Black & White

Black & white photography.... There is something magical about it that it never ceases to excite me. I am still in the process of learning the nuances of a good B&W edit and these are some of my attempts to learn that art. The first two pictures were taken before the start of the one-day international between India & Westindies that was held at Chepauk sometime ago. The last photo was taken during the first spell of incessant rains that lashed Chennai in the month of November. I wish the photo of the cyclist was a bit more sharp but this is the best that I could manage and had to be content with this. 

Mylai Festival -- Take Two

When the night slowly started settling in and using the 18-55mm lens became a tough proposition, the 50mm prime came to my rescue. There is a definite sharpness to the shots clicked with a prime lens that the other lens surely lack. The 50mm really shines during these night times and it is no exaggeration that without this lens, all the below shots would have been impossible.

(Scroll down to my previous blog for more pictures from the 'Mylai Festival')

Mylai Festival

Last weekend, I had participated in the photowalk organized by PSM and what a wonderful experience it turned out to be. There were close to 35+ photographers who had come for the photoshoot and it was a great learning experience for me. I had the chance to meet it person so many people who I have only heard through emails and flickr ID's.

The theme that our group of four decided to take up was designs and I decided to extend it to 'Shapes' as well. The main idea behind shooting pictures with a theme is that it opens up our eyes and we start 'seeing' things much more clearly. It took me close to 30 minutes before my eyes could start seeing 'shapes'. Given below are some of the shapes that I captured. There are other snaps in which the theme was not met but I nevertheless went ahead and clicked lest I miss those opportunity.

Koyambedu Market -- Take Two

A few more shots from Koyambedu market.This person was aware that we were there with our cameras and I had to wait sometime before he could turn to face the camera. The rose flowers that he was selling, the soft light that was streaming through making him bathe in a rose light and the entire ambiance of the place was what made me click this shot. The red and green polythene covers in the right hand side corner not only blocked the harsh light but also helped in giving a balance to the composition. No post-processing (PP) has been done on this one except to resize the image for the blog.

Again, the light was the major factor why I clicked the shot. This seller was engrossed in a discussion with his fellow sellers and the silhouetted lady was busy buying some flowers. The scene seem to depict the mood of the place so well that I had to click it.

During PP, I first tried out a monochrome image and was quite satisfied with the way the light was brought on the face of the seller. Even after that, I kept playing in LightRoom and that is when I stumbled upon this idea of not completely de-saturating the image and adding just a small amount of color.

Koyambedu Market

Shot during my weekend photography trip to 'Koyambedu' market. It is a wonderful place for shooting pictures as there is excellent lighting that is available and the vendors there are so used to people taking photos of them that they almost ignore us.... (Well, if you don't consider the fact that some people do come and ask us to take their photos!!). Am planning to write a tour report but I am so lazy to do it.... Hopefully, I will get down to writing it this weekend.

Child Labor -- A sad state of affairs

Had been to Besant Nagar beach last weekend and when I started shooting, I got this idea of covering children working in the beach. Somehow this is one area which has greatly affected me and I wanted to bring out that mood in my pictures. Here are a couple of those pictures which I clicked there. 

Smoke Photography

I always had this desire to try out 'Smoke Photography' and I also had a clear idea inside my head on how the photo should come out. The smoke photography in my mind had an old man with a white beard smoking a cigarette as black & white composition. I got lucky when I went to my wife's office to shoot some pictures. Here was an old man working on something and when he took a break, he took it the way I had envisaged it. A couple of clicks and only this one came close to my 'vision'. I will sure keep trying till I get the right image, though.