Twisted Indifference

There have been certain changes that have increased my already saturated workload. Too bad batch processing does not exist for real life. Where is photoshop when you need it the most? I already have the next post planned but putting it up here will take time.

A recent development at the studio would be the arrival of the new computer. Well I cannibalized some parts of the old one. I retained the monitor, the keyboard and mouse and the sound card. I shall be changing the sound card a little later. The rest of course will get changed as time passes. The photos of the new machine will also be put up soon enough.

The next tutorial that I am planning on putting up will be about conceptual photography. Concept Art is something that I enjoy doing the most. It is the genre where I have maximum control over the shoot. It will be a two photo feature that I had shot for a local tabloid a long time back. As I have always maintained, creativity cannot be taught. Technique can. Creativity or rather a part of it, would be how you apply the technique. No one can teach you that, you either have it or you don’t.

I wish I could put that tutorial up sooner but since I cannot, I will try and put up a few other shots that I had taken while shooting this.

If you would like to hire my services for any photography related assignment, you can check the main site for my Showcase Portfolio. My contact details can be found there too. Please get in touch with me if there are any specific shots that you would like to see.

I am pretty sure I haven’t pioneered this concept. Reason? I am a photographer and not a designer. It took me ages to do this (4 hours spread over 2 days). I guess the main reason bloggers (excluding the one’s running webcomics on theirs) would not want to follow something like this would be since it would screw up their SEO.

So why am I doing it? I am not going to say I that I do not give a damn about SEO. I would love it as much as the other guy if search results with photography as the keyword give Twisted Indifference Studios as the first result. Think of it as a burglar alarm. It may not be 100% effective but still makes the job a hell lot tougher for thieves. Not to mention the fact that I really like the way it has turned out.

Moving on to what went on while taking this shot. I wanted to shoot the scooter in an urban location. I agree this location is more residential than commercial but it suited my aesthetic purposes. Took the easy way out on the lighting. Sweet morning sunrise.

For this shot the sun was behind me, i.e. incident on the subject. Metering was on matrix but I shot a little to the right. Just enough that I could recover it in Photoshop. The histogram display has seriously become my new best friend. Shooting to the right ensured capturing the complete detail of the bike which I am sure you must have noticed is black. You might find it a little hard to note the details in the area a little behind the front mudguard. I am presuming this is on account of this being a low res photograph.

The colours underwent the maximum post processing (not to be read as dependent on post processing!). I shoot at the default settings without boosting saturation. Image Optimization is also at Normal. Please note that the nomenclature used for camera related purposes will mostly be unique to Nikon. Canon generally has different terminology. Semantics most of the time. Nikon has Vibration Reduction (VR) and Canon has Image Stabilizer (IS). I like how the camera sales people make it sound like that function is the lens’ USP.

I digress. Post processing involved playing with Levels a bit and a moderate hand with the Burn tool. It brought out the saturation required. I must also mention that while in Levels, I boosted yellow a notch. The result, a warmer tone on the buildings and a cool blue sky, is at the beginning of this post.

There are a lot of kinks to be worked out for a post like this. Suggestions and/or requests are always welcome.

I had a really heavy workload. Now that I am done with the bad puns, here goes.

I have been working with a publishing house shooting for their automotive magazines. Twisted Indifference Studios also has been active. My absence on Flickr and out here can be attributed to several reasons.

1. Work.

2. Restrictions on what I could publish.

3. Unscrupulous ad agencies that have the link to my Flickr page. I love Flickr for it’s protection but it’s not as good as the stuff I get on my own website.

4. Flash making it way difficult to nick photos from my website is good, but not good when it comes to updating them as I do not know flash.

5. I love my work, I put in a lot of effort into it and if people want to use my photos they bloody well can pay and credit me for it.

India does not have the most stringent copyright protection laws. Loopholes be damned, unscrupulous agencies and publishers trying to save money aren’t exactly concerned about the law. I have seen photos on Flickr where people are pretending to be requesting for permission to use a certain photograph since Right-Click, Download did not work. What does the photographer get in return? Photo Credit. Now if it actually was a publication worth its salt it makes sense though if it is really that big they can afford to pay you for it. The rest can please leave their e-begging gloves at the door.

So given this situation, all my photographs, regardless of being posted here or on Flickr shall carry copyright notices. I understand it might restrict getting a complete feel of the photograph but under the unending duress of people with complete disregard for intellectual property rights I have been left with no choice.

I can and will still guarantee great shots and great posts here. There is a lot that I have been shooting and can put up here. I have been thinking of new ways of displaying stuff and I think you will love it.