This Sunday, like the last Sunday of August, we had a get-together of photographers from Indore at my office.

Now we plan to make it a regular event i.e. every fourth Sunday of the month, a handful of photographers from Indore meet and invite a very Senior photograph to guide us and inspire us with their life and works.

This Sunday, we had Mr. Hemshankar Pathak as our guest speaker.

Hemshankar ji has been doing photography in Indore (MP, India) since 1964 and has won numerous awards for this photos.

He is not only a wonderful photographer, he is very jolly person as well. All of us were very comfortable with him and his talk about lights and composition was mingled with jokes, anecdotes and very useful advice for us all… just like my granny’s stories.

Here are a few things that he taught us during this talk.

1. Photography exists because of lights. So if you want to take good photos, pay attention to how light is falling on the subject, take note of  the background and then see whether is this creating the effect that you want to capture or not.
   If the light does not appear good, then wait for the right time of the day so that the sun is in the right spot and the light is in the right direction on the subject.
2. The best time to take photos is from half an hour after sunrise till 3 hours after sunrise and from 3 hours before sunset till half an hour before sunset. At these times, the direction of sunlight and the quality of light is at its best.
3. A few hours before and after noon is not a good time to take photos. Avoid it.
4. The direction of light falls under the following categories
   • Light falling from front of the subject.
     This light illuminates the subject uniformly. Another feature of this light is that it illuminates both the subject and its background equally, thus making if very difficult to separate the background from the subject.
     An image gets depth and details in textures etc by the variation in light areas and shadows in the  photo. Front light tends to not cast any shadow and hence the photos appear flat.
     According to Hemshankar ji, we should always avoid this type of lights.
   • Light falling on the subject from 45 degrees in the front.
     This is also known as Rembrandt light because of the extensive use by this light by Rembrandt for his portraits.
     This is supposed to be the best general purpose light because it both illuminates the subject properly and also casts shadows that highlight texture and add depth in the photo.
   • Light falling from side at 90 degrees.
     This light adds drama and mystery in the photo. Almost all the movies of horror and thriller genre use this kind of lighting to create suspense.
     Use this light to show only half the face, the other half becomes dark etc.
     This light, when used effectively can create photos with impact
   • Light falling from 45 degrees behind the subject.
     This light adds depth and definition to the subject. In this light, the outlines are very clearly defined and when fill light or reflectors are used to lighten up the dark areas, it creates beautiful photos.
     Another advantage of this light is that usually the subject will be will illuminated but the background will be dark. This helps to separate the subject from photo and highlights the subject even more.
     This light, when used effectively adds 3D effect to photos.
   • Light falling from absolutely behind the subject.
     This light is very effective for creating abstracts. The feature of this light is that it removes all features from the subject and only highlights its shape.  You can use fill light or a reflector to add some details in the dark areas
5. When composing a shot, ask yourself “What is my photo of…”
   Then find out the best way to capture that subject.
6. When taking photos of people, birds or animals, even in broad daylight, use a small flash. This will add a sparkle (catch light) in the eyes.
7. You do not need expensive cameras to take great photos. If you learn to use lights and composition effectively, you can get beautiful photos from ordinary cameras
8. Most of the amateur photographers are fine art photographers (Even if they do not realize it). They do not have a deadline or an urgent need to click a photo. So they should be patient before taking a photo and should spend some to find out the best lights, the best angle, the best background for composition etc
9. Shoot photos if you enjoy taking photos.
   Don’t shoot only for competitions or rewards or only because you got an assignment. If you start shooting photos for competitions or rewards or assignments, then creativity takes a back-seat and productivity becomes important. This is bad for a good photo.
10. Always show your photos to other photographers and listen carefully to their opinion. Respect their point of view even if you do not agree with it.

And there were a lot of others things that he had to say. It will be difficult to have a 3 hour talk condensed in one post, but you get an idea of the quality of learning and amount of fun that we had yesterday.

Our next monthly meet is scheduled on the fourth Sunday of Oct i.e. 24 Oct 2009. If you are at Indore during that time, feel free to join us with another discussion with another senior photographer here.

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Have fun,
Gunjan