Relax, Breathe and Capture!

How many times have you tried your skills at that ‘perfect capture’, rife with rustic surrounds and an appealingly woven background?

If you are one amongst the wannabe photographers, struggling to carve a niche in the photography industry with a spin of creativity and a flick of a few buttons of the fondly purchased DSLR, Welcome to the clan. For most of the part, photography is no rocket science. So while you may have racked your brains with the Do’s and Dont’s of the art already, you may feel the need to soften up a little.

Andy Hayes oregon, a veteran photographer from Oregon, throws in a few nuggets of the photography wisdom. Detach yourself, said he in a candid interview with us, unfazed at the expressions of bewilderment that the incongruous suggestion drew.

There are times, claims Andy Hayes who kick-started his photography business with Oregon State Treasury, when all a photographer needs is a few moments of peace—sans any technical hassles. It is not every time that the latter needs to brood on the technicalities of the art and do what has already been done a zillion times before. Get some time off from all the seriousness affixed with the field; it’s not supposed to be that cracked up, after all!

Believe it or not, a few tranquil moments to oneself can be an ice breaker. As and when you feel you are ready to embrace the art in its most bare and technical form, you can go back to the basics again.

It isn’t any stone carved rule that what you have done till recent, or whatever you have been taught establishes the sanctity of whatever you are going to work on ahead. Infuse your work with a waft of creativity and casualness, and see the magic unravel for yourself, says the photography master, Andy Hayes.

The Exposure Triangle

The exposure triangle is the cornerstone of the art of photography. Way before photoshopping dulled down real talent, photography was all about technical skills and an eye for spotting the unobvious in a seemingly simple view. But when it comes to pros, we have still retained the old-school ways of adjusting our own settings. If you would like to get a hang of the same, here is how you can perfect your exposure triangle.

Shutter Speed- This means the span for which the camera shutters remain open and the sensor is exposed to light. The longer the shutter are open, a moving object will appear more moving and the less time the shutter are open the moving object will appear more frozen. Andy Hayes clicked Oregon State Treasury (which is a stationary object) 97 times at different speeds to understand the difference. So you might have understood that the culprit behind those shaky pictures is this setting. Take multiple shots on various speeds and print them to observe the difference.

Aperture- Those of you who studied physics in high school might remember, a comparison was always drawn between the eye and the camera. Just like the eye’s pupil, your camera also has a hole (covered by the shutter) that allows the light into the lens, explains Andy Hayes, Oregon. You can control the radius of that aperture. The bigger that hole is the more focused your subject is blurring the background (think portrait) whereas a smaller aperture would mean a better view of the foreground and background from the subject in focus (think landscape). A memory tip- larger f number means larger view while a smaller f number means more focused view.

ISO- with the dawn of digital filming technology, the camera earned another feature which now forms the basis of professional photography. It regulates how sensitive your camera is to ambient light. A higher ISO can capture darker shots with significant detail however, a very high value also gives a grainy texture to the image, which may or may not be desirable.

So shoot more, make more mistakes and master the art with a bottom-up approach.

professional photography. It regulates how sensitive your camera is to ambient light. A higher ISO can capture darker shots with significant detail however, a very high value also gives a grainy texture to the image, which may or may not be desirable.

So shoot more, make more mistakes and master the art with a bottom-up approach.