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In a few weeks, the University of Delhi will be abuzz with fests and concerts. Star nights, celebrity gigs, and live performances make will light up the whole campus. These events offer an opportunity to click some excellent event photographs. In the wake of the upcoming fest season, we present some tips and techniques for live concert photography.

1. Use Manual Mode

  1. Low Aperture- Lowering the aperture will allow more light to enter into the camera.  It is suggested that you shoot with your lens wide open to have some extra light to play with.
  2. High Shutter Speed- With fast and frequent movements, the shutter speed of the camera will be responsive and decrease the possibilities of blurred images.
  3. Higher ISO- High ISO will make your camera more sensitive towards the light which will help in low light images.
Image Credits: Sahil Chauhan
Image Credits: Sahil Chauhan

2.Understand the lighting 

Adapt the camera features according to the lighting provided so that you are prepared when the light falls on the subject.

mage Credits: Akarsh Mathur
Image Credits: Akarsh Mathur

 

3. Wait for the moment

You won’t get perfect pictures within 10 minutes into the concert. One needs to shoot throughout the show with patience.  Capture moments which will make your photograph unique!

Image Credits: P.V. Purnima
Image Credits: P.V. Purnima

4. Do your homework

Research both the venue and the artist before the actual gig. This will familiarise you with the performance and the stage setup.

Image Credits: Sahil Chauhan
Image Credits: Sahil Chauhan

5. Use a fast cheap prime lens 

 

Stage light is often low, so using a fast lens will help you get sharp images. For beginners, a cheap 50mm 1.8 lens is recommended because it can shoot in low light.

Image Credits: Ayush Chauhan
Image Credits: Ayush Chauhan

Feature Image Credits: Ayush Chauhan

 

Fashion photography is a highly popular and lucrative field. Delhi, with its scenic and photogenic landscapes, is the best place to orchestrate outdoor fashion shoots.

Here is a list of some of our favorite locations for outdoor Fashion Photography.

  1. Connaught Place – Perhaps the most scenic and iconic place in Delhi, Connaught place is the go-to place fashion photography. The colonial white facades provide a perfect backdrop for contemporary, ethnic, as well as artsy shoots. The best time for shooting is early morning hours before the place bustles with the crowd. The nearest metro station is Rajiv Chowk on Yellow and Blue line.
  2. Okhla Bird Sanctuary – This place which earlier used to be the hub for birdwatchers and environmentalist is becoming a popular choice amongst fashion photographers. Against the backdrop of nature and greenery, one can get beautiful photos. The ideal time for shoots is during the golden hour. The entry cost is Rs 30 and the nearest metro station is Botanical Garden on Blue line.
  3. Safdarjung Tomb- This majestic sandstone and marble mausoleum is situated at the Intersection of Safdarjung Road and Aurobindo Marg. The location is scenic and surrounded by a wide Mughal garden. The symmetric design of the monument is a delight to photograph. One should defiantly check this place for photoshoots in traditional attire. The nearest metro station is Jor Bagh on Yellow Line.
  4. Khari Baoli- Located in Old Delhi, Khari Baoli is Asia’s biggest wholesale market.Today, Khari Baoli is a busy commercial district which caters to vast spice market of North India, including states of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, making it perpetually crowded with traders.
  5. Lodhi Art District- Because of the brilliant work by independent artists, the Lodhi Art district has been dubbed as India’s first open-air public art district.The artistic stretch in the expanse from Khanna Market till Meherchand Market.
  6. Rail Museum- National Rail Museum, located in the prime location of Chanakyapuri is an ideal location to get photos clicked and to admire the unique rail artifacts in its vicinity. Vintage, rare exhibits like the Prince of Wales Saloon, Fireless steam locomotive, and rail buses form the collection on display.

 

Feature Image Credits- Natural Studio

Akarsh Mathur

[email protected]

Astrophotography means taking a photograph of an object hovering in space either with a point-and-shoot camera, a telescope, or any other instrument. The subject matter may include anything ranging from a moon to the Milky Way.

Astrophotography can further be classified into various subfields which includes Deep space, Solar system, Widefield Astrophotography, and Timelapse Photography. In the modern age of digital photography, it is more feasible to go for wide field astrophotography as it is within everyone’s reach.

As far as the equipment is concerned, a modern DSLR camera with good low light capabilities, a wide angle lens, and a good sturdy tripod will do more than enough. It is preferable to use a wide-angle lens with a large aperture like 24mm f 2.8 as this would help in capturing a wide angle shot and enable more light to enter into the camera, so that clear pictures can be shoot.

It is imperative that along with a clear sky and less pollution the chosen location can also accommodate a good wide angle shot.

Preferable settings for astrophotography:

  1. Set camera lens to widest aperture (f/2.8 is better than f/4 or f/5.6)
  2. Set the shutter to the 5 seconds
  3. Set the ISO to 800 or 1600
  4. Set the White Balance to Daylight/Sunny or put it to Custom as per the requirement.

This basic knowledge will equip you to take good quality night sky images.

 

Feature Image Credits: Jeremy Thomas

Akarsh Mathur

[email protected]

Sandeep Samal

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Instagram has become a rage in the young millennia’s life. Every new cuisine one tries, every new book one reads, every new dress one buys, the world gets to know about it through Instagram. It has become a new platform for people to kick-start their businesses. It is a way for people to give way to their hobbies and passions. For a photographer, his/her Instagram account is a digital profile of his/her work. Unlike the old times, one does not have to carry their portfolio around but simply an Instagram account.
Here are some useful tips for those budding photographers to help them grow their followers and reach.

Be Consistent
As a photographer, one must pick up a specific theme/ genre whether it is nature, fashion, architecture, wedding, etc. Being consistent in one’s area of interest brings out the expertise in the photographer. Gaining expertise in one area attracts more clients looking for an expert photographer.

Make a Plan
As an Instagram blogger, the quote “out of sight is out of mind” holds unequivocally true. One must be regular in uploading their artwork. Uploading daily can bring a sense of permanency to your presence. One can schedule days and plan the number of posts which need to be uploaded, so the followers are aware of one’s progress and routine.

Make Use of Updates
Instagram constantly rolls out with various new updates. Making use of Instagram stories, its new filters, and other features like boomerang, superzoom, or stop-motion can help a photographer in putting out more work. Staying up-to-date with new updates will not only show your extemporisation skills but also serve as a guide for your audience, building a consistent follower base.

Location
Making use of the location update, a photographer can attract local businesses. Local businesses even sponsor a photographer(s) to increase their outreach.

Create a Clientele
A budding photographer must follow others to learn about their work, or if one is in the fashion arena, one must follow popular social media influencers. DM them for collaborations or show interest in their work by posting comments.

Bio
Keeping one’s bio interesting yet crisp can go a long way. Always provide contact information to keep all avenues open.
Using Instagram in a creative and smart way can go a long way in expanding one’s business. One gets to promote their hobbies or passions which can change into full-time professions with the help of Instagram.

 

Feature Image Credits: NBC News

Prachi Mehra
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Vansh Sabharwal
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Varoon Tuteja
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The winter season brings with it a lot of mesmerising scenes much to the delight of a photographer. However, it has some disadvantages too.

Photographers keep lurking in different places looking for the perfect setting and clicking endless pictures to get a flawless photo. And the winter season offers a visual spectacle with those misty clouds and drops of water running through the leaves in the morning. The sunrays oozing out of the fog and the snow-covered mountains shining golden during sunrise can make any photographer’s jaw drop. And these are just a few to name. But, it is not as easy and inviting as it seems. The winter season is as harsh on photographers with the cold weather and freezing temperatures testing the photographer’s skill. Here are a few pros and cons of winter photography.

Pros

  1. A good amount of blur can be created with all the air wrapped in the dense fog. This comes in use while capturing portraits or any other object.
  2. The winter season brings a dark touch in the background with itself and so, capturing bright colors create a good spark in the picture.
  3. One very relieving thing about winters is the minimized air pollution. This suits best for doing Astrophotography because clearer skies help in capturing some really good pictures.

Cons

  1. The dense fog is not always kind to the photographer. It becomes difficult to focus on the object and click a sharp picture.
  2. The lack of warmth of the sun in winters makes it very difficult to capture bright pictures as is the case in summer.
  3. The low light haunts from picture to picture as it creates darker pictures with more shadows.
  4. The dew and fog can end up ruining the camera as the sensors and camera lenses may get damaged.

Well, it really is a tussle to decide whether winters are advantageous or not for doing photography. It has its share of pros and cons. And at the end, it is all upon the photographer to get the best shot possible. Also, where’s the fun of getting great pictures if it isn’t challenging to click one?

 

Feature Image Credits: techradar.com

Akarsh Mathur

[email protected]

Karan Singhania

[email protected]

 

 

 

 

WHAT’S THIS THING CALLED ‘BOKEH’?

Also known as “Boke”, it is one of the most popular subjects in photography. Why? Because it makes photographs visually appealing, forcing us to focus our attention on a particular area of the image. The word comes from the Japanese language, which literally translates as “blur”. So bokeh is essentially the quality of out-of-focus or “blurry” parts of the image rendered by a camera lens.

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Photo by Vansh Sabarwal for DU Beat

LENS TO USE FOR BOKEH PHOTOGRAPHY

For capturing great out-of-focus pictures, photographers usually use the fastt lens or the fast prime lenses. Lenses with small aperture values of f/1.2, f/1.4, f/1.8 are called fast lenses as they allow more light to enter due to which we can increase the shutter speed. These lenses produce shallow depth of field due to which background/fore-ground gets out-of-focus and that creates an aesthetically appealing photographs, known as bokeh.

Source:
Source: Canon Global

CREATING DIFFERENT FUN BOKEH SHAPES

We can create bokeh of different shapes by using the most basic requisites. Take a small black piece of paper and cut it approximately into the size of your camera lens and tape it over it. Cutting the piece of black paper into different shapes, whatever pleases the cameraman works. When pictures shall be captured with the black piece of paper stuck to the lens, you will get the bokeh effect from the shape you cut it out in, be it heart or squares.

Source:
Source: DIY Photography

 

Source:
Photo by Vansh Sabarwal

VALUE ADDITION TO THE PICTURE

Engaging in bokeh photography is fun. But it becomes even more fun when we understand and manouvre with different angles in clicking the said picture. Focussing is essential. To get great output in the form of pictures, one needs to understand what one needs to focus on. When one masters that, the pictures that come out of it, are worth the effort.

Source:
Photo by PV Purnima for DU Beat
Source:
Photo by Vansh Sabarwal for DU Beat

 

Few Examples:

Vansh Sabarwal
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Ankita Kar Dharmakar
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Photos: Vansh Sabarwal, PV Purnima, and Akarsh Mathur for DU Beat

What is long exposure photography? Long-exposure, time-exposure, or slow-shutter photography involves using a long-duration shutter speed to sharply capture the stationary elements of images while blurring, smearing, or obscuring the moving elements. Long-exposure photography captures one element that conventional photography does not: an extended period of time. The paths of bright moving objects become clearly visible. Clouds form broad bands, head and tail lights of cars draw bright streaks, stars leave trails in the sky, and water waves appear smoothened. Only bright objects will leave visible trails, whereas dark objects usually disappear. Boats in long exposures will disappear during daytime, but will draw bright trails from their lights at night.

This post was aided by information from here, here, and here.

Photos by:
Vansh Sabharwal
[email protected]

Hemant Goyal
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Zephyr-The Film and Photography Society of CVS in association with Happiness is Love (HIL) conducted a seminar on 27th September, 2017 in the Seminar Hall of College of Vocational Studies. The seminar commenced at 11 a.m as the chief guest Ms. Jyotika Bedi the founder of Project Happiness Is Love (HIL) along with her team gave the students an introduction of the projects HIL aims at.
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Ms. Jyotika Bedi also made students aware of some more projects that they work on which includes Emotion Drive Project which focuses on creating a world that needs more happiness and love rather than self centered and selfish people and another Project- Global Women Roof that helps the women entrepreneurs and all other women who require any help from all walks of life.
Apart from these projects, she had a discussion on topics like youth are the future leaders and the game changers and enlightened the students about Kynatic Potential Explorers which has been running since 15 years, helping students to find their paths in life and choosing the right career for them.
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After the talk session, a quick ice-break challenge was performed where in 10 volunteers were supposed to tell one negative life incident and what how they learned one positive aspect of life from it.
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Also, another activity was performed where the students were divided in groups of 10 with one leader each, to decide what happiness means to them and what happiness does not mean to them. The leaders were supposed to go up on stage and share the views of their entire group on the given topic.
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Lastly, the results for the Online Photography Competition were declared and the top 3 winners along with the 12 runner ups were called up on stage to collect their prizes and certificates from the judges.
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In the end Zephyr thanked the team of HIL for this fruitful collaboration and for making this event a huge success.

‘EFFULGENCE’- The Film and Photography Society of Sri Venkateswara College organized a Photography Workshop on Thursday 1st October. Renowned photographer and senior faculty member of Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan, Professor, Mr. Ashwani Juneja conducted the workshop.

All aspiring Photographers, beginners and photography societies of colleges were invited in the workshop.

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In a session of two hours, Prof. Ashwani in his presentation discussed topics such as what is photography? Principle of photography, depth of field, light controlling device and exposure triangle among others.
More than 50 photography enthusiasts attended this workshop. An interaction session was followed by the presentation where the students asked their queries and doubts.

A photo walk has been scheduled for next week where the students can practically apply the tips and information acquired during the workshop.

Inputs from Shaira Chaudhry

Image Credits- Abhishek  Saini

Shefali Bharati
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Pixels, the photography society of Hans Raj College organized their annual photography fest titled ‘Plickture’ on 2nd-4th March along with Confluence, the annual cultural fest of the college. The fest featured competitions that were conducted online as well as those held on-the-spot. By having a separate event for photography societies to participate as a team, it also brought team work into the foray of activities.

Here is a look at who won what during the fest:

Online Events

As part of the pre-event promotions, an online photography competition was organized where the participants had to send in pictures clicked by them on the themes, “Life as you see it” and “What if?”

Results were as follows:

first prize for life as you see it
Winning Entry for ‘Life as you see it’

Theme: Life as you see it
1st Prize – Subhradeep Saha, Zakir Hussain College
Caption – A summer bath

first prize what if_
Winning entry for ‘What If?’

Theme: What If?
1st Prize – Arushi Aggarwal, Miranda House
Caption – What if past could come to life

Winners were awarded a manfrotto jacket and a tripod.

Photo Exhibition

For the campus festival the society had organized the photo exhibition which was more of the main attractions for the Day 1 of college annual festival. 100 photos clicked by the members of the societies were displayed with appropriate captions. The visitors had an option to comment on any photo (using sticky notes) or write their reviews in AMBIGRAM Pixels – Remark Book. The look up flex at the exhibition was also appreciated by the visitors. Prithvi Kakkar, the president of Pixels said, “Teachers and students in their feedback mentioned that ‘aaj tak Hans Raj mein aisa kabhi nahi hua’, I need not say anything else.”

On-the-spot

For the campus rounds an on-the-spot competition was organized separate for DSLR and mobile users. The participants had to click the photographs inside the Hans Raj campus using a camera or mobile phone and submit it with appropriate captions.

Theme: Irony (DSLR users)

First prize for ‘Irony’

1st Prize – Taranveer Singh, Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce
Caption – Isn’t it just ironical when you can’t capture irony in a competition themed Irony

Second prize irony
Second prize winning entry for ‘Irony’

2nd Prize – Arushi Aggarwal, Miranda House
Caption – A Glance.

Theme: Campus Cheer (Mobile Users)

First prize campus cheer
First Prize for ‘Campus Cheer’

1st Prize – Swarna Garg, Shivaji College
Caption – Express it out now because ‘kal rahein ya na rahein hum’

second prize campus cheer
Second prize for ‘Campus Cheer’

2nd Prize – Rahul Vaid, Hansraj College
Caption – Who Said Only Birds Can Fly

Winners for the first spot for both the themes were awarded Rs. 1500 each and the first runner-ups were given Rs. 1000 each.

Battle of Societies

The main highlight event of Plickture was Battle of Societies, for which eight photography societies from various colleges participated. Battle of Societies was divided into five events one of which was an online event. Other 4 events were CAP-IT where participants had to caption 5 photos clicked by members of Pixels; PHOT-ON – an on the spot competition where one member from the team had to click the photographs within the campus on the theme “artsy philosophy”; QUIZ THE CAM – the photography quiz and PHOTO MORPHING – making a photo collage.

The results for the individual events were as follows:
Online Event – Lady Shri Ram College for Women and Kirori Mal College
Phot-on – Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce
Quiz the cam – Lady Shri Ram College for Women
Cap-it – Lady Shri Ram College for Women
Photo Morphing – Lady Shri Ram College for Women

Hence, after compiling the results, Lady Shri Ram College’s film and photography society Projekt was declared the Best Photography Society. They were awarded a trophy and a cash prize of Rs. 10,000. Commenting on their victory, Koyna, one of the coordinators of Projekt says, “Battle of socities was a very unique event because till now we have only had individual competitions. There has never been any event where you have a society as a whole competing against other socities. It’s indeed overwhelming to be able to stand ground at such a event. Hopefully, this will make Projekt and the photography team more visible within the college as well.”

Mr. Pradeep Kumar, a wildlife photographer and an ex-professor at Hans Raj College judged all the events.