Category: AtoZ Challenge

A to Z, post a day (almost) challenge!

AtoZ Challenge: PH – G: Grain

G for Grain

Grain, is the old age, film days term for what we know as Noise now. Since most of us, wont see grains in photos anymore, lets talk about the Noise. When we increase the sensitivity of the sensor, we make it responsive to stray signals too. Being increased over a certain limit, based on the cameras, the extra signals start to show and reduce the image quality. Often noise is evident in low light photos, and/or when highly tweaked. HDR gets around it often, but if it doesnt ruin the photo, leave it be.

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This is a part of April AtoZ Challenge. A, B, C, D, E, F, G are done. Rest to follow.

Cheers!!

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AtoZ Challenge: PH – F: Focus Stacking

F for Focus Stacking

Situation: My usable DOF is less than what is needed to cover my entire subject. Increasing the DOF will rob the dreamy effect and I don’t want that. What to do?

Solution: Use focus stacking.

We shoot a series of photos with focusing on the nearest point of focus of the subject and keep shooting till we reach the end of it, changing the focus, bit by bit every time. Then, we combine them and have a composite photo, where the subject is sharp. The background doesn’t change because we don’t change any camera settings here.

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Stacked up and contrast boosted composite

This is a part of April AtoZ Challenge. A, B, C, D, E, F are done. Rest on hot pursuit.
Cheers!!

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AtoZ Challenge: PH – E: Exposure Bracketing

E for Exposure Bracketing

This is the raw material for the slightly advanced HDR (High Dynamic Ratio) photos. Suppose, in a landscape, if  we correctly expose the sky, the foreground is dark, and if we meter the foreground correctly, the sky is washed away. Instead, we take a series of photos exposing the various parts correctly, then we combine them in photo-editing software, and we have a composite photo, where everything is exposed correctly. Be careful though, aperture, focus and white balance must not change during the series. In some cameras, its an inbuilt function, others vary the shutter speed.

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Optimum exposure minus 1 stop

 

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Optimum exposure

 

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Optimum exposure plus 1 stop

 

 

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Resulting HDR photo

This is a part of the April AtoZ Challenge. A, B, C, D, E are done. Rest to follow. Follow me and have fun.

Cheers!!

 

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AtoZ Challenge: PH – D: Depth Of Field

D for Depth of Field (DOF)

DOF is significant in deciding if a photo is amazing or little off! As the name suggests, DOF is the part of the photo, which is in sharp focus. Its not a single point, but rather a span, a vertical plane. The depth varies directly with aperture. Smaller F number, smaller DOF. If you want a portrait, a smaller DOF is suitable, and in a landscape, for having both foreground and background in focus, a large DOF i.e a large F number. Having a large DOF helps, if you miss pinpoint focus. More, here.

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This is a part of the April AtoZ Challenge. Letters A, B, C, D done. Follow me, for rest of the series is coming up next.

Cheers!!

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AtoZ Challenge: PH – C: Composition

C for Composition

In photography, composition means placement of subjects in a manner that makes the photo speak up. The common techniques being –
1. Rule of Thirds: Dividing the entire frame in 3×3 boxes, we keep the important subjects lined on the lines or the intersections. More, here!

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  1. Leading Lines: Lines, single or parallel, straight or curved, which lead the view of the observer from one part of the photo to the next.

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  1. Leaving space: The subject should have some space to look, ride, fly, etc. into, within the frame.

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  1. Break the rules, and shoot the way that makes you feel content!

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This is part of April AtoZ Challenge. A, B, C done! 23 more to go. Follow me!

Cheers!

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AtoZ Challenge: PH – B: Bokeh

B for Bokeh

Japanese origin word for blur in the background of a photo. Used widely as an aesthetics tool in the photograph to give it a dreamy smooth out-of-focus background. With decrease of the Aperture number, the bokeh effect becomes more distinct and profound. The shapes formed in the bokeh of light sources, varies on the number of blades within the lens. Bokeh can be used creatively by use of filters to produce specific shapes in the photo.

Some Bokeh shots here. For information on aperture, check here. And for the use of filters, check here.

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This is part of April AtoZ Challenge. A , B  done, 24 more to go! Follow me.

Cheers!!

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AtoZ Challenge: PH – A: Aperture

A for Aperture.

Aperture is the slit through which light reaches the sensor of the camera. It is part of the lens and is represented by F Number. Bigger the F number, smaller the aperture and lesser light enters the camera. Increasing the F number is known as “stepping down” the aperture. The two effects of changing the aperture are, changing the amount of light that enters through, and the amount of the picture that remains in sharp focus. With smaller aperture values, more area is blurred. Often, lens have a sharp sweet spot, based on the aperture.

More, here!

 f-1.8 f-5.6

This is part of April AtoZ Challenge. Follow me, there are another 25 letters more to go!

Cheers!!

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April AtoZ Challenge : PH

Hi there,

I remember doing a 5 day black and white challenge, but that was in my pre-blogging days, maybe someday I ll post them too. Anyway, this time, I have signed up for the April AtoZ Challenge, and well, its going to be a bit tricky I feel. Mostly because finding 26 different, doable photo topics is a difficult thing. For example, the letter “X” … the only photographic instrument i can think of, with X, is a X Ray machine…but I ll come up with something I guess!

Something that I wanted to say, right before I begin, this series may contain previous works too. Some might repeat as already featured in other previous posts, but I ll try to keep things interesting and put up different photos for sure. The posts will normally deal with the different photo lingos and I ll try my best to keep them as simple, short and crisp as I can, actually, I ll try to keep my content to less than 100 words…that should keep things interesting 🙂

Do come over during April 2015, and find the new posts, everyday, for the next whole month.

April

 

Cheers!!

 

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