Tag: Thus

by David Burgess on April 27, 2018 0

Varsha, My Photography Journal

Backtracking my photography learning process through a model

I decided to seriously learn photography back in December 2011. I purchased my first digital camera, which was Sony NEX-3, and started to read some photography books. Until today, I have participated in three professional photo shoots and five photo exhibitions. One of the most remarkable person during my learning period of this art is Varsha.

Varsha was my first “unofficial” model. I practiced a lot of basic theory and concept of capturing image with her as the main subject. Sometimes I asked her to pose, but most of the times I took her pictures in candid. Indeed, the photos of Varsha show the progress of my photography learning skill, from a real newbie until now. In this article, I would like to share some of my photographs of Varsha. Please kindly share your comments and feedback about my work.

A story about Varsha

Varsha is a student who studied Bachelor of Arts in Telugu (one of national languages of India) in Hyderabad between 2009 to 2012. She pursued her degree under the scholarship of Indian government in Koti Women’s College Hyderabad. I met her for the first time in 2011 through one of my classmate who also originates from Mauritius.

Varsha is physically very attractive and perfect to be a model for my photos. She is also very friendly, thus it makes me more comfortable in taking her pictures. The first time I took her photo was during a trip to Medak, a remote district about three hours driving from Hyderabad. At that moment, I felt that her face was very camera friendly. Therefore, I decided to take her photos regularly as a part of my learning process.

Varsha originates from Mauritius, a very beautiful island, a paradise on earth. Mauritius is located on the south east of the main continent of Africa. This country is full of amazing beaches, beautiful jungles, and wonderful people. Most people in Mauritius have Indian blood, and they speak French as the first language. I worked with Varsha in two different photo shoot, both of them when my skill was at very newbie level.

Photoshoots with Varsha

I spent a lot of time with my Mauritian friends because they are very good people and student. They invited me a lot to have some lunch, and we went out together to watch movies, concerts, and other interesting spots in Hyderabad. The first time I seriously took photos of Varsha was in November 2011, when I and three of my Mauritian friends (including Varsha) watched Zeb and Haniya concert in Ravindra Bharati, Hyderabad. At that moment, I successfully captured some very great candid photos of her.

After being able to take a bunch of great photos, I successfully convinced her to be a model for my photo shoot titled “The Night Song”. It was my very first photo shoot that I did only two weeks after I purchased my first DSLR camera. She performed surprisingly above my expectation. Her photos that I took during “The Night Song” were really great, and some of them were even selected for my international exhibition in Hong Kong and Singapore.

Another moment when I successfully captured great images of her was during Ugadi, one of the traditional festival for South Indian community. She dressed in saree very nicely, and we went to the temple and visited a lot of friends and relatives who celebrated Ugadi. During our trip, I took a lot of beautiful candid photos of her.

About two months after Ugadi, we worked for our second photo shoot titled “The Mystique of Love”. It was done for my photography assignment in my course and located in landscape garden, Osmania University. The photo shoot was rather challenging for me, compared to the first one due to the technical aspects and my lack of experience as a photographer. But from this work, I really learned a lot of useful things in photography.

Varsha finished her course in summer 2012 and went to her country immediately. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the chance to say my last goodbye and to take more photos of her because I was abroad.

Some tips to improve your photography skill

Try to take photos every day
More photos you take, the better your skill in photography. If you really want to be a good photographer, try to allocate at least half an hour per day for hunting pictures. By taking a lot of good photos, your technical skills, experience, and sensitivity as a photographer would improve. One more thing, try to think this habit as something fun, not as a boring responsibility.

Spend some time to review and select your best photos
Among of those photos you take regularly, you have to carefully select which photo to keep and which to delete. Be selective, and don’t hesitate to delete not so good photos. If you want to publish them in social media or online album, then you have to be more selective. Only publish your best photos, or the one that has special meanings for you.

Use a prime lens
Instead of zoom lenses, it is better to start learning photography by using prime lenses. Prime lenses will make you use your legs more in order to make the subject closer or farther from your camera frame. They don’t have zoom feature so you are forced to move a lot when taking images. By using prime lenses, you will learn how to depend more on your body and eyes rather than the zoom.

Learn to use manual focus
Manual focus is the best way to get the perfect focus. Although in modern days some autofocus of an expensive camera also performs well, but nothing can beat the accuracy of manual focus. Thus, learn to take photos with widest aperture as possible (to enable you detecting the focus point more easily), choose a single subject, then try to get the best focus of a specific part of the subject.

Focus on the eyes of the subject
After learning the principle of focusing, it is advisable for a beginner to practice with a living subject such as human and animal. At your very first few weeks of learning, try to take a close-up photos of the face. When taking photos of living things, the most important thing is to make sure that your camera focus is on the eyes of the subject. When you do it right, your photo will look better.

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by David Burgess on April 26, 2018 0

The Story of Dragon and Angel – My Photographs of Two Contrasting Beauties

The Story of a Dragon Princess and an Angel

In this article, I would like to tell a story of my third photo shoot project in India titled “The Story of Dragon and Angel”. I did this work just a month after I published my photography work titled “The Dragon Princess”. This is a sequel of my previous work, and my main idea was to expose two different types of beauties those are contrasting each other.

Compared to the previous photo shoot, I felt that the photos I created are more satisfying. I tried different techniques that I’ve never tried before and went a little bit more extreme in post-processing the images. Besides the photographs, I also want to talk about my concepts and preparation of this photo shoot. I am looking forward for your feedback and comments, as always.

The concept

A little story behind the photo shoot
The Story of Dragon and Angel After publishing my first photography work titled “The Dragon Princess”, I felt that I wanted to create something more impressive. Thus, I came with the concept of juxtaposing two different kinds of beauty; the traditional and the modern style. However, I still wanted this work to have relation with my previous work because I felt there was something “unfinished” from the story of The Dragon Princess.

Thus, I contacted Pema, my classmate from Bhutan who is also the model of the previous photo shoot. I explained about her concept, and asked her whether she has a friend who is suitable with my concept. Then she introduced me to her friend, Disket, Disket is a lovely young lady from Ladakh, a region in the northern part of India. At that time she was still studying in of one of the most famous law schools in Hyderabad.

I talked to Disket about my plan. At that time, three of us were in the middle of our final year examinations, each of us planned to leave Hyderabad right after finishing our exam. Tbus, finding the date for the photo shoot was a little bit difficult as we have very limited time. After long discussion and considering various options, we decided to do the photo shoot in between our exams.

Technically, I didn’t do much preparation for this photo shoot. I just made sure that the battery was fully charged, and focused more on finding good references for an outdoor photo shoot with two models. Besides my favorite Canon EOS 550D, I also brought the Sony NEX-3 as I wanted to compare the image quality of those camera.

The Photo Shoot

It was an extremely hot day
The Story of Dragon and Angel

I arrived at the location of the photo shoot on 3.30 PM after a long drive from my place. It was a very hot day, approximately around 36 degree Celsius, not the best weather for an outdoor photo shoot. It was difficult to us to perform at our best due to the hot weather, especially Pema because she had to wore very thick Kira (a set of Bhutanese traditional dress).

I started by taking photos of each of the model individually in various poses. As I did two previous photo shoots with Pema, it wasn’t so difficult for us to work together. Surprisingly, I didn’t have any problem working with Disket at all, as she looked very photogenic and comfortable in front of the camera. After finishing with the individual photos, I moved to the next stage : posing the models together. I found that it was very difficult for an amateur like me to be able to create a good composition with two main subjects on the screen, and the most difficult thing was to determine the good focus point.

As I explained before, I wanted to juxtapose two completely different styles of beauties. So, I projected Pema with her traditional green-colored Kira to be the one that looks tougher and more dominant, beautiful but and has special power, just as the most oriental princesses in the TV dramas. On the other hand, Disket with her white dress should be more feminine and angelic; just as the characteristics of the most Western princesses in a story.

We tried different poses of the model, with flowers, apples, knife, and blue colored liquid in a glass. I tried to create various metaphors with those properties, and compile a story from those photos. We finished taking all of the pictures in three hours, and it took about three days for me to do the post processing of the image before publishing them online.

Tips for doing an outdoor photo shoot on a hot day

Here are some things that I learned as an amateur from doing a photo shoot on a very hot day. Hopefully they are useful for you.

1. If you are not working with professional models, make sure they know each other well
I was lucky because Pema and Disket are good friends, thus they could be more relaxed during the photo shoot. Because they were good friend, the pressures due to the various uncomfortable cirumstances (including the hot weather) became less because they can freely laugh and express their opinion to each other.

2. Bring your portable devices filled with references photos in case you ran out of idea in the middle of the photo shoot
Especially if you are working alone and doesn’t have style director or assistant during the photo shoot. Try to save all of the references photos that you find online a day before the photo shoot in a device that can be easily carried and viewed. For me, I stored those photos in my iPad. Whenever I feel I run out of idea, I just take my iPad out and refer to the images. Note down also various poses that you want to take.

3. Watch the ISO level
In a bright, sunny day, be sure to set the ISO level as low as possible to reduce the image noise. Always set your ISO manually, and I believe you don’t need to go higher than 200 in a hot day. Also try to use light meter to determine the best level of exposure in your camera.

4. Don’t forget to carry a towel and a bottle of water, for you and the model
You will be surprised to know that you require a lot of energy to take photos. You need to move a lot, and this make you would sweat a lot. A towel and a bottle of water could keep you away from dehidration so you would able to work at your best performance.

5. Take rests
No need to be hurry. If the weather is extremely hot, take 10 minutes a break every half an hour or so, to keep you and your model away from exhaustion. Use the resting period to look for the references, review your photos, and talk to the models to make them feel more comfortable working with you.

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by David Burgess on April 26, 2018 0

The Shadow Princess – My Black and White Fashion Photography in Thailand

My Photography Work in Thailand.

The photos in this article were taken during my photography project in Thailand. An art gallery sent me there to do a photo shoot with “Oriental Princess” as a theme. I asked one of my model friend from Bhutan to come along with mein order to accomplish this project. We went there for four night and five days in two different city, Pattaya and Bangkok. I created two series of photo shoot, the first titled “The Empress of Light”, consists of color photographs. The second album, which I want to share in this article is called “The Shadow Princess”, where the photos are darker and were taken in monochrome. Unfortunately, I can’t publish the best photos in this article because they have been published by my sponsor for an art magazine, and should not be published anywhere else. Thus, I could only present some of the photos that weren’t selected by the magazine. Hopefully you like them, and I’m looking forward to your feedback.

The Idea, Planning, and Creating the Concept

My Experience Working in Thailand

We were given only four effective days to work, and as an amateur photographer I found the time limit was very strict. Based on my plan, we had to do the photo shoot in eight different location in two cities, including on the beach and in a popular tourist spot.

We didn’t waste any time as we immediately departed to Pattaya as soon as we landed in Bangkok international airport. The journey took about ninety minutes by taxi. I had to say that Thailand has a very impressive transportation system, broad highway that allows the cab to drive in maximum speed without endangering the life of the driver and passenger. As soon as we reach Pattaya, we did our first photo shoot in the hotel. Based on my plan, I would do “The Empress of Light” photoshoot in the morning and afternoon, meanwhile “The Shadow Princess” would be done in the evening, where natural light were no longer exist.

The concept of this album was to present a beautiful, good looking oriental princess with her royal dress. Although the princess is very beautiful, she is also very cold, kind of cruel, and very proud with her royal blood. She is also very smart, emotionless, and can take important decision only based on her logic for the sake of her own kingdom.

It wasn’t very hard to get the concept correctly, as physically the model has a kind of face that fits with my concept perfectly. She named Pema, and we previously had been working on three different photo shoot. She brought her tradtional dress from her country, Bhutan. The dress was very great, beautifully created, and very lavish. It reflects perfectly the royal dress of an oriental princess.

The execution of the photo shoot

We spent the first night at Pattaya in the Southern Beach. To be honest, the beach was not very impressive compared to Bali, Indonesia or Goa, India. The beaches of Pattaya appear to be wilder and more dangerous compared to the other beaches I have visited before. Somehow, the beach perfectly reflects the personality of the shadow princess that I wanted to present in my photographs. The weather on that night was very friendly, and everything seemed to work properly. Thus, I could finish the shoot in less than an hour.
We spent the next day photo shoot in the hotel garden. It was much more easier compared to the photo shoot on the beach, as I had more freedom to experiment with the surrounding lights. I took about sixty pictures to complete the session.

The next morning, we immediately headed to Bangkok for the “real work”. I have visited Bangkok many times, but I felt this time the city was not as friendly as usual to me. The weather was incredibly hot, even at night. It was very difficult for the model to stay in the mood while wearing such a thick dresses in a hot night. The first night where we did an outdoor shoot was very hard, and took about three hours to get the images I really wanted. Thus, in second and third photo shoots I decided to spend more time indoor, in an air conditioned room.

We completed all of our work in our fourth day, then we had one free day to explore Bangkok before returning to Hyderabad.

Some tips based on my experience

Don’t be afraid to take a close-up image
Your photos would be more interesting if you take a close-up shoot of your subject. Don’t be afraid to put your camera in front of your subject’s nose for an extremely close-up result. Black and white photos always have more impact when the viewers feel that there is only small distance between them and the subjects. However, it is recommended using lens that is not wider than fifty millimeters to avoid distortion.

Focus on the eyes
It’s a classic rule that should be understood by any photographer. Any time you take a photo of a person, be sure that the focus of your camera is on her eyes. When you get it right, the photo will look great.

In the low light, most of the time viewing from LCD is more accurate than from viewfinder
For me, I prefer to put the camera on a tripod and view it from the LCD whenever I have to shoot in a low light condition. It is easier to get the focus by looking at the LCD, because there is a magnifying facility to check whether you really get the perfect focus or not.

It’s all about the subject’s expression
Black and white photos would leave more impact to the viewer if the subject shows a strong expression. Whether it is an anger, a cold stare, a wide smile, or tearful face; try to involve a strong facial expression whenever you take a close-up black and white photographs.

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by David Burgess on April 26, 2018 0

The Night Song – My Tips for Doing Budget Photo Shoot

The Night Song

Have you ever wanted to create good, artistic photos but you only have limited amount of money? In this article, I would like to share my experience of doing a photo shoot with two models with very limited budget, in a very normal location with lighting from house lamps, and taken with cheapest entry level DSLR. This photo shoot was also my first experience working with models and DSLR camera. Could you imagine how limited was my knowledge about photography during this photo shoot?

I would like to emphasize that the most important thing in photography is not your gears. It’s your passion and creativity, and those two are the best weapon to create great photos. I am also looking forward to your comments and feedback so I could improve my works in the future.

The Concept

The story behind the scene
The Night Song

I bought my first DSLR camera in January 2012. My initial purpose for buying that kind of sophisticated camera was to make documentary of my final Bachelor of Arts research. Just a week after getting my DSLR, I accidentally found a very interesting video about photography on Youtube, from DigitalRevTV. The man in the video seems enjoying himself very much, taking photos of beautiful model with very cheap camera. Suddenly I felt that I wanted to create some photography works too.

The first thing came to my mind was about finding the models. As I was an amateur and didn’t have enough experience of handling DSLR camera, I decided to ask for help from my friends to be the model for my photography project. So, I contacted Nooreen and Varsha, two of my beautiful friends from Mauritius and offered this opportunity. Luckily, they agreed.

I wanted to talk a little bit about the model. Nooreen and Varsha are two students from Mauritius, a very beautiful small island in southern part of Africa. Mauritius used to be a colony of British and France. When the British ruled India, they sent some local Indian workers to work in Mauritius. At that time, there was no people on this island. Only jungles and animals. So, those Indian workers were the first colony in Mauritius, and they live, create a family, and until now inhibit this beautiful island.

After some years, British Empire decided to give Mauritius to France. Thus, under France regime, those Mauritian workers have to speak in France. The habit of speaking France has become a culture, even after their independence. Today, France is the national language of Mauritius.

I find that Mauritian people such as Nooreen and Varsha are the luckiest people in the world. They have beautiful, exotic face from their Indian ancestors. They speak Franch, the most beautiful, sexiest language in the world. They inherited the education and political system from British Empire, which is very systematic. Plus, they live in a small island with very beautiful nature; beaches, mountains, and jungle. What a very fortunate nation!

Back to the story of the model. Nooreen and Varsha are very good friends. They live together, study in the same college, and they understand each other very well. I wanted to use these facts to help a strong, artistic, and memorable photos. Thus, I decided to create a theme about intimate relationship between two women.

The Photo Shoot

The execution of the concept

As I told you before, I didn’t have any experience for doing photo shoot with any DSLR camera at that time. Thus, I wanted to focus more on the concept and messages of the photos rather than the technical aspects. I wanted to work as comfortable as possible, so I decided to do the photo shoot in Nooreen and Varsha’s house, in their small living room. I didn’t want to do it outside, because I thought that it was my first experience, and I didn’t want to embarass myself and the model.

The photo shoot took about three hours and it would be faster if I had more practical knowledge about DSLR camera. I spent a lot of unecessary times to adjust the ISO, control the focus, and set the exposure. I did all in manual mode, as I didn’t aware that the Aperture Priority mode would work more efficient. One of my most stupid mistake in this photo shoot was the fact that I forgot to turn on the Image Stabilizer, and at that time I didn’t even have a tripod. Luckily, I was able to take some good shots, and it took me about three hours to select, edit, and publish the photos.

Black Kimono for B&W Photoshoot

Here are some great kimono, a traditional Japanese dress for black and white photography. The wardrobe of the model is very important, especially if you later want to convert the images into monochrome. I strongly suggest that you find some dress with interesting pattern, especially for a photo shoot with plain background. Be sure to find a dress that looks cute and elegant.

Tips to do budget photo shoot

1. Find a strong, solid concept that can be executed in an empty room
Instead of focusing on the properties of the photo shoot, you should focus more on the model. Exploit your creativity and push it to its limit so that you can create good photos by only framing the model and a plain background. For this concept, you will need model who has strong, memorable expression. If the model also have beautiful and exotic face, it would be very helpful as well.

2. Try to find good references
Watch videos, read books, or go to photo exhibition. Read also about various article and tutorial about creating beautiful photos with cheap camera and limited budget. I strongly recommend that you watch “Pro Photographer Cheap Camera Series” from DigitalRevTV channel on Youtube.

3. Make it black and white
Black and white photos always appear to be more artistic, and by desaturating the color you can focus more on the subject. Simple photos with an empty background also look better in black and white rather than in color. For a better result, you can play with the contrast, brightness, exposure, and clarity of the photos during the post-processing.

4. Remember, your passion and creativity are more important than the physical aspects of the photos
It is you who can make the photos look great. Not the camera, not the place of the photo shoot, and not the dress worn by the models. Of course they will help you create something better and more beautiful, but remember that your passion and creativity are your main weapon.

The Black Dresses

Here are some alternative dresses that would be suitable for your model if you are planning to do a simple photo shoot with plain background. My advice: don’t choose a type of dress that has too much distracting patterns. Try to stick with a type of dress that look simple, elegant, and slightly hot.

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by David Burgess on April 26, 2018 0

The Mystique of Love – My Photography Class Project

My Experience Doing Outdoor Photoshoot at Night

I joined a photography class for beginner in June 2012 to learn the basic knowledge of this art. At the end of two months course, they gave an assignment to make a photography album consists of at least ten photos. There should be a meaningful story in the album, and the theme of the story is about Indian culture. There is no restriction for the subject of the photos and we should be able to finish this project within one week.

Thus, I decided to do this work, titled “The Mystique of Love”. I worked with two models (actually, they are my friends) to create a story about Indian culture. In this article, I wanted to share some of the photographs for this assignment. I am looking forward to your comments, feedback, and opinions.

The Preparation and Concept

It’s should be about “India”

Creating a photo shoot with a specific theme is not an easy work. You need to allocate a lot of time to do proper research, planning the costumes, locations, and poses. Moreover, I only had one week before the date line of this project. So, I contacted Nooreen and Varsha, two of my friends from Mauritius whom I worked with in a previous photo shoot titled “The Night Song”. I requested their help to participate in this project as models, and luckily both of them had completed their exams, so they could help me.

The story of these photos was created based on a traditional Indian folklore, about a painter who brings her subject to life with a magic power. For this project, I wanted to combine the modern as well as the traditional aspects of Indian culture. Thus, one of the model would wear a modern shirt, symbolizing a modern, liberal woman in the society; and one of the model would wear a traditional “saree”. I also wanted to capture both of the models in a frame, but they should not be aware of other’s existence. There should be no direct contact between the model, just as they live in different dimensions.

The Execution of the Concept

It’s more challenging than my other photo shoots.

To be honest, the pressure to do this work was much higher compared to my other works. It was because a requirement to get at least “B” for this assignment, otherwise I won’t be qualified to get the certificate. I was forced to think some very different concept that I have never done before, and this one should be better than my previous works.

I decided to do something different by doing an outdoor photo shoot at night. We went to Landscape Garden in Osmania University to get the “forest look” for these photos. Unfortunately, we had only less than an hour to complete the work because the garden were closed on 7 PM. I worked in a rush to complete my plan, before moving to another location.

The next location was just outside the garden, near a small tree. I wanted to create some “mythical” and “dream-like” environment without having to work with Adobe Photoshop. So, a tree under the orange bright light of street lamp would be suitable for this concept. Everything seemed well until a group of man who live in that area came and approached me. They watched from faraway, whistled to the models, said something in their local language, and laughed. Thankfully, me and the models did not understand their language, so we could carry on. Nonetheless, it wasn’t the most comfortable condition to work, for both the photographer and the models. Thus, I had to finish the photo shoot as soon as possible to avoid worse situation. Fortunately, we could finish our work in forty five minutes.

I submitted my photos the next morning, and I was very happy to know that they met the requirements of the course. I got a good mark, and happily received my certificate,

Tips to do an outdoor photo shoot at night

If you are a beginner photographer, try to avoid it
Technically, doing an outdoor photo shoot at night is a very difficult thing, especially for newbie. You will need a very good digital camera that enables you to shoot in high ISO without too much noise in the photo. Sometimes you will also need a very good lighting, as the default camera flash is not good enough for any serious photography work. So, if you can find another theme, just avoid to take photo in this condition.

Tripod is a must
You need to make the camera to be stable because small shakes can make your images to be blurry and out of focus. Even with a tripod, this happens a lot. So, tripod is a compulsory thing for any low-light photography.

Think about the environment
Be sure that the place you are going to do the photoshoot is a safe place. Try to do it in a family garden, tourist spot, or university park. Never try to do this kind of work in an unknown place, where you don’t know exactly who is its owner. Always have an assistant, and it would be better if the assistant is the local resident where you do the photo shoot.

Always set your camera to the best image quality
It is recommended taking the pictures in RAW format, so that later you have more freedom to work with the exposure. Post-processing is a vital work whenever you take photos in the dark. You might want to crop, desaturate, or highlight them. Thus, you should always select the highest resolution and highest image detail.

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by David Burgess on April 26, 2018 0

The Apple Girl, My Photography Challenge

Combining Cuteness and Mystery

Another assignment for my photography class. This assignment is to take a set of pictures involving a model with a particular object. There should be only one kind of object in the photo, and there should be a feeling of connection between the subject and the object that she has.

In this article, I want to upload some of my works that I created in order to complete this assignmet. I was given pretty tight deadline, only less than a week to submit my work. At that time, I was completely overwhelmed with my other works. Thankfully, I was able to find a free time just three day before the deadline of the submission. I contacted the model, rented a room for photoshoot, and spent one full day to complete this assignment. Hope you would enjoy them. Any comments and feedback are welcomed.

The idea of the photoshoot

As I said before, I was overwhelmed with my other works and I thought that I wouldn’t be able to meet the deadline of this assignment. I was pretty happy when I managed to finish all of my other works so that I had one free day to do this photo shoot. As for the idea, I found it in my little sister story book, about a girl who spends her whole day playing with a red apple. Based on that idea, I created some photos in this article.

One thing that came up in my mind before the photo shoot. It has to be simple, yet meaningful. I thought apple would be the most suitable object, as it symbolizes a lot of things, such as happiness, love, and hope. In my country, a red apple is even considered as a lucky charm that will bring you fortune and joy.

For this project, I would like to imply the feeling of innocence. The photos should be able to radiate cuteness and innocence, both from the model and the object. However, I didn’t want to make it merely as a showcase of cuteness. I want to add some mysterious feelings and enigma in each of the picture.

I spent much time in planning the concept. The execution process took even longer time. I clicked my shutter buttons hundreds of time before getting the shoot that I really wanted. Among those of hundred pictures, I edited ten of them and submitted as my assignment.

In order to enhance the feelings of innocence and cuteness, I decided to decrease the clarity level of the photos in post-processing stage. I also soften the color so that it looks more artistic. Compared to my other works, I spent relatively longer time to work on this project, about three hours before completing the whole post processing stage. I managed to submit this assignment before the deadline, I once again I was pretty relieved to get beyond pass marks for this work.

Apart from this theme, I also managed to create other five sets of photos from this photo shoot. I’d like to share some of them in Squidoo whenever I have the time.

Some tips to help you finding good concepts in photography

Concept is also an important thing
Photography is not only about technical aspects. It is also about concepts and ideas. Sometimes, those ideas play more important role rather than the physical qualities of the photos. Thus, if you want to take great set of pictures, be sure to prepare a good concept. Note down any idea that you have in mind on a piece of paper. Try to select which one is the best, and correlate it with your resources. What I meant with the resources are your subject, your camera, and of course your skill as a photographer.

Discuss with your friends
Sometimes you may find a state where you can’t find any good concept at all. When this thing happen, it is the time to stop thinking and go outside. Have a nice time with your friends, and don’t hesitate to ask for their help, directly or indirectly. I personally find that having a casual chat with my friends in Starbucks can be a great source of inspiration. Listen to their story, their experience, and you might intentionally find a good idea for your photo shoots.

Meditation
Meditation and relaxation is another great way to find idea. The key of this method is to relax yourself, sit comfortably, and try to focus your mind on one thing. Breathe slowly, and don’t be stressed. Think as if you are in the middle of a jungle with no one around. I usually find that my mind becomes sharper after this meditation session and it is easier for me to find a good, fresh idea for my photography works.

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by David Burgess on April 26, 2018 0

Sweetheart, My Photography About Long Distance Relationship

My photography project

“Sweetheart” is one of my favorite photography project that I did about a year ago. The concept is simple but the result is very satisfying (at least, for me as the photographer). The process of the photo shoot itself is also very fun. It took about six to seven hours to complete the shoot, but I enjoyed every single second of the work. Not only a set of photos, I managed to create four photos with four different concepts.

In this article, I’d like to show some of my work in a photo set titled “Sweetheart”. This is a set of pictures about a girl who visits her long-distance boyfriend for a short time. I deliberately didn’t put the boyfriend figure in the photo, as I want the viewer to feel that he is the boyfriend. Please let me know your opinion about these pics.

Behind the scenes

Actually, I didn’t plan to create this set of photos. My real intention for this photo shoot is to work on my course assignment, which is about “a girl and an apple” (I also published a lens about it. Feel free to check). At that moment, the model just arrived in the location of the shoot. I tried to established a rapport with her, having small conversation, re-explaining the concept, when suddenly I realized that she wore perfect outfit with the interior in the room. Thus, I decided to take some photos of her when she just arrived at the location. I gave her no instruction, just asked her to continue what she was doing. Surprisingly, the photos turned to be very good.

As I explained in the intro, this set of photo is about a visit from a girlfriend. Thus, I tried to emphasize the romantic feelings by making the color tone to be softer and warmer. I took only about fifteen photos, and surprisingly all of them are very satisfying. From those fifteen, I decided to publish five of them in this Squidoo article.

Let me tell you a brief story about the model. She is one of my old friends in college and we have worked several times for a photoshoot. One day, she called me, asked for my help to do some shoot for her portofolio. Amazing timing. The moment she called me, I was just given an assignment from my course to submit a photo shoot work. Hence, we arranged a place and decided to do one full day work.

The atmosphere of meeting with an old friend and good weather really elevated our mood. We managed to create more than two hundreds photos on that day. I post processed about hundred of them, divided the pictures into four or five categories, and submitted the best for my course exhibition. Although these photos are probably not my best, they are definitely the most satisfying that I have ever created so far.

The photoshoot went very smoothly. I used my favorite Rebel T3i, a tripod, and two different lenses. I also experimented with newly bought lens filter which I used to create the warm, soft color tone. We went straight for three hours work, took an hour lunch break, then continued for the next for hours.

Some tips from me

They might be useful if you want to do a photo shoot

Play music
Good music could help you and the model to be more immersed to the photoshoot. It is also very useful to help you find the mood that you wanted for the photos. It works best, especially for amateur models who don’t know how to pose. Just play the right music, and it will help them a lot in posing in front of the camera.

Take your time
No need to be in a hurry. Make sure that you establish a good rapport with the model before proceeding to the real work. If you can talk to the model and make her to be more comfortable working with you, then it is better. However, if you feel that you are not a good talker, just greet her. You need to interact with her not only during the shoot, but also before it.

Be sure to enjoy your work too. Don’t hesitate to take a break whenever you or the model feel tired. No need to be in a hurry, as I believe that it is better to take ten good photos in a good mood rather than hundreds of photos under extreme pressure.

Take a photo in RAW format
Be sure to set your image quality in your camera in RAW format. It will help you a lot in post-processing stage. I had a very good photo shoot at my early period learning photography, where I was able to take more than fifty great photos. However, I forgot to set my camera in RAW format, which I regret it very much.

So, before starting a photography project, make sure that the image quality in your camera is in RAW. Be sure to bring more than one memory card, as this format will take a lot space in the memory storage.

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by David Burgess on April 26, 2018 0

Persian Band Concert

My experience taking photographs in a live concert

Taking photograph of a live concert is not an easy work. You need good camera, good lenses, and good position near the stage to be able to take the best pictures. One of the assignment in my photography course was to take good photos of live music concert. Considering the fact that I didn’t have those great equipments, I decided to come to a music concert that was held in a small auditorium. Thus, the distance between me, the stage, and the musician won’t be too large, and I could take decent photos with my fifty millimetres lenses.

The concert was held in one of the university in Hyderabad. The performers named”Persian Band”, a group consists of Iranian and Indian musicians. In this article, I would like to share some of the best photos that I successfully took during the concert. Please kindly give me your feedback and comments.

About the concert of Persian Band

It was a small, but very memorable concert
The concert of Persian Band was held in April 2012, just a week before the deadline of my concert photography assignment for my diploma course. I found the concert as a perfect opportunity for a beginner photographer like me to sharpen my skill. It was impossible for me to take a photos of a band who performs in big venue, as I didn’t have appropriate zoom lens to take a good close-up photos. Thus, this concert was my only hope to complete my assignment.

Luckily, the organizer gave me a journalist seat, a place near the stage which allows me to take good photographs. They even said that I could approach the stage if I need better angles. As the size of the stage was not very large (approximately only ten by twenty meters), it wasn’t a big problem for me to take the photos of the concert.

The Persian band consists of three members: two female vocalists, three guitarists, a bassist, and a drummer. Three of the members are from Iran, and the rests of them are from India. The concert lasted about one and half hour, and during that much period I focused on taking close-up pictures of each band member. I wanted to take some photos from different angles and want to make the viewers of my photo feel the music within the photos. The images that I took should look dynamic and dramatic

Taking the photographs

It is not as easy as it seems
Believe me, taking photos of a musician performing on stage is not as easy as taking photos of a model. You need to always put your eyes on the viewfinder and be ready to click the shutter button on the right moment. When you miss the best moment, it is gone forever. I almost couldn’t enjoy their performance because I was too busy with my camera, struggled to capture the most memorable moments from the concert. However, judging from the audience’s big applause, I thought the band performed very well.

I also had to move a lot, from one side to another. Sometimes, I missed a good moment because I was on the move and was not ready to click my camera. Sometimes when I got the perfect angle and moment, I missed the focus point so the image was very blurry. Indeed, it takes a lot of hard work and efforts to be able to take good photographs of a live concert.

Fortunately, I managed to take around twenty good photos. I submitted those images as my assignment in my photography course. Some of them (which I couldn’t publish on this lens due to copyright issues) were selected to be featured in a local magazine and exhibited at a university exhibition. Based on my experience, I strongly suggest all beginner photographers who read this lens to go to a small concert and try to take as many good photos of the performers as possible. It is a very challenging task, but when you successfully accomplished the task, your skill and confidence as a photographer would significantly increase.

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by David Burgess on April 26, 2018 0

My Summer Fashion Photo Shoot

Capturing the Beauty of Summer Through Photography

“An Ode to Summer” is my latest photo shoot I did in May 2013. The idea of this photo shoot was to show the warmth of the summer. I wanted to juxtapose the warm sunlight, the beauty of nature, and a pretty girl. There is no complicated or philosophical theme as it can be found in my previous photo shoots. I just wanted to present the beauty through the pictures, and let the viewers enjoy the picture as they are, without having to think hard about the meanings behind them. I have to admit that doing this type of photography work is refreshing, as I found that this type of photo shoot was more like to be an activity to have fun. Thus, I would like to share some of the photos through this lens, and hopefully you like them.

The Preparation

I didn’t prepare too much for the concept of the photo shoot, as I just want to create beautiful photos without any complicated story or themes. I just went online and browsed some references from professional photographers. I also met the model, Sunny, two days before the shoot. She is a very nice and smart Chinese girl. Sunny studies B.Com in my undergraduate college and I know her through my Bhutanese friends, whom I worked in previous photo shoots.

The idea of the photo shoot and the name of the model (Sunny) suited very well. Somehow, working with Sunny was very fun. I told her about my plan and she gave a lot of idea for the photo shoot. She acted not only as a model, but also as a director, style designer, and she tried to see the concept from the photographer’s point of view. If you find a model who is able to do this kind of things, then you are very lucky as working with the model would be more fun.

An early morning summer day

I departed from my apartment at 4 o’clock in the morning and we started the photo shoot exactly at 5 AM. The location of the photo shoot is at Hussain Sagar Lake, the biggest and most beautiful artificial lake in Hyderabad. We decided to do it in the southern park of the lake, where there is a beautiful park with pretty trees and flower.

Unfortunately, we missed the sunrise. However, the sun rays was perfect for photography. It was very soft and made everything looked shiny. I took some photos near the beautiful tree, with the beautiful lake in the background. The model seemed to enjoy the photo shoot very much, and it made me feel comfortable to work with her. We took about one hundred photos in two hours, then decided to take a break. We worked for another one more hour, then decided to call it a day because the temperature started to raise and made us sweating.

After the photo shoot, we had breakfast at McDonald (we had to wait for about an hour because it was still closed) and decided to watch Iron Man 3. I reached home right in the afternoon, and had some three hours sleep before editing the photos. This work was indeed one of the most enjoyable photo shoot I have ever done.

Photo Shoot Tips from Me

Some more tips I learned after doing this project

If you live in tropical country early morning is the best time for photo shoot
I realized this fact just after I did this photo shoot. In the morning, the weather is very cool and relaxing. The natural light from the sun is also very beautiful and soft, and it is not too harsh so you may not even need a reflector. Moreover, the fresh air will increase the mood of you and your model, so both of you can perform better. Just be sure to have a nice sleep if you want to do photo shoot in early morning.

Be friendly with the model
Of course, without crossing the boundary of professionalism. Plan a meeting two or three days before you work together, just to understand better about her. If you think that you are good at making friends, try to be friendly with her. Believe me, it won’t hurt, and even will make you perform better in the photo shoot.

Explain the model about your concept and idea
And don’t forget to ask for her feedback. She might have some brilliant idea that you didn’t even think. If it is possible, discuss also about the wardrobe that she is going to wear, the accessories, and how you want her to pose for the photos.

Enjoy your work
The most important thing in photography (and any other arts) is to enjoy what you are doing. By enjoying the process of the photo shoot, you will realize that your photos will appear to be more “lively” and there is “soul” inside the photos. Thus, people will love your photos more.

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by David Burgess on April 25, 2018 0

My Black and White Photography Tips

Capturing the Beauty in Monochrome

Although most of the time I take photo in color, I sometimes also enjoy shoot in black and white. It is probably not as strong as color photo, but there is always classy, elegant, and romantic feelings produced from monochromatic photos. Thus, I would share some of my recent works in photography. All of the photos in this lens are in black and white, taken from different occasions and photo shoots. I also want to give some tips based on my own experience in taking monochromatic pictures. Please let me know about your opinion on my works, so I could improve my skill as a photographer.

When Should We Take Black and White Shots?

It’s all about timing
Based on my personal experience, I rarely set my camera in black and white format. I prefer to shoot in color, then later turn the image into black and white by using post processing software. However, there is a time when I want to do something more challenging, by immediately set my camera into monochrome mode so that I can directly take black and white images. The question is, when should we do it?

Street Photography
You may want to purely take black and white photos if you do street photography. There was a kind of unwritten rule among purist photographers that street photography should be taken in monochrome. It follows the example of the father of street photography, Henry Cartier Bresson.

Practically, turning your street photos into black and white can give more dramatic feelings, especially if you want to show an irony, sadness, or paradox in the society. Be sure that there are not too many objects in the frame so that the viewer can focus on your main subject.

Portrait
A normal portrait can look boring. Thus, to make them to be more interesting, you can turn the photos into black and white. It will make your portrait cooler and more elegant, especially if you can edit the shadows and highlights on the subject’s face. It would be more dramatic.

Creating black and white profile picture for your social network page is also a good idea. I always do this thing, because personally I perceived that people who put monochrome photos as their profile picture are more professional, wiser, and classy.

When you don’t have good source of light
Lack of good source of light in photography means that you have to increase the sensitivity of the camera (ISO). It means, you will have more “digital noise” in your photos. The noise can be visually reduced (if later you don’t have plan to edit the photos) by shooting in black and white.

Sometimes, when you find it to hard to focus your camera with auto focus (and you are not in possible moment to adjust the focus manually), you may want to set your camera in black and white photo as well. Blurry and out of focus photos umostly look better in black and white rather than in color.

When We Shouldn’t Convert Our Photos into Black and White

When your photo looks better in color
This is the simplest rule. If you are in a place with beautiful, colorful flowers, warm sunlight, and your model wears a dress that goes very well with the colors of the scenery, don’t shoot in black and white. Monochromatic photos tend to look colder, and if you want your images to look warmer you should keep it in color. Think as you are an artist because photography is just like painting with light. Then, decide which type of image would look better.

When the contrast between the subject and the background is too low
For example, when your subject wears light-colored plain dress (for example, yellow colored dress) and she stands in front of a plain, white background. You might want to keep the photo in color because if you turn it into monochrome it would look boring and not captivating.

When you shoot images for the sake of documentation or use it to complement factual news
If you shoot for an event, for example an annual day of your college and you want to publish it in college magazine later, don’t convert your photos to black and white. Although it may look more beautiful, the photo won’t seem factual. This is because the readers of the magazine see the photo as the complement of an article or a report of an event. They want to know how was the event, the real condition, and of course they prefer to see it in color. If you want to keep a documentation of important live events, such as wedding and birthday party, it is also better to shoot the image in color.

Tips to do black and white photo

Learn the basic concept of post processing software
Creating black and white photos means that you need to work a lot with the post-processing software. Thus, I recommend that you learn the basic concept of it. You don’t need to go for courses, just try to do some experiments and understand what will happen if you increase the contrast or decrease the brightness of the images.

Try to increase the clarity if it is necessary
In some of my black and white photos, I prefer to increase its clarity to the maximum level. It gives more visible detail to the texture of the objects, and can make you photo appear to be more impressive.

Vignetting
“Vignetting” is giving a shadow borders in the edges of your photos. It’s like framing your image with shadow. Sometimes, black and white photo can look more dramatic and better if you do this thing. Some software such as Adobe Lightroom can do the vignetting just in a second, and later you can adjust the intensity and volume of it for the best result.

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