In this Issue

COLUMN - Understanding Aperture Priority Mode - Todd Tyler

We all love our camera and in many cases, cameras. However, when it comes to taking them out of their protective cases and hanging them around our necks, how many of us really know what all those dials and digital displays on our camera(s) mean? For the next few issues we are going to talk about how to make the most of what your camera has to offer, in making the right decisions to use it to capture the photo you’re after.

ON THE HORIZON - Ideas That Work

As a kid, he would toy with his dad’s Minolta rangefi nder and as a

high school student he fancied the idea of designing sports shoes

for a living. That or getting into marine engineering for the joy of

travelling or commercial art, so he could paint and draw to his

heart’s content. He settled on the latter; cracked the entrance to

Sir JJ Institute of Applied Art, Mumbai; took up photography as a

specialisation in his third year and there has been no looking back

since, for Mihir Hardikar, whose last project called The ‘Multiply

Diary’, for the design fi rm Breathing Space, is getting more than its

share of recognition, and for all the right reasons. Hardikar talks to

Asian Photography, about his journey so far.

TIPS AND TECHS - Basics of Colour Theory and Relationships

Through photography we capture the world around us in its vibrant colours and these colours add beauty and meaning to the photographs. Every colour has its own property and value. In this article we touch upon the basics of colours, their relations and tell you how colours can be treated in composing photographs.

Colours speak a lot about an image. They give meaning and add life to the subject, foreground and background. Photographers, like painters, have to be aware of the colours and their properties in a composition. But unlike a painter, a photographer can’t have full control over his/her choice of colours. In a closed environment like a studio you tend to have more control than in an open environment.

TIPS AND TECHS - Viewfinder 101

A viewfinder is one of the most important user interface on a camera; compact or SLR, digital or analogue. Read on to know more about the ‘viewfinder’ and its evolution over the years.

What is a viewfinder?

Viewfinder is the tool through which a photographer sees what he/she is shooting. A viewfinder is important to compose the frame. From the inception of cameras there have been various kinds of viewfinders and their technology has gradually evolved. Back

in the day there was little importance given to a viewfinder, as compared to its significance in modern day cameras.

TIPS AND TECHS - Light Metering Explained

Understanding the light meter built into your camera and the way it functions is key to getting your exposure right. The built-in light meter measures the light falling onto the sensor and helps gauge the best exposure, which it does automatically, suggesting an appropriate shutter speed, aperture and ISO value based on lighting conditions. However, some scenarios might require you to override the automatic settings, especially in case of compositions that vary in brightness across the scene. The exposure that suits one part will not be right for another part of the frame. Your choice of subject is crucial to determining the exposure that might best suit your image.

LENS REVIEW - Tamron 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 Di III VC

Last year we had fun shooting on the Sony NEX series. So when we got the chance to get hands on experience on the Tamron 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 Di III VC, we were quite excited. So for all you NEX users this is one lens that can going to take your photography experience further.

As soon as we unpacked the lens we knew that the Tamron 18-200mm lens will make your fashionably slim Sony NEX look even cooler than it already does. This lens can pass off as an all-in-one lens, accommodating for wide and telephoto shots. Looking at the success of the compact interchangeable-lens cameras (CILCs), major independent lens makers such as Tamron are offering interesting and useful lenses for this rapidly growing camera class. Tamron 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 Di III VC is one such product. This lens offers the Sony E-mount a better advantage of using the NEX product. The lens’s 18-200mm zoom provides an equivalent focal length range of 28-300mm. It is mainly designed for mirrorless NEX cameras.

CAMERA REVIEW - Nikon D4

Nikon Indiarecently launched their new fl agship camera, the D4 in India. The latest entrant in the professional DSLR camera market, the D4 employs a newly developed Nikon FX format CMOS sensor with 16.2 million effective pixels and boasts of improved video capabilities and a compelling set of features compared to the existing models. Having turned to its professional user base to work out some of the improvements and changes, the new D4 features a few big changes and a host of small improvements compared to its predecessor apart from the more obvious increased megapixel and expanded ISO range.