Our mind is accustomed to equating a particular kind of emotion. For instance, images printed in newspapers often appear grainier than they actually are, due to the nature of newspaper printing. This automatically gives a sense of reportage to a grainy B&W image, even if the scene is otherwise quite mundane.

Grain also adds the mood to an otherwise sterile and boring photograph. A grainy black and white photograph may remind you of an old film or flashback in a movie, and can be used to capture a feeling of nostalgia or historic importance.

Modern day technology tries to eliminate digital noise because it is intrusive and not aesthetically pleasing. However, the whole idea of a grainy rendition is something you can achieve only through photography. The use of grains in today’s day and age is almost like a celebration of the medium, allowing you to create a look that is difficult to achieve in any other art form.

So go on – dive into the grains, embrace them. Revisit The Grainy Season. But do remember – a good-looking grain does not alone make an image; you need to combine it with careful composition, good light, unique perspective and most importantly, a perfect moment!

Selective coloring is a very difficult thing to master. If not done properly, it can make the picture look unnerving.  But if done properly, it can blend in very well with the monochrome surroundings and portray the desired mood perfectly.

This picture almost manages to do the latter. Almost. But falls short. In my opinion, it looks a little forced since I find the use of selective colour unnecessary here.

Also,the wall in the background is flared. Thus, it is a little distracting and tends to draw the attention of the viewer away from the main subjects. Even so, I like the subjects quite a lot A lower angle and a smarter crop would have helped make the frame better.

The mood that this picture put me in is quite difficult to explain, really. To summarise the mood, I might say that this is a satisfactory capture.

Pictures of clouds and cloud patterns and all have been done to death – to the point of it being called clichéd.

But this picture really put a smile on my face. Why, you ask? Thoughtful framing and a nice, mellow tone. The viewer is drawn to the bright, clear sky, but not with a jerk. Tery well done!

This is such a beautiful capture. I like the framing a lot. The face of the man is very nicely placed and the expression on his face seems timeless.

What makes the picture merely good and not great is the over exposure, causing burns and flares thus distorting the balance between the greys, blacks and whites.

Nevertheless, it’s a good capture.

Lovely. Simply lovely. I love the way the golden (I’m guessing they are leaves of a tree?) in the foreground leads the viewer’s eye to the main subject, the crescent moon.

And the black night sky beautifully completes the picture. It is like the moral of a story. Amazing use of space. Good stuff, yes?

I always keep my favourite for the end. This, hands down, is my favourite.

This one is so beautiful and trust me, it is not my bias towards silhouettes that makes me say this.

This is an AMAZING frame! I love the way in which the wires guide the viewer to the man. Very nice indeed.

Keeping to its tag as one of the major music hubs of the country, a fest was organized to celebrate the World Music Day, 21^st of June – Cloud Confluence Fest is what it was called. A total of 27 local bands were to perform and I could not wait for the show to begin.

The day started off an hour late, keeping true to the Indian Stretchable Time, but once it did, there was no looking back. This place is oozing with talent and it spurts out even on the smallest of platforms such as this. Some bands like Street Stories, Still Status, Soul Socket and a few others were amazing and their music stayed on with you long after the show was over.

Well, I’ve always been a conversational retard at describing such occasions in words. Perhaps, that is why I took to the camera. Thus, I’ll end this piece here and hope that the pictures can portray the same energy as was present there at the concert on the 21^st of June.

I have forever been in love with the monochrome frame. However, the proper use of the monochrome is very difficult to master. In this picture, I like the perspective. I like it a lot. However, I’d prefer to see the whole of this cart in the frame. More space should have been included to the right of the cart.

The picture, on the whole, however, is still very good.  The cart in the foreground teamed with the interesting background makes a very good capture.

Again, brilliant perspective. Furthermore, the choice to convert the image into black and white was a very good one. What the black and white frame has done is that it has brought out and has made vivid the various tonalities and the shadows and the highlights in this picture. It is quite difficult to imagine this image in colour, would be rather meaningless I suppose. Well done!

Colour. Amazing colour. Also, very well framed. The viewer is drawn, in the very first glance, to the main subject, that is, the butterfly. There is a lot of vibrancy in this image and the hues are well balanced and maintains this vibrancy very well. Moreover, the coolness of the blue compliments the warmth of the shades of the butterfly very well.  The picture is brilliantly focussed and no part of the butterfly, the main subject, is blurred.Very  good work.

This is a very interesting frame. I would not say this is my favourite of the lot but it sure does appeal to me in a very unexplainable way.  The way the frog is sheltered under the lush green leaves gives an uncanny feeling of anticipation. The lines and textures of the leaf above are quite prominent, too – very nice!

However, I do feel that the cropping needed to be tighter so that the viewer’s gaze would not wander a lot, but well, that is totally a personal opinion. I do feel that so much of the green was not necessary.

One thing that has been quite consistent through all the shots of these creepy beauties of yours is the brilliant focussing. True for this one, too, this image is brilliant focussed – again! The other thing I like a lot about this picture, besides its brilliant focussing is the framing. The way the creature has been framed enhances its long, slender body very well.

Again, howvere, the only glitch I feel is in the cropping. I feel that so much of room need not have been left at the top of the frame.

But besides that, there hardly is anything to complain about. The colour balance is very good, the hues are maintained really well and, I mention this again, the picture is brilliantly focussed!

Here’s wishing you all the best! Keep up the good work!

And there I was, in this monster of a city, camera in my hand and a bag slung across my shoulders, not to mention that somewhat small a dream in my heart – a little dream to capture this city of dreams in photographs; chronicle its melancholic fumes, its chaotic madness, its vivid contrasts in my photographs. And thus, I set about exploring the city in that moist heat, like a child exploring his new toy.

What I saw was that Mumbai’s always effervescent, always bubbling with life. There was not one dull moment in any of those twenty four hours that constitute a day, life in Mumbai is never still, never stagnant. Be it the early morning Borivali station or Crawford Market or Dhobi Ghat or the late night Nariman Point or CST, Mumbai is always on the run, always alive.

The cacophony of the honking cars, the wrenching appeals of the hawkers and the constant buzz of the crowd, each person trying to say something more important than the other, is something that one learns to live with in a matter of hours in Mumbai. And that is what fascinated me the most.

As a photographer, I’ve tried to narrate the tale of Mumbai through each of the photographs in this series and also envelop it all into one solid story – much like Mumbai, where many stories are wrapped inside one.

This city matured me as a photographer, taught me a lot. The innumerable frames that floated all around, this city told me that one could never capture it all, yet could tell it all through whatever one’s captured.

Thus, I present to you my most passionate set of photographs and a series that I am very emotionally attached to – The Mumbai Chronicles.

This picture has a brilliant perspective. I congratulate the photographer for bringing out this essence in the truest form. The way he has played with the focus is truly commendable. Furthermore, the very subtle bokehs on the subject’s face adds a feeling of nirvana and makes the picture even more interesting. The textures on the face below the lips look really nice and bring about a certain uncanny sense of rawness.

This picture has been framed very well and the pleasant hues are very soothing to the eyes. The texture on the board on which the butterfly is placed looks superb; however, I feel the texture of the water has been overdone. Another way in which the picture could have been made to look better is if the shadow of the butterfly would have been kept complete. The shadow is a very interesting and an integral part of the picture and hence, would have made the picture complete.

This picture exhibits two factors of composition brilliantly: the use of space and the use of noise. The tadpoles generally fill up the frame, yet there is a little amount of space at the top right hand corner of the frame. This gives a sense of motion. Brilliant framing! Also, the addition of noise works very well for the picture. It prevents the picture from looking static. Very well thought of!

One word. Simplicity. Simplicity is painted all over this rustic face. Conversion to black and white has managed to enhance this emotion and perhaps, that is what makes this picture more conversational. It’s got almost all the ingredients of a perfect portrait. The lines and contours on the face have come out very well due to the monochrome frame. The tonality of the picture is perfect and has a very proportionate share of all three shades: black, white and grey.

There are certain forms of art that you do not analyze. You just observe and bask in its splendour. This is one such form of art. Needless to say, this is my favourite picture of the lot. Brilliant perspective! The top angle brings out the emotion of innocence and inquisitiveness very well. Look at those eyes and tell me you are not moved – you’d be lying if you manage to utter such a phrase. Again, the black and white works brilliantly. The arm of the elder adds the feeling of strength and support that are absolutely essential for a child. Very commendable!

As a photographer myself, Akash, I congratulate you on having captured such a brilliant frame.

If you want to be featured here, do send us your photos or a link to your photos at submit@dfuse.in.

Portrait Photography is a very well known topic, but seldom less understood. Taking photographs of people is the easiest way to start into portrait photography. A person who is capable of pointing a camera and take a picture can certainly make a portrait.

A portrait is not a snapshot: it deals more with person’s likeness. A good portrait expresses the person’s inner self by capturing it in different angels. A good portrait reveals the subject’s personality, attitude and other features that form the nature of the person. It always tries to tell us something about the subject.

Controlled lighting, posing, and composition capture the essence of a good portrait. It deals with at least one element that reveals the subject’s personality and attitude.

Photographers to look up:

Dorothea Lange lived during a crucial time in the world and captured the time in Famous Portrait Photographs. She is known for the photographs she took during the great depression. Her Portraits did not only communicate the identity of a single person, but of an entire nation. She indeed humanized the Great Depression and its tragic consequences.

Entering the world of David de Souza’s images provides one with an insight into the mind of a maverick educationist. Do not miss his many monographs: Mythology and Dreams, to name a few. To quote him, “I think the fundamental of life is that we are born to be free. If there is a bhagwaan who created us, he wants us to not be shackled. Be yourself. You should fully be who you are; I should be fully David – that is what it is to be fully bhagwaan.” Now, that’s saying something!

When most people think of abstract photography they think of strange colourful pieces that really catch the viewer’s eye. While in some cases this is true, the only real guideline to abstract photography is that there are no hard-and-fast rules. Abstract photography is generally an artist’s (the photographer) rendition of a normal object in an abnormal way. In many cases, this involves distortion of the image and loud vibrant colours, but in just as many cases this is simply a slightly skewed view of an object, landscape or person designed to catch your eye and provoke thought or discussion about the photograph.

So what are you waiting for? Go shoot – anything, everything. Let those twisted neurons find a path of their own. All that you’ve got to do is open your mind.

Photographer to look up: Alan Babbit

Alan Babbitt creates abstract fine art photography and loves to call himself the “photographer with lousy vision”. That’s right, one of the most famous abstract photographers is nearsighted! If this isn’t enough, Alan was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2003 which has resulted in a nasty hand tremor … his response? He has worked the tremor into his work with great success. For an example of how Parkinson’s has affected (in a positive way no less) Alan’s work you only have to look at his recent “Tremor Enhanced” work.

A breath taking scenery, a spell binding sunset, an awe inspiring landscape – all of these spectacles can be chronicled in a simple form of life, a form of life, a form of living, which we quite triumphantly call photography.

There’s something about getting out in nature with the challenge of capturing some of the amazing beauty that you see. One has to love the quietness and stillness of waiting for the perfect moment for the shot, scoping out an area for the best vantage point and then seeing the way that the light changed a scene over a few hours. It is truly a joy worth waiting for.

Capturing a good landscape photograph does not happen by means of a mere accident. There are quite a few parameters that need to be kept in mind. For instance, one has to be aware of the right moment, identify the landscape, play intelligently with the conditions of light at that instance, and frame the photograph properly. A tripod can be put to good affect while shooting landscapes. Also, it is very important maximize the depth of field and look for a focal point. The sky plays an essential role in these landscape shots. The various patterns of the sky at various instances are truly fascinating. Also, one has to keep in mind the various lines and patterns in the frames.

One landscape photographer you should look up is Ansel Adams (1902 -1984), perhaps the most well-known of all the American landscape photographers, known particularly for his photographs of California’s Yosemite Valley.

In the words of Ansel Adams, “there are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.”

Colours, vibrant and full of life and convey countless emotions. But when the colours fail, is when the helpless photographer resorts to the first forms of photography – in monochrome, in black and white.

Photographs in black and white, at times, convey much more emotions than those in colour. For that, the photographer has to pre-visualise his/her frame.

The absence of colours makes the use of space in the frame more important and more compelling to the viewer. One also needs to decide on what to capture, its tonality and contrast, its composition and placement. By stripping colours from the scene, an element of ambiguity is added to the photograph. Shooting in monochrome does not mean that you lose colours. Black and white photography is a choice to limit the colours to just black, white and shades of grey. It is this very limitation that will help one become more creative because it does away with the distraction and the clutter of colours and lets one focus his/her energies into creating something thought-provoking. The magic of black and white is that it lends itself beautifully to imagination and experimentation.

All one needs to do before shooting, is to think.

Photographers you should check out:

1)      Prabuddha Dasgupta (in specific, a series of his called  ‘Longing’)

2)      Kurt Weston (he is visually impaired and considers this shortcoming to be his strength)