PhotoBlog

This site also documents my return to photography, one image a day, one story at a time.

Project, Wildlife, Travel, Photography, Quick-tips, Gear John Rowell Project, Wildlife, Travel, Photography, Quick-tips, Gear John Rowell

From start to finish #1 - A shot list & location

I get asked how I do pretty much everything, so I have decided to share my process, from start to finish, of a shoot. In this example, it is a shoot I am doing at Bandhavgarh National Park in Madhya Pradesh, India. 

The first step is to make a shot list and get your location sorted! 

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Adding depth to an image

Photographs are 2-dimensional, but how sometimes you look at them, and they almost appear to be 3D. This is because in the 2D space of the image, the depth of the scene is also portrayed. Now generally, this is associated with expensive lenses, but you can give your images more depth by using some of the following tricks!

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Travel - Istanbul, Turkey

Back in 2011, I spent a very brief 40 hours in Istanbul...  with such little time, it was a rather manic trip, but in such a fantastic and vibrant city, it was difficult not to produce some memorable images. This was towards the beginning of my photographic journey, but i always like to go back and re-asses my images. Where I started, what would I have done different now, and what can i learn from them. So, i hope you enjoy this look back into my earlier works. :)

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Travel - Hampi, India

Hampi is (at the time of writing) the Lonely Planet's #1 sight to see in India, and after a long time, we finally made it for a trip. It is the site of an ancient city and was one of the richest cities in the world during it's heyday (1500AD), boosting an estimated population of 500,000, making it the second largest city in the world for the time. It was, however, concurred by the Deccan Muslim confederacy in 1565 and razed to the ground, leaving only ruins strewn amongst the builders! It is a fantastic place, and loved the landscape. We also visited the nearby Daroji Bear Sanctuary during this trip.

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Storytelling by Prasenjeet Yadav

I think this title deserves Pro-tips rather than quick tips, but anyway. National Geographic Explorer Prasenjeet Yadav shares his experiences and thoughts about being a storyteller. He once told me, “an image has a shelf-life, a story will last forever”. I cannot agree more! :) So please, take the time to read his views, take notes, get out and start your own stories! You can check out a sample of his work at the bottom of the piece.

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Travel - Daroji Bear Sanctuary

I was a recent trip to Hampi with my wife and son and, well, could not pass up the opportunity to visit the Daroji Bear Sanctuary. It does not have safari's, but you stand atop of a rocky outcrop looking over the boulder strewn forest that is the sanctuary, hoping to glimpse a sloth bear! We got lucky and saw three! 

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Discussion - The power of the photographer

The role of a photographer is to portray a story using photographs. The power we wield is huge, we can change the story and make the image reflect our own impressions. Canon Australia made this video showing what happened if you send the same guy to 6 photographers for a portrait, and each photographer thinks the guy is something different. A criminal, a millionaire, an alcoholic, a fisherman, a lifesaver or a physic...  Each portrait is different, each shows a different man.  check it out!

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Quick-tips - Working on creativity

We live in an age of selfies, Facebook, snapchat and Instagram (to name a few), it has been estimated that we are collectively taking close to 1 trillion images a year (Yahoo estimated 880 million for 2014). It feels like everyone and there dog has a camera these days, and no matter what you shoot, the chances are someone already has a similar shot or a better one, and even if they don't already, they will... and soon.

A great image combines Creativity and Technique, and by using these two factors you will move away from just 'clicking' and image to capturing and creating them. I may not be able to teach you creativity, but I can certainly help you learn.

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Lightroom optimisation

Taking pictures is only the start of your images life, it is not until post-processing that they really comes to fruition. I use Adobe LR CC, and love it. However, it can get slow! So here are some tips to make sure your LR is running as fast as it can! :) I hope you enjoy the video...

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