When you cross my path quietly enough...

  

It was the first time ever; you were introduced to me by an out-lander!

And your familiar form appeared to me as if little unknown…

…It is so painful, I may not bear,

Dear home, please, don’t look to me, so much like a stranger!

I thought I had left you behind, crossed the shore

But you told me, that you had not;

More than ever now, you are precious to me, even more!

I did not know how sweet your taste was,

about your aroma, much, I did not care,

Now I know all this, as I find myself searching for you everywhere!

When I got from you, the very first post,

I jumped with joy glancing at the monthly inside,

But for some reason, I kept glancing at the cover stamp the most!

Photography Tip # 2

How to use your smart phone camera for close-up macro shots!

Gently place a drop of water over the lens of your mobile phone camera, and invert it slowly...Your phone is ready for some macro photography with the cheapest macro lens ever!!

If your phone camera is good quality, say for example if it is an iPhone or equivalent, it actually gives some surprising results! :)

Quick science fact - A water drop is a convex lens and can be used as a magnifier…

Image Copyrights ©2012 Gyaneshwari Dave

The Little Princess In Pink.

That evening, I had just come out of the gate of a well-known bird-watchers' park of the city when I noticed this stranger, little girl. She was wearing this pink frock that looked like a school uniform…in fact, it was a school uniform. 

The time of the day suggested that she might be returning from her school. But then, she was not wearing the shoes. She was not carrying the school-bag either.  

She was sitting quietly on this concrete platform along the footpath. Leaning against this high wall behind her, turning her face backwards, she was trying to sneak into something. Or perhaps, she was hiding from it...

She kept turning back, glancing over keenly; unaware of what was happening in front of her, unaware of my presence. She looked curious, but more than that, scared.

Possibly, she had done some mischief and now she was running away from getting caught. Or perhaps, she was looking at something she was not supposed to, something her little heart felt was not right…

 

The whole sight made me think…

After a week, one evening, I went back to the same park… she met me outside a small grocery stall there. She was wearing the same pink school-uniform. One more time, I thought that she might have returned from the school. But again, she was barefoot, and without any school-bag.

I asked her which school that pink uniform belonged…She thought for a while and said: “I will have to ask this to Sonia; her mother has given this to me…”

“Who is Sonia?” I asked,

She replied: “I wash dishes at her house.”

Well, she had not gone to school that day, not the other day, not EVER…

“Life's most urgent question is: What are you doing for others?”

-Martin Luther King (American Civil-Rights Leader,1929-1968)

Image, Article & Poem Copyrights 2011 Gyaneshwari Dave

(Cannot be used without prior permission) 

Stock Photography: The Five Most Common Confusions

"Part of the difficulty in trying to be both an artist and a businessperson is this: you make a picture because you have seen something beyond price; then you are to turn and assign to your record of it a cash value."

-Robert Adams

After all the art centric posts of last month, it is time to address a business topic this time.

As the photographer and owner of a stock photography website, I get several confused queries about what is the business of www.lensdepictions.com , particularly from those who are not related to photography industry in any direct or indirect manner.

Here is my attempt to set the record straight by answering the top 5 fundamental questions asked most frequently:

1. What does a "Stock Images Website" mean?

The original question that needs to be answered is - what does a stock image mean?

A stock Image or a stock photograph is a photograph shot in advance, later to be licensed for specific creative and/or commercial use.

For their creative assignments’ needs publishing and advertising professionals often use stock images instead of getting images shot by a hired photographer… because stock images is a cheaper as well as a faster way to get quality images.

You can see stock images used at several places...starting from right on your desk to the corner of your street! calenders, postcards,brochures,catalogs,news-papers,magazines, product packaging,advertising pamphlets,hoardings and so on...

Nowadays, stock images are purchased and delivered online almost all the time.

And, www.lensdepictions.com is a website selling the license of stock images specializing in nature and conceptual stock images.

2. What does the "lightbox" mean?

Simply put, a light box is a place where you can save or collect the images you are interested in, and later, go back to decide if you want to purchase a license for it.

This way it becomes easier for the customer to take his/her own time and review the images conveniently.

3. What does it mean to “License an image” and can anyone buy the “copyrights of the image”?

At www.lensdepictions.com I do not “sell” my images, because as the creator of the images, legally, I always retain the ownership and the copyrights of the images.

Instead, I "license" the rights to the buyer for use of the image. Licensing is similar to leasing. The ownership of the image does not change and a licensing fee is paid for the rights to use the images based on the licensing model and the rights the customer is purchasing.

It is highly unlikely that someone will buy the copyrights of an image; in fact, it is next to impossible. Any image cannot actually be "sold" unless the photographer legally transfers ownership of his/her copyright to the buyer. It is very rare that a customer will choose to purchase the copyright of the image outright, because the fee is extremely high. Also it is the photographer’s prerogative to decline the copyright buy-out.

4. What is a "Royalty-free license" of an image?

Royalty-free license is based on the image size or dimensions, and pricing is available right when you select an image to buy. Royalty-free means you don't have to pay any additional royalties for successive uses of the image– it's an unlimited-use license.

Buying Royalty-free license of an image is always cheaper than its Rights-managed counter-part but it does not provide the exclusivity.

Royalty-free images can be used by the customer for an unlimited time frame. This type of licensing is good for customers with small projects and budgets, and customers who aren't concerned about who others are using the same image.

5. What is a "Rights-managed license" of an image?

Rights-managed image licensing is based on usage, and pricing is calculated once you provide usage specifications. Generally, Rights-managed images are much higher quality, in terms of size as well as the resolution, and consequently provide high production value. Some rights-managed images can be licensed with exclusive rights also on negotiable terms.

Rights-managed images need to be re-licensed for any new use or for extending the region of use, distribution or time-duration. This type of licensing works well for customers who want their control over the use of the image.

Note: Readers can find details on licensing of lensdepictions images by visiting this link.

Image & Article Copyrights 2011 Gyaneshwari Dave

Agony and Ecstasy Of Being A Photographer!!

Disclaimer: This one is loosely based on my observations of what others observe about me. Fellow photographers may find resemblance with their own experiences; 

I know this is bound to happen :)

You know you are a serious photographer when:

1. You have deleted a far larger number of images from your camera than you have kept in your hard-drive!

2. Hard-drive reminds me this one too; you have back-up of back-up of back-up!

3. After every visit to some tourist attraction or famous place you have hundreds of images in your high-resolution camera but only one or two, sometimes even zero image of yourself.

4. People have not seen your face since months even if you have shared hundreds of photographs on internet.

5. You always need “one more” lens…

6. People who are traveling with you are afraid of “getting late” all the time!

7. People can spot you stopping, climbing, crawling, bending all of a sudden, in the moments no one can expect!

8. When you are looking at some spot from some distance, you don’t gauge the distance by miles or meters, you calculate it in terms of “mm” (Focal length of the lens is measured by mm)…

9. When watching a movie, instead of trying to figure out the plot, you are busy figuring out the lighting in all the frames!

10. Every beautiful thing you look at is a photograph for you. Whether you click it or not.

11. You have your own list of must visit spots at famous destinations and the ones figuring on travel brochures are almost never in there!

12. You are never happy with your own pictures because YOU could not take it.

13. You keep taking self-portraits using tripod (Like the one with this post!)

14. You have arguments with the Sun!

15. Every sunny day is nothing but an over-exposure for you!

16. You always travel with 2-3 pairs of clothes less than the minimum requirement, because you want to accommodate your camera, lenses, tripod…

17. You cannot tolerate when someone tries to capture a good scene with his/her cell phone camera (How could he/she waste such good frame…!)

18. You start editing out the unwanted cables from a scene even before you take the photograph of that scene…

19. At every birthday-party, wedding, anniversary etc. you arrive minus your beloved camera and people regret it big time. However, you don’t have a shred of regret on your face!

20. You struggle with your camera every time people want to use it themselves, because you don’t remember where the “Auto mode” of your camera is…

21. You feel panicked when someone give you a point and shoot camera and you are not able to control practically “everything” because the poor compact camera can’t let you do that…

22. You have consumed and thrown away an insane number of batteries (The rechargeable ones those are...)

23. You no more care being left behind by your friends when you are taking photographs even at the weirdest of places.

24. You are constantly searching for the lens-cap…

25. You are the unpaid brand-ambassador of Canon or Nikon (Or whatever be the case!) :)

Image & Article Copyrights 2011 Gyaneshwari Dave