Plastic Chair Shadow Minimalist Photography Series

Photo (1) - Minimalism as Less Elements

Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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Photo (2) - Minimalism as Parts of the Whole

Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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Photo (3) - Minimalism as Parts of the Whole

Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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This is a set of 3 Black and White Minimalist Photographs.

When I am out there and the subject is in front of my eyes, this is how I shoot. I take multiple shots from different angles. Later I pick one shot and post it here on my Minimalist Photography Blog. 

But today, I decided to post all 3 shots. I guess I posted a few Photo Series earlier as well.

This one is actually a Mini Photo-Series comprising of only 3 photos. 

The Ideal number of Photos in a Photo-Series according to some is 7-10 but one can post as many photos as one may like. Its your blog and your choice after all :)

I earlier, did post a Minimalist Photography Photo-Series comprising of 30 photos in one of my earlier posts Mobile Photography Series.

OK, I must also mention that I nearly misplaced these set of photographs after I upgraded to a new camera. 

I recently upgraded my Camera from Canon EOS 600D (crop sensor)  to Canon EOS 6D Mark - II (full frame) Camera.

These photos were lying in the now abandoned 600D Camera. But well, I only abandoned them for 6 months ;)

Actually, its monsoon time and this Sunday I wanted to shoot some Water Droplets Macro Minimalism. 

I remembered I had captured some decent shots from my old 600D Camera with the 100mm Canon L Series Macro Lens mounted on it.

So, I thought lets put the 100 mm Macro Lens on both, the Crop-Sensor and the Full-Frame Camera and see the difference in images captured. 

So, I captured some raindrops on the Lotus Leaves of my garden and compared the results. 

The photo quality was nearly identical and the only difference was, that I could get closer to my subject on the 600D.

The reason was that Crop-Sensor Cameras have a Crop Factor of 1.6 and my 100 mm Lens therefore acted as a 160 mm lens.

While I was transferring the Water Droplets Macro Minimalism photos  series from the old camera to my computer, I also found my last shoot that I did with it on January 7, 2018.

I had not transferred them to my computed in 6 months. 

Wow, that's probably the longest time I have kept Minimalist Photos on a memory card without transferring them to my computer.

NOW, that I had the photos transferred, I edited one Minimalist Photograph of the Plastic Chair Shadow to begin with and I thought that would be the only one I would post today. 

That Photograph is Photo No. (2) 

But Since the Subject "Chair" is close to my heart and also "Black and White" and "Light and Shadows",  as well, I thought let me rather post a Mini-Series this time. 

More Info:

This Plastic Chair was spotted at Jawahar Kala Kendra, Fair Area ,where they have made a Village replica with Old Style Mud houses. 

There was a Craft Exhibition that day and I was there with another Photographer friend of mine. 

While he was busy shooting Street Photography, my eyes were glued to this shadow. 

As you can see in Photo No. (2) my intention was to shoot "Parts of the Whole Minimalism"

The other shots I usually take as extra shots or practice shots or shots that I can post elsewhere.

The first two shots are taken from side angles and the 3rd shot is a little top-downish.

The intent in the 2nd and the 3rd shot is to create some imagination / mystery. 

Editing these 3 shots did not take too long thankfully and I managed pretty well with the JPEG's 

As I have mentioned before I shoot RAW+JPEG

I do so as I shoot only on Sundays as that's my holiday from work and because I always Shoot in the Full Manual Camera Mode.

So, If  I mess up the Expsoure or some settings, I have the RAW file to correct that. 

I don't have the liberty to go to the same place and I Can't shoot the same stuff as well, especially when it's Light and Shadow.

Light and Shadow is natures play, once its gone its gone. Its never going to be the same again the next time. 

As far as the EXIF Data goes, the setting are pretty similar for all 3 Photographs, so I will just post the EXIF Data for Photo No. (1)

The EXIF Data for the Photo (1) is below:

• Camera Maker: Canon
  
  
• Camera Model: Canon EOS 600D
  
  
• Lens: Canon 50 mm F/1.4 Lens
• F-stop: f/9
  
  
• Exposure time: 1/250 sec.
  
  
• ISO speed: ISO-100
  
  
• Exposure bias: 0 step
  
  
• Focal Length: 50 mm
  
  
• Max aperture: 1
  
  
• Metering mode: Spot
  
  
• Flash mode: No flash
  
  
• Exposure program: Manual
  
  
• White Balance: Auto

Hope you enjoyed the Plastic Chair Shadow Minimalist Photography Series.

Thank You, Have a Good Day.

Pigeon passing by a fence

Minimalism as in Small Objects

Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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A Pigeon passing by a metal fence at Albert Hall Museum, Jaipur.

First, I composed the Zigzag Fence for the frame. Then I waited for the pigeon to walk into my frame near the "Rule of Thirds" area, in one of the inverted V's made by the fence.

During editing, I measured the crop required at both ends of the frame for the fence, to further enhance the symmetrical alignment.

As far as the Minimalism Classification goes, this Minimalist Photo falls under the Minimalism as in Small Objects category. 

The Small Object being the Pigeon (main subject).

The EXIF Data for the Photograph is below:

• Camera Maker: Canon
  
  
• Camera Model: Canon EOS 6D Mark II
  
  
• 
  
  Lens: Canon 24-105 mm L Series Kit Lens
  
  
• F-stop: f/22
  
  
• Exposure time: 1/320 sec.
  
  
• ISO speed: ISO-3200
  
  
• Exposure bias: 0 step
  
  
• Focal Length: 105 mm
  
  
• Max aperture: 4
  
  
• Metering mode: Spot
  
  
• Flash mode: No flash
  
  
• Exposure program: Manual
  
  
• White Balance: Auto

Thank You, Have a Good Day.

Railing Pattern

Minimalism as in Repeating Shapes

Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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Been a little while since I posted Minimal of Repetition / Minimalist Photography as in Repeating Shapes.

I spotted this Cement Railing at a Balcony of a house located at Tonk Road, Jaipur.

I was actually heading towards the Vegetable Market to shop for some fruits and vegetables. 

I spotted this and decided to park my scooter next to this old grungy house. 

What made me stop was the color of the house walls. 

On one side ie on the left, the wall was painted green and on the right it was painted orange. 

I First took a shot to make this Minimalist Photo fall under the Minimalism as Few Distinctive Colors Category.

The railing on the top left (green wall in the background and below) and the orange wall on the right with a small blue electric meter box on the bottom right. (that would have been my frame)

But, while I as editing this picture, I changed my mind. 

For the colorful photo was shot in Peak Sunlight and was a bit over exposed. 

Therefore, I decided to crop out only this Railing Pattern from the top left of the image and did away with all the unnecessary elements. (simplified the photo)

Since I had shot this Colored, this photo was primarily green (walls) with white cement railing pattern.

I later converted this Minimalist Photograph into Black and White.

Converting the Photo into Black and White enhanced the focus on the Repeating Pattern. 

Also, I cropped out about 60 percent of the photograph here.

I usually do not crop so much, its mostly about 5-10 percent at max (if at all it is required).

That's a lot of editing that went into it. Thanks to Adobe Photoshop's Affordable Photography Plans http://bit.ly/CreativeCloudPhotography

So, keep this tip in Mind,

"Cropping a photograph can carve out a nice frame for you, if done the right way."

Let's also look at the EXIF Data for this image:

• Camera Maker: Canon
  
  
• Camera Model: Canon EOS 6D Mark II
  
  
• F-stop: f/10
  
  
• Exposure time: 1/80 sec.
  
  
• ISO speed: ISO-100
  
  
• Exposure bias: 0 step
  
  
• Focal Length: 100 mm
  
  
• Max aperture: 3
  
  
• Metering mode: Spot
  
  
• Flash mode: No flash
  
  
• Exposure program: Manual
  
  
• White Balance: Auto

Hope you enjoyed the shot, stay tuned for more. 

Thank You

Fallen Water

Minimalism as Less Elements

Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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If I would have learned Photography from a Coaching Institute, they would have probably not taught me to shoot these kind of subjects. This is what my realization is. I am happy to be self-taught.

• My Idea to shoot subjects is simple:

Spot what is normally not seen or ignored, apply Basic Rules of Photography/ Minimalism, and make it your subject.

So what we have here is basically water dripping down from a water outlet from a terrace located at Jawahar Kala Kendra. 

I could not think of a clever title for it, so I just titled it "Fallen Water"

My first edit was the colored version of this. But I could not fix the red wall color in editing. 

Therefore I went ahead with Black and White conversion of the same. 

After a few edits I was happy with the tones. 

Categorization and Camera Settings:

The Photo falls under the Minimalism as Less Elements category of Minimalist Photography

and the EXIF Data is as below:

• Camera Maker: Canon
  
  
• Camera Model: Canon EOS 6D Mark II
  
  
• F-stop: f/5.6
  
  
• Exposure time: 1/60 sec.
  
  
• ISO speed: ISO-400
  
  
• Exposure bias: 0 step
  
  
• Focal Length: 100 mm
  
  
• Max aperture: 3
  
  
• Metering mode: Spot
  
  
• Flash mode: No flash
  
  
• Exposure program: Manual
  
  
• White Balance: Auto

Hope you enjoyed the shot. 

Stay tuned for more. Thank You !

Two Brass Pots

Minimalism as Less Elements

Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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What we have here are Two Brass Pots placed near the Stairs at City Palace, Jaipur. (India)

I focused on the the pot that was on the far end and I kept the front brass pot a little out of focus to make the photo a little interesting. 

Also, I have edited the photo in such a way that it stays more on the Gray Side. 

Another highlight here is the Right Angled Triangle created by light on the top left corner of the frame. Simple Geometry adds a lot to any Minimalist Photograph.

Getting back to the Classification.

This Photo falls under the Minimalism as Less Elements Category of Minimalism

As you can see that the only elements here are the Two Brass Pots and the Ground(stairs on the side).

These kind of Photographs are from the "Looking Down" style. 

Here one looks down and points his / her camera downwards to capture the photograph. 

Personally, I find the Looking Down shots more interesting. 

City Palace is full of interesting subjects to click. 

If you plan to come down to Jaipur sometime, do not forget to visit this place. 

The White Arrow

Minimalism as Less Elements

Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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I have seen this White Arrow a lot of times before at the same place. But I chose to click this today because of the man sitting crossed legged on the stairs complimented the White Arrow. 

The White Arrow is my main subject here and the Man compliments it. As an add-on are the stairs on the left and to the right. 

One can category this Minimalist Photograph under Minimalism as Less Elements and under theme "Minimalism and People"

I shot this on the Canon EOS 6D Mark II with the 100mm Prime Macro Lens.

I was about 50 meters away from the subject and I was shooting from the side angle in the portrait mode.

To assist myself to get the lines correct, I composed this in the Live View shooting mode, instead of using the View Finder. 

I did the mistake of earlier leaving the image too gray and with less contrast about 3 times. 

Finally, I decided this edited version is OK

EXIF Settings:

Aperture - F/5.6

Shutter Speed: 1/200 sec

ISO speed: 400

Your thoughts on the Image?

More shots using the White Arrow:

1) Cutting the Arrow

2) Blue Chair Versus White Arrow

3) Circle Vs White Arrow