Henri Cartier-Bresson is one of the most important photographers in the 20th century. He practiced ‘humanistic photography’, based on the ideals of the Enlightenment
Cartier-Bresson’s term ‘Decisive Moment’ refers to the fleeting meaningful instant captured by the camera
The photo cooperative Magnum Photos was founded in 1947 by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa and other travelling photojournalists. It is possibly the most prestigious photo agency in the world and currently represents about 90 international photographers
Henri Cartier-Bresson was the first Western photographer to be allowed to photograph somewhat freely in the Soviet Union. His photographs capture the moods of Soviet citizens at a relatively free period immediately after Stalin’s death
A photograph portrays the world but it’s also a depiction of the person who made it. If you know how to read it, a photo can tell you a lot about the photographer’s experience, interests and character.
Bad photography is a reflection of the person behind the camera. Good photography transcends the photographer and shows us something essential of the world.
Like Marcel Duchamp’s famous Fountain, photography at its core is concept art. It is created by removing an object or its representation from the natural world and transferring it into a man made environment.
All creation is transforming chaos into an order. The original creator, God, worked on a much deeper level than even the most celebrated human artists. God’s order has become our chaos, the raw material which we attempt to convert into a unified whole.
Light is made up of tiny straight lines moving in wave motion. These waves are measured in nanometres. Human eye can see wavelengths ranging from 400 to 700 nm
When light comes in contact with a surface, it is either reflected or absorbed by it, or transmitted through it. Translucent surfaces allow part of the light to pass through them while blocking some of it
The purpose of diffusing light in photography is to make the light source larger in relation to the object it is used to illuminate. In some types of photography, light absorbing black cards are used to take away light from certain parts of the composition. This is a common practice in food photography
Some of the methods of diffusing light in a studio environment include using diffusion paper, shoot-through umbrellas and softboxes. At home, you can place your model in front of a window to create beautiful diffused lighting. Outdoors, position your subject under a tree or an awning.
Like people, buildings have their better sides, and they benefit from beautiful light. The worst time for photographing a house is when the sun is shining from behind the building. The best times are overcast days and sunsets or sunrises
What you see with your eyes hardly ever matches what your camera will record. The camera doesn’t capture bright highlights and dark shadows very well within the same scene. The camera will also emphasise the foreground at the expense of the background
All good photography has a clearly defined subject, whether it’s a person or a detail of the landscape
When lighting foregrounds, you can use the BESTOW method devised by the late mountaineer and photographer Galen Rowell
Without light there would not be life on this planet. Light is also a prerequisite for photography
The word photography means drawing with light. Photographers use two kinds of light: natural and artificial
The aspects of light relevant to photography are its quantity, colour and duration
Colour temperature is measured in degrees Kelvin. The higher temperatures are assigned to the blues while the cooler temperatures denote yellows and reds
Sigma DP2 Merrill is is a fixed-lens camera launched by Sigma Corporation in 2012
Sigma DP2 Merrill comes with a revolutionary Foveon X3 sensor which allows it to capture all colours of the RGB (red, green and blue) at each image location
Sigma DP2 Merrill is a wonderful camera for landscape, nature and street photography
The images recorded by the Foveon X3 sensor are unique in the richness of their colour