Photography

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By Jagdish Sindhi
(In the above photo Jagdish Sindhi is seating fourth from left along with other members during one of the functions)

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Photography has been my hobby since long. For few years I have had lot of opportunity to put my hobby to extensive use in covering events, functions and also during my visits to various places. I do not claim to have any in depth knowledge, but I did gain some knowledge of the Photographic art out of experience. It may help you in getting pleasure out o this art-which is the aim of all immature photographers.

Photography can be divided into mainly 3 aspects technical, situational and experience/skill. Camera's main requirement for photography has been evolving through ages. From a simple box camera to-day it has come up to digital level. Films which is a carrier of images has the power to absorb light through the lens of camera. Film strength was measured in ASA units of 100, 200, 400, 800 as per their capacity to catch light reflected back from the subjects. But the higher power had tendency to reduce the quality and smoothness of the images. The addition of flash-both external and integral with camera has added to the range of the camera,quality of lens as well as shutter speed going right up to1/4000 of a second. It has helped in taking good picture of moving objects also.

In the old times most of cameras worked manually. The flash which was used as an external attachment needed batteries to run it. Those batteries would give poor results, if they are weak. Some time they were replaced even earlier then needed.

In case of digital camera, batteries are needed for all functions including flash. Many cameras now have chargeable batteries. The professional and even hobbyist like me need to have extra batteries specially if we have to take large no of pictures with frequent use if flash. The weak battery not only affects the quality of light thrown by the flash but also working of camera control like focusing-coordination between shutter speed, aperture opening, and poorer light condition in the area of photography. Therefore also effects the overall results.

The digital photography has brought about revolutionary change in the concept of photography.The images which were collected by the emulsion on the film are now being transmitted electrically to media called memory in the shape of chips,cassette or DVD. the strength of the lens (capacity to take in details) is measured in mega pixels-points catching light in a given area.the carriers have 1mp, 3mp up to 10 mp capacity.

It may not make much difference in getting details on a small size prints of 3"x5"/4"x6" but when we wants to enlarge a print higher mp will help in getting better clarity of details. In case of ordinary pictures at house hold level maximum of 3mp strength is good enough for getting good results. The most of pictures are taken at 1mp only. The higher the mp lesser the number of images that memory media can take. The 128 size memory can take up to 150 images at 1mp but only 32 images at 5mp. However choice of mp depends on the situation and need of the moment.

The Another advantage of digital photography is the capacity the reuse of the memory by deleting or transferring all images already taken. I transfer up to 500 images on a CD and reuse the memory by deleting the images. This way we condense our picture on CD and go on using the same memory again and again.

The zooming an image from a distance in another features of photography. It helps in taking good pictures of children,birds mountains etc without disturbing the subject. The optical zoom is more reliable though digital zoom, though helpful in increasing the zoom range, is less reliable. Therefore when buying a camera look for optical zoom. In the film camera zoom was measured in multiples of 35like 35/90,35/200/ 35/300.The wide angle lens though only as a special features was more common on film cameras rather than on digital cameras.The SLR camera are supposed to catch images through the lens directly and supposed to be more accurate but costly. The canon,Sony,Nikon and Olympus are are some of the famous makers but prices are now very similar due to competition. besides that Fiji,Vivita, Samsung and HP brands are also available.

In second aspect of photography is situational. In case of taking picture of an individual inside room or outside is very different than taking picture of a child or pet moving about. Besides that in a function where people make different movements, or the stage dancer, or the prize distributions or going out for natural scenes (i.e. In sunny or cloudy weather) etc offers different situations. The fastness of response has a great role to play in such situations. Once upon a time I took 400 pictures in five hours in one marriage ceremonies. I took photographs covering all events. Therein my imaginations and experience of photography were tasted.

However I ma point out that reduction in the size of the camera was made possible in digital system. You must have seen that key chain and cell phone camera along with pocket size camera are becoming craze of time. The 1/2"thick and 5" square cameras with 5mp/3x optical zoom are common but are expensive.

However competition has made it possible to get cheap cameras which are manufactured from plastic.

(writer is a freelance photographer and one of the respectable seniors.It is remarkable that he has acquired very high skill in photography at very old age.)
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