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Different Indoor Photo Projects you must try

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With everyone spending more time indoors, it is a difficult for photographers to find ways to keep their creativity energised staying at home. With some creative ideas, you can click some fun photographs without stepping outside! We have listed some photography projects that you can shoot indoors, in your own home, without leaving the four walls and many of them can be done on your dining table using props or family members that you have available already at your place.

Make a splash
To get a professional studio still-life look without visiting a studio, attach or stick a white pillow case to a wall and kitchen platform in a curved shape for your background. Now place your camera on a tripod, place a glass of water with a lemon slice or any props that pops out and goes with the glass. Place the camera on the same level with the glass, but don’t fill the glass to the tip, leave a little space for the splash. Use and place an off-camera flash to one side of glass but remember it should face the pillow surface not the glass. Now you can throw the lemon slice or whatever prop you are using and capture it on fast shutter speed with continuous shot, so that you can capture the perfect moment when the lemon slice fell in water and the water splashes.



Candlelight Portrait
It may be lack in lighting up power, but candle light are way above its luminosity and can help you create some fantastic shots. To capture a candlelit portrait, go for Manual (M) mode and always use raw format. It is necessary to add the candle in the frame as well because the light is so warm that the light source is needed to help the viewer understand the photograph. Use an ISO of 1,600 or less and a nifty fifty lens at an aperture of f/2. Go for a shutter speed of 1/100 sec, and focus on the eye of the subject.



Mix oil and water
With the use of macro lens and a few daily house items, you can capture incredible images of oil drops floating on water. Like most macro shots, patience is essential, but the process forces you to focus on minute details that move, which might lead you become restless. But this experience and discipline is sure to help you in your other projects in the future. To prepare, take a glass with water and add a drop of washing-up liquid to it. Stir it a little and leave it to settle for 5-10 minutes. Then add a few drops of cooking oil and you can create the magic now.



Water drops
You don’t require a high-end camera to capture water art. The set-up for this project is very easy, but will require focussing and perfect timing. Put your camera on a tripod and fill the frame with the surface of the water and the drip. A macro lens can be useful, but is not a necessity. Whatever you keep in the background will be reflected in the water, so try various paper sheets of different colours and designs. Accurate focussing is important. So switch to Manual Focus mode and place a pencil tip at the splash area and focus on the tip. Now you just have to focus on capturing at right time.



Light Painting 
Moving a small light within the frame during a long shutter will result in something very creative and beautiful. You can create an outline around an object using a light source to give it a shape or even use coloured string lights behind the object for a fantastic background. Attach your camera on a tripod, then compose and focus on the object. Now turn the camera to Manual Focus to lock the focussing distance, and set the mode to Manual (M). Dial in an ISO of 200 (low noise), a shutter speed of 8 sec (slow shutter), and an aperture of f/16 (deeper depth of field). Set the Self Timer to 5 sec. You can now switch off the lights and capture some beautiful light painting pictures.



Strike a match stick
When a match stick is struck, it fires up so fast that it is hard to observe what actually happened at the exact moment of firing. But by capturing a rapid burst of images at fast shutter speed, we can capture this fantastic moment. This will require a macro lens to capture it. But leave some extra space near the match stick head when you frame your image, as the flare while striking is bigger than you think.



Smoke Photography
Taking images of waves of smoke is really easy to achieve if you can get the lighting right. To capture an image of smoke, light up an incense stick and keep place it in front of a dark background. Use the off-camera flash in its Manual Mode to light it from one side, make sure that the flash is not faced towards the darker backdrop or on the lens. Focus on the tip of the incense stick, then switch to manual focus to lock the focus. Use Manual Mode, and set an aperture of f/8 and a shutter speed of 1/200 sec. Now capture some normal test shots, and adjust the flash intensity to make the smoke brighter or darker, until you have the perfect lighting.

Mastering the finesse of Product Photography

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As a generation of people, we have evolved so much and have been witnessing wonders from Industrial Revolution to the world, which has taken over by Artificial Intelligence. We have seen the transformation from Nokia to Apple, from DVDs to SSDs, from Coolpix to DSLRs, from Orkut to Facebook, from Action to Nike so on and so forth.

In today’s fast paced world with the advent of technology, we always need to keep up with it. A new value has been added to the field of creative industries making more room for the designers and creative heads to brainstorm over the design aspects of every single product and its branding. This value addition has led to the advertisement of all these products in a unique way which in turn leads to the importance of aesthetics involved in the designing and representing these products in the burgeoning market.

The demand of any given product on an online platform has given rise to entrepreneurs who market their products with the help of designers, artists, photographers and techies involved in the process of marketing.

Photography as a profession at the moment is very demanding and creative at the same time. One needs to upgrade to be in such a competitive world specifically if someone wants to showcase their work. Let’s look at how we can achieve the same?

Storytelling through product photography

Every product has its own sweet story; deciding a peculiar theme for that particular product, one must understand its unique story. Then we can proceed further by finalising the colours, what kind of lighting it requires as well as its appropriate styling through a photo-shoot. We must try to deliver something unprecedented in our fundamental approach to keep it unique in turn adding a certain value to it.


The amount of considerations which might have gone during its design and branding needs to be depicted while we represent it through the medium of photography. The innate story has to speak up through a strong sense of composition. The subject within the composition which is the product itself must be highlighted along with its key features.

Colour theory

It’s necessary to understand the art of colours as each colour tells a story. Our fundamental understanding of colours must be seen through the way we juxtapose them within our composition. If you observe the colour wheel, you will get which colours complement each other. Not just that, but colour have its own emotions attached to it, setting a different type of mood to where it has been used judiciously. For example, in one-way red represents love and romance and other way it also represents sense of fear. 

If you notice movies carefully you will notice that in every movie lighting is done according to the mood of the scene. Every single colour creates different type of mood and combination of good colours brings something exceptional in the image. Usually bright colours are used to depict happiness and to explain sadness or horror scene we go for dull colour scheme with low saturated colours.

In the same way, when we are doing product photography it’s necessary to understand features of the product and what type of mood we are trying to create. Accordingly decide colour scheme in the overall frame.



Lighting

As mentioned earlier, lighting also plays a vital role in photography and it also creates different type of mood depending on the style of lighting. Usually we prefer to do product photography in studio light set-up for better results. To have a good control over light, always use an external light source.

If you are trying to achieve pro-level product photography output, then you should definitely use soft boxes. Start with one light source then keep adding lights according to the requirement. Concentrate on intensity of lights and understand what each light source is doing. It will help you to discover how to get rid of annoying reflections, where to place highlights and accordingly let the shadows flow.



Steps you shouldn’t forget

If you are shooting professionally for brands then you must follow these steps
  • You must keep your focus on the logo of the brand. Make sure it’s clearly visible in the image.
  • Understand the details of the product. Accordingly build the light set-up.
  • Decide a theme before you shoot that product. Always plan your shoot beforehand and create mood in the image according to the theme.



Use of Natural light

Why to spend so much on lighting equipment? If you are looking for natural and organic look then just style and shoot. Natural light keeps on changing throughout the day. So, you have to be very quick with your set-up to get desired output.

As we don’t have control over natural light, we might have to change set-up continuously where we will not get consistency in the sequence of the images. It may lead us to longer exposure settings where we have to boost ISO, which will cause grain in the images. So, if you are trying to bring mood in the pictures then go for artificial lights.


Artificial Lights

This is the best solution for product photography. With basic light set-up we can achieve great results. As we have total control over light, we can create any kind of mood in the images. We can adjust highlights, exposure and reflections like the way we want. If you are shooting sequence of the images then you can maintain consistency of light in the series.

Just the studio light set-up will cost you way more than expected. The higher end gear can get very expensive too. Though there are ways to save costs and be innovative with natural light around you. Also lighting set-up occupies so much space, so always think before buying studio light set-up. If there is a need then only go for it otherwise you can always play with natural light.



Click like a Pro

The secret mantra to do an outstanding photoshoot for the product; one must understand the nuances of the product in detail and try to highlight key features of it with a theme which goes hand in hand with the product itself. Wherein the basic understanding of composition techniques and final touch of post-processing to it can make a product look like a pro!

Make a good use of depth of field with prime lenses. Enhance colour tones and remove unwanted elements from the frame in post-processing. Sometimes few things are not possible to achieve in the frame as per our expectation, then add those elements in post-processing. For example, if you are shooting soda bottle and you want to add water splash and with many experiments you are not getting proper splash, At this time what you can do is to shoot product separately and later compose splash separately in the image.

Keep experimenting with different type of products, lights and creative ideas to master the art of product photography.

Pictures influence my work, not the photographers – Rarindra Prakarsa

From being a graphic artist to becoming a full-time photographer, Rarindra Prakarsa has had a journey that transcends from analogue to the digital era in photography. He speaks to Asian Photography about how this journey happened and also how pictures influence and inspire his work and not photographers.



How did you get into photography and what was the reason to choose this genre?

I started photography when I was in college and took up graphic arts. One of the subjects in that was Photography. During that time it was the analogue era in mid 90’s. I didn’t have camera at that time and would borrow it from my lecturer and friend. These were completely manual cameras and I wasn’t sure what I liked. But I really liked two subjects: Photography and Graphic Arts.

At that time, I liked street photography a lot and also journalism since I worked in a newspaper as graphic designer. Some photojournalists in my office influenced me on how interesting it was being in field taking picture for news. But later I realised that I couldn’t be a photojournalist, since I wanted my pictures to be seen by many people, since I love taking pictures of people and their environment. I converted my equipment to digital cameras 2004 and started developing my style. Internet was really helpful to promote my work and get the response for the style I was developing.




Your photographs have a cinematic and drawing feel to them. How do you manage to achieve this?

There are two moments that have influenced my work and my style. First was the movie ‘Last Emperor’ which featured beautiful light and cinematic art, and the second was after attending the painting exhibition of Water Spies, which influenced me on how he created the depth,

composition, light and colours.



I was trying to apply what I have seen from those arts. I was thinking that the key to achieve that taste is lighting. Of course, I am confidently speaking about this after mastering composition and all the basic photography. Next on my list is perfecting all the pictures with post-processing, making them more dramatic and colour matching.


One with The Monks – Jimmy Nelson

From running away from home at the age of 16 to having his peculiar styles in portraits, Jimmy Nelson epitomises everything that you expect from a travel photographer. Humble, hardworking and overall an affable guy, his photographs communicate the subject’s sense of being. In an interview with Asian Photography he speaks about his process and how patience always pays off.


How did you get into photography?

My journey with photography started in my childhood as my father was a geologist and spend his time away from us. I was a young child and I remember these communities and different parts of the world. I was taken out of this side of the world and put in boarding school, so I was confused between both the worlds.

But becoming a photographer was an accident. At the age of 16, I ran away to Tibet and stayed with the monks. With a small camera, I was trying to find a way to reconnect with myself and the experience that I had in my childhood. And in many ways, I’ve spent the whole of my life since then trying to reconnect with it. It’s not the photography which thrills me, but it’s using the camera to see the others and present them in a way that we’ve never normally seen them.



How did you develop an interest in photographing portraits of tribal and indigenous

people?

Well, I just described in my previous answer the interest started when I left home and went to Tibet to stay with the monks. And trying to find a way to reconnect with myself and that experience I had in my childhood. I used to capture photos of everyone who was nice to me. And that’s how I developed my interest in photographing tribal and indigenous people.




What is the most difficult and rewarding part of being a photographer for you?

Today everyone is a photographer with the growing technology and people capturing images with their smartphones and basic cameras. Everyone captures their own vision. For me this a challenge as well as good to see people evolving with the technology. I am happy that I capture something different and unique from the rest, but I don’t know how far it will go looking at the rise in technology. So the rewarding part is of course the work I do to make myself happy and the difficult part is that there is competition.



Photokina 2020 cancelled due to COVID-19 outbreak

After intensive consultation, Koelnmesse GmbH has finally made a decision to call off the Photokina 2020, which was going to be held from 27thto 30th May 2020. The next Photokina will be held from 18th to 21st May 2022. The Imaging Innovation Conference will not celebrate its premier this year as planned, though a new date will be announced soon.

The managing team of Koelnmesse has planned not to create any own events on the part of Koelnmesse until the end of June 2020. This decision is supported by the crisis management team of the City of Cologne, which also suggested in its meeting on 18.03.2020 to cancel the trade fairs deu to COVID-19 outbreak.

This also happens against the background of the agreement reached on 16.03.2020 between the German federal government and the governments of the German states, laying down common guidelines for dealing with the coronavirus epidemic and explicitly including the general closure of trade fairs and exhibitions. This impairs the planning security for Koelnmesse and the participants of the trade fairs in Cologne far beyond the scope of the current scenarios. With this early announcement, Koelnmesse wants to give its exhibitors and visitors planning security.

The decision not to host the next edition of photokina until May 2022 was made with in view of several factors: Even before the appearance of the coronavirus, the imaging market was already subject to strongly dynamic movements. This trend will now gain momentum and must be factored into plans for the upcoming photokina. Added to this is the fact that our customers’ resources are already under heavy strain in 2021 – as a result of general economic trends as well as rescheduled events on the global trade fair calendar. The orientation towards 2022 gives everyone involved time enough to design the next photokina with an eye to the needs of the market, and of our exhibitors and visitors.

Kai Hillebrandt, Chairman of the Photo Industry Association said “It goes without saying that PIV completely stands behind the decision taken by Koelnmesse to cancel photokina 2020. The health of exhibitors and visitors is top priority at the moment. As the conceptual sponsor of photokina, we will do our utmost to assist the Koelnmesse with the planning of the next edition of photokina.”


Nikkor Z 58mm f/0.95 S Noct Lens review


Nikon recently released a beast of a lens at CEIF 2020, the Nikkor Z 58mm f/0.95 S Noct lens and we (Asian Photography) were the first in India to receive and review this lens. What makes this lens special is not only its aperture value of 0.95 but also a whopping price tag of Rs. 7,29,995


And there are no prizes for guessing that with a price tag as fancy as this, it is naturally targeted towards professionals who are looking for nothing short of the best performance. So let us see how the lens performed in all the test.



Build Quality

At first glance the Nikkor Z 58mm f/0.95 S Noct lens looks very huge on the tiny Nikon Z7 body and weighs a lot, a full 2 kgs to be precise. But a lot of that weight is also because it is built like a tank, which is very impressive and also offers weather resistance. And the fact that it the lens only offers manual focus further reaffirms its target audience. But the focus peeking function in the Nikon Z7 makes using the lens really easy. The lens has one control ring and one focus ring and a lens information display panel with a display button to change the info according to your needs. It also consists of lens function button right next to display button. The L-Fn button is helpful for focusing aids such as, Magnify, Peaking or the Digital Teleconverter. So while you are using the lens a simple push with your thumb and you activate the function without moving your hand or eyes off the EVF.


Chromatic Aberration

We conducted the MTF tests and found out that the chromatic aberration values for lens. The Nikkor Z 58mm f/0.95 S Noct lens showed a CA value of 0.22 pix which is decent. Its not the best performance under this category, but it surely isn’t bad.



Distortion

We shot the image of building from the lens of a building to check the distortion. The Nikkor Z 58mm f/0.95 S Noct lens captured the image of the building in which the building seems slightly tilted towards right side.


Distortion



Lens Flare and Ghosting

In terms of Lens Flare and Ghosting we shot images from the lens of a street light to check the flaring and ghosting and the lens displayed a great amount of flaring and ghosting. Which honestly to us was a surprise. But we knew these aren’t the things that lenses like these are used for.


Lens Flaring & Ghosting



Image Quality

The most important point when it comes to using a lens like this is its image quality and performance. The images from the lens displayed good sharpness and that verifies that the lens is very capable optically. The overall quality of the images were fantastic. The images were sharp and crisp, the bokeh was smooth when used on Nikon Z7 body. Well with such wide aperture, you can always expect good and sharp images even in low light conditions.



SAMPLE IMAGE


Low Light Image


Depth of Field and Bokehs

Coming to the depth of field, well a lens with f/0.95 will never let you down with that wide aperture, same goes with Nikkor Z 58mm f/0.95 S Noct lens. The bokehs were smooth and circular. The images were pleasing to the eye as the subjects pops out very well from the background.


Depth of Field


Verdict

Well the only words that can describe this lens is ‘What a beauty’. Nikon never disappoints with their products and with the Noct lens as well Nikon has managed to deliver high quality. The images are sharp and crisp with smooth and rounded bokehs. The lens has great performance and is also well built.


The only down part is that such quality comes at a great price. With a price tag of Rs. Rs. 7,29,995 and fact that lens we had for our exclusive review is the only lens in the country currently exemplifies the point further. Apart from the price, weight of the lens is another issue that might not work in its advantage.


So if you can circumvent around the price and the weight of the lens then the Noct lens can open a doorway to heaven in terms of the image quality it can deliver. And for photographers that are looking to do Astro Photography, Portrait Photography or ones who are looking for those jaw-dropping bokehs, then this might be the best lens you are looking for.

CEIF 2020 Round-Up

All India Photographic Trade and Industry Association (AIPTIA) organised and conducted its mega event, Consumer Electronic Imaging Fair 2020 shortly known as CEIF-2020, from January 8-10, 2020 at Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai 400063, with great display and brilliancy. CEIF 2020 was the 28th Photo Imaging Exhibition and was rated to be one of the top Photographic and Imaging exhibitions around the globe. Its opening function took place at 9.30 A.M. on 8th January with formal lamp-lighting. More than 150 exhibitors from India and abroad including major manufacturers, importers and distributors and suppliers of Photo Imaging and related products were present among the gathering.


The opening ceremony was attended by Haruto Iwata – Managing Director, Fujifilm India, Nimesh Thakkar – DI Marketing Department, Sony India Pvt. Ltd, Appa Durai – Country head – Hewlett-Packard, Ashok Pahwa – Business Manager Commercial Business, – India & amp, Srilanka, Hewlett- Packard, Amit Saraf – Managing Director , IMS Mercantile, Nitin Goyal – CEO – Tamron India, Anurag Kumar – Deputy General Manager Memory business, Samsung India Pvt. Ltd, along with the team members of AIPTIA.


Jayesh Mehta, President of AIPTIA welcomed the exhibitors and visitors. He briefly addressed the audience on the role of AIPTIA in bringing out the exhibition of such a great importance. He expressed that CEIF offers visitors an essential platform to let them know about the latest market evolution and exchange ideas about the upcoming business strategies, which makes it a different event for the Imaging Sector. Shri.Chandrakant Shah, Hon. Secretary stated the mixture of exhibitors and informed that all efforts had been put in to ensure the comfort and safety of exhibitors and visitors during the exhibition. The Guests of Honour happily rewarded the efforts of the office team members and members of the managing committee of AIPTIA in supplying the market place for the Industry and Trade through CEIF. Shri. Hemant Bhavsar, Vice President proposed the Vote of Thanks. The inauguration completed with Bell ceremony resonating the air with bright note.



CEIF 2020 was distributed across an area of 15,000 sqm and was open for three days. The fair had over 35000 of foot-falls. The fair draw in sizeable crowds/visitors from different states of the Country, alongside visitors from neighbouring countries also visited the fair. Also, one got an chance to meet face to face with startup entrepreneurs, imaging researchers and technological consultants to get a clean classification of the imaging industry. CEIF 2020 had all the major multinational companies, along with some of the well known Indian distributors, offering their advanced camera and photography products, gadgets, and accessories at the fair. The major companies exhibited were Sony, Fujifilm, Hewlett – Packard, Zeiss, Tamron, Epson, Samsung, Konica Minolta, Kodak Alaris, Manfrotto, IMS Mercantiles, Nikita Distributors, Nikon, Noritsu, Technova, Sunlight Industries, Colo Color, Foto Centre, Red Moments etc., to name a few. Additionally, to the imaging industry products, this time visitors observed numerous new section coming for the first time. In an interview, during the Fair, Shri. Jayesh Mehta, President, AIPTIA disclosed that while the imaging industry is going through functional changes, it has in many ways severely impacted CEIF too, given its top position as the Indian industry’s leading trade fair. Believing the fact that the camera sales are dropping, the affirmative part is the need for the enjoyment with photography and sharing of pictures go on to sky rocket, thanks to the growing digital Imaging Product. The growth is express by the effort of the younger generations’ fascination with mobile imaging and sharing images on social media platforms. The growth in this process in the number of pictures being captured truly means that for the success of the imaging industry, it is built-in for the segregation of mobile, motion and digital imaging as the new cause of growing and moving towards delivering of services. Chandrakant Shah, Hon. Secretary, AIPTIA, stated that the mixture of product display, networking happening at the fair and knowing the imaging innovations surely makes CEIF 2020, a very extraordinary event which amused one and all. CEIF 2020 concluded the Fair for visitors with absolute spirit of having visited an useful and informative exhibition.

Canon launches EOS 850D

With CP+ cancelled due to the Coronavirus scare, number of launches haven’t been able to be executed as envisioned. Canon India has launched the new EOS 850D which features Dual Pixel CMOS AF, EOS Intelligent Tracking and Recognition in Optical viewfinder and high speed Auto Focus (iTR AF) for face detection and 4K video recording for crisp and smooth footage.


The camera will be available for sales in India in April 2020 and the price for the same isn’t announced yet. However it is priced at $749 (body only) and $899 (with kit lens) in the international market. The estimated price is India is expected to be around Rs. 60,000.


Canon says that the 850D is ideal for photographers looking to acquire new skills and upgrade from an entry-level beginner model to mid-segment with high end functions and operability. The feature packed camera will enable users to capture clear, sharp and precise images and record high quality videos.


Commenting on the launch Kazutada Kobayashi, President & CEO, Canon India said, “With the launch of our latest marvel EOS 850D, we want to provide the photography enthusiasts with an affordable product to further upgrade their skills in their photography journey. We are confident that our latest offering will enable us to expand our consumer base in the imaging industry and increase our foothold in the segment.”


Speaking about the new product, Mr. C Sukumaran, Director, Consumer System Products & Imaging Communication Products highlighted that, “With the launch of our new EOS 850D, we want to address the evolving requirements of users and further expand the imaging industry. The EOS 850D offers a 24.1-megapixel APS-C size CMOS sensor, EOS intelligent tracking and 4K video recording for superior image and video quality. We are hopeful that EOS 850D will receive positive response from users and inspire them to explore newer possibilities in the imaging space.”

Nikon D780 Review

We have been using the Nikon D780 for over a month now to check what exactly does the new full-frame DSLR offer. We put it through a detailed review and see what we found about this Rs. 1.99 lac body only camera?⁣


Check out the full review of Nikon D780 on our YouTube Channel.⁣



CP+ and World Mobile Congress Cancelled on Coronavirus scare

CP+ and World Mobile Congress Cancelled on Coronavirus scare

Increases importance to Photokina 2020?

With the world in frenzy over the coronavirus epidemic, some of the biggest shows globally have been cancelled on safety and security concerns. Two of the biggest shows in the photography and mobile segments, CP+ in Japan (scheduled to start from 27th February) and the Mobile World Congress in Spain (scheduled to start from 24th February) have been called off.

But what makes things interesting in the photography world now is the increased focus on Photokina 2020? With Koelnmesse turning a new leaf by making the show an annual affair and starting on 27th May this year, does this cancellation throw light on Photokina as an important global event for the year? Number of new products were expected to be introduced at the CP+ and WMC shows this year by some of the biggest manufacturers in the industry.

With growing feelings from global visitors to Photokina that the show is becoming more of a regional show, the current situation puts the light back on the worlds premier photographic show again, atleast for this year. There is no indication from CIPA, the organizers of CP+ if there has been another date scheduled yet. 

But with the Photokina 2020 show scheduled in May this year, it is expected that the world would’ve put the virus scare behind them by then. 

In a statement CIPA President, Masaya Maeda said that given there is no effective treatment or containment measures to deal with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), we have chosen to cancel CP+2020 because we put top priority on the health and safety of visitors and exhibitors. The event was originally scheduled to be held over 4 days at PACIFICO Yokohama from February 27. 

CP+ is a trade show for consumers. The main feature of this show is that visitors can actually handle the newest camera and related equipment to get a feel for how they operate. The event attracts around 70,000 unspecified visitors and therefore we cannot completely eliminate the risk of infection. The CIPA believes it is important to avoid such risk at all cost. While it is truly regrettable, we have decided to cancel this year’s show.