by Raghu

Seeing Light

The realization dawned on me, rather embarrassingly late, that photography is all about light. Well, that’s not entirely true. Of course, I knew that photography is all about light, but it was late in the game when I realized that the response an image evokes in a viewer depends on the type of the light.

For a correctly exposed image the basic ingredients to get right are color and quantity of light. But what makes the difference between a merely well-exposed image and one that has a dramatic impact is the type of light. In the present context that refers to how the subject is lit. A subject may have frontlighting, or sidelighting, or backlighting, or reflected lighting, and so forth, and depending on the type of lighting the response to each image will be very different.

In general, the mood an image presents is directly tied to the type of light. For instance, an image of a lighthouse taken at sunrise might have frontlighting and will display colors and hues, while an image taken from the same location late in the afternoon might have backlighting and will be more of a play of light and shadows. The reddish glow or golden hue of the light at sunrise adds a mood of inspiration, a new beginning, etc., to the image, while the late afternoon light, which lacks color, calls attention to highlights, shadows, and contrasts.

One of the biggest assets a photographer could possess is the ability to recognize the type of light, to see the light. For some, it is an innate ability, but for the many not so blessed, seeing light can be learned.  There are any number of resources that talk about the types of light and how best to put them to use. An aspiring photographer would do well to invest the time and effort to develop the skill to see light. Put differently, his photographic creativity will start to see light as he learns to see the light.

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 by Raghu

Sometimes You Just Get Lucky

As a photographer you want to make the best possible photographs, so you take into account a variety of factors before you click the picture. You think about the lighting, you check for background distractions, you note the contrast, and you suggest favorable poses. It takes a bit of time and planning and discussion to get everything just right. That is perhaps a normal way to work a scene or a photo session, and the rewards for your efforts are, hopefully, pleasing photographs.

But for those of us that like to keep things under our control — plan out our shoots in detail, work out the lighting details, design the elements in our frames, etc — it is good, once in a while, to not worry about the details and simply go out and take photos. Instead of worrying about composition, for instance, simply take the photo. Take many photos. Trust your muse. Do it on faith.

 

Maybe we get in the way of our great photographs. Maybe we need to be absent.

As can be expected from such a photo session, you will find most of the photos lacking in appeal and destined for the delete bin. But you will find too in that digital stash one or two gems, ones in which all the elements have fallen in place and everything — the lighting, the composition, the background — is exactly how you would have wanted them to be had you designed the photograph yourself! I realize it’s hard to believe such things can happen but if my experience is any proof, such things do happen. You don’t want this to become your modus operandi for creative output, of course, but it helps to know that sometimes when it feels like you are not winning, you still might be.

There have been several occasions when I have not felt inspired and yet continued to take photos and I discovered, much to my amazement that, even with me absent, there were a few beauties, stuff I could not have made had I tried hard! Maybe we get in the way of our great photographs. Maybe we need to be absent. I don’t know but while I search for answers all I can say is, “Sometimes you just get lucky!”

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 by Raghu

Kids + Play = Photo Fun

Kids at play offers photographers endless opportunities for creative engagement. The multitude of emotions kids go through as they go about playing — delight, joy, anger, annoyance, excitement, fear, disappointment — serves up a great palette for the photographer to choose from. Combine that with the dynamic nature of play — movement — and there is no dearth of creative challenges. To capture those fleeting moments a photographer simply needs to be just as engaged as the kids, alert and absorbed in the moment.
Making good photographs of kids is challenging because they don’t generally sit still which means that the photographer — assuming she wants to capture the best angles and the best light — needs to be just as nimble as the kids. And that alone makes it great fun to make pictures of kids at play. The photographer gets to play and be a kid herself! 

I made these images of a friend’s daughter when they visited us a couple years back. She was, and still is, a firecracker — bustling with energy, curious, and so full of life — and she had taken a fancy for the kitchen playstation. During the whole time she was at our place she was not interested in any other toy. When the family left after dinner, it felt like the calm after a storm. I missed her but also realized how much fun I had all day, thanks to her, playing with her and making pictures of her at play.
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