Monday, November 15, 2010

Darkroom Vs Lightroom

I just completed 9000 downloads and record earnings on a single stock agency. I don’t think there could be a more appropriate time to write this blog. Since I never learnt photography nor was I ever inclined to know the traditional ways of composition or techniques I always found it wrong to address this serious issue which I was unable to discuss with traditional practitioners. After almost 5 years being in the business I feel I can let out some frustration and understanding about photography and how it differs when you do it commercially instead as a hobby.

The most important thing that changed for me after starting to sell images was my choice of a shoot. I suddenly stopped clicking pictures I knew that won’t sell or maybe those which could sell but not at that quality which the situation provided me. I found no point in taking a picture for fun. Earlier I regretted this a lot as an artist. I thought the commercial aspect was curbing my creativity, but I was totally wrong. After say 2 years, I could still get the frames that I ignored with a better perspective and a commercial value. I feel if not art our time is as valuable in life. We might not be interested in earning a lot from our art at a certain time, but when we realize that we can fund the art itself from earnings we start getting serious. Better equipment and accessories surely mean more quality. If this all is bought from the art’s earnings it might ease the load on our regular income which might go to routine living expenses.

Entering stock was about quality standards which meant ‘no noise’, ‘crisp sharpness’, ‘nice colors’ and mainly ‘artistic & saleable’. Shortly since I don’t click any images that require a very high shutter speed I got obsessed with lower ISOs as I always was. None of my image exceeds 100 ISO except for a handful that were lucky to be shot at 200 ISO. This gave me a lot of discipline in terms of holding a camera still for low light pictures that too without a tripod. Though I bought a good tripod later, I still avoided using it unless it was a real long exposure.

This then brings me to another important topic which actually is the title of my blog. What changed during recent years from the past? Most importantly it is the number of photographers that have sprung up from nowhere and majority of them are taking a formal training. Is it because the prices of camera’s crashed??? No I don’t feel so. The SLR still comes in similar price ranges. There are two other major reasons for the change. One, there is a lot of variety available from consumer cameras to SLRs and second, there is no cost of buying a roll, developing and printing involved. If there are 100 photographers today 95% of them don’t even know DARKROOM or the techniques, maybe that’s why Adobe found LIGHTROOM a more marketable name.

With digital cameras having a good automated processing, enhanced colors everyone who clicks starts feeling that he/she is a great photographer. It is positive initially but wasn’t for the photography industry. This was proved when in initial years prices fell due to cheap photographs available in market from amateurs. With photography courses on the prowl there are frequent exhibitions / expositions. One never wonders to look at the technical quality of the pictures in terms of full size viewing. Generally if 100 (good) photographers are given a single subject, 80% from them who had a course on photography will click similar picture. The rest 20 will click a different picture with more creativity put in, but will it be a sharp shot and good one at 100% viewing size? No one would care especially because they will pass off saying they are not here to sell their art, they are doing it as a hobby. Then why aren’t the real hobbyists taking the view size as lightly as they are?

If any kind of artform has to be saved a serious note and understanding has to be taken by a non-buying audience about the quality of the photography they might get to see with awe. Serious buyers wouldn’t surely miss factors like grain, sharpness and the overall frame. I hate using the term composition these days because the more time I spent in photography the more I realized I could play with people’s mind about composition. Though there were strict composition rules or layouts, they don’t exist any much more. I had many rejections in my initial days of photography till I remained adamant to show my composition structures which were proved by the sales. There was something unique and original about those.  

I think all photographers, professionals and hobbyists should try to look beyond their equipment into darkroom and lightroom and explore more possibilities of better pictures using graphic editing softwares like photoshop. If one really surveys it will be found that almost everyone is clicking the same kind of frame and getting the right colors, but are they looking perfect at 100% blowup? Does one know the importance of sharpness or grain? Printing has been a history to me now. I have 40 DVDs containing my photography of last 5 years, but there is not a single image from it that I have printed yet. Never thought of doing that, and maybe never will. This will save paper too. Before printing any images from digital photography also keep in mind the GREEN VALUE of saving paper. The photos we print we don’t see more than 50 times in life. You might as well see them on your TV /computer screens. I can agree that some blowouts and family portraits could be printed for your house interior enhancement.

This blog was not about criticizing any amateur photographers, it was just my view for photographers who really want to feel good about their work… especially with digital photography where everything should be less dependent on your camera processors and more about your post-processing. When we have got rid of the hard-work required in DARKROOM it doesn’t mean we should leave everything to machines and leave everything to the LIGHTROOM. Freak out and create your new rules and be unique. Whether you have a D-SLR or a normal consumer camera does matter but not for creativity. No one can tell this to you better than me knowing that my best-sellers and a high amount of my portfolio images are the one taken from consumer cams randomly, just because they are easy to carry anywhere!

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Michael’s Fans – We are his swords & shields

By : Nikhil Gangavane

The recent excitement and speculation of a Michael Jackson album with new material was suppressed by controversies as usual but there was a huge difference this time. Till Michael was alive it was the media that created the problems and fuelled allegations, this time its hurtful to see so many fans fuelling a controversy that is finally going to affect Michael’s legacy. I can understand sentiments of Michael Jackson fans because I have been one for so many years following his every move and his feelings and most importantly respecting them. Most of the fans feel that just because SONY BMG supported my fan club, I support them. They are entirely wrong. 

In this blog I want to explain fans not just the business side of the whole thing, but how are we ourselves harming Michael Jackson’s legacy in all this FAKE voice fiasco we have set up.

A few years ago when Michael was charged with false molestation charges I wrote a song called “THE MICHAEL JACKSON ANTHEM”. I wasn’t very proud about the music arrangement part of the song, but I was surely very happy with my lyrics. The main line in the song which told the world about US… the fans was “WE’RE NOT JUST FANS… WE ARE HIS SWORDS AND SHIELDS!” And today what is happening is not intentional harm to Michael or his legacy, but we have been indirectly hurting his reputation and status by ourselves showing disbelief in what is been given to us. Are we an army staging a mutiny against our own king… our idol??? To understand what I am trying to tell, get off the shoes of being a MJ fan and see it as a third person and also as SonyBMG.

Releasing new Michael stuff had to be challenging because most of the songs released here might now have worked or finalized by Michael in the studio in production terms. They were raw and wouldn’t have been produced well until an album of unreleased material itself was final till he was alive. One fact that many of the fans are failing to notice is that even when Michael was alive THIS IS IT concert and the album related to it was coming through SONYBMG anyway apart from Mike’s hatred for the label that was displayed in 2001. The hatred was specifically targeted at Tommy Mottolla (HEAD OF SONY AT THAT TIME) and then against all music labels which were exploiting artist. The scene reached a different level when it was specifically staged as Music labels treating black(African-American) artists disrespectfully and cheating them.

Now as a third person let us consider that SONY BMG is exploiting Michael’s material for their profits. But any music label would be doing the same. I wouldn’t like to mention the other beneficiaries of Michael’s work who are on equal profit terms as SONY BMG, but many fans would conveniently want to ignore that fact. I don’t know how many of you are aware of a new contract that came out through TMZ on Friday that showed another negotiation did by a Jackson Family member. Now even when we are considering that SONY is profiting from Michael, Sony wouldn’t sake its reputation by using a fake voice like Jason Malachi as Michael’s voice. We as Michael fans have been doing a free publicity and PR stunt for Jason Malachi… something that would have cost him thousands of dollars. Sony, any other music label, any sound engineer or music producer doesn’t need Jason Malachi to sound like Michael Jackson. The sound technology today is advanced enough to use voco-coders, Sound wavelets and many other effects that can artificially produce Michael’s sounds at a certain pitch and pronounciations. Wavelets can make it happen. This is safer for Sony that putting Jason Malachi on Michael’s record.

On the other hand, regardless of the truth and lies all fans should remember that it is the sales that is going to matter to any person on the planet that will prove Michael’s success again. If fans are talking about doing piracy and not buying album, despite of being a release of new material after Invincible then we are creating a loss for Michael. The sales are going to prove how influential he and his music still is in todays world. Michael always wanted to release an album that would surpass the sales of Thriller, and if fans are not going to buy his albums and do piracy this will hurt his legacy in the long run. The album should be bought by every fan. I am not against listening to leaked tracks… downloaded tracks but see what the media will have to say after the sales are less. The media will portray the whole thing as a failure of Michael to lure fans into buying music.

This debate is totally useless as well as harmful to whatever the news is telling today. Fans should know that there is no alternative than buying albums that will be released only through SONY in the coming years. And not buying them might hit on the profits of MJ estate, his family as well as sony, but the harm to his legacy and reputation for sales will be much higher. The debates on forums, social networks and blogs have been so pathetic that some fan clubs and communities had to ban the topics on their forums or even messages posted anywhere else. For a change be positive and if you don’t want to buy the album keep it to yourself. 

Consider this in a simple way. Akon recently said “Jesus died of our sins and Michael died because of the sins of the media. Jesus had bible but Michael had Wikipedia.” This Wikipedia is the reaction of fans on fan sites, forums and social networks. The more negativity we generate the media will lap it up in its own way. Instead of being emotional for some reason that cannot be solved and illogical for something practical we should try to see what result we want to achieve. Not for us but for Michael. I know that this album might not topple sales for thriller, but it can become the best-selling album of 2010 if fans are determined. 

Before winding up I would again like to mention that I am not a SONY BMG freak. I am a Michael Jackson fan but since I am in entertainment industry in some way or the other I understand some business of how it works. I am neither a celebrity nor a successful producer, but for me what matters is what we are doing as an ARMY of Michael. There is this ignorance that engulfed us due to emotional reasons but we have to unite and break through it. The possibilities of many more unreleased stuff will be ruined if the first album after he is gone, is received so badly. So I pray and hope that all fans understand what we have to achieve keeping aside our feelings of hatred for some entities… for some obvious reasons. Let us just be Michael’s fans and nothing else for the days to come! L.O.V.E

THIS BLOG CAN BE FREELY PUBLISHED ON ANY WEBSITE / EDITORIAL / PRINT as long as a link is provided back the THE MICHAEL JACKSON ANTHEM PAGE & http://nikhilgangavane.blogspot.com