Oh! The Joys of Childhood!

It was a fun weekend. My daughter loves her new bubble maker - "Infinite Bubbles". So on Sunday evening, we went to the near-by play area.



I wanted to shoot colorful shots of all the reflections. I had my 50mm F1.8 prime attached to the camera as I knew I was not going to shoot wide angle. I wanted to use narrow depth of field to make the bubbles stand out. But pretty soon I realized that it was too difficult to take any good pics of shiny bubbles in it with the windy weather.

It was very sunny and taking pictures of my daugher was also difficult due to high dynamic range. As evening sattled and shadows grew longer, I started getting better shots. Out of 50+ shots that I tried, this one is my favorite.

Focal Length: 50mm
ISO : 100
Aperture: F2.8
Shutter Speed: 1/500s
Mode: Black and White (with red filter)
Editing: Sharpen and Glow with Picasa (Free from Google), Noise reducation with Neat Image (Free Demo)

And, I could see parallels between both of our toys. She was making lots of bubbles effortlessly and enjoying running behind them. And I was taking lots of pictures, trying different settings, checking thr results and trying something new.. almost a child's play compared to what photography enthusiasts had to go through a generation before.

I wonder what her first dSLR would be like !

My little Wonder

-:- My little Wonder -:-

Here is one of my first shots with 20D. It has been reduced in size. What's unique about this shot is the conditions in which it was taken. I captured this when my baby daughter was playing in the bed, early in the morning on a cloudy day, in available light through the window! The only way this was possible is because I dialed up the ISO sensitivity to 1600 ! Even at 1600 ISO the images that come out are very useable with relatively low noise. I'd never be able to get this shot with my G5. Full exposure info is as below.

Aperture : F 5.6
Shutter : 1/30 sec
Focal Length : 35 mm (I was using the kit lense from my old film SLR Canon Rebel G)
ISO : 1600

Note: The original image has some noise in it, but I left it in it and sharpend with Picasa 2. For Black and White or Sepia images, when you sharpen with the noise, it starts looking like film or paper grain which I think looks good. I'd never do that to color images.

Ganesh and Grandpa

Here is another one of my favorite BW shot taken in Rural India. The young man in the back is "Ganesh" and the old gentleman in the foreground is his Grandpa.




Ganesh and Grandpa

Why Black and White

Have you done any black and white photography yet? Or the idea of no-colors reminds you of nothing but your dad's old TV ?

Well believe me, it can be very interesting. In fact it can help you a lot on mastering the very basic skill of capturing lights and shadows. Recently there was some discussion at dslreports.com on black and white vs. color photography which made me think why should a beginner take interest in Black and White Photography? The world is so colorful and it's so wonderful to take some instant gratification about your photography simply by capturing colors with your new Digicam (see: "Colors with G5" ) . Why bother to go to Black and White ? Well, here is my take on Black and White clicking.

If we think of color photography as the generalization and black and white as a specialization of color photography where colors are toned down, then in general, the skill of photograpy has following elements

1. Identifying the subject
   
2. Composing the frame
   
3. Emphasizing the subject
   
4. Capturing the colors
   
5. Capturing lights, shadows, contrasts
   
6. Creating an overall pleasing (not disgusting) photograph
   

( I am considering technical skills like selecting proper Aperture, Shutter Speed, ISO, Depth of Field etc. as implicit to skills above )

With no offence to people who use filters to get the colors right, capturing colors is the easiest in the list for a digital photographer. In fact it is pretty much simplified to having a good camera and selecting proper white balance option on your Digicam.

The colors are there whether you take the picture or no. You are capturing them as it is, while the rest of the elements, you have to learn and master. Lights and shadows are also there even if you dont take the picture, but they may vary a lot by varying angle.

Also, Eventhough they are the easiest to capture, colors contributes a lot to the overall good feeling of a photograph according to human brain/eye. So a very simple picture of a flower may look so pleasing to a human brian/eye - simply because it is colorful - a very biological or genetic reason I guess.

Now, imagine if this easiest element is taken away from you ! Without color, a lot of emphasis will shift on lights and shadows, proper subject identification etc rest of the elements of the skill ! It will require you to be much better in rest of the elements of the skill to make a picture that can compete with a colorful pic!

I think B&W is a lot more demending in terms of photography skills and that is what attracts me. I believe every beginner should do some fun B&W photography to sharpen the rest of the skills. Without being 'distracted' by colors, you can focus a lot on lights and shadows, because that's all you've got!

I don't mean to say, a black and white picture is better or more artistic compared to color. The vibrant colors and their pleasing effect on our genetically hard coded brain can not be easily competed by a BW pic. But BW pic has to try very hard on rest of the elements of the picture to be able to compete with a colorful pic. Kinda like, if you are not the best dressed person in the party, then you better be very good at Tap Dancing or Singing or have a great sense of humour to be the center of attraction :-)

Some of my BW attempts below.

Three is company


Singapore Airport


Labor Transportation, INDIA