Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy for knowphotographybasics.blogspot.com

The privacy of our esteemed visitors to knowphotographybasics.blogspot.com is important to us.

At knowphotographybasics.blogspot.com, we recognize that privacy of your personal information is important. Here is information on what types of personal information we receive and collect when you use visitknowphotographybasics.blogspot.com , and how we safeguard your information. We never sell your personal information to third parties.

When you access Google services, Google servers automatically record information that your browser sends whenever you visit a website. These server logs may include information such as your web request, Internet Protocol address, browser type, browser language, the date and time of your request and one or more cookies that may uniquely identify your browser. Also, in order to protect you from fraud, phishing, and other misconduct, Google may collect information about your interaction with their services. Any such information we collect will only be used to detect and prevent fraud or other misconduct.

http://www.google.com/privacypolicy.html

Interest-Based Advertising across Google Adsense Ads:

Google Adsense serves ads as contextual and placement-targeted advertising on its publishers' sites and they may also serve Adsense contextual ads on Interest-Based Advertising across the Google Adsense on its publishers' sites/ blogs etc, and to achieve this Google may use / collect necessary data from the visitors of this blog,

Visitation information from my blogs may be used to help create interest categories.

https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=113771&sourceid=aso&subid=ww-ww-et-asui&medium=link

We do follow Google and Adsense all privacy policies:

https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=100557

Google, as a third party vendor, uses cookies to serve ads on your site.

Google's use of the DART cookie enables it to serve ads to your users based on their visit to your sites and other sites on the Internet.

Users may opt out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the Google ad and content network privacy policy.

http://www.google.com/privacy_ads.html

Log Files:

As with most other websites, we collect and use the data contained in log files. The information in the log files include your IP (internet protocol) address, your ISP (internet service provider, such as BSNL or Tata Indicom), the browser you used to visit our site (such as Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox), the time you visited our site and which pages you visited throughout our site.

Cookies and Web Beacons:

We do use cookies to store information, such as your personal preferences when you visit our site. This could include only showing you a popup once in your visit, or the ability to login to some of our features, such as forums.

We also use third party advertisements on knowphotographybasics.blogspot.com to support our site. Some of these advertisers may use technology such as cookies and web beacons when they advertise on our site, which will also send these advertisers (such as Google through the Google AdSense program) information including your IP address, your ISP, the browser you used to visit our site, and in some cases, whether you have Flash installed. This is generally used for geo targeting purposes (showing New Delhi real estate ads to someone in New Delhi, for example) or showing certain ads based on specific sites visited (such as showing cooking ads to someone who frequents cooking sites).

User Options for Cookie Management:

You can chose to disable or selectively turn off our cookies or third-party cookies in your browser settings, or by managing preferences in programs such as Norton Internet Security. Additionally you may visit those third party vendor websites to opt out of cookies (if the vendor offers this capability). However, this can affect how you are able to interact with our site as well as other websites. This could include the inability to login to services or programs, such as logging into forums or accounts.

AdSense Privacy Policy Provided by www.JenSense.com

Our first Lightroom Workshop at Academy of Photography Excellence(APEX), Vansant Vihar, Delhi

It started with a very informal discussion with one of my mentors during a Photo-Walk. We were just discussing about an exhibition he was planning to host and complexities of digital manipulation in terms of color management and printing. This topic extended to get professional editing services for Photographs...

Controlling Depth of Field while Photographying !!!

There are three basic facts to Depth Of Field. Holding everything else equal:

1. DOF increases as a lens is stopped down (i.e., the f/number is increased)

2. DOF increases as focal length decreases

3. DOF increases with subject distance.

Experienced photographers

PHOTOGRAPHS/PHOTOGRAPHY-SERVICES for FREE ?

It's been some time that I have been offering free Photography services to various companies, Friends (who comes in life for few days and go away), some reputed newspapers of country etc.  Apart from giving photographs for free, I have also been part of some events only because of my personal interest about those events. E.g. - I have covered few sports events.  You won't believe that three days were spent on a product shoot and that so called friend never came back and lost till date...

One fine day, I got another proposal from one  of the adventure sports organization that I have been selected as official Photographer of a three days event and it will be a sponsored trip with some conditions. Credits will be given to me but NO MONEY PLEASE :) ... Even I was ready as I needed not to take any leave for it. Then I called one of the experienced Adventure Sports Photographer and he asked me to say NO to these people who make crores of rupees out of these events and don't want to pay to Photographers. Although I had committed to those folks, but I decided not to do any such assignment for FREE !!!

On an average, I get 3 proposals in a month from people who have NO MONEY for photographers. Magazines, Newspapers, Corporates, Event organizers and Book publishers feel that Photographs are something which can be easily accessed without budgeting. At times it feels that they are doing me a favor by offering to use my work and giving credits :)

Initially I was not sure if I should reply to such queries or not. Most of the times I simply ignore and at times send them a nice reply in straight words, which they don't like. At times I try to find out the possibility of getting some money and then people disappear automatically...

My favorite quote is - "Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternative"

So people who come to me for Photographs, most of times they are not much concerned about Quality and money is more important for them. I have seen people earning crores out of an event and don't want to pay to Photographers even in thousands. My personal advice to these folks is to buy a Camera and click your photographs yourself ! Does it sound difficult? Ohh sorry, I forgot to add that you have to spend some time (In years) to understand Photography and also need to try out various photography techniques to start with. Ohh Yes, all this is free as you are owner of your time. Your time is Free it seems, BUT NOT MINE !

Even sometimes I feel guilty that I have snatched work of many Professional Photographers by doing some assignments for free, even after spending money on my travel and stay. Does it sound stupid as well? Yes, it's stupid and inhuman...

Here I would like to request all Hobbyst Photographers to avoid such clients who are nothong but short time opportunists who want to use you for saving very little %age of money, by killing a JOB of Pro Photographer. Think how we are spoiling Photography market and some of us aspire to enter into that. For getting an entry we are spoiling the same market by offering our services for free. As you know these folks are getting comparatively good quality photographs t no cost and they are not bothered about best by getting Pro folks.

Folks who look for free Photographs or Photography Services can't be trusted even if they offer very little after some negotiation. Even you can't be sure about the way they are going to use your Photographs.

One fine day, one of my friend who is running a Software company called me to provide some photographs of confident students who are well dressed with nice background of a good institution. Does this Photograph sound very simple to shoot? He simply asked me to email few photographs for his client. When I asked details about the client, his organization had $4.8 billion revenue that year. When I asked about money, reply was - Come on your photograph will be published on website of UK's reputed university. I said Thanks to him with a big NO.

I can keep writing about it, but would stop here by requesting Hobbyist Photographers to learn saying NO to such opportunists who are spoiling Photography Industry !!!

PHOTO JOURNEY: Taj - An Enigma

PHOTO JOURNEY: Taj - An Enigma: "Taj Mahal is an enigma. Not only in the aesthetic sense, but also from a photographer's point of view. While it is a monument of every phot..."

WORKSHOP ATTENDED on "Fashion Photography Redefined with Photoshop and Lightroom"

Fashion Photography Redefined with Photoshop and Lightroom 

This workshop was conducted by a delhi based organization. In was a two days workshop focusing on Studio Set-up & Photographing Models on first day and processing these Photographs in Lightroom/Photoshop on second Day. I participated on second day of this workshop. Here was overall agenda for second day:

1.    - Meaning of retouching for the commercial fashion photography Stages and logic of retouching. Not "how to do", but "what, when and why" to do.

2.    - Basic tools and using of them

3.    - Composition (framing and horizon correction)

4.    - Brightness and contrast

5.    - Basic filters

6.    - Work with a human portrait: shape, plastic, basics of anatomy, filters "plastic" and shadow/highlights

7.    - Work with skin: what to do before shoot, during a shoot, cooperation with make-up artist, correction in Photoshop

8.    - Color correction - different ways

9.    - Adjustment layers as a basic instrument of retouching

10. - Some other filters and using of them

11. - Texture layers

Trainers were from a well known Academy who trains Fashion Photographers in India and Europe !!!

Take-Away:

1.    Get to know about the workflow they follow to edit a Fashion Photograph

a.    Adjusting Lighting/Colors/White-Balance and Lens Distortions in Lightroom.

b.    Enter into Photoshop for specific editing using Layers, Masks and various Filters.

*** They had very little knowledge of Lightroom and Photoshop is main tool for them

3.    Popular tools of Photoshop used for Fashion Photo enhancements

a.    Sharpen Brush

b.    Blur Brush

c.    Spot Healing

d.    Gaussian Blur

e.    Adjustment Layers (HSL, Levels, Brightness/Contrast)

4.    There are different folks who do the editing. Photographers just shoot and pass the photographs to main editor. These Editors have good knowledge of specific tools which are used in their workflows. They are not Photoshop Experts and have fixed pattern to get best results!

THIS WORKSHOP GAVE ME A PERSPECTIVE HOW THESE PROFESSIONALS WORK !!! AND ANY CREATIVE PERSON WHO KNOW THESE TOOLS WELL, CAN DO FAR BETTER THAN TRAINERS I MET !!!

I was really disappointed when they were giving wrong theories about sRGB and AdobeRGB !

Now I know many of the folks who run workshops in Delhi and know about the quality of workshops they organize. In case you are planning to join any of the workshop in delhi, leave me a comment and I can try to find out if its worth for you or not... I don't want folks to waste money on such useless and over-hyped workshops !!! Sometimes they partner with big names like Nikon, Canon or Olympus... And have nice pages on Facebook !!!

So do proper research before enrolling for any Workshop

PHOTO JOURNEY: Sunny Photographs with Star Effects !!!

PHOTO JOURNEY: Sunny Photographs with Star Effects !!!: "Long time back I attended an exhibition on Night Photography by Anindo Ghosh and there was a photograph of India Gate with lot of stree..."

Stock Photography - an online method of making money out of your Photography

Its been a long time I am seeing few of friends are earning decent money from Stock Photography. Before I move on to how, where and other things, I would want to touch upon the basics about Stock Photography.

Anyone who needs photograph, may not be interetested in finding out a photographer and ask him to click a particular photograph. Because this will be along process and money expensive as well. Hiring a Photographer, asking her/him to click a particular type of photograph and then selecting the best one. In the end, the client may not be very satisfied with the results. All in all, when I need to buy a photograph for any usage I would prefer to see lot many options to choose the best. This has became a new trend and of-course it proves more effective for the buyer.

On the same lines, there are lot many online portals which allow Photographers to upload their photographs with appropriate details. Buyers some to these portals and look for the  best they want. This whole system of selling and buying photographs online is called as stock photography.

Why its becoming a trend ?

Actually its a win-win situation for Buys, Online Web Portal and the Photographer.

- Buyer is getting the best without much overhead of loacting right Photographer and make him click photographs.
- Buyer has unlimited options online.
- Cost effective for buyer because hiring a good Photographer for a photoshoot should be much expensive than getting a good quality photograph. (Depend upon the purpose of the use of this Photograph)
- Photographer need not worry about marketing.
- Photographer need not to find clients.
- Photographer has freedom to choose interesting subjects of her/him own choice and make them available to various types of clients online
- Web-Portal is of-course getting money for providing this platform for sellers and buyers.

Many of Photography enthusiasts who are not actually Professional Photographers are also earning good money through Stock Photography. Of course it is not as simple as it looks. One needs to produce very good photographs and the quality is judged on some specific parameters.

There are lot many website which provide Stock Photography platform online and everyone has different cost mechanisms. Also everyone has different quality measures.

Few Popular names which come to my mind are :

PHOTOLIA
SHUTTERSTOCK
DINODIA
ALAMY
DREAMTIME
CRESTOCK

etc...

I also want to try it but don't find much time to initiate the process of locating right website for me... Let's see how it goes in next few months and I would surely update in case I get some chance to do something here....

A Slideshow of India Gate @ Delhi

India Gate @ Delhi, India Slideshow: Travelling’s trip was created by TripAdvisor. Create a free slideshow with music from your travel photos.

Travelling Camera sharing some photographs of Jama Masjid in Old Delhi, INDIA

Photo Journey to Jama Masjid @ Old Delhi, India Slideshow: Travelling’s trip was created by TripAdvisor. Create a free slideshow with music from your travel photos.

A Slideshow created by TripWOW

(http://tripwow.tripadvisor.com/tripwow/ta-00c7-90d6-55d4/e/14d2587e1e/bg)0 0 no-repeat">

Travelling Camera in Himalayas Slideshow: PHOTO’s trip from Narkanda, Himachal Pradesh, India to 2 cities Shimla and Kullu was created by TripAdvisor. See another India slideshow. Create a free slideshow with music from your travel photos.