Twisted Indifference

I figured I start out with this since the photographs required are already edited and uploaded on Flickr. Remnants of lethargy on account of being absent from blogging for so long. Hopefully it should be gone soon.

This is a pretty old snap, I had never put it up on the blog. It has been shot on film and I was using a Canon EOS 300 at that time. I am extremely fond of this shot since it started my love affair with concept art and the fact that this snap alone got me a lot of attention. If you are wondering why this shot is in a post clearly titled “Interiors and Food”, this was one of the shots I took while shooting for Oxford Properties in Pune.

The next couple of shots are part of a restaurant shoot I had done last year.

Just goes to show how much fun can be had with RAW processing. I should add here that shooting in RAW does not automatically make for a brilliant shot. If you are going to muck around with tonal ranges there should actually be a distinct tonal range.

Given that in the earlier post for this shot I spoke about specular highlights, I will summarize it briefly. Your best option in such a case is to diffuse the light. This is not a hard and fast rule and could always depend on the situation and the source of light. Another option that can be considered is to compensate for the highlights but you stand to lose data in the shadows.

From graffiti to flames to the downright eye-poppers; the artists had managed to create them all. Having spent a considerable amount of time as a photographer for an automotive magazine in India, an intense love affair with cars tricked out in custom paint jobs is inevitable. Of course covering an every inch of an Ambassador in white fur might be overkill. Even the interiors weren’t spared.

The graffiti art was on a Maruti Suzuki Swift. This car without the custom paint job can makes me want to get in behind the wheel and floor the throttle. Especially the diesel version. The throttle response is brilliant. But then this blog is about photography not cars.

The Royal Enfield, a motorcycle owned by those who dare to be different (and also love pushing the bike to the nearest garage at frequent intervals.) This bike has an undying affinity towards proving Murphy right. Given the new technological breakthroughs that the company has now adopted I guess things should be different.

Flames were largely popular with the Yamaha RX series in its heyday. So putting solid colours on a bike that is coveted for its acres of chrome is I guess keeping with what the bike stands for. Being different.

I just might be prejudiced in my opinion of the art work on the Swift. Apart from the fact that he used a car I really like, the canvas (body) is my favourite colour. Black. Narcisstic, the way the artist’s name is emblazoned on the car panels but it is acceptable. I am the last one who should point out to people marking their territory as far as their creations are concerned. I cannot really use protection of my intellectual property as an excuse.

Now we come to the reason why I spent almost an entire day working on this post. I was saving the best for the last. I do not claim to be any kind of expert with Photoshop. Whatever I do know about it is through watching a colleague of mine. He is a graphic designer and we worked together briefly. That and a little credit to online tutorials. I, however, do know what different techniques were applied when shooting on film. The one emulated here in photoshop is called cross processing. In photoshop, cross processing is done using the Curves function. Stick to non-destructive editing and use a Curves layer. Makes life much simpler. Adobe has certainly made mine easier by adding the Cross Processing action as a Preset.

All I had to do after selecting it from a drop down menu was to apply a little fine tuning. In this photo and in the photo that is used as the opening image in this post, the Dodge and Burn tool have been my best friends. I wish I could have taken a better angle for the car, I would love to do something similar maybe with a wide angle, taking in the rear three quarters of the car with the Gothic Revival Buildings in the background and then apply a similar effect. I think I will take someone along with me who has a thorough knowledge of the buildings and the architectural style.

This should do it for Art in the Financial Capital. Bid adieu to the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival, let’s hope I can spend more time there the next time. The next few posts will be about the photos from the Auto Expo 2008 again. I am going to try and put up as much of it as I can by the week-end since I would like to start with something new next week.

I was done with the photography workshop by 1400 hrs. A cola and a smoke and then a cab down to Jehangir Art Gallery. The street was already filled up with the artists setting up their exhibits. I met up with fellow bloggers for lunch, including celebrity bloggers like Sakshi and a blogger that churns out ideas by the dozen.

Now down to the photography. The photograph used at the top of this post was clicked with the intention of putting it as the opening photo. When I saw the sculpture of the paint cans hanging on the stand, I knew this was what I would want to open this post with. Confession time, I agree this is a clichéd snap. I believe a lot of people will have attempted a similar snap. With the plethora of photographers around I doubt that it would not have been attempted. Always fun to play with Depth of Field (DOF). Even though the aperture was stopped down till 5.6, which is not really something that would support a clear DOF in say a landscape shot but it was more than adequate here. You can still see the slight gaussian blur after the 5th can.

The correct DOF can make or break a good photograph. I believe that a proper tutorial on DOF would make a great post. That however would have to be kept for later. I have another post to make for the Kala Ghoda Art festival and I still have to feature the remaining vehicles shot at the Auto Expo 2008. I have a feeling that I am going to end up updating everyday this week.

Another couple of snaps that I clicked at the fest.

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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.