1) An Introduction about you?
I am a photography hobbyist based in Dubai, originally from Kerala, India. I am 36 years old and my interest is in soulful photography, creating scenes that has an emotional connect with the viewer.
2) How you get started into photography?
It has been 1o years since I took up photography as a form of artistic expression. Photography was a liberating indulgence to pursue and I found it very interesting to labor and create a scene that had a poignant impact. My first DSLR was a Canon EOS 400D and I still operate with Canon cameras (merely because of familiarity of its functioning and nothing else).
3) Can you please describe your post image process?
I do all my post works in CS5. It will be impossible to detail the steps involved, therefore, I will give a general layout of my flow. To begin with, I click in RAW. It is imperative that all serious photography enthusiasts must take to clicking in RAW format for the sheer post work flexibility that it affords. With a RAW file at hand, I create 2 (or more as required) exposures of the same, Save each version onto different layers in CS5 and blend the different versions using layer masking to adjust and compensate for different light requirements in the overall image. Once an overall adjustment is made, I begin to introduce the varying effects as may seem suited for a particular scene. I do use a third party plug-in called Color Effex by Nik Software, but most of the work lies in masking, blending and other allied layer works in CS5. Last of all, I sharpen the image or selective parts within an image to create an impact. Finally I save it two versions…one for Facebook holding width at 960px and the other for posterity which I retain as a backup copy on my SkyDrive (via Hotmail).
4) What camera and lenses do you use?
Any DSLR camera is fine. Understanding light is the critical part and once you attain this knowledgee…you can operate with any brand of camera at your established consistency levels. Nevertheless, lenses do matter. My favorite carry-around lens is the 70-200 f2.8. Another of my favorite lens is the 28mm f1.8 aspherical lens from Sigma.
5) Any tips for beginners?
- Make it a habit to click in Manual mode. Auto or other short cut modes will give you results but will not necessarily help you understand the fundamentals. It is critically important that you know how and where you use and compensate the different shutter and aperture settings.
- Research and invest time to learn post processing as well. Leave no stone unturned in your quest to beautify your shots. Don’t be apologetic to those who discourage on this front, unless your aim is to be a photo journalist or something wherein photography is meant to be a science and documentation of life rather than art.
- Try to sketch out your imaginations and then pursue that scene. Instead of going out for a photo walk and hope to capture anything ‘random’, try drawing up a scene and working towards photographing it.
- If you go out for a photo-walk…limit group size to maximum 4 committed people.
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You can find Enjo Mathew on the Web :
Copyrights:
All the pictures in this post are copyrighted to Enjo Mathew. Their reproduction, even in part, is forbidden without the explicit approval of the rightful owners.
