A la creatif: Part-1 Day-2.

Day-2 was a test shoot with my friend and new partner Rahul D'Cruze. We went out on the sunday evening and stood on the nearby road to catch a glimps of the street. I used my new Vivitar 285HV vari-power flash. Its I think the crown jewel for me. Awesomne effects I have got with this.









Judas: Rahul on Nazrul Islam Avenue.

1/50s, f4.2, ISO-400, Nikon D60, Sigma 70-300DG @ 95mm, Vivitar 285HV @ 1/4 on 35mm connected to camera, 40" diffuser umbrella.

Way beyond: Rahul on Nazrul Islam Avenue

1/50s, f4.5, ISO-400, Nikon D60, Sigma 70-300DG @135mm, Vivitar 285HV @1/2 on 35mm connected to camera, 40" diffuser umbrella.

This is my life: Rahul on Nazrul Islam Avenue.


1/40s, f4, ISO-400, Nikon D60, Sigma 70-300DG @84mm, Vivitar285HV @1/4, 50mm from the back of the model on tripod with diffuser and optical slave on it, Sunpak @1/16, 24mm from camera shoe with diffuser on and no tilt.

There is only one side of me now: Rahul on Nazrul Islam Avenue.

1/40s, f4.2, ISO-400, Nikon D60, Sigma 70-300 @95mm, Vivitar285HV @1/4 on 35mm connected to camera, 40" diffuser umbrella.

A la creatif: Part-1 First Day.

This is Part-1 for the project publication. I will give you all the shots that I have worked on for last one year during my study of photography along with the new ones.This part will include few specific modules.

• Bokeh decorations.


• Outdoor portraits with minimal setup for day and well lit places.
• Balancing strobes with the sun


• Night portraits with strobes+ambient balanced.


• Dimensional lights with artificial light blocks for designs and effects on background and face.


• Slow shutter speed.

Though I have written it as the Day first, however it includes photos from long gone days. So, day first means, the first day of my attempt to gather these photos for publishing. Hereafter I will post my photos on day basis, however, it is not a 365 or daily kind of blog that many photographers have.

Jamil: In front of Taj Hotel Bombay.

1/160s, f9, ISO-200, Nikon D60, Sigma 70-300DG @300mm, 42" round photopro warm reflector from the left of the model diagonally upwards to create a catchlight in the eyes and wash the shadows out. Warm reflector is used to give natural warm glow that we get in the setting sun or if we sit against a reflective object under the sun.







Photo:1



Photo: 2

Conviction: A taste of conviction for one's own soul.

Photo:1- 1/250s, f5.6, ISO-100, camera Nikon D60, lens Nikkor 18-55VR @ 36mm.

Photo:2- 1/250s, f5.6, ISO-100, camera Nikon D60, lens Nikkor 18-55VR @ 36mm.

This photo was shot while I was sitting beside a window during autumn of 2008. I saw the light coming through the window was forming some formation on the wall and I thought about some concepts of mine. First I brought a small mirror and positioned myself to place the shadows exactly the way I wanted on my face. Then I tried some random hand held shots. Two of them were good enough to put up here. You can also make paper stipes with black mount or board paper and then place them in from a reading lamp with a high wattage bulb. place your face by looking at the mirror and then click. You can place your hand in the light first and point the camera to check the TTL to set your exposure. Why your hand because your face and hand both have almost same reflective power, and hence the exposure will be almost correct. No photoshop correction has been done except B/W conversion.

Breakdown: A tortured face of today's youth.


20sec, f22, ISO-100 (to keep the grains and other noises to the minimum level), Camera Nikon D60, lens Sigma 70-300DG, @83mm.

Set the camera on tripod and pointed it to a predetermined position. Then calculated the distance between the spot and the camera and then set the focus at that distance (Sigma lens has a scale on the focusing barrel for distance measurement focusing.This was shot indoor with two ambient lights. One at 90-45 right of the camera and another from 15-65 left of the camera. You can use any light to get this shot. No flash is required here. even a high power flash light can do the job. Here I intentionally darkened the features of the face on the left of the frame, but you can use the light on the left of the camera get a little closer to the model (change the lateral angle from 15 to say 45) and bring out the features.

Trina: Trina at Russel St. Calcutta.

1/60s, f4.2, ISO-400, camera Nikon D60, lens Sigma 70-300DG @110mm, speedlight Nikon SB-400 with iTTL mode at 60degree tilt angle bounced from 42" round photopro warm reflector. The bokeh is original.

Jamil: Jamil in front of Victoria Terminus, Bombay.

1/40s, f4.2, ISO-400, camera Nikon D60, lens Sigma 70-300DG @ 110mm, speedlight Nikon SB-400 with iTTL mode tilted @75 degree bounced through photopro 42" round warm reflector. The model was standing against a taxi cab and the yellow roof of the cab actually gave a dimension to the background.

A la creatif: A project on creative portraiture.

Oh yes this is what you think is, a long longed project of mine that I am always speaking about here and there (but people seem to be ignoring me, hmmmm think am not tough enough for ya, huh!). I like simple setup and chase high end results. So here it comes, the simplest setup for creative portrait photography. I have tested these techniques and took photos for past one and half years (yeas, that is how long my photographic career is! I wonder sometimes), and now upto create something unusual with them. I will try few basic things with the new strobist setup I made myself. Yes you are right, another addition to the freaking strobist community. I think that is where I belong. Here is the list of my module I will be accomplishing with time in next few months with the models coming from all over the world. Most of my photos are shot outside the studio and my objective of this project is to show, how one can create a collection of nice thought provoking portraits without having a state-of-the-art and suave studio setup. Few photos are there which are shot indoor and with studio strobes. I will mention them and also tell you the technique by which you can create the same with a portable strobe.

• Night shots with ambient light and strobes balanced.
• Outdoor day shots with strobes balanced with sun.
• Dimensional lighting with one strobe (i.e. no-fill lighting).
• Bokeh (if you are wondering what bokeh is then go here) and portrayal of gradual fall in DOF.
• Long exposure.
• Light painting (please go here to know about light painting).
• Multiple exposure in non-multiple exposure cameras.

I will be posting photos and my blog archives with the details on how to shoot them. Don't think that I am here to teach or lecture on something. It is only a project of mine where I want to share my thoughts with all my readers and friends here (please bear with the obesity of brag sometimes). Now I should tell you about my setup that I use. First of all let me tell you that I am never pleased with my own photos and always want some more perfection in it (I hope I am not a freak, because that's all of us want for ourselves right?). I do not crave for mullah munching brands of equipment. I think the man behind the camera is more important than the make or model of the camera. I can give thousands of references of photographers who still shoot in B/W films and make people go mad with their photos (don't worry you won't have to consult a physician after seeing my photos, am not that insane). If you feel that whatever you have with you is sufficient to take good photos which will please you (atleast 50% pleasure is yours), then you are on the right track. However, if having several high end equipment and camera bodies is your prime interest and your efficiency also depends on them, then you need to contact the local camera retailer, not a photographic agency.

My gears:

• Nikon D60 DSLR
• Nikkor 18-55 mm AF VR lens
• Sigma 70-300mm DG lens.
• 1 Nikon speedlight SB-400 (which does not work off camera)
• 1 Vivitar 285 HV vari-power with an optical slave.
• Velvon PH-8 tripod for my camera.
• off brand tripods for my portable strobes.
• 42" Photopro warm/white hard light, hand-held, round reflector. (Phew!! lots of adjectives for one thing, take your pick.)
• 1 Small 40" diffuser umbrella.
• 2 Small 40" white hard light reflector umbrella.
• 1 Nova 2'X2' softbox.
• 1 Simpex 20"X20" softbox.
• 1 Nova Digieye-3 studio strobe.
• 1 Simpex-pro 3500N studio strobe.
• Nikon View NX software for raw file conversions.
• Adobe photoshop 7.0 for retouching and correcting glitches.
• AND etc.

I have put these facts here not to brag about what I have but only for you to understand that how simple my setup is and how you can also simplify your setup and still take beautiful photos with an ease. So good luck to me and good luck to as well. I will be start uploading the first lot of photos very soon.