Ahmad Faiz Mustafa Photography

Digital Camera Modes

2014-07-27T11:17:00.000+05:30

If asked to nominate which shooting modes that they most commonly use on their digital cameras, the only overwhelming response from both beginner and the more advanced users alike will be - Automatic Mode.

As a result I’ve decided to take a run through the basic shooting modes that most digital cameras have (both point and shoot and DSLRs have most of these).

While this is pretty basic information for many readers I hope it will be helpful for those right at the beginning of their digital photography journey who are yet to venture out of Automatic Mode.

Automatic Modes

Automatic Mode

I suspect no one will need any introduction to this mode (as it seems most digital camera owners use it). Auto mode tells your camera to use its best judgement to select shutter speed, aperture, ISO, white balance, focus and flash to take the best shot that it can. With some cameras auto mode lets you override flash or change it to red eye reduction. This mode will give you nice results in many shooting conditions, however you need to keep in mind that you’re not telling your camera any extra information about the type of shot you’re taking so it will be ‘guessing’ as to what you want. As a result some of the following modes might be more appropriate to select as they give your camera a few more hints (without you needing to do anything more).

Portrait Mode

When you switch to portrait mode, your camera will automatically select a large aperture (small number) which helps to keep your background out of focus (i.e. it sets a narrow depth of field – ensuring your subject is the only thing in focus and is therefore the centre of attention in the shot, everything else is blur ). Portrait mode works best when you’re photographing a single subject. So get in close enough to your subject (either by zooming in or walking closer) so that your photographing the head and shoulders of them).
(e.g. - Taking a photograph of a woman (who is in focus) with a building as the background (which will be blurred))

Macro Mode

Macro mode lets you move you closer into your subject to take a close up picture. It’s great for shooting flowers, insects or other small objects. Different digital cameras will have macro modes with different capabilities including different focussing distances (usually between 2-10cm for point and shoot cameras).
When you use the macro mode, you’ll notice that focussing is more difficult as at short distances the depth of field is very narrow (just millimetres at times). Keep your camera and the object you’re photographing parallel if possible or you’ll find a lot of it will be out of focus. You’ll probably also find that you won’t want to use your camera’s built in flash when photographing close up objects or they’ll be burnt out.
(e.g. - Taking a close-up photograph of a coin)

Landscape Mode

This mode is almost the exact opposite of portrait mode in that it sets the camera up with a small aperture (large number) to make sure as much of the scene you’re photographing will be in focus as possible (i.e. it gives you a large depth of field). It’s therefore ideal for capturing shots of wide scenes, particularly those with points of interest at different distances from the camera.
(e.g. – Photographing the mountains)

Sports Mode

Photographing moving objects is what sports mode (also called ‘action mode’ in some cameras) is designed for. It is ideal for photographing any moving object including people playing sports, pets, cars, wildlife etc.
Sports mode attempts to freeze the action by increasing the shutter speed.
(e.g. – Photographing a batsman hitting the ball)

Night Mode

This is a really fun mode to play around with and can create some wonderfully colourful and interesting shots. Night mode (a technique also called ‘slow shutter sync’) is for shooting in low light situations and sets your camera to use a longer shutter speed to help capture details of the background but it also fires off a flash to illuminate the foreground (and subject). If you use this mode for a ‘serious’ or well-balanced shot you should use a tripod or your background will be blurred – however it’s also fun to take shots with this handheld to purposely blur your backgrounds – especially when there is a situation with lights behind your subject as it can give a fun and experimental look (great for parties and dance floors with coloured lights).
(e.g. – Photographing fireworks, indoor (well-lit) parties)

Movie Mode

This mode extends your digital camera from just capturing still images to capturing moving ones. Most new digital cameras these days come with a movie mode that records video. The quality is generally not up to video camera standards but it’s a handy mode to have when you come across that perfect subject that just can’t be captured with a still image. Keep in mind that moving images take up significantly more space on your memory storage than still images.

Semi-Automatic Modes

Aperture Priority Mode (A or AV)

This mode is really a semi-automatic (or semi-manual) mode where you choose the aperture and where your camera chooses the other settings (shutter speed, white balance, ISO etc.) so as to ensure you have a well-balanced exposure. Aperture priority mode is useful when you’re looking to control the depth of field in a shot (usually a stationary object where you don’t need to control shutter speed). Choosing a larger number aperture means the aperture (or the opening in your camera when shooting) is smaller and lets less light in. This means you’ll have a larger depth of field (more of the scene will be in focus) but that your camera will choose a slower shutter speed. Small numbers means the opposite (i.e. your aperture is large, depth of field will be small and your camera will probably choose a faster shutter speed).

Shutter Priority Mode (S or TV)

Shutter priority is very similar to aperture priority mode but is the mode where you select a shutter speed and the camera then chooses all of the other settings. You would use this mode where you want to control over shutter speed (obviously). For example when photographing moving subjects (like sports) you might want to choose a fast shutter speed to freeze the motion. On the flip-side of this you might want to capture the movement as a blur of a subject like a waterfall and choose a slow shutter speed. You might also choose a slow shutter speed in lower light situations.

Program Mode (P)

Some digital cameras have this priority mode in addition to auto mode (in a few cameras Program mode is full Auto mode. In those cameras that have both, Program mode is similar to Auto but gives you a little more control over some other features including flash, white balance, ISO etc.

Fully Manual Mode

Manual Mode

In this mode you have full control over your camera and need to think about all settings including shutter speed, aperture, ISO, white balance, flash etc. It gives you the flexibility to set your shots up as you wish. Of course you also need to have some idea of what you’re doing in manual mode.

Confused about the jargon used above???

· Shutter Speed - It is a common term used to discuss exposure time, the effective length of time a camera's shutter is open. The total exposure is proportional to this exposure time, or duration of light reaching the film or image sensor.

· Aperture - It is the opening of a photographic lens that can be adjusted to control the amount of light reaching the image sensor.

· ISO – It is the measure of sensitivity of the image sensor towards light. The lower the number, the less sensitive your camera is to light and the finer the grain. Higher ISO settings are generally used in darker situations to get faster shutter speeds (for example an indoor sports event when you want to freeze the action in lower light)

· Depth of Field- It is the distance between the nearest and farthest objects in a scene.

· White Balance – It is the process of removing unrealistic colour casts, so that objects which appear white through human eyes are rendered white in the photograph too.

Ramadan Calendar for Lucknow 2012 with Sahr and Iftar time schedule

2012-07-20T23:23:00.001+05:30

Ramadhan Calender Lucknow, 2012

NH-7: The most scenic highway in India

2011-11-16T23:49:00.001+05:30

Photoshop Tutorial: Enhance Colors With Photoshop's Photo Filter

2011-10-25T18:23:00.004+05:30

In this Photoshop tutorial on digital photo editing, I'm going to look at how to tint and enhance colors in a photo using Photoshop's Photo Filter.

If Photoshop's Photo Filter isn't one of the most widely used features in the program, it certainly deserves to be.

Not only is it easy to use, it's the only feature in Photoshop that lets you choose colors simply by selecting color names from a list! It also has several valuable uses, and this time, we're going to learn how to use it to tint and enhance colors in an image.

At its most basic level, the Photo Filter can be used to warm up or cool down the overall colors in a photo, but since we're going to be using the adjustment layer version which comes with a built-in layer mask, we can combine multiple Photo Filters to tint and enhance specific areas of an image individually, which is what we'll be doing in this tutorial.

Here's the image I'll be working with. The colors that evening were spectacular. The sky is full of pinks and purples and the ground was almost glowing in a warm orange. Unfortunately, my camera didn't quite capture things the way I saw them, and the colors in the photo ended up looking a little dull:

Thanks to Photoshop's Photo Filter though, I can easily bring back the colors the way I remember them, and even take them further if I want:

The colors look much brighter and more vivid now, which makes the image itself more visually appealing, and it was all done with just a couple of simple Photo Filter adjustment layers. Let's get started

Step 1: Select The First Area You Want To Work On

As I mentioned, I'm going to be using a couple of Photo Filter adjustment layers to enhance the colors in specific areas of the image separately, and the first area I want to work on is the sky, so before I add my first Photo Filter , I need to select the sky. You can use whichever selection tool you're most comfortable with (Lasso Tool, Pen Too, etc.). I'm going to use the Lasso Tool for this, so I'll select it from the Tools palette:

Photoshop Tutorials: Selecting the Lasso Tool from Photoshop's Tools palette.

I could also press L on my keyboard to access it with the shortcut. Then with my Lasso Tool selected, I'm going to draw a selection around the sky:

Photoshop Tutorials: Using the Lasso Tool to draw a selection around the sky, which is the first part of the image I want to work on.

You can see the selection outline in the image above.

Step 2: Add A Photo Filter Adjustment Layer

Now that I have my sky selected, I can add my first Photo Filter. To do that, I'll click on the New Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette:

Photoshop Tutorials: Click on the "New Adjustment Layer" icon at the bottom of the Layers palette.

Then I'll select Photo Filter from the list of adjustment layers:

Photoshop Tutorials: Select "Photo Filter" from the list.

This brings up Photoshop's Photo Filter dialog box, and since we selected part of the image before adding the Photo Filter, only the area we selected will be affected by it.

Step 3: Choose The Color You Want To Tint The Selected Area With

The Photo Filter is based on the idea of photographers adding colored filters to the camera lens to tint the photo, and we can achieve the exact same effect in Photoshop but with a lot more flexibility, since we can change the filter color to anything we want.

The Photo Filter gives us two ways to choose a color. At the top of its dialog box are two options, Filter and Color. They both do exactly the same thing, which is allow us to choose a color to tint our image with. The only difference between them is that the "Filter" option allows us to select from a list of preset colors, including some that are based on common warming and cooling lens filters (they have the words "Warming" and "Cooling" in the color names), while the "Color" option simply brings up Photoshop's Color Picker and allows us to choose exactly which color we want. I'm going to stick with the preset colors since they'll work just fine for my image here, and I remember from when I took this photo that the sky had a lot more pink and purple in it than what the image is currently showing. Unfortunately, the Photo Filter doesn't have a preset pink or purple color for me to select, but it does have magenta which will work nicely, so I'm going to click on the down-pointing arrow for the "Filter" option and select "Magenta" from the list (of course, you can choose whichever color you like for your image):

Photoshop Tutorials: Select the color you want to tint your image with from the "Filter" preset list of colors, or choose a color from the Color Picker by clicking on the "Color" color swatch.

Now that I have my color selected, I want to increase the intensity of the color a little, and I can do that with the Density option. Dragging the Density slider to the right adds more of the color to the image for a stronger amount of tinting, while dragging it to the left reduces the amount of color for a more subtle tinting effect. You can see a preview of what's happening in your image as you drag the slider. I'm going to increase the intensity of my color a little by dragging the Density slider to around 30%:

Photoshop Tutorials: Increase or decrease the amount of color added to the image by dragging the "Density" slider to the right or left.

Make sure the Preserve Luminosity option in the bottom left corner is checked so you're not darkening the image. When you're happy with the tinting you've applied, click OK in the top right corner of the dialog box to exit out of it. Here's my image after tinting my sky with magenta. Notice that only the sky is tinted. Everything below it remains untouched:

Photoshop Tutorials: The sky now appears much more pink and purple after tinting it with magenta.

Now the sky looks a lot more colorful. I may have taken things a bit further than what it actually looked like that evening, but I like the overall effect and there's no law in Photoshop that says you always have to strive for realism. The ground definitely looks less colorful than I remember it though, but I don't want it to be pink or purple. It needs to be warmed up with some orange, which means we're going to need a second Photo Filter set to a different color.

Since I want only the ground to be affected by my second Photo Filter, I'm going to have to select it, but since I've already selected the sky, selecting the ground is going to be easy, as we'll see next.

I'm done with enhancing the colors in the sky and now I want to do the same thing with the ground but using a different color, so for that, I'll use a second Photo Filter adjustment layer.

Just as I did with the sky though, before I go adding the new adjustment layer, I need to first select the ground. Since I've already selected the top portion of the image (the sky) and now I want to select everything below it, all I need to do is load my original sky selection and then invert it. To do that, I'm going to hold down my Ctrl (Win) / Command (Mac) key on my keyboard and click on the Photo Filter's layer mask thumbnail in the Layers palette:

Photoshop Tutorials: "Ctrl-click" (Win) / "Command-click" (Mac) directly on the layer mask thumbnail in the Layers palette.

If you look closely at the layer mask thumbnail, you'll notice that the top portion of it is white while the bottom portion is black. The white area on top is the selection I made around the sky before I added the adjustment layer, and because it's white, that means the Photo Filter is affecting that area, which we saw quite obviously in the image. The area on the bottom filled with black means that the adjustment layer is not affecting that area, which is why the ground was not tinted with the magenta color.

By "Ctrl-clicking" (Win) / "Command-clicking" (Mac) directly on the layer mask's thumbnail, I've loaded my original selection back into the image:

Photoshop Tutorials: The original selection around the sky has been loaded back in to the document.

Currently, the sky is selected, but I want everything below it to be selected instead. All I need to do is invert the selection, and I can do that easily with the keyboard shortcut Shift+Ctrl+I (Win) / Shift+Command+I (Mac). This causes everything that was selected to become deselected, and everything that was not selected previously is now selected. In other words, I've basically flipped the selection so that now the ground is selected and the sky is not:

Photoshop Tutorials: The ground is now selected and the sky has become deselected.

The only problem here is that not only have I selected the ground, I've also selected the small area of water over on the left which I don't want to be affected by either of my Photo Filters. I can easily fix that though after I warm up the colors on the ground so I won't worry about it for now.

Step 5: Add The Second Photo Filter Adjustment Layer

With my selection in place, I can add my second Photo Filter adjustment layer, and I'll do that the same way I did before, by clicking on the New Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette:

Photoshop Tutorials: Adding a second Photo Filter by clicking once again on the "New Adjustment Layer" icon.

Again, I'll select Photo Filter from the list that appears:

Photoshop Tutorials: Selecting "Photo Filter " from the list.

Photoshop adds my second Photo Filter adjustment layer above the first one in the Layers palette and pops up the Photo Filter dialog box just as before.

Step 6: Select The Color You Want To Use

I want the ground in the photo to appear a lot warmer, which means I'll want to add a warm color like orange to it. Fortunately, warming and cooling images is exactly what Photoshop's Photo Filter was originally designed for, and rather than choosing "Orange" from a list of colors or from the Color Picker, I can simply use the default filter, which is "Warming Filter (85)":

Photoshop Tutorials: Using the Photo Filter's default "Warming Filter (85)".

There's two other warming filters included - "Warming Filter (LBA)" and "Warming Filter (81)" - but after experimenting with all three, the first one seems to give me the best results with this image. The "Density" value, which as we saw a moment ago determines how much of the color is mixed in with the image, is set to 25% by default and that's not nearly enough to warm up my image, so I'm going to click on its slider and drag it to the right, keeping an eye on my image as I drag so I can see a live preview of what I'm doing, and I'm going to increase the Density value all the way to around 85% to match the same color intensity as the sky above it:

Photoshop Tutorials: Increasing the warming effect in the image by increasing the Density value.

I'm going to click OK to exit out of the dialog box, and here's my image after warming up the ground:

Photoshop Tutorials: The ground now appears much warmer and the color intensity matches that of the sky above it.

As I mentioned earlier, the only problem now is that I've warmed up the area of water on the left which I didn't want to do, so I'll fix that next.

To remove the warming color over the water, I'm going to simply paint it away using the Brush Tool.

All I need to do is paint with black over any areas where I want to hide the effects of the Photo Filter. Even though it will look like I'm painting directly on the image itself, I'll really be painting on the layer mask and anywhere you paint with black on a layer mask hides the layer from view (or in this case, hides the effects of the adjustment). First, I need my Brush Tool, so I'll grab it from the Tools palette:

Photoshop Tutorials: Selecting the Brush Tool from the Tools palette.

I could also press B to select it with the keyboard shortcut.

I need to paint with black, so I need to set black as my Foreground color, since the Brush paints with whichever color you have set as the Foreground color. Currently the Foreground color is set to white and the Background color is set to black. To swap them, I'll pressX on my keyboard and now black is my Foreground color. I can see this in the Foreground and Background color swatches near the bottom of the Tools palette (Foreground is the top left, Background is the bottom right):

Photoshop Tutorials: The Foreground and Background color swatches in Photoshop's Tools palette.

Now I'm ready to paint away the warming color from the water. To change the size of my brush as I'm painting, I can use the left and right bracket keys on my keyboard. The left bracket key makes the brush smaller and the right one makes it larger. To make my brush edge harder or softer, I can hold down the Shift key as I press the left and right bracket keys. "Shift+left bracket" makes the brush edges softer, and "Shift+right bracket" makes them harder. I'm going to paint over the water and as I do, the original blue color returns:

Photoshop Tutorials: Painting with black over the water to hide the effects of the Photo Filter and bring back the original blue color.

I'll continue painting until I've brought all of the original water color back into the image, and here's the result:

Photoshop Tutorials: The water is now back to its original blue color after painting over it with black.

At this point, we're done with our tinting and enhancing colors, but there's one more thing I'd like to do with this image. The contrast could use a little boost, so as a bonus step, let's quickly increase the contrast in the image using a Curves adjustment layer.

Bonus Step: Boosting The Contrast With A Curves Adjustment Layer

In this little bonus step (which is completely optional of course), I'm going to finish off my image by boosting the contrast using a Curves adjustment layer and what's commonly referred to as an S curve, named for no other reason than it's a curve in the shape of the letter "S" (sort of, anyway). Don't worry if you don't understand anything about Curves. All you need to know is how to click and drag with your mouse and you'll be able to use this technique to give all your images a nice contrast boost. First, make sure you have the top layer selected in the Layers palette, since we want to add this Curves adjustment layer above all our other layers. Then click on the New Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette and select Curves from the list:

Photoshop Tutorials: Click on the "New Adjustment Layer" icon once again and select "Curves" from the list.

Photoshop adds the adjustment layer and pops up the "Curves" dialog box. By default, you'll see a large 4x4 grid in the dialog box, and if that's what you're seeing, hold down your Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) key and click anywhere inside the grid, which will change it to a 10x10 grid:

Photoshop Tutorials: Hold down "Alt" (Win) / "Option" (Mac) and click inside the 4x4 default grid to change it to a 10x10 grid.

See that diagonal line running from the bottom left corner to the top right corner? We're going to reshape it into more of an "S" which is going to boost the contrast in the image. To do that, click your mouse at or near the grid intersection point in the top right corner. You'll see a small black dot appear on the diagonal line where you clicked. Then either drag the dot slightly upward with your mouse or if you prefer, you can nudge it up by pressing the Up arrow key on your keyboard a few times. As you drag or nudge it higher, you'll see your image becoming brighter. Don't raise it too high though or you'll lose detail in the bright areas of your image. I'm going to press my Up arrow key 4 times to nudge it up just slightly:

Photoshop Tutorials: Click on or near the grid intersection point in the top right corner and drag it up slightly with your mouse or nudge it up with the Up arrow key on your keyboard to make the image brighter.

Now let's do the exact opposite in the bottom left corner of the Curves grid. Click your mouse at or near the grid intersection point in the bottom left corner and either drag it down slightly with your mouse or nudge it down using the Down arrow key on your keyboard. However you choose to lower it, try to lower it by the same amount that you raised the point in the top right corner. As you lower the point, you'll see the diagonal line taking the form of an "S" and you'll see the dark areas in the image becoming darker. I'm going to use my Down arrow key 4 times to lower the point by the same amount I raised the other point:

Photoshop Tutorials: Click on or near the grid intersection point in the bottom left corner and drag it down slightly with your mouse or nudge it down with the Down arrow key on your keyboard to make the dark areas in the image darker.

When you're done, click OK to exit out of the Curves dialog box. We've now made the bright areas in the image brighter and the dark areas darker thanks to our "S curve" and boosted the overall contrast in the image. Without knowing anything more about how Curves works, you can now use that same technique to improve the look of all your images!

And with that, we're done! Here's my original image once again for comparison:

Photoshop Tutorials: The original image.

And here, after finishing things off with a slight contrast boost, is the final "enhanced color" result:

Photoshop Tutorials: The final result.

The Hippocratic Oath of a Photographer: Photo Clichés of the 1930s

2011-10-11T20:29:00.001+05:30

Back in 1937, art director M.F. Agha wrote a piece in U.S. Camera magazine titled The Hippocratic Oath of a Photographer, which warns photographs not to pursue common photographic clichés that were saturating the industry. It’s an interesting glimpse into what popular photo subjects were back in the day.

Nikon Prices May Increase Next Week Due to New Unilateral Pricing Policy

2011-10-11T20:22:00.000+05:30

According to Nikon Rumors, Nikon has introduced a new Unilateral Pricing Policy on DSLR gear sold in the US that will take effect on October 16th. Saying that the policy is “designed to allow customers to make purchasing decisions based on service provided and not have to worry about hunting for a better price”, Nikon plans to withhold sales to any store caught pricing equipment below “national prices” that the company will set for each product.

Unilateral Policy is a method by which manufactures can control retail prices in the US. While forcing resellers to agree upon specific prices explicitly would constitute illegal price fixing, companies do have the right to refuse sales to any reseller caught selling products at prices below what the manufacturer wants.

For photographers in the US, this new policy means that there soon won’t likely be much difference in price regardless of where you shop. It’s something that’s terrific for small business owners struggling to stay competitive against larger stores, but bad news for photography enthusiasts looking for a sweet deal.

Architecture of Lucknow

2011-10-07T23:38:00.002+05:30

Bara Chattar Manzil from the Gomti River - Lucknow 1895

Cawnpore (Kanpur) Memorial Church and Well - India 1880's

Distant View of the Bara Imambara Complex - Lucknow Uttar Pradesh 1862

Elephant Tower of Fatehpur Sikri - 1890's

Great Imambara of Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh 1890's

Kazmain Karbala - Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh 1874

La Martiniere College, Lucknow 1870's

The Banqueting Hall, Resindency, Lucknow - 1890's

The Husainabad Imambara or Chhota Imambara - Lucknow Uttar Pradesh 1860's

The Jawab Opposite the Tomb of Zinat Algiya in the Husainabad Imambara Complex - Lucknow 1862

the Kaiser Pasund Palace Lucknow - 1890's

The Secundra Bagh Gate Lucknow - 1890's

Tomb of Zinat Algiya in the Husainabad Imambara Complex - Lucknow 1860's

View in the Qaisar Bagh Palace - Lucknow 1860's

West Gateway of the Qaisar Bagh Palace - Lucknow 1860's

Stolen Camera Search Engine Crawls the Web for Serial Numbers

2011-08-16T14:54:00.000+05:30

The Stolen Camera Finder is a new search engine developed over the past two years by programmer Matt Burns.
His idea is to search the web for photographs that have a stolen camera’s serial number embedded in the EXIF information. It uses two web crawlers — the first is a standard one that accesses Flickr’s API, while the second is a Google Chrome browser plugin that silently runs in the background and peeks at the serial numbers of images on any webpage viewed. These serial numbers and URLs are stored in a database, and if you’d like to volunteer your browsing for this you can download the Chrome plugin here.

The Official Bro Code – Part 4 (Articles 120-150)

2011-07-28T16:19:00.000+05:30

121) Even if he's never skied before, a Bro doesn't trifle with the bunny slope. Corollary – If a Bro experiences a catastrophic wipeout, he can always blame his bindings or the conditions.

122) A Bro is always psyched. Always.

123) Two Bros shall maintain at least a three-foot radius between them while dancing on the same floor, even when reenacting the knife fight from "Beat It" which, I guess, two Bros shouldn't do anyway, or at least not very often.

124) If a Bro should shoot an air ball, strike out while playing softball, or throw a gutter ball while Browling, he is required to make some sort of excuse for himself.

125) If a Bro is driving ahead of another Bro in a Bro Train, he is required to attempt to lose him in traffic as a funny joke.

126) In a scenario where two or more Bros are watching entertainment of the adult variety, one Bro is forbidden from intentionally or unintentionally touching another Bro in ANY capacity. This may include but is not limited to: the high five, the fist bump or the congratulatory gluteal pat. Winking is also kind of a no-no.

127) A Bro will always help another Bro reconstruct the events from the previous night, unless those events entail hooking up with an ugly chick or the Bro repeatedly saying "I love you, man" to all his Bros.

128) A Bro never wears two articles of clothing at the same time that bear the same school name, vacation destination or sports team. Even in a laundry emergency, its preferred that a Bro go out half naked rather than violate this code...half naked from the waist up, naturally.

129) If a Bro lends another Bro a DVD, video game, or piece of lawn machinery, he shall not expect to ever get it back, unless his Bro happens to die and bequeath it back to him.

130) If a Bro learns another Bro has been in a traffic accident, he must first ask what type of car he collided with and whether it got totaled before asking if his Bro is okay.

131) While a Bro is not expected to know exactly how to change a tire, he is required to at least drag out the jack and stare at the flat for a while. If he needs to consult the car's ownership manual to locate the jack, he shall do so from inside the car, where he is not visible to passersby and where he can discreetly call a tow truck, after which it is recommended that he hide the jack by the side of the road so he'll have a legitimate excuse when the tow truck arrives.

132) If a Bro decides to let all of his Bros down and get married, he is required to invite them to the wedding, even if this directly violates the wishes of his fiancée and results in a "no sex" penalty or whatever lame domestic punishment couples might employ.

133) A Bro only claims a fart after first accusing at least one other Bro. Exception – Pull my finger.

134) A Bro is entitled to use a woman as his wingman.

135) If a scenario arises in which a Bro has promised two of his Bros permanent shotgun, one of the following shall determine the copilot: (a) foot race to the car, (b) silent auction or in the case of a road trip exceeding 450 miles, (c) a no-holds-barred cage match to the death.

136) When interrogated by a girlfriend about a bachelor party, a Bro shall offer nothing more than a disinterested "It was okay". A Bro can never bring a camera back from a bachelor party. The only memento a Bro is allowed to bring back is something that can be destroyed by penicillin.

137) When hosting, a Bro orders enough pizza for all his Bros.

138) A real Bro doesn't laugh when a guy gets hit in the groin. Exception: Unless he doesn't know the guy.

139) Regardless of veracity, a Bro never admits familiarity with a Broadway show or musical, despite the fact that, yes, "Broadway" begins with "Bro".

140) A Bro reserves the right to simply walk away during the first five minutes of a date. (Lemon Law).

141) A Bro can only get a manicure if (a) he's trying to sleep with the hot Asian woman performing the manicure, or (b) its been longer than a month since his last manicure. Its called the Bro Code, not the slob Code.

142) A Bro shall seek no revenge if he passes out around his Bros and wakes up to find marker all over his face.

143) When executing a high five a Bro is forbidden from intertwining fingers or grasping his Bro's hand.

144) It is unacceptable for two Bros to share a hotel bed without first exhausting all couch, cot, and pillows-on-floor combinations. If it's still unavoidable, they shall prevent any incidental spoonage by arm wresting to determine who sleeps under the covers. Once decided each Bro shall don as many lower layers as possible before silently fist bumping the other good night.

145) A Bro is never offended if another Bro fails to return a phone call, text or email in a timely fashion.

146) A Bro refrains from using too much detail when relating sexual exploits to his Bros. Providing graphic detail unconsciously forces your Bros to picture you naked and there is no coming back from that.

147) If a Bro sees another Bro get into a fight, he immediately has his Bro's back. Exception: If his Bro has picked a fight with a scary looking guy. If this is the third fight (or more) his Bro has gotten into that week. If the Bro has a note from a physician excusing him from having anybody's back.

148) A Bro doesn't listen to chick music...in front of other Bros. When alone, a Bro may listen to, say, a Sarah McLachlan album or two, but only to gain valuable insights into the female psyches, not because he finds her melodies tragically haunting yet curiously uplifting at the same time.

149) A Bro pretends to understand and enjoy cigars.

150) No sex with you Bro's ex. It is never ever permissible for a Bro to sleep with his Bro’s ex. Violating this code is worse than killing a Bro.

Update! Read the rest of the Bro Code here. Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

The Official Bro Code – Part 3 (Articles 81-120)

2011-07-28T16:16:00.001+05:30

81) A Bro leaves the toilet seat up for his Bros.

82) If two Bros get into a heated argument over something and one says something out of line, the other shall not expect him to take it back or apologize to make amends. That's inhuman.

83) A Bro shall, at all costs, honor the Platinum Rule: Never, ever, ever, ever " love" thy neighbor. In particular, a Bro shall never mix it up romantically with a co-worker. Exceptions – Coworker is an 8 or better, you are superior to the coworker, coworker dresses a little slutty, company recently sued for sexual harassment, someone makes a bet that you can’t, you are switching floors soon, you and coworker get stuck in elevator, coworker soon to be fired, coworker hits on you, coworker going through divorce, coworker not offended when you accidently email provocative self pictures to office.

84) Bro shall stop whatever he's doing and watch Die Hard if it's on TV. Corollary – Also the Shawshank Redemption, Top Gun, first half of Full Metal Jacket.

85) If a Bro buys a new car, he is required to pop the hood when showing it off to his Bros. Corollary – His Bros are required to whistle, even if they don’t know what they are whistling at.

86) When a Bro meets a chick he shall endeavor to find out where she fits on the Hot/Crazy Scale before pursuing her.

87) A Bro never questions another Bro's stated golf score, maximum bench press, or height. He can however, ask the Bro to prove it, traditionally in the form of a wager.

88) If a Bro, for whatever reason must drive another Bro's car, he shall not adjust the preprogrammed radio stations, the mirrors, or the seat position, even if this last requirement results in the Bro trying to drive the vehicle as a giant praying mantis would.

89) A Bro shall always say yes in support of a Bro.

90) A Bro shows up at another Bro's party with at least one more unit of alcohol than he plans to drink. So if a Bro plans on chugging a six pack, he shall bring a six pack plus at least one can of beer. If the party sucks and/or there are too many dudes, the Bro is entitled to leave with his alcohol, though etiquette dictates he should wait until nobody is looking.

91) If a group of Bros suspect that their Bro is trying to give himself a nickname, they shall rally to call him by an adjacent yet more demeaning nickname.

92) A Bro keeps his booty calls at a safe distance.

93) Bros don't speak French to each other.

94) If a Bro is in the bathroom and runs out of toilet paper, another Bro may toss him a new roll, but at no point may their hands touch or the door open more than 30 degrees from fully closed.

95) A Bro shall alert another Bro to the presence of a chesty woman regardless of whether or not he knows the Bro. Such alerts may not be administered verbally. (The shoes tap, The eye redirect, The swift shin kick *D cups and up only, please*)

96) Bros shall go camping once a year, or at least attempt to start a fire.

97) Where a Bro went to college is going to kick his Bro's college's ass all over the field this weekend.

98) A Bro never lies to his Bros about the hotness of chicks at a given social venue or event.

99) A Bro never asks for directions when lost. Exception: A Bro may as for directions for a hot chick who seems to know the area. A Bro may ask for directions from a hot chick even if she also appears lost. A Bro may ask for directions from a hot chick even if he himself is not lost at all.

100) When pulling up to a stoplight, a Bro lowers his window so that all might enjoy his music selection. Corollary: If there happens to be a hot chick driving the car next to the Bro, the Bro shall pull his sunglasses down to get a better look. If he's not wearing his sunglasses, he will first put them on, then pull them down to get a better look.

101) If a Bro asks another Bro to keep a secret, he shall take that secret to his grave and beyond if the Bro discovers there is indeed life after death. This is what makes them Bros, not chicks.

102) A Bro shall take great care in selecting and training his wingman.

103) A Bro never wears socks with sandals. He commits to one cohesive footgear plan and sticks with it.

104) The mom of a Bro is always off-limits. But the stepmom of a Bro is fair game if she initiates and /or is wearing at least one article of leopard print clothing...provided she looks good in it...but not if she smokes menthol cigarettes.

105) If a Bro is not invited to another Bro's wedding, he doesn't make a big deal out of it, even if, let's face it, he was kind of responsible for setting up the couple and had already picked out the perfect wedding gift and everything. It’s cool. No big whoop.

106) Given an option on quantity when ordering a beer with his Bros, a Bro always selects the largest size available or shall never hear the end of it that night.

107) A Bro never leaves another Bro hanging.

108) If a Bro forgets a guy's name he may call him "brah","dude", or "man" but never "Bro".

109) When Bros attend a sporting event and see themselves on the JumboTron, they shall purse their lips and flex their biceps while informing the crowd that their team is number one, despite any objective rankings to the contrary.

110) If a Bro is hitting it off with a chick, his Bro shall do anything within his means to ensure the desired outcome.

111) If a Bro discovers another Bro has forgotten to sign out of his email the Bro will sign out for him, but only after first sending a few angry emails to random contacts and then deleting all sent messages.

112) A Bro doesn't sing along to music in a bar. Exception: A Bro may participate in karaoke. Exception to exception: No chick songs.

113) A Bro abides by the accepted age-difference formula when pursuing a young chick
Acceptable age difference formula: Chick's age = (Guy's age divided by 2) + 7

114) If a Bro must crash on his Bro's couch for an extended period of time, he shall offer to split the cost of toilet paper and the cable bill if said period exceeds two weeks. If he stays longer than a month, he shall offer to contribute some rent. If he stays longer than two months, he shall steam clean the couch or have it incinerated, whichever is more applicable.

115) A "clothing optional" beach doesn't really mean "clothing optional" for Bros.

116) A Bro shall not kill another Bro or that Bros’ chances to score with a chick.

117) A Bro never willingly relinquishes possession of a remote control. If another Bro desires a channel change, he may verbally request one or engage in the fools errand of getting up to manually change the channel. Corollary – It is fully expected that a Bro will try anything to gain possession of the remote upto and including an attempt to flatulate his Bro out of the room.

118) When a Bro is with his Bros, he is not a vegetarian.

119) When three Bros must share the backseat of a car, it is unacceptable for any Bro to put his arm around another Bro to increase space. Likewise, it is unacceptable for two Bros to share a motorcycle, unless said motorcycle is equipped with a sidecar...a Brotorcycle.

120) A Bro always calls another Bro by his last name.

To be continued…..

Update! Read the rest of the Bro Code here. Part 1, Part 2 and Part 4.

The Official Bro Code – Part 2 (Articles 41-80)

2011-07-28T16:14:00.001+05:30

41) A Bro never cries. Exceptions- Watching Field of Dreams, ET or a sports legend retire (only first time he retires).

42) Upon greeting another Bro, a Bro may engage in a high five, fist bump, or a Bro hug, but never a full embrace.

43) A Bro loves his country, unless that country isn't America.

44) A Bro never applies sunscreen to another Bro. Exceptions – If the Bros are within 7 degrees latitude of the equator.

45) A Bro never wears jeans to a strip club. Reasons – a) Cloth pockets are roomier and elastic allowing for a thicker wad of cash. b) Denim clashes with the club’s leopard, zebra or other safari animal motif. c) One word, two syllables, three hours in the ER – Zipper. d) It’s a performance and deserves respect. e) You don’t feel it as much on your… you know what..

46) If a Bro is seated next to some dude who's stuck in the middle seat on an airplane, he shall yield him all of their shared armrest, unless the dude has (a) taken his shoes off, (b) is snoring, (c) makes the Bro get up more than once to use the lavatory, or (d) purchased headphones after they announced the in-flight movie is 27 Dresses. See Article 35.

47) A Bro never wears pink. Not even in Europe.

48) A Bro never publicly reveals how many chicks he's banged. Corollary – A bro also never reveals how many chicks another Bro has banged.

49) When asked, "Do you need some help?" a Bro shall automatically respond, "I got it," whether or not he's actually got it. Exceptions – Carrying an expensive TV, parallel parking an expensive car and loading an expensive TV on to an expensive car.

50) If a Bro should accidentally strike another Bro's undercarriage with his arm while walking, both Bros silently agree to continue on as if it never happened.

51) A Bro checks out another Bro's blind date and reports back with a thumbs-up or thumbs-down.

52) A Bro is not required to remember another Bros birthday, though a phone call every not and again probably wouldn't kill him.

53) Even in a drought, a Bro flushes twice.

54) A Bro is required to go out with his Bros on St. Paddy's Day and other official Bro holidays, including Halloween, New Year's Eve, and Desperation Day (February 13th)

55) Even in an emergency that requires a tourniquet, a Bro never borrows from or lends clothes to another Bro.

56) A Bro is required to alert another Bro if the Bro/chick Ration at a party falls below 1:1. However, to avoid Bro-flation, a Bro is only allowed to alert one Bro. Further, a Bro may not speculate on the anticipated Bro/Chick Ratio of a party or venue without first disclosing the present-time observed ratio.

57) A Bro never reveals the score of a sporting event to another Bro unless that Bro has thrice confirmed he wants to hear it.

58) A Bro doesn't grow a moustache. Exception – While shaving it’s more than ok for a Bro to keep the whiskers around his mouth till the end so that he might temporarily experiment with different facial hair configurations.

59) A Bro must always post bail for another Bro, unless it's out of state or, like, crazy expensive (Crazy expensive bail >(years you've been bros) x $100)

60) A Bro shall honor they father and mother, for they were once Bro and chick. However, a Bro never thinks of them in that capacity.

61) If a Bro for whatever reason becomes aware of another Bro's anniversary with a chick, he shall endeavor to make that information available to his Bro, regardless of whether he thinks his Bro already knows.

62) In the event that two Bros lock on to the same target, the Bro who calls dibs first has dibs. If both call dibs at the same time, the Bro who counts aloud to ten the fastest has dibs. If both arrive at the number ten at the same time, the Bro who bought the last round of drinks has dibs. If they haven't purchased drinks yet, the taller of the two Bros has dibs. If they're the same height, the Bro with the longer dry spell has dibs. Should the dry spells be of equal length, a game of discreet Broshambo* shall determine dibs, provided the chick is still there. *Rock, paper, scissors for Bros.

63) A Bro will make any and all efforts to provide his Bro with protection. Bro-tection forms a central pillar or, more accurately, a plastic coating for the central pillar of the Bro way of life.

While not legally or physically responsible for any repercussions of failing to provide protection, it’s not uncommon for a Bro to experience pangs of guilt after a fellow Bro becomes infected with a disease. Some of which, such as children, can last an entire lifetime.

64) A Bro must provide his Bro with a ticket to an event if said event involves the second Bro's favorite sports team in a playoff scenario.

65) A Bro must always reciprocate a round of drinks among Bros. Exception - A Bro is off the hook if a Bro orders a drink with an umbrella in it.

66) If a Bro suffers pain due to the permanent dissolution of a relationship with a lady friend, a Bro shall offer nothing more than a 'that sucks, man' and copious quantities of beer. A Bro will also refrain from pejorative commentary - deserved or not - regarding said lady friend for a period of three months, when the requisite BACKSLIDE WINDOW has closed.

67) Should a Bro pick up a guitar at a party and commence playing, another Bro shall point out that he is a tool.

68) If a Bro be on hot streak, another Bro will do everything possible to ensure its longevity, even if that includes jeopardizing his own records, the missing of work, or, if necessary, generating a realistic fear that the end of the world is imminent. Exception - Dry spell trumps hot streak.

69) Duh.

70) A Bro will drive another Bro to the airport or pick him up, but never both for the same trip. He is not expected to be on time, help with luggage, or inquire about his Bro's trip or general well-being.

71) As a courtesy to Bros the world over, a Bro never brings more than two other Bros to a party. Three Bros are cool - Three amigos, Three musketeers, The police, Apollo 13 Astronauts and the Three stooges. Four Bros are lame – Mount Rushmore, The Fantastic Four, The Monkeys and Michael Jordan’s team mates.

72) A Bro never spell-checks.

73) When a group of Bros are in a restaurant, each shall engage in the time-honored ritual of jockeying to pay the bill, regardless of affordability. When the group ultimately decides to divide the check, each Bro shall act upset rather that enormously relieved.

74) At a red light, a Bro inches as close as possible to the rear bumper of the car in front of him, and then immediately honks his horn when the light turns green. That way if another Bro is several cars behind, he'll have a better chance of making it through the intersection before the light turns red again.

75) A Bro automatically enhances another Bro's job description when introducing him to a chick. Chicks like to stretch the truth about their age, promiscuity and sometimes, with the help of extensive make-up and structural lingerie, even their body shape. As such, it is a fair game for Bros to exaggerate reality when asked about their Bro-fession.

76) If a Bro is on the phone with a chick while in front of his Bros and, for whatever reason, desires to say "I love you" he shall first excuse himself from the room or employ a subsonic barry white-esque tone.

77) Bros don't cuddle.

78) A Bro shall never rack jack his wingman. Rack jack is to steal your wingman’s chick. To commemorate and solidify the unbreakable bond between the Bro and his wingman, it is recommended that before going out, each face the other, place his left hand on the Bro code, raise his right hand, and recite the wingman pledge.

79) At a wedding, Bros shall reluctantly trudge out for the garter toss and feign interest for the benefit of the chicks present. Whichever Bro gets stuck with the garter shall light-heartedly pretend he's not mortified at the thought of being the next one to drop before scurrying to the bar for a very stiff drink and/or shots.

80) A bro shall make every effort to aid another Bro in riding the tricycle (engaging in a threesome), short of completing the tricycle himself. The total age of all the three should be less than 83.

To be continued…..

Update! Read the rest of the Bro Code here. Part 1, Part 3 and Part 4.

The Official Bro Code – Part 1 (Articles 1-40)

2011-07-28T16:12:00.001+05:30

I just finished reading a book called the "The Bro Code" written by Barney Stinson of the How I Met Your Mother fame. For those who are unaware of the Bro Code, let me give you a brief idea. The Bro Code is the final authority on acceptable behavior between and among dudes. It is ,ofcourse, a fictional Code put forward by some fictional Barnabas Stinson in 1777. It is probably a hilarious take on the Declaration of Independence. Stinson uses language like a scalpel, digging though our deepest emotional tissue to expose the very core of the human psyche. However, women might find it to be disgusting, disparaging and stomach churning. Let me make one thing clear that this post in no way expresses my own views and is just a reproduction of all the articles in the original book.

1) Bros before hoes. The bond between two men is stronger than that between a man and a woman because on an average, men are stronger than women. That’s just science.

2) A bro is always entitled to do something stupid as long as the rest of his bros are all doing it. For example... If only one Spanish dude were to run down the street in front of a bunch of angry bulls, people would have been like "Dude, come on!!". The license to be stupid is why we have bros in the first place.

3) If a bro gets a dog, it must be atleast as tall as his knee when full grown. Corollary to this states, naming a lap-dog after a pro-wrestler or a character from a Steve McLain movie does not absolve a bro from this article.

4) A bro never divulges the existence of the bro code to a woman. It is a sacred document not to be shared with chicks for any reason.

NOTE: If you are a woman reading this, first let me apologize: it was never my intention for this book to contain so much math. Second, I urge you to look at this document for what it is a piece of fiction meant to entertain a broad audience through the prism of stereotypical gender differences. I mean, sometimes it really is like we're from different planets! Clearly, no real person would actually believe or adhere to the vulgar rules contained within.* Those boots are adorable, b-t-dub.

5) Whether he cares about sports or not, a bro cares about sports.

6) A bro shall not lollygag if he must get naked in front of other bros in a gym locker room. Corollary to this states, if a bro gets naked in the locker room, all other bros shall pretend that nothing out of the ordinary is happening while at the same time immediately averting their eyes. When in doubt, remember the old adage. If your towel drops to the ground, so should your eyes.

7) A bro never sends a greeting card to another bro. There are no sentiments between two bros that cannot be articulated through the convenience and emotional distance of electronic mail.

8) A bro never admits he can’t drive stick even after an accident.

9) Should a bro lose a body part due to an accident or illness, his fellow bros will not make lame jokes such as "Gimme three" or "Wow!! Quitting your job like that really took a lot of ball!!" It’s still a hi-five and that bro still has a lot of balls, metaphorically speaking of course.

10) A bro will drop whatever he is doing and rush to help his bro dump a chick. It’s normal for a bro to get confused and disoriented when dumping a chick. For some reason he is worried she will become agitated or even violent after he calmly explains his desire to hook up with her friends. This is when a bro most needs his bro to remind him that there are plenty of chick in the ocean and that a breakup need not be hazardous, stressful or even time- consuming. How to dump an chick in 6 words or less...

- “Maybe try a side salad instead."

- “Cute!! You ‘re growing a moustache too!!"

- “She looks like a younger you!!"

- “I will finance a boob job."

- “Sorry I threw your shoes out."

- “Your sister let me do that!!"

11) A bro may ask another bro to help him move. But only after first disclosing an honest estimate on both time commitment and number of large furniture pieces. If the bro has vastly underestimated, either his bros retain the right to leave his possessions where they are, in most cases stuck in a door-way.

12) Bros do not share dessert.

13) All bros shall dub one of their bros his wingman.

14) If a chick enquires about another bros’ sexual history, a bro shall honor the Br-ode of silence and play dumb. Better to have women think that all men are stupid than to tell the truth.

15) A bro never dances with his hands above his head.

16) A bro should be able to recite anytime the following reigning champions: Super bowl, World series and Play Mate of the year.

17) A bro shall be kind and courteous to his co-workers unless they are beneath him on the pyramid of screaming. America was built on the backs of men and women who were yelled at to work harder and the tradition has been screamed to generation from generation. But you just can’t scream at anybody. You can only scream beneath you.

18) If a bro spearheads a beer run at a party, he is entitled to any excess monies accrued after canvassing the group.

Note: To avoid confrontation it’s a good idea to jettison the receipt before returning to the party.

19) A bro shall not sleep with another bro’s sister. However, a bro shall not get angry if another bro says "Dude, your sister’s hot!!". Corollary, it is probably better for everyone if bros just hide pictures of their sisters when other bros are coming over. When in doubt refer to the check list for bro-proofing your home.

20) A Bro respects his Bros in the military because they've selflessly chosen to defend the nation, but more to the point, because they can kick his ass six ways to Sunday.

21) A Bro never shares observations about another Bro's smoking-hot girlfriend. Even if the Bro with the hot girlfriend attempts to bait the Bro by saying "she's smoking-hot, huh?" a Bro shall remain silent, because in this situation, he's the only one who should be baiting.

22) There is no law that prohibits a woman from being a Bro. Women make excellent bros because they can translate and navigate the confusing and contradictory whims that comprise the chick code (Chick do have the chick code!!).

23) When flipping through TV channels with his Bros, a Bro is not allowed to skip past a program featuring boobs. This includes but is not limited to, exercise shows, women's athletics, and on some occasions surgery programs.

24) When wearing a baseball cap, a Bro may position the brim at either 12 or 6 o'clock. All other angles are reserved for rappers and the handicapped.

25) A Bro doesn't let another Bro get a tattoo, particularly a tattoo of a girls name. The average relationship between a man and a woman lasts 83 days. The relationship between man and his skin lasts a life time and must be nurtured because the skin is the largest and second most important organ a man has.

26) Unless he has children, a Bro shall not wear his cell phone on a belt clip.

27) A Bro never removes his shirt in front of other Bros, unless at a resort pool or the beach. Corollary, a bro with a coat of fur on his back, keeps that thing covered at all times even at resort, pool or beach.

28) A Bro will, in a timely manner, alert his Bro to the existence of a fight between two fellow human beings of the female variety. If an informed bro is unable to witness the fight first hand, a spotter bro is responsible for documenting and relating details of girl fight via pictures, video or, barring any other reasonable method, interpretive dance and/or pantomime.

29) If two Bros decide to catch a movie together, they may not attend a screening that begins after 4:40pm. Also despite the cost savings, they shall not split a tub of popcorn, choosing instead to procure individual bags.

30) A Bro doesn't comparison shop.

31) When on the prowl, a Bro hits on the hottest chick first because you just never know.

32) A Bro doesn't allow another Bro to get married until he's at least thirty.

33) When in a public restroom, a Bro (1) stares straight ahead when using the urinal; (2) makes the obligatory comment, "What is this, a chicks' restroom?" if there are more than two dudes waiting to pee; and (3) attempts to basketball toss his used paper towel into the trash can like a basketball...rebounding is optional.

34) Bros cannot make eye-contact during a Devil's Three-way.

35) A Bro never rents a chick flick.

36) DD: When questioned in the company of women, a Bro always decries fake breasts.

37) A Bro is under no obligation to open a door for anyone. If women insist on having their own professional basketball league, then they can open their own doors. Honestly they're not that heavy.

38) Even in a fight to the death a Bro never punches another Bro in the groin.

39) When a Bro gets a chicks number, he waits at least ninety-six hours before calling her. The reason is Bro-flation. An unreasonable increase in female expectations about how bros should act. You call a woman the next day, she tells her friends that you called the next day, and soon enough, women everywhere will expect guys to call them the next day. Before you know it, bros the world over will find themselves trapped in relationships and all because you couldn’t wait 96 little hours.

40) Should a Bro become stricken with engagement, his Bros shall stage an intervention and attempt to heal him. This is more commonly known as "a bachelor party."

To be continued.......

Update! Read the rest of the Bro Code here. Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.

Night Photography Recommendations and Tricks

2011-06-07T14:20:00.000+05:30

Photography at night can yield amazing outcomes if done properly, but it can also be a major hurdle for newbies in photography. As opposed to blaming the gear, let us look at refining our technique. In this post I will suggest a couple of settings for night photography.

Fireworks Photography

A typical picture of fireworks is taken having a method involving holding a black card in front of an open shutter. In manual publicity mode, set the shutter velocity to 20-30 seconds (or use bulb mode), an aperture of F11 to F16 and an ISO setting of one hundred or 200. Using the bulb mode in your DSLR, you can get the shutter to remain open so long as needed. For anyone who is employing the bulb mode, a remote shutter release is quite beneficial to keep away from finding digital camera shake (sure it can take place even on the sturdy tripod). Should you do not possess a remote release, it is possible to also use your DSLR self timer, set it to 10 seconds to ensure that you are able to give it time to settle down any moment shakes, if any, triggered by pressing the shutter button.

The black card is used to block the lens throughout any intervals when the fireworks aren’t showing inside the sky, to ensure that the long publicity is optimized to report the fireworks instead of over-expose other components from the scene. The second reason is to ensure that you do not file any smoke brought on by the fireworks. Consider care to not accidentally touch the lens, or you may trigger some motion that can result in camera shake.

Timing is Vital

The solitary most significant tip I can provide you with regarding night photography would be to get a superb tripod. With a sturdy tripod, you could use probably the most fundamental digital camera and lens and come out with a winning shot. Armed with a tripod, the subsequent factor to perform would be to scout for a superb location exactly where you are able to setup your tripod and wait for the twilight hour once the quantity of ambient light matches the amount of artificial light. This results in pictures exactly where the sky is actually a deep blue coloration, perfect for offsetting the man-made lights inside the scene. For anyone who is shooting a reduced ISO setting like 100 at this time, as well as your aperture within the F11-F16 assortment, your shutter speed will drop to a stage where it truly is not feasible to maintain your digital camera steady. That is why you’ll need a tripod.

A tripod is valuable for shooting stationary topics, which is why wedding photographers rarely have tripods when they are on the move, shooting moving topics.

In case you are shooting a scenic night landscape, overlook about employing flash, unless you will discover human subjects inside a few ft from the digital camera. Your flash unit, typically a speedlight, will only be effective inside a couple of feet. It will not be able to illuminate a evening scene which is 800 metres absent. In addition to, shooting with an on-camera speedlight seldom outcomes inside a all-natural looking outdoor night scene.

Shooting Light Trails

Use a tiny aperture (which implies a major F-number like F16) to get starburst results on street lamps. Not only does a little aperture provide you with far more depth-of-field (which implies objects are sharp from front to back again), furthermore, it permits you to get longer shutter speeds, which contribute to the lengthy red lines produced by the tail-lights of passing motorists. Or white lines developed by their headlights. The easiest mode to shoot this really is Aperture Priority.

The best Method Makes the Shot

You do not need high-end equipment to acquire good photos. All you will need will be the appropriate know-how.

- Ahmad Faiz Mustafa

2011-02-09T17:16:00.000+05:30

Flares

Cloud

Soul of the Candle... RIP

More of them @ my Facebook Page

Canon EOS 550D / Digital Rebel T2i Hands-on Preview: 2. Specifications: Digital Photography Review

2011-02-06T16:45:00.000+05:30

Canon EOS 550D / Digital Rebel T2i Hands-on Preview: 2. Specifications: Digital Photography Review

Tips to protect your DSLR from common Dangers

2011-01-29T16:46:00.001+05:30

There are 4 things that you have to be on the lookout for in order to keep your DSLR away from danger. These elements are SAND, WATER, HEAT, SUNSCREEN and DUST.

What are the signs that’ll tell you your DSLR has already come into contact with any of the 4 elements? How can you solve it? Most importantly, how to avoid ever letting your DSLR get exposed to these 4 things?

Signs That Your DSLR Is Already In Trouble

When your DSLR gets into contact with sand, you will notice that the moving parts of your DSLR get stuck. The error message on your DSLR’s screen appears.

How To Resolve This Problem?

It’s bad news that sensor cleaning kits won’t be able to come to your DSLR’s rescue. Not even gadgets that puff air.
Your only option here is to send your DSLR to a dealer who will do the cleaning for you. Otherwise, you can take it to the manufacturer.

What they’ll do to rescue your DSLR is to take it apart, then clean and re-lube all the moving parts of your camera.

Tips To Avoid Getting Your DSLR Into Trouble with Sand

Fortunately, there are numerous methods you can implement to avoid sand from entering your DSLR. One of the many methods is to make use of a sealable food bag . Another tip is not get low while shooting at a sandy area. Doing this is very much similar to you inviting sands to hop onto your lenses.
Despite that, you can put towels in an ice chest cooler and keep your DSLR in it. Why not just use the camera bag? This is because camera bags trap sand. Your goal here is to not let sand harm your DSLR.

Also, while you’re shooting, keep an eye open while the other closed. This way, you’ll be on the lookout for incoming sand. Other than that, you must anticipate danger. For instance, if you see kids running past you, then quickly save your camera.

Signs That Your DSLR Is Already In Trouble

Once your DSLR has gotten into contact with water, immediately remove the battery. Do not turn it back on as a killer power surge will be released.

Be on the lookout for corrupted files and error messages on your DSLR’s screen.

Also, be watchful that if your DSLR happens to turn off unexpectedly, it is most likely that your camera has already been hit with water.

How To Resolve This Problem?

The best way to solve this is to get professional advice from a dealer. Place your DSLR (although already damaged) in a bag of dehumidifying sachets to make it dry.

Tips To Avoid Getting Your DSLR Into Trouble with Water

Something that you should consider doing is to invest in a camera encasement. Also, save up some money to invest in a waterproof rolling bag. Another way to avoid your DSLR from getting hit by water is to never put it on a table next to drinks.

When you’re photographing at a location where there is water nearby, especially at a splashy condition, be sure to use a zoom lens to avoid your DSLR from being hit by water.

Never attempt to switch your lenses during snowy or very cold weather conditions. If you have to switch lenses, then perhaps have it done under your coat or a blanket. Be creative here. At all cost, refrain from letting your DSLR get into contact with water.

Signs That Your DSLR Is Already In Trouble

Although most of the latest DSLRs are tailored to withstand extreme weather conditions, there still are a few types of heat that are very bad cameras.

These types of heat are direct sunlight and hot enclosed air. An example of hot enclosed air is the hot air trapped in a car’s boot under the hot sun.
The polymer glues, glass coatings and plastic casings within your camera kit may be damaged by heat, so be watchful for that. When the heat is very strong, the oils in your DSLR that act to lubricate the inner workings can indeed be evaporate, otherwise get separated.

Also, be watchful in case your memory card is no longer working right. If your DSLR’s LED screen appears to be malfunctioning, it is very likely that your camera has been exposed to conditions with extreme heat.

How To Resolve This Problem?

When you touch your DSLR and notice that is burning hot, leave it somewhere shady and let it cool down. Once cooled, remember to replace the memory card with another one before you use it.

However, if the damage of your DSLR is serious, be sure to bring it to a dealer to be analyzed.

Tips To Avoid Getting Your DSLR Into Trouble with Heat

There are things you can implement as to avoid your camera from being damaged when exposed to extreme heat. Never put your DSLR in a car while the sun is shining very brightly. Also, while you’re out photographing, provide your DSLR shade whenever possible.

Signs That Your DSLR Is Already In Trouble

It is easy to scout and check if your DSLR has already been affected with dust by looking at the resulting photos. When you see little black specks on them, it’s a sign that your DSLR has already been attacked by dust.
Dust that lands and get stuck on your camera’s sensor form these tiny black specs on your photos. Dust has the tendency to affect your DSLR’s autofocus so that it fails to function properly.

How To Resolve This Problem?

Some of the latest DSLRs have great features that will periodically shake dust off your DSLR’s sensor. This cleaning system is set by default. What I like about this system is that it actually rids off dust before it can even become a problem to your DSLR.

Tips To Avoid Getting Your DSLR Into Trouble with Dust

Properly place your camera at an appropriate place when you’re not using it. Keep the insides of your camera away from dust. This can be done as long as you avoid leaving your camera without a lens or the front camera.

Avoid switching lenses at dusty areas. If you really have to switch lenses despite the dusty condition, then you must hold your camera so that the lens mount faces downwards. This way, dust will not fall and later get trapped onto your DSLR’s sensor.

Low light photography tips (Dom Bower)

2011-01-29T16:22:00.001+05:30

Technorati Code

2011-01-29T16:10:00.002+05:30

8W6X9ZHVAANC

Ansel Adams (1902-1984)

2011-01-28T17:20:00.000+05:30

Ansel Adams is very likely the single most recognized photographer by name. A combination of timing and location led to his fame. In the early nineteenth century travel took much longer than today so Adams’ sweeping views of the stunning Western United States landscapes were unprecedented views to the vast majority of Americans.

Beginnings
Ansel Adams was born February 20, 1902 in San Francisco, California (Turnage, n.d.). Adams parents, Charles Hitchcock Adams and Olive Bray were around forty years old when Adams was born (very old for the times) (Turnage, n.d.). By the time Adams was 12, he obviously did not “fit in” at school and Adams’ father took the bold step of bringing the boy home for homeschooling (Deyo, 2002). Beyond English literature and algebra, Adams also studied the piano and spent a full year exploring the Panama-Pacific International Exposition which was a collection of exhibits based around the opening of the Panama Canal (Deyo, 2002).

The Photographer Emerges
In 1916 the Adams family took a trip to Yosemite National Park during which young Ansel was given a Kodak Brownie (Deyo, 2002). A few years later, in 1919, Adams joined the Sierra Club which was later responsible for the his first published works. Like many photographers today, Adams had his first published work in a club newsletter (Turnage, n.d.). It was Sierra Club trips during which Adams began to realize that photography instead of music was a possible career (Turnage, n.d.). In 1932 Adams joined photographers, Willard Van Dyke, Imogen Cunningham, Edward Weston, Henry Swift, Sonya Noskowiak, and Jon Paul Edwards in starting the photographic group f/64 (Hostetler, 2004). This group was dedicated to photography that looked like photography and showed the world without glossing over bits and pieces of it (Hostetler, 2004). The name f/64 came from the theoretical smallest aperture possible on a camera lens that allowed for the largest depth of field to show as much of an image as possible in sharp focus.

Body of Works
While Adams is probably best known for his images of the Sierra Nevadas and Yosemite he had a much wider body of work. Working with Dorothea Lange, Adams created various image sets for Time Magazine and others (Deyo, 2002). The subjects of these images were diverse as water rights struggles to the Mormons of Utah (Deyo, 2002). Adams also recorded the Japanese American interment camps from World War II (zpub, n.d.).

Technical Photography
In addition to the photographs themselves, Adams contributed to the growing field of photography in his development of the “zone system” relating to exposure and development (Turnage, n.d.) before computerized light meters and developing techniques. Adams was also a consultant for companies such as Polaroid and Hasselblad (Turnage, n.d.).

Trivia

Nearly became a concert pianist instead of a photographer (zpub, n.d.)
Died of cancer-related heart failure (zpub, n.d.)
Was never financially secure despite his fame (Turnage, n.d.)
Was described as having a “particular fondness” for alcohol (Turnage, n.d.)

Refernces

Turnage, William (no date) Ansel Adams, Photographer, http://www.anseladams.com/content/ansel_info/anseladams_biography2.html
ZPub (no date) Ansel Adams, http://www.zpub.com/sf/history/adams.html
Hostetler, Lisa (October 2004) Group f/64 In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/f64/hd_f64.htm
Deyo, Nan (2002), A biography of Ansel Adams Pagewise, http://www.essortment.com/all/anseladamsbio_rjrq.htm

- Source - PHOTOGRAPHY.ABOUT.COM

Depth of Field calculator

2011-01-28T17:07:00.000+05:30

Most photographers know the effect of different apertures. The smaller aperture (=bigger f-value) the longer depth of field. But how long is the depth of field precisely?

I was quite surprised how much the distance from the subject affects the length of the depth of field. Let's imagine that we are taking a photo of a flower from one meter distance with 100mm f2.8 on 1.6 crop frame. Based on an online calculator the depth of field is 9.7 mm. But we want to double that because the flower is not completely sharp.

Stepping down to f5.6 gives depth of field of 19.3 mm. Now the dof is twice as long but the exposure time has become four times longer. In case of hand held photography this might be too much.

Another option is to keep aperture at f2.8 but take one step backwards so that the distance is 1.4 meters. This will give the same depth of field as above but without the expense of longer exposure time.

How to photograph the moon

2011-01-28T17:04:00.000+05:30

Taking a decent moon photo is not too difficult but you need to have some equipment for it. The most important one is a proper tripod or similar support for the camera. Almost as important is a decent telephoto lens. A sharp 200 mm telephoto lens is a good start for photos like this:

But even if you have the best possible gear you still need to see the moon. So, check the moon phase calendar, weather forecast and head to a dark location. Usually cities have way too much light pollution and this reduces the contrast between the sky and the moon. Find a dark area with solid ground for your tripod.

Then set up your tripod as stable as possible. Do not extend it completely unless really necessary. Select your telephoto lens with longest focal length and remove any filters you have. Even high quality filters can cause unwanted flare.

Use low ISO setting to avoid noise - ISO 100 works well. I do not pay attention to white balance as I shoot on RAW which allows more post processing options. Use mirror lock up if available and use long timer to trigger the shutter. These help to reduce camera shake and therefore improve image quality. The choice between manual and automatic focus is up to you. When using a lens without distance view the autofocus might be a better option.

Finding the right aperture for your lens needs some experiment. Most lenses have their sweet spot around f8-f11. Any higher aperture number causes diffraction which reduces image sharpness. Too low aperture number leads to soft photos especially on cheaper zoom lenses.

After all this setup the last step is to aim the center of the moon and select the right exposure. There are calculators for moon photography but couple test shots give you a good idea anyways. Depending on your camera its exposure metering it might give totally misleading results so feel free to ignore it.

Take plenty of shots with different aperture and exposure times. At the post processing I use only green color component because it seems to have less noise compared to red. I also reduce saturation so the end result is black and white. Apply some sharpening, crop tight and upload to your favorite image gallery for feedback.

Canon EOS utility and tethered shooting preview quality

2011-01-28T16:59:00.000+05:30

Canon DSLRs come with a software bundle and one of the applications is EOS Utility. Among other features it allows you to transfer your shots right away to your computer over USB cable and it also displays a quick preview of the photo on the computer screen. This is pretty handy because it is much easier to see results on the big screen. Obviously the USB cable length limits your movements so I guess people will use this for studio shots mostly.

I was playing around with this feature and I noticed that the preview had rather bad quality. After trying out different settings it turned out that shooting in RAW+JPEG mode instead of RAW only resulted better previews. Apparently the quick preview's RAW conversion outputs only low resolution images.

Valentines Day Gift Ideas 2011 - 10 Best, Romantic and Most Popular Ideas

2011-01-27T15:18:00.001+05:30

Valentines Day falls on Sunday and indeed, it would be a fun day and will be the best Sunday in 2011. Everyone wants to celebrate this Valentines Day by gifting something or doing something special. Here is the list of 10 best, romantic and most popular ideas...

With just a couple of days left for Valentines Day, people are searching all over the net for Valentines day gift ideas for him, boyfriend, Valentines Day gift ideas for her, Best most popular gift ideas, best gifts for valentines day, What to do on Valentines Day, things to do on valentines day etc.

This year, the Valentines Day falls on Sunday and indeed it would be a fun day and will be the best Sunday in 2010. Everyone wants to celebrate this Valentines Day by gifting something or doing something special.

Here is the list of 10 best, romantic and most popular valentines day gift ideas for your someone special:

1. As it’s a Sunday, you can stay home, cook something special and celebrate with champagne.

2. Gift an iphone or an ipod.

3. How bout a gaming console? He would love the PS3.

4. Take your partner out for a romantic dinner night out.

5. Get her a diamond ring or a necklace.

6. Why don’t you take her out for shopping to her favourite designer boutique?

7. You can even get your partner’s name tattooed on your body.

8. Gift his/her the best, favorite perfume. You would want your partner to smell good, right?

9. Give your partner 14 red roses, 14 cards – remember its February 14, Valentines Day.

10. Gift a spa package.......

Music For Valentines Day

2011-01-27T15:10:00.001+05:30

Music is a rare gift of nature to the human beings. It is a medium of conversation with God and when we meet a human being in love - this means we are certainly in touch with God. The ultimate act of loving is giving one's life for the other. Music is the very presence of God in the form of a human being for God is love. For lovers music is one of the most fascinating ways to express their love. And what can be a better gift to lovers than love songs which have the power to take the pain away, to help you through each day and last but not the least- to tell your beloved that you are their for him/her forever! Valentines Day is the perfect occasion to express your love and to show how much you care. These everlasting love songs will help you to say what you could not do before. So go ahead and have a rollicking Valentines Day.

All I Want to Do is Make Love to You - Heart
All Out Of Love - Air Supply
And I Love Her - The Beatles
And You Don't Remember - Mariah Carey
Angels - Robbie Williams
As Long As You Love Me - Backstreet Boys
Baby I Love You - Jennifer Lopez
Because I Love You - Jewel
Because You Loved Me - Celine Dion
Blessed - Christina Aguilera
Breaks My Heart - Monica
Breathless - The Corrs
But I Do Love You - Michelle Branch
Can't Help Falling In Love - Elvis Presley
Change The World - Eric Clapton
Crazy For You - Madonna
Dangerously In Love - Destiny's Child
Escape - Enrique Iglesias
Everything I Do, I Do It For You - Bryan Adams
Feel Like Making Love - George Benson
Give Me Your Heart - Backstreet Boys
Have You Ever Been In Love? - Celine Dion
How Did I Fall In Love With You? - Backstreet Boys
I Could Fall In Love - Selena
I Just Fall In Love Again - Carpenters
I'll Never Stop Loving You - Britney Spears
I'll Still Love You More - Trisha Yearwood
I Love You - Celine Dion
I Need Your Love Tonight - Elvis Presley
I've Been Thinking About You - Mariah Carey
I Will Always Love You - Whitney Houston
I Will Still Love You - Britney Spears
Let's Talk About Love - Celine Dion
Love For All Seasons - Christina Aguilera
Love Is All We Need - Celine Dion
Love Me Tender - Elvis Presley
Love Takes Time - Mariah Carey
Love Will Find a Way - Christina Aguilera
Make You Happy - Celine Dion
Making Love For Fun - Enrique Iglesias
My Heart Will Go On - Celine Dion
My Love Is Your Love - Whitney Houston
Never Forget You - Mariah Carey
Nobody Loves Me Like You Do - Whitney Houston and Jermaine Jackson
Open Off My Love - Jennifer Lopez
Please Don't Stop Loving Me - Elvis Presley
Power Of Love - Celine Dion
Remember Me - Marc Anthony
Saving All My Love For You - Whitney Houston
Shower Me With Your Love - Surface
Somebody Loves You - Crystal Gayle
Sometimes - Britney Spears
Still In Love - Brian McKnight
Straight From The Heart - Bryan Adams
Teddy Bear - Elvis Presley
Thank You For Loving Me - Bon Jovi
That's The Way I Like It - Backstreet Boys
That's When I'll Stop Loving You - N Sync
The One - Backstreet Boys
The One - Jennifer Lopez
The Way You Love Me - Faith Hill
The Woman He Loves - Alabama
Underneath Your Clothes - Shakira
Until You Come Back - Whitney Houston
Valentine - Martina McBride
Waiting For Tonight - Jennifer Lopez
What A Girl Wants - Christina Aguilera
We Can't Love Like This - Alabama
Whenever, Wherever - Shakira
When I Dream At Night - Marc Anthony
When I Fall In Love - Celine Dion
When You Love Someone - Bryan Adams
Where Do Broken Hearts Go? - Whitney Houston
Where Does My Heart Beat Now - Celine Dion
Who Do You Love? - Whitney Houston
Without You - Mariah Carey
You Belong To Me - Jennifer Lopez
You Belong To My Heart - Elvis Presley
You Drive Me Crazy - Britney Spears
You Give Me Love - Faith Hill
You Need Me - Mariah Carey
You're A Heartbreaker - Elvis Presley
You're So Cold - Mariah Carey
You're Still My Man - Whitney Houston
You'll See - Madonna
Your Song - Elton John
You Remind Me - Mandy Moore
You Take My Breath Away - Rex Smith
You Were Wonderful Tonight - Eric Clapton
You Will Be Mine - Faith Hill.....

The History Behind Valentines Day

2011-01-27T15:01:00.001+05:30

On 14 February we celebrate Saint Valentine’s Day, usually by the way of exchanging cards, sweets, lingerie, flowers or jewelry.....

But, what exactly are we celebrating, is it just a holiday the retail stores invented to get our money? One could think so, but no, we are actually celebrating a Christian Holiday, Saint Valentine’s.

We are following a Christian and ancient Roman tradition. By now the Catholic Church recognizes three Saints by the name of Valentine, or Valentinus.

The first legend to the background of the celebration of Valentine’s Day is this:

During the 3^rd century a priest by the name of Valentine, under Claudius II in Rome, secretly disobeyed the law.

Claudius had come to believe that a single soldier was a better soldier than a married young man and so decided to outlaw marriage in order to have plenty young strong men with no wives at his disposal.

Valentine, the priest, did not obey this law and continued to celebrate the holy bond of marriage for young couples in secrecy.

Of course, the way it always works with secret clauses, he was caught and sent to his death.

The second legend believes that Valentine was a prisoner who fell in love with a young woman, who came to see him often. It is believed that she was his jailors daughter. Before his untimely death he wrote her a love letter, signed with ‘Your Valentine’. There fore the phrase ‘Be my Valentine’.

Some believe he was beheaded, others thought that he died of sickness.

No one is even sure if 14 February was the day of his birth or his death or if it had indeed anything to do with Saint Valentine at all. The only thing that is for sure, is that the Romans had a tradition in the middle of February, which would mark the 14^th, called the Love Lottery. It was believed that spring and with it the renewal of life came along in the middle of February, therefore the love lottery was held, coupling young men and women for one year, often leading to marriage.

Valentine’s Day is celebrated in the USA, Canada, Mexico, France, Australia and the United Kingdom.

The oldest known Valentine’s card can be viewed in the British museum.

Valentine’s day became an official Catholic Holiday in the year 496 or 498 AD. Pope Gelasius declared the 14 February to be Saint Valentine’s Day.

The oldest known and remembered Valentine’s poem is from Charles, Duke of Orleans to his wife, in 1415, while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. It is part of a manuscript collection of the British Library in London.

Years later King Henry V is supposed to have hired the writer John Lydgate to compose a Valentine’s letter to Catherine of Kalois.

In Great Britain it was around the 17^th century that Valentine’s Day became a celebrated Holiday. By the middle of the 18^th century it was common for all social classes to exchange small gifts or handwritten notes with lovers, loved ones and friends.

By the end of the 18^th century printed Valentine’s cards were available.

In the United States people started celebrating Valentine’s Day in the early 1700’s by exchanging Valentine’s notes.

The Greeting Card Association announced that Valentine’s Day is the second best selling card-sending day with one billion cards sold per year. The leader in the card industry is with 2.6 billion, Christmas.

In the year 1835 Pope Gregory XVI was so impressed by the Irish Priest Father John Spratt that he gave him the black and golden casket, which is believed to house the remains of Saint Valentine. This gift from Rome, the black and golden casket, can actually be viewed on Valentine’s Day every year at Whitefriar Street Church in Dublin, Ireland.

We hope that you did enjoy this little background on Valentine’s Day and we wish you a very happy Valentine’s Day, with lots of lasting love and Friendship!