abdulcader

Pick the Brain

May, 2013

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Behind The Lens

Location

This photo was taken in a pool parlour in my town. I was invited by my friend while I was on my way buying some home cleaning stuff. After I reached there I realised I got a cloth hanger pole grabber in my hand, so ironically I posed liked I pick my friend with it while shooting this shot.

Time

It was a late evening on a weekend, I was challenged by my friend to beat him on a pool game. That made me visit this pool parlour in the late hour to get this unexpected shot.

Lighting

As I shot this photograph in a public area, I had no control over the lighting. All I can do is to adjust my techniques based on the lights available in the scene. The pool parlour has a harsh light over the pool table, so I had to make use of it to achieve the result what I wanted. The lighting is a bit uneven on the table & also on the background, so I had to use HDR feature to balance it and also to increase dynamic range to add drama to the story.

Equipment

As it was not a planned shoot, all I had in my hand is my iPhone. No other equipment was involved, apart from using few photo editing apps to achieve the result what I wanted.

Inspiration

I am a great fan of surreal photography, especially I loved some photography works online with very minimal photo manipulation. So I always wanted to shoot similar photographs without much photo manipulation, but only with basic editing effects using dodging, burning, HDR, etc.

Editing

This photo was heavily post-processed using the smartphone apps rather than in the personal computers. While I am shooting this photograph, I already had in my mind what kind of effect I wanted to deliver. So I made use of some HDR apps that are available in my phone & also downloaded few new apps to boost the dynamic range to make it look more like a surreal art.

In my camera bag

As I am not a full time photographer, my concern is the 'weight' of the kit I carry. Although I used a Nikon (FM-10) SLR in my school days, I do not wish to carry any heavy gadget after get into professional industry. So I fell in love with mirrorless cameras, and I got Sony NEX-3 with it's full kit (I do not own other special gadgets). But this particular photograph was not a planned one, so it was simply shot with my smartphone.

Feedback

Using right tool matters! Sometimes it is best to use our instinct which gadget to use in a specific time. Because the lighting or the weather may not provide us the right condition to shoot. If we missed the moment, it is something we're going to regret in the near future. So it is important to shoot with whatever equipment we had in that specific time. It is important to imagining the end result beforehand is the best way to choose the right tool. If we take this shot as an example; I wanted an art like effect with full dynamic range. So even if I had my mirrorless with me, I would've still used my smartphone for it.

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Pick the Brain

Behind The Lens

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