What "not to worry" about

1. Grains: Grains are a reality when you hike up ISO so that you can shoot at smaller apertures and higher shutter speeds. It happens in film and it will happen in sensors but softwares today do provide lot of options to reduce grains at high ISO, but you will lose some sharpness

2. Sharpness: You should only worry about not getting camera shake and not getting focus right. If both these are absent then the sharpness is more a result of the lens you own, the aperture used and where your subject appears in the frame. For good DOF at given apertures read about "hyperfocal distance" on the net. Edges are often less sharp than the center but then if you compose by the thirds then you obviously do not have the subject in the center

3. Lens: Again as long as you are shooting to post photos on the web or printing up to A4 do not worry too much about the lens you own. Most lenses today are pretty decent. If you are going to make money by selling photos you can worry about the lenses you own

4. Color, contrast etc.: Nowadays Photoshop and the likes give you all options to enhance color, contrast, levels, shadows, highlights etc. so invest in photoshop rather than a $1000 lens or lenses

What should you worry about:

1. Composition: This is the "art". If you get a chance take a look at "Raghu Rai's" book on photos of the Taj. They are grainy, not too sharp and could be better in terms of contrast BUT the compositions are flawless. You see angles of the Taj you never imagined. Each photo is a timeless classic. It tells a story

2. Shooting the moment: In your pursuit to get the science right don't miss the right time for the shot. Lot of shots are about capturing the moment. Just shoot the moment

3. Framing: Before shooting take a split second to look through the whole frame and 99% of the time you will find you can avoid or include something and re compose. Most amateurs look only at the subject through the viewfinder and get a lot of distracting elements in the picture

4. Get the Horizon STRAIGHT: For god's sake keep your sense of geometry intact before you shoot. so many good shots look horrible because of a tilted horizon (unless it is intentional and adds value to the picture)

5. Common Sense: Think for a few minutes before you embark on a shooting session on what you will shoot 90% of the time on that day and put on that lens. Pre-set aperture/shutter speed (whichever is relevant), custom functions and ISO so that you spend less or no time in camera adjustments

Movies Worth Watching-Trust me you won't regret

Let me begin by saying you will enjoy these movies only if you sit uninterrupted (a break or two is fine), undisturbed (please avoid loud friends and wives/husbands) and appreciate each dialog. If you are the kind who likes to watch downloaded/pirated movies in terrible audio formats and laptop screens then please do not proceed further as you will NOT enjoy these movies

1. Shawshank Redemption: For 2 hours you will curse why you sat to watch this movie and probably curse me too, you will feel depressed, pessimistic about life and wonder why the hell did they make a movie like this but trust me when I say the climax will BLOW YOU AWAY. And if you love Morgan Freeman, this is one of his many BEST. By the way Tim Robbins is the hero (Mystic River-Oscar for Best Supporting Actor)

2. Million Dollar Baby: Director Clint Eastwood's Oscar Winner. Again, if you love Morgan Freeman this is a must watch. This is a really serious movie about success against all odds. If you are from a small town and had big dreams and saved penny by penny and saw success the hard way you will identify with this movie. Brilliant performances, amazing dialogs and a fantastic climax. I sat there for 5 minutes motionless and speechless even after the end of the credits

3. Apocalypto: Warning: Not for the faint hearted. If you have high cholesterol and high BP please avoid (I have both and survived). Director Mel Gibson takes film making to a completely new level with unimaginable shots. The last half hour is literally "edge of the seat" stuff. Please avoid kids and faint hearted wives into your Home Theater for this one

4. The Dark Knight: The best of the Batman series. Way better than the terrible 1st 3, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer and George Clooney movies. Heath Ledger's role of a lifetime. Tragically he died and then got the Oscar. You really get scared of the "Joker". The ultimate Hollywood "good over evil" movie. Again my favorite Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine. What a starcast...

5. The Hannibal Series: If you want to understand the whole scenario watch "Hannibal Rising", "Red Dragon", "Silence of the Lambs" and "Hannibal" in that order. Anthony Hopkins at his demonic best and Oscar winning performances of Jodie Forster and Anthony Hopkins in "Silence of the Lambs. The stories might seem a little unbelievable but these things happen, serial killers, psychological profiling and cannibalism exist in this world. Again not for the faint hearted. No kids please

Thought Behind the Shot-2

We were driving towards Denver and in the horizon we could see a thunderstorm and in 20-30 minutes we were in the middle of it. I quickly got on to the back seat and tried a few shots of the lightning. Here are the problems:

• How do you predict the time lightning will strike to click the shutter at the same time?
• How do you select the exposure as everything is dark till lightning strikes?

Here is what I did:

• Pointed the camera at approximately the direction in which maximum lightning was occurring
• Selected Manual Exposure and chose a long exposure of about 20 seconds and f4 (I could have chosen slightly higher aperture at say f5.6)
• Selected Manual Focus and set it to infinity
• Clicked and prayed there would be a lightning strike in those 20 seconds

The horizontal streaks are headlights of other vehicles passing by during the 20 sec exposure

Thought Behind the Shot-1

I want a Good Background!

It was a cloudy, gloomy evening. To top it all it was drizzling and I was struggling to save my camera from the rain. It was futile trying to shoot the Golden Gate in the available light and I was not getting any good angles anyway. Then I saw the Sea Gulls and took a few shots but again a Sea gull shot is a Sea Gull shot, what's new?

Then this happened. This guy was walking up and down the wall and a streak of sunlight lit up the Golden Gate and I was thinking "like humans, would Gulls also want to be photographed with the majestic Golden Gate as a background"?

The key was to get the gull sharp in the foreground and in the bottom third of the frame and the Golden Gate slightly blurred so that it stands as a background yet does not disturb the eye. The length of the bridge made sure I had to use vertical framing

So:

• Selected aperture priority (needed the perfect depth of field to blur the bridge)
• Luckily already had my 70-200 lens on
• Selected a focusing point at the bottom third of the frame and shot...

I had to take 7 or 8 shots. Sometime the bridge was too sharp or too blurred and sometimes the gull was moving around not looking at me

Thankfully I got it at last!

Lens: 70-200 at f8

Shutter speed: 1/100

Exposure Compensation: -1

10 Tips for first time SLR buyers

1. Mega Pixels: MP does not matter anymore, at least not for people who print postcard size or even A4 size (tell me honestly how many digital pictures have you printed and framed on your wall). Anything above 6 is good and all SLRs today are well above that. If you are turning pro you might worry about it but then you wouldn't be reading this
2. Canon or Nikon: Don't worry both are excellent. Once you start using them you get used and intuitively move your fingers while still looking through the viewfinder. Both offer a plethora of lenses and independent manufacturers like Sigma, Tamron, Tokina and even Zeiss makes lenses with Canon or Nikon mounts
3. Zoom: This was the "in thing" in the 90s. First of all no SLR comes with in built zoom, only point and shoots do. Select your zoom according to your need. For example if you shoot a lot of landscape select 10-22, 12-24 or 18-55 and if you shoot wildlife select among 70-300, 200-400. For zoom lovers Sigma makes a 50-500 lens. And now the dampener-Prime (fixed focal length lenses) lenses are almost always better than zoom lenses but again if you are reading this you do not need to know why and trust me you won't know the difference
4. The zoom lens that comes with the camera: If you can buy body only, buy it. The lens with the camera is almost always a dud, especially with amateur SLRs. You would be better off buying the body only with the 50mm f1.8 (Rs 4000) and then save money to buy a wide angle and a telephoto zoom. And i know none of you will listen to me on this one
5. Live View: Ok you got used to it in your point and shoot and want it in your SLR. Even if the SLR has the option please shut it. My personal experience is that good composition comes with looking at the composition through the viewfinder and not at a screen which is a fraction of what your eye can see, along with all other disturbances. Moreover the LCD screen eats a lot of battery. If you are intending to become a pro, tell me how many pros have you seen using a Live View?
6. Can I buy Used: Yes, yes, yes. Remember these cameras do not have great 2nd hand value and the manufacturers keep upgrading every 2 years or so and a lot of people fall for those extra 5 megapixels and some sale gimmick feature which will never be used so there will be a lot of cameras available. Lenses are a safe bet as the only things you need to worry about is fungus, which is visible when you inspect it and auto focus which you can test with a camera at the store itself
7. Where to buy: If you are in the US: www.bhphotovideo.com, www.amazon.com, www.adorama.com. these guys almost always offer the least prices and if they ship it, there is NO tax and they are extremely trustworthy, even for used. In India www.jjmehta.com offers a good range of cameras and lenses
8. Third Party Lenses: Yes you can buy the Sigma, Tamron, Tokina lenses for much lesser prices than Canon or Nikon but Caveat Emptor. I have a Sigma 105mm f2.8 Macro 1:1 which beats all my Canon Lenses on sharpness but the auto focus stopped working. Similarly my Tamron 200-400 auto focus also stopped working but Tamron repaired it for free even though it was out of warranty and they even cleaned a spot of fungus inside. That's customer delight
9. Accessories: First get a good bag, a big bag, a sturdy bag as you will add to your kitty and you do not want to expose all this to dust and if something falls you don't have to weep. I have dropped my Pelican case with all my equipment at airports from the push cart and still nothing is broken. Get polarizers for your lenses. You don't have to buy one for every lens. Just buy one or two matching the circumference of your lenses. Buy bigger sizes and you can buy adapters to fit it into smaller size lenses. Google about how to use a polarizer and what it does, you will see a marked difference when you use it. Get a tripod, you won't regret it.
10. Do I need an SLR: If you are asking yourself this then you obviously do not because you do not know what it can do so first read about it, google and gain knowledge and then you will not ask

Sharpness

Sharpness:

Myth: To get sharpness in your landscape images keep aperture at f/8 minimum.Myth Buster: Some experts even recommend very very small apertures, to the effect of f/22. Actually what happens is that Depth of Field increases at smaller apertures and thus gives a feel of better sharpness. To get better DOF at wider apertures read about "Hyperfocal Distance" below

But there are some issues with doing the above. Firstly, If you have sensor dust, it will show when you go beyond f/8 or f/11. Whats the solution? Keep touching up the photos post clicking or get your sensor dust cleaned.

Secondly, at very small apertures diffraction occurs, which means rather than sharpness increasing, the picture actually gets softer. To know more about this read http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/diffraction.htm

The aperture I love personally is f/8. This works for most lenses. My Sigma 105mm f/2.8, 1:1 Macro rocks at this aperture. Depending on the widest aperture a lens has, the sweet spot of a lens is around the f/5.6 to f/8 mark in general.

To Improve DOF focus on the Hyperfocal Distance-http://www.dofmaster.com/hyperfocal.html, instead of focusing at the nearest object or at infinity

How to get sharper images?

1) Use a Tripod as often as possible. This avoids any camera shake due to lower shutter speeds. SLR cameras have a "mirror lock up" function which avoids shake due to jarring of the mirror. Use a remote to click instead of the click button on the camera to further avoid shake. Rule of thumb for hand held shots-do not decrease shutter speed below the reciprocal of the focal length. For example do not reduce shutter speed below 1/200 for a 200 mm lens. At least use a monopod or support, it really helps

2) If you have the budget you could also buy lenses with Image Stabilizers (Canon) or Vibration Reduction (Nikon) or any other lens which has this functionality to avoid shake, they are worth it. Instead of forcing customers to upgrade lenses with Is these companies could come up with cameras with IS but then how would they make money?

3) Manual Focus: Sounds counter intuitive? Its true, most of the time manual focus will give you better results than auto focus, especially if you are working out of a tripod. I accidentally discovered this when the auto focus feature of my Sigma 105mm f/2.8, 1:1 Macro stopped working. I was forced to focus manually and suddenly discovered what my lens was capable of at f/8, be it portraits or Macro. most of my portraits are with this lens. If you are a beginner, I would suggest that you take your photos both in auto and in manual mode where ever possible till the time you master the art of manual focus. Cameras autofocus can get fooled and some lenses (for SLRs) have some calibration issues with the camera body

Try the above and you will find the sharpness of your images a notch above the results you have been getting. Good Luck!

Does equipment matter?

The predicament I faced when I started photography was that everyone seemed to be saying "equipment doesn't matter". And I believed it and kept shooting with my tiny camera which in 1988 had cost me a princely sum of Rs 186 (about 4 dollars under current conversion rates), and results were, well, poor to say the least. Either things were not in focus or everything was in focus. How in god's name did Gautam Rajadhyaksha get all those beautiful actresses without disturbing plants in the background or antennae poles or walls? Of course he shot in a studio with lights and a camera with lenses on which you could select aperture and thus the desired "depth of field", and yet they said "equipment doesn't matter"...

So I realized that I need a camera with:

• A lens which could focus on the object I wanted in focus and render everything else out of focus
• Which also meant the lens should have aperture settings

A scholarship of Rs 1200 from my school (I don't even remember why I got it) helped me in getting a Zenith camera with a 50mm lens f 1.2 (try buying the latest f1.2 lenses from Canon/Nikon/Leica and the prices would be scarier than the Joker in "The Dark Knight")

This then was the first serious camera I owned (1991) and I got the selective focus I wanted, never had focusing problems (manual focus lenses are the best in the business) and I discovered I could get lenses of varying focal lengths to take panoramic landscapes or a candid shot of the girl I found the prettiest in a crowd. I could also set the aperture and let the camera tell me what shutter speed to set for a given ISO. Wow, but then didn't they say "equipment doesn't matter"...

In 1994 I sold the Zenith for Rs 800-can you believe it? Show me one SLR which would fetch you 66% of its cost price after 3 years of rugged use (I am obviously excluding the Leica Rangefinders)

I thought I was upgrading when I bout a Vivitar SLR with a Zoom lens for Rs 6500 (yes, Zoom was the "in thing" then). Sorry Vivitar but the camera was a dud, the lens was plastic and rendered terrible flare. The camera would almost NEVER suggest correct exposure and all the people who thought I could click some decent pictures and posed for me were now laughing behind my back. Now I was seriously doubting the guys who said "equipment doesn't matter"...

I hurriedly sold the Vivitar and bought a used Canon 1000 from the infamous "Burma Bazaar" in Chennai. I think I got about Rs 1000 for the Vivitar (within one year and almost brand new) and paid another Rs 1000 plus for the Canon. I was traveling frequently and the first roll I exposed was in Ernakulam in Kerala. I finished one roll in a single day and gave it for developing the same night and obviously spent a sleepless night.

The next day was disastrous. All photos were either half or one fourth blacked out. I hurried back to the hotel and on a hunch opened the camera to check the shutter. I was shattered at the sight of grease in the shutter which was jamming it every time I clicked. So much for "trustworthy" Burma Bazaar. I spent the whole night scraping the grease off the thin leaves of the shutter (leaf shutter system) with paper and bit by bit the black devil was coming off. The next roll I exposed with tremendous pessimism and throughout the shots was cursing myself for buying without "due diligence" but god was kind for a change and the camera was working fine!!!

It was the year 2000 and I was leaving for the US (my first trip) and I wanted to capture wide landscapes, animals in the zoo, the Niagara Falls and my poor 35-80 lens would just not cut it. So for the first time I disregarded the "equipment doesn't matter" guys and bout myself a 28-80 lens and a 80-200 and while in the US bought a Tamron 200-400 (which I use till date) which has given me the best wildlife shots I ever clicked

My 2nd trip to the US enabled me to buy a Canon Elan 7 which was my last film camera but which gave me astounding shots full of color and contrast and sharpness coupled with Fuji Velvia 50 ASA film

In 2002 I bought a Canon 300D and the Sigma 105 f2.8 1:1 macro, which is sharper at f8 than all my Canon lenses (including 2 L series lenses) and a Canon 20mm f2.8.

But what's the point I am trying to make?

Equipment does NOT matter for the snap shooter. If all you care is to shoot your friends and wife and kids with the background of places you visited don't even bother with a proper camera, the cell phones today have better resolution then ever and can give you awesome prints postcard size

Equipment does NOT matter to the guy who doesn't want to get curious (read creative). I have seen enough people owning an SLR without even knowing its capabilities and the plethora of possibilities it opens up

But equipment does matter when you keep learning, when you want to get that perfect shot, when you are not "ok" with an ordinary shot. Consider the following:

• You cannot shoot life size (1:1) or closer without a macro lens (or at least an adapter to reverse fit a normal lens)
• You need a tripod and a sturdy one at that to get light streaks of cars passing by a busy street or water flowing
• You need a 300mm + lens to shoot a close up of the King of the Jungle or a tiger or cheetah unless you are like the heroes on National Geographic/Discovery who are used to handling Black Mambas with bare hands
• Despite all tall claims with regard to auto focus, manual focus almost always renders sharper pictures and for that you need lenses which allow you manual override, focusing screens which aid in perfect focusing or angle finders which enable enlargement of the viewfinder and aid in perfect focusing
• You need filters or at least photoshop, to get deep colors and contrast in images

These are just a few examples, I can go on and on but at the same breath:

• Do not worry and waste time reading reviews of 20 different cameras and 50 different lenses. Buy according to what you can afford and you will be fine. Studio experiments between lenses are good only for studios or unless you are a professional making money out of selling photographs which are blown poster size
• Buy a basic SLR (DO NOT worry about megapixels, anything above 6 is more than you need)
• Spend more money on lenses but choose wisely. You for sure DO NOT need a 50mm f1.2 (around Rs 70000) or 85mm 1.2 lens (above Rs 1 lakh), the 50 mm 1.8 and 85mm 1.8 will do fine (both cost approximately between Rs 15-20k)
• Here is what you need in lenses:

1. For Landscapes: Ultra wide 10-22 or 12-24, 18-90 will also do
2. For Portraits: Any lens with focal length of 50mm up to 135 mm or above
3. For Wildlife: 200-400
4. For Macros: Any Macro lens with 1:1 magnification ratio
5. A polarizing filter (or a couple) for lenses
6. A good kit bag (you do not want to accidentally spill anything from the above)

Start with a 50mm f1.8 lens (Rs 4000) and you will realize when you hit a wall. Buy the next lens only then

Remember lenses last a lifetime, cameras do not

I leave the decision of whether equipment matters or not to you. After all it is a "Matter of Perspective"

Landscape with 10-22 lens:

Wildlife with 200-400