Kodak EasyShare V1073

The Kodak EasyShare V1073 camera was announced at the start of this year during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Kodak used the CES platform to launch the V1073 and eight other compact cameras to woo the consumers. The camera made it to the India shores sometime back and it is touted to be the younger sibling of the Kodak V1273. Both bear similarities in terms of features as well as appearance with the only marked difference between the two being the toned-down 10 mega-pixel sensor of the V1073.

Look, Body and Interface
Like all the other cameras from the major manufacturers, the camera certainly looks pretty slick with its metal and black matte body. The back of the V1073 is dominated by a 3-inch elegant high-definition touch-screen, which seems to be the hottest tech at the moment. With this becoming a regular feature, we can see the shoot-mode selections and navigational functions are moving off the general body confines and onto the screen. Although one might believe that such a large dependency on a touch-screen somehow makes the camera appear less sturdy. But the V1073's build quality is by no means questionable.

"You are only as good as your last job" - Saurabh Dua

Saurabh Dua entered the photographic industry when most youngsters entered college. This head start allowed him to foray into commercial and fashion photography, bagging many prestigious contracts. The photographer believes that his greatest driving force has been the desire to constantly diversify his creations. He tells Asian Photography how he got his foot into the Indian imaging industry and then went onto to create an identifiable presence for himself.

How did your photography journey begin?
I'm a simple guy from Lucknow and I began assisting Tarun Khiwal after Class 12. However, I was fascinated by photography since the early age and wanted to explore the same immediately after my school. I would only take a break from work during my exams. Fortunately I am 26 now and I have been on my own for the last 4 years.

What sparked your interest in this field?
As mentioned earlier I was always fascinated with the camera shooting flowers, people and architecture. It was only recently that I realized that I need to do something that is more challenging, which resulted in meeting the right person and landing in a studio.

Sufi Dargas of Delhi

Salman Chisty sent us a very interesting letter last month, which spoke extensively about the presence of the Sufi Dargahs in the capital of the Country and the enchanting subjects that they make for shooting pictures. While we dwelled largely on the subject of photographing and documenting the important structures and monuments in the city a thought came to mind as to why not look at some interesting places to shoot in and around the city.

After a lot of discussion we thought we would give this idea a go ahead and hope that the images would look as good as they sounded?

Hazrat Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud (Entitled Raushan Chiragh-i-Dihli)
History: It is the burial place and tomb of Sufi saint Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud. Entitled Raushan Chiragh-i-Dihli, which means the ‘Illuminated lamp of Delhi', the saint died in the year 1356. He was a disciple of Hazrat Nizamuddin, whom he succeeded as the head of the Chisti sect. The village of Chirag Delhi, now an urban settlement gradually grew up around this sacred tomb and was earlier enclosed within rubble-built rectangular walls with gateways on each side, built by Muhammad Bin Tughlaq (1325-51).

The main tomb of the devout saint is a square chamber supported on twelve pillars and surmounted by a dome with turrets on every corner. Several additions have been made in the shrine complex from time to time. At present there are several structures in the complex like the assembly hall (Majlis-Khana) or the symposium hall (Mahfil-Khana), apart from many graves and tombs of eminent personalities inside the enclosure. There are also several mosques in the Dargah enclosure.

Creating Slideshows

Windows XP comes with a small programme called Windows Movie Maker that most photographers may not have realised could be a useful tool. Asian Photography shows you how it can be used as a tool for creating some fun slideshows.

 Windows Movie Maker is primarily designed for movie editing, but we are going to show you a small and interesting technique to create really nice audio-visuals from your photographs.

 The programme is accessed from the Windows Start menu's Accessories folder and when opened brings up a window with an area to drag and drop pictures, videos or music files which can be grouped in collections. The panel to the right shows the work in progress, as for the strip below; you can drag your images or videos and arrange them.

Learning Photoshop

In this month's article let us talk about the special effects through photoshop. There are endless array of special effects through photoshop and some can get you lost. So, let's start from something simplier. Charcoal drawing are teasured piece of art. They have a special feel and amazing textures to enhance a portrait. And as time passed people have almost forgotten the art with Charcoal. Charcaol drawings are simply and less distractions, so you focus on the emotions of the portrait. Now Charcoal effect can be achieved in many different ways and technique. With some photoshop techinques, we shall achieve something more than a regular Charcoal effect.

Technique
During this tutorial we will come across effects like Glowing Edge Filter, Motion Blur, C Crosshatch and combination of layers and blending mode to get the end result. Charcoal drawing as you might know is just black and white, and sometimes on a colour paper. So we will also be playing with colour to complement the technique. And charcoal effect is suitable only for a few images and best when used on a portrait.

The art of shooting landscapes

"Very often people looking at my pictures say, ‘You must have had to wait a long time to get that cloud just right (or that shadow, or the light).' As a matter of fact, I almost never wait, that is, unless I can see that the thing will be right in a few minutes. But if I must wait an hour for the shadow to move, or the light to change, or the cow to graze in the other direction, then I put up my camera and go on, knowing that I am likely to find three subjects just as good in the same hour." - Edward Weston

Is there a right time or a perfect time to shoot a landscape photograph? The truth is that timing is considered very important when it comes to landscape photography. The right timing determines what light is falling on the scene and conveys the mood, ambiance and the atmosphere in the image. The most amazing part of landscape photography is the variety that it can provide. Even one viewpoint can provide many possibilities depending on the time of the day, weather or the season. Photographs of the same scene taken at different times of the day, under different lighting conditions, will look completely different and will draw out totally different emotional responses.