location I chose was Museum and art gallery and the ground in front of it and the leisure valley And for the final change the location was rock garden and Rami chose to wear an orangish western out fit and I suggested Matt to wear White shirt and khaki trouser to complement her out fit.
While the first session was shot in such a way to give it a formal,royal classy feel and the second session was relaxed, casual, and fun. The third session was shot in semi formal setting. One main aspect of the shoot was to bring out a lot of romance in the shoot. Both of them love each other so much and my endeavor was to capture that chemistry in my images. Here are some of the images , hope you like them.
Qutab Minar at night without tripod
Qutab Minar… When I went to Qutab Minar for photography,that was super moon evening. In all the excitement and rush to catch the best afternoon light and to avoid traffic snarls I picked up my camera bag and tripod and rushed to my car. On reaching qutab Minar I came to know that the tripods were not allowed.(ASI should really think about us photographers!) That was first disappointment for the evening. I entered the premises and took out my camera from the bag only to realize that my 16 GB Cf card is not in the camera. That was the second body blow. I dug deep in to my bag hoping to find some other CF card and luckily found one 1GB card. a big sigh of relief. Now the question was that I will only have about 26 frames in Raw format on my Canon 7D, and the only choice was to switch to the JPEG which I never never shoot. I had to for the first time decided to shoot on JPEG. This format would give me about 100 frames. Fine I got on with the shoot. Made some nice shots in the fading light. Evening descended and with that the challenge to shoot increased. I hate jacking up the ISO. So wide angle lens was the natural choice. I had earlier thought about using larger lenses in the evening to use the super moon in my compositions but that was not possible now as was shooting hand held or improvising to keep the camera steady for about half a minute. I managed to make some nice shots that evening. I was crouching, lying down on my belly, on my back and what not much to the amusement of the people there. But who cares? I got some really nice shots and went back home reasonably satisfied.
“Bad Light” what’s that?
Many times I have heard photographers saying “light is bad”. I fail to comprehend what they really mean by this. Is it the bad weather they are referring to? There can only be one ‘bad light” situation and that is no light at all. Let me put this in perspective first, the light situation I am talking here is the natural light. The so called “good light” is totally dependent upon the intent of the photographer. There is no time of the day or month or year when, the light situation is better than another, photographically. There are only preferences. A particular light situation might be preferable or suitable for a certain subject matter. Its upon the photographer to analyze that light and chalk out a strategy to make use of that effectively. It is by experience that you learn to understand various light situations and make effective use of them to create images that generate an emotional response. And often the images that are made in not so goody goody happy happy lighting situations comes out stunning.
The image below was made during my visit to Rohtang Pass in 2005. The weather suddenly turned freaky and became very cold, dark and gloomy. As I was driving down the hill I spotted an opportunity in this situation for a very dramatic image. In a few minutes the opportunity was gone and in the next couple of turns it became very bright and sunny offering other opportunities for some fare weather shots.
As there is no such thing called bad light, there is no such thing as bad weather for photography. There are however certain local weather conditions that creates lighting situations which are particularly good for certain subjects and for creating certain effects and eliciting certain emotional responses in a viewer. There are certain so called “bad light” or “bad weather” conditions such as fog, , rain, storm, dust, etc. These conditions often provides excellent opportunities to make images that are full of intrigue, and drama. The key to develop an understanding of such lighting conditions and using them to your advantage. Be persistent and observant and you will be rewarded with unique images.
This image was made at about 5 AM at the Pangong Tso in Ladakh, on a very heavily clouded, bitingly-chilly, dark and windy morning. Just a small opening in the cloud cover provided the contrast to otherwise dull conditions. All my companions were fast asleep in the shanty and I was rewarded with some of the wonderfully unique images. It was worth getting up at three in the morning and be there and brave all the elements and in the bargain getting some great shots.
This image was made during one such days when one would not even think of taking out his camera. It was raining heavily and the roads were flooded with water. It was evening and suddenly the intensity of rain eased a bit allowing the commuters to head back home from work. I was sitting in my store and was experimenting with slow shutter speed shots. This shot is one of them. Its a combination of slow shutter speed and panning.
So folks don’t be afraid of the so called “Bad Light” go out and experiment and learn to use that light condition to your advantage. Bad light only exist in mind so get rid of it. Good luck.
When the the sun is off!
We all know that the most essential ingredient for a photography is light. And one wonderful source of light which gives us a lot of latitude in terms of playing creatively with it is the Sun. The sun light is such a versatile ink to paint with and make wonderful images. It keeps on changing during the course of the day and seasons. At day break it is cool, soft and producing muted colors but changing quickly to brighter, warmer and accentuating colors. At sunrise it is warm, bright and crisp producing vibrant colors. Mid day the light is white, over head(during summers especially), high in contrast producing dark shadows, may be a bit too harsh and stark for many subjects. Afternoon the sun begins to dip towards the horizon, gradually warming up the light again. Evening produces more warmer, punchier images wearing unearthly glow! Colors are more towards red, shadows are longer and bluer, the surface is highly textured. Sunset is probably the most favorite time of all the people with the cameras! The moment the sun goes below the horizon it is pack up for the day for most of photographers.For them the sun is just switched off! The photography just does not end with the sun going below the horizon, for many landscape photographers(me included) this is the most busy time of the day for photography and the most productive one too. Landscape photography post sundown produces some of the most off beat and moody pictures. I love to shoot during the time when the sun is way below the horizon (before sunrise and after sunset) as it gives me an opportunity to create images which are different from the rest, are moody in character and brings out unique dimension of the landscapes.
When I am shooting post sunset I shoot way late in to the evening till the time I can see the color in the sky. The color of the sky can vary from golden to fiery red to magenta, pink and purple to the shades of dark blues and grays. Clouds in the sky are an added advantage because they are high up in the atmosphere and catch light from the sun below the horizon because of the curvature of the earth. If the sun below the horizon is not covered by the clouds and there are clouds above the horizon then the drama of colors is extended for longer time and shooting during those times is truly a blessing for landscape photographers. The picture that you see at the top is just an example of that situation. The exposure was 44 second at f11, ISO 100 with canon 350D. Here the long exposure has resulted in the velvety blur of the water of the lake. the colors of the sky are getting reflected in the water adding a lot of oomph to the image. Having a water body in the image in these situations is a bonus for the reason stated above. Of course you can play around with you exposure combination to achieve different effects.
The image below is shot at dusk at Massurie, India. The clouds are catching the warm light of the sun which is still below the horizon adding a lot of color to the background. The mountains in the fore are still in a cooler softer light. the combination of warm and cool tones are creating a wonderful moody shot here. Had this shot been taken at day time it would have been a pretty ordinary shot. The exposure is 1/180 sec. at f/4, ISO 200, with canon 350D and canon70-200 f4L lens at 200 mm.
The image below is an example of a situation where its a heavily clouded sky at the daybreak. Its a cool light almost mono tone, the clouds adds a lot to the composition and so is the surface mist and shimmering city lights. The exposure is 1.5 seconds at f/8, ISO 100 , canon 400D. 
There are many situations when shooting post sunset can be truly rewarding. This image(below) of Mehrangarh fort in Jodhpur, India. The evenings in the deserts can be very colorful at times because of the dust in the atmosphere. I made this shot almost an hour after the sun had set. The exposure was 1 sec. at f/10, ISO 200, canon400D.
Following are the points which one should take in to account while shooting after sunset.
1. Research about the location before hand.
2. Reach well before time at the location and set up the equipment. pre visualize the composition and make a choice of lenses accordingly.
3. The exposure can be longer than normal so use a good quality sturdy tripod, cable release or self timer to fire the shutter to avoid shakes.
4. Bracket your exposures. It always pays to do so. That way you can be sure of one of the frames to be correctly exposed. Or else you can merge all three frames later on the system or try HDR (provided the camera is on manual focus and is mounted on a tripod ).
5.The foreground can go very dark if metering from the sky or the sky can be blown off if metered for the foreground so take two exposures one for the sky and one for the foreground and later combine the two on system to get overall detail.
6. Shoot on Raw format so that you have flexibility to play around with exposure , white balance etc. during the post processing.
7. Carry a torch with you so that you can find you way in the dark. It can be quite dark by the time you are done with the shooting.
8. Be adequately clothed, temperatures in the winters can fall rapidly.
Happy clicking!!!
Welcome
Welcome to Towards Light. Here I will share all that little bit I know and what ever I am learning about photography. I hope you will enjoy and appreciate what you find here and will be considerate of the work that goes in to it. The images and articles contained here are all copy righted and I expect you to honor this by not copying them. If you are interested in publishing any of my image or text or using them for any other purpose please feel free to contact me so that I can understand your needs and we can discuss about it.
Thanks
Pradeep Mahajan
