Before Sunset

My long hair tousled by the cool, mellow breeze that blew in a course that pushed all my hair to the right, and my mind put to peace by the melodic chimes of the gentle wind and the soothingly alluring dance of the waves as they came from far to near, rising and falling, keeping the rhythm of what seemed the order of the world- I sat there taking in the whiff of saline air as the skittish waves played with my calloused feet, running them over with white, happy foam before they withdrew into the sea liberating the trapped sands under my feet. 

My eyes stared into the distant horizon, a line where the sky met the sea and where the serene colours of warmth and tranquil made a heavenly blend- a spectacle to watch, and I thanked myself for reaching the shore on time to catch a happy moment, one that would be etched in my mind for eternity. And, right on the line was the sun, the giant celestial ball of fire that gives our Earth its life, slowly descending after the day's job in this half of the globe. 

The water shone and sparkled in the beautiful pale tint of pinkish and reddish orange, gleaming in the direct rays of the setting sunlight, scattered around by the water and air. And at that moment, no thought could precede the one about this wondrous life and the order of nature. The sun no longer visible, but the water in the shade of a blissful, deep red and a bluish tinge marked the beginning of the oncoming nightfall. I smiled. 

The foamy water was still playing around my calloused feet, and I knew they would as long as I stayed, such faithful companions for the mind. I picked my duffel bag lying on the side,  brushed away the fine, wet sand clinging in defiance, and strapped it over on my shoulders ready to leave for the day. 

Another evening well spent, and every evening of my life shall be so, as long as I manage to reach the heavenly seashore- before sunset.

Stories From My Life: In Black and White

Some time ago, I had participated in a one week black and white photography challenge, where I was trying to capture the important things that surround my life. The whole challenge was to convey a part about your life to people in black and white, but with two important rules: no people, no explanation.

I have a Canon EOS 450D, and all the images were shot on it. So, here I present to you all my seven photos: stories from my life- in black and white!

Day 1/7

Day 2/7

Day 3/7

Day 4/7

Day 5/7

Day 6/7

Day 7/7

Hope you liked them! Leave your comments below!

The Laws Of Perspective

I started with the course “Lectures On Digital Photography” by Marc Levoy. It is a course which was initially taught at Stanford for interested on-campus students, and then later at Google. Now all the lectures are available for free completely on Google Sites. Here’s the link: https://sites.google.com/site/marclevoylectures/home

Fifteen minutes into the first lecture, Mr. Levoy talks about one of the most important aspects of art- perspective. He talks about perspective in a scientific way. When you capture an image of a real object on a plane, be it as a painting, one of the earliest forms, or photography, which came much later, there are two important ways to look at it.

One was the natural perspective that Euclid explained in his book on Optics. The natural perspective discusses the distance between the eye and the object, and the angle the object subtends to the eye.

In simple terms, the natural perspective tells you that farther objects subtend smaller angles.

The other type is the linear perspective theory created by Filippo Brunelleschi. This basically tells you that closer objects are projected larger on a picture plane.

Using this simple mathematics as derived from the linear perspective theory, the approximate size of the projection on the plane as compared to the actual size of the object can be determined. In the above picture: y is the height of the projection; h is the height of the object; x is the distance of object from the eye; and z is the distance of the picture plane from the eye.

This was of key importance in the paintings during the Renaissance as the painters attempted to produce or showcase depth on a plane sheet. It was generally concluded from the linear perspective theory that all objects away from the painter must converge at a farther point.

So, how is this theory of perspective related to photography? Well, for photographers to choose an optimum focal length for the right aperture that would capture the scene, the way they envision, it is necessary that they have a general sense of perspective. It is not required, and is not possible, to do mathematics every time. But it is necessary to rather have a ‘feel’ of the right perspective that they need for a particular shot.

There is a tamil saying that translates into “Your hand doesn’t measure what your eye doesn’t”, which sums up the the topic of discussion here: perspective.