Lemme guess... You might have also thought that I wear glasses, and maybe that I have curly hair... if you thought otherwise, please let me know! in fact, by looking at the pic lemme know what kind of image of me comes to your mind...
Even if you were faaar away from what I actually look like, at least the pic gave u 'some' image of me! And thats what I am going to let you know.. How to create a pic that gives a distinctive feel of something ...
First, the disclaimer... I am not (at least as yet) a professional photographer... so if u r one, I would be glad to know ur feedback abt this pic or other gyaan, I would be honoured.
So My Aim was this: I wanted a pic for this blog that could portray the following about this blog...
- It conveys the idea that the author of the blog is a techie
- That the author uses various tools to research, analyze the findings before publishing
- That how much of these tools are a part of a professional's most used helping tools (the paraphernalia)
- A kind of a messy, unkempt look which epitomizes that the author doesn't look at this blog as a formal thing, but does it as a part of his life...
- Also I wanted this pic to give an 'out of the normal world' feel
So what I did to cook this pic up was the following...
I imagined myself actually working and reading... analyzing stuff... and then came a vision.. I know I haven't ever studied that way, but I guess thats how my mind sees me working... so thats definitely the first step... Have a vision (not an exact snap shot, but just an idea) of what your pic should end up looking like.
For this particular case, there had to be a strong relation between the objects and the subject (the author) as the subject is not in picture... so these otherwise distinct objects to come together and give a feel about the subject. The only thing joining them together is the subject, who is not in the picture. So the objects had to look 'used' by the subject. Thats why these objects were kept within the 'arm range' of the subject and they were kept/arranged in a manner that they look as if they are still being used, and the subject has just gone out of the room... This motivated me to keep the objects in a disorderly fashion...
Then the 'out of the world feel'... well, all of us use these tools.. laptops, calculators...CDs.. papers then why does this pic stand out? ( IMHO it does :P ). Black and white (B/W) pics usually leave that impression... If you keep stuff in a frame and then take a B/W pic, it would give it a very 'other worldly' image...
Lastly, the angle... the angle from which you take the pic is a very critical parameter.. all your efforts can go waste if the angle isn't perfect... All suspense/horror movies use angles in very innovative ways to create that eerie feel... thats what I did too! How to get the angle right? thats what you get to know either with instincts or experience... so the best way is to take many shots and then choose the best one! I took around 15 diff shots to get this one :P
Like I said earlier, I am just an amateur photographer ( If I can call myself a photographer at all), so all I said could be technically wrong too! but it worked for me this time, and has worked earlier too! This could be a good way for amateur photographers to start with...
BTW, this is how I look... :D
