Four Lights Vs The Cloud

Minimalism as in Less Elements

Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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A Black and White Minimal Art Photograph of a Four Lights Versus The Cloud, shot at Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur.

This shot was taken right before the Entrance of Cafe Quaint, Jawahar Kala Kendra. I always wanted to shoot these Four Lights but I never found much aesthetic beauty in the frame, even with birds flying across against them.

But, today I found an Abstract Cloud floating in the Sky and I thought that would provide a good Juxtaposition to the Static well shaped Four Lights set.

The Cloud is the reason this frame exists.

OK, but I did a mistake, I shot this Colored. I should have shot this in Black and White.

But, That is OK, I made this Monochrome during Editing.

You see, Photo Frames with clouds in the Sky look amazing in Black and White. Next time, whenever I am to compose a Photograph with a Cloud in the frame, I will shoot in the Black and White/Monochrome mode.

The EXIF Data of the Photo is as follows:

• Camera Model: Canon EOS 6D Mark II
  
  
• Lens: Canon 100 mm Prime Lens
  
  
• F-stop: f/10
  
  
• Shutter Speed: 1/4000 sec.
  
  
• ISO speed: ISO-640
  
  
• Focal Length: 100 mm
  
  
• Metering mode: Spot
  
  
• Exposure program: Manual
  
  

Hope you enjoyed the Four Lights Vs The Cloud Minimalist Photograph.

Thank you for your time. Have a Nice Day !

The White Ball

Minimalism as Simple Geometry

Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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A Black and White Minimal Art Photograph of a White Ball placed on a Sculpture at Jawahar Kala Kendra.

This area is near Exhibition Gallery II at JKK. The main subject here is the White Ball.

Yes, that was my starting point. You must get your starting point correct, as that is what decides your overall frame and composition.

I had a few options here.

a) To shoot this from the front, or

b) Slightly from the side or

c) Like how I did here, from an extreme side angle.

The reason I took such an extreme side angle, was to place the Square on the top or above the White Ball. I wanted to include some more geometry.

Also, the Part of the Window on the left, gives us nice bit of mystery(invokes imagination) by being Parts of the Whole Minimal, Plus, the Window portion is placed according to Rule of Thirds.

Further technical details or the Exif Data of the Photograph, is mentioned below.

The EXIF Data of the Photo is as follows:

• Camera Model: Canon EOS 6D Mark II
  
  
• Lens: Canon 100 mm Prime Lens
  
  
• F-stop: f/16
  
  
• Shutter Speed: 1/13 sec.
  
  
• ISO speed: ISO-1000
  
  
• Focal Length: 100 mm
  
  
• Metering mode: Spot
  
  
• Exposure program: Manual
  
  

Hope you enjoyed the The White Ball  Minimalist Photograph.

Thank you for your time. Have a Nice Day !

Light Square Vs White Circle

Minimalism as Simple Geometry

Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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A Black and White Minimal Art Photograph of a Square formed by Light versus a Small White Circle

What better gift can you get from nature as a Minimalist Photographer than a Square created by it. It just cannot get any better.

Getting back to basic forms aka Minimalism as Simple Geometry. A Square and a Circle both within a frame is such a treat for the eyes.

This shot was spotted behind the Indian Coffee House Smoking Area, at Jawahar Kala Kendra. There is an extra table there, where there is only self service.

Somewhere near that area I spotted this big Light Triangle created by Nature. Next to it was a White Circular Plate closing an electricity point.

The juxtaposition of shapes, was my immediate thought and therefore I began calculating the placement of these in my frame and at what height. I had the 50mm lens on my Camera, and what better angle to shoot this than at eye-level with such a lens.

The exposure had to be kept in mind as light and shadow combinations are tricky but I managed it OK. The technical details of the Photograph are below.

The EXIF Data of the Photo is as follows:

• Camera Model: Canon EOS 6D Mark II
  
  
• Lens: Canon 50 mm Prime Lens
  
  
• F-stop: f/7.1
  
  
• Shutter Speed: 1/250 sec.
  
  
• ISO speed: ISO-800
  
  
• Focal Length: 50 mm
  
  
• Metering mode: Spot
  
  
• Exposure program: Manual
  
  

Hope you enjoyed the Light Square Vs White Circle  Minimalist Photograph.

Thank you for your time. Have a Nice Day !

Railing Shadow

Minimalism as Less Elements

Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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What we have here is a Black and White Minimalist Photograph of the Shadow of a Metal Railing at Jantar Mantar Jaipur, India, shot via Canon 6D Mark II Camera.

This is a special photograph for me as I love long shadows and this one I took by getting downstairs the main Sun Dial at Jantar Mantar. 

I wanted to show the Shadow of the Bar with a Spherical shape on the top left, falling on the right side of the Wall. 

To add more interest into the photo, I also included the Black area on the top right i.e the Zig Zag kind of shape. 

I could have otherwise cropped it or taken the shot more from my right hand side a few minutes earlier to keep it clean...

Black and White was a Choice while shooting and I had my camera in the Monochrome mode.

Would love to hear your Feedback on the choice of my Subject, the Elements and the Composition. 

Thank you

Have a Great Day !

Black and White Line Pattern Minimalism - 2 Images

Minimalism as Less Elements

Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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These are 2 Black and White Line Pattern Minimalism Images that I shot at Jawahar Kala Kendra last Sunday

• Minimalism Type: Less Elements
  
  
• Subject: Light falling on a Wall through a small roof made of Pipes
  
  
• Color Tones: Black and White

• Style: Looking Up

•  Aesthetics:

         (a) Use of Simple Geometry aka Lines 

         (b) Pattern / Repetition

         (c) Light and Shadow/ Natures Art

         (d) Core Simplicity

• Camera Used: Canon 600D
  
  
• Lens Used: Canon 50 mm Prime F/ 1.4
  
  
• Camera Mode: Full Manual
  
  
• Camera Filter: Monochrome (RAW+JPEG)
  
  
• Photo Type: I chose to edit the JPEG version
  
  
• Editing: Adjustment of Levels, Brightness and Contrast
  
  

Hope that you enjoyed the shots. 

 

Good Day !

Door Handle Shadows

Minimalism as Less Elements

Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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I have a Blog e-mail Subscriber by the name of Steve Hoover, who regularly gives me feedback about my photos via e-mail :)

I guess he loves more of Black and White Minimalism, as he sometimes edits my Colored Photographs, converts them into Black and White, e-mails me and asks, How does that look?

So this Black and White Photo of Door Handle Shadows is for you Steve. 

I know here, I am not giving you all the three "Light, Medium and Dark" Shades that you like, but instead just Medium and Dark. 

Hope you like it... The original color was Blue by the way. 

Anyways, the Photo falls under Minimalism as Less Elements category of Minimalism.

Yes, Less Elements, I am sure Jay Gould (who manages a Facebook Minimalism group and keenly follows my work), would be surprised and say that there are three elements here, like 3 Different Handles. 

Well, here The Subject in totality is the Long Shadows of the 3 Door Handles (one being a hook sort of a thing, which I have called a handle just for convenience) treated as one. 

The Photo is a bit Maximal in nature or what one calls as Maximalism (still minimalism)

The Shot has been taken with Canon 600 D with 50 mm F1.4 Lens.

Location is, near Diggi Palace Jaipur.

Reflection of Two Pigeons in a Water Puddle

Minimalism as Less Elements

Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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Looks like this is shot on the beach right? 

Well, there is no beach in my City, Jaipur. Its just that one can pull off such shots by finding puddles of water post rains. That is exactly what I did. 

I found this large puddle of water at SMS Stadium, Jaipur. 

There was a lot of clutter being reflected in the puddle. I took a full 360 degree view and walked around the entire puddle to find interesting reflections. 

I spotted a reflection of a Street Lamp to begin with and within in a few seconds, these two Love Birds/Pigeons Flew onto the Water Puddle. 

There is an Old Zen Saying that says "When the student is ready, the master appears."

If one relates that to Photography it could mean "When the Photographer is ready, the subject appears."

Yes, indeed The Subject appeared when I was ready. It has happened with me a lot of times before.

Once I had my subject ready, I decided to shoot this in the Vertical/ Portrait mode. That helped me remove some unwanted elements from the frame. I also cropped this photograph to further reduce clutter. 

Why I liked the subject despite being very common? was because these birds signify Relationship /Companionship / Love. That was the first appeal. The second was their reflection in water. 

In the Minimalist Composition above, I have also left a lot of Negative Space and followed the obvious Rule of Thirds. 

One important point to note is that, here we have 3 shades or 3 tones of color i.e Light / Medium / Dark. That really pops a Black and White Photograph.

The same principle is followed in Pencil Shading.

The 3 Light/ Medium and Dark tones are the basics of Pencil Shading. I did learn a bit about it last year.

Hope that you enjoyed the Black and White Minimalist Photograph of the Reflection of Two Pigeons above :)

...and the Minimalist or rather maybe not so Minimalist Description.

See you next time. 

Bye !

Two Triangles Vs Lines

Minimalism as Simple Geometry

Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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This Sunday I was invited by my photographer friend Manav, to Jawahar Kala Kendra for a Photowalk.

Initially I refused, because I had already taken many shots at that place. But because I was feeling tired to go out to a far off place, I agreed.

When I reached Jawahar Kala Kendra, my friend was already sitting with another acquaintance enjoying a cup of coffee.

Before I greeted and joined him, I took about 15 minutes of solo time searching for subjects.

It was a challenge for me, as I had already shot most part of the building. After 10 minutes I realized that I could not find anything worthwhile to frame.

So I tried going in for "creating my own subject" via "visual layering" or "overlapping of surfaces" method. Never heard of these terms before? Never mind, these are my own terms.

I stood right under the structure that had two identical floors with attached balconies, one to my left and one to my right. I started to look up and I kept moving to my right until I had Two Triangles being made by the cut/opening in the wall structure of the floor on the right.

Now, Lets look at the lines on the left. These lines were created by a similar opening in the wall of the floor on the left. If I had moved forward, then Two more similar Triangles would have been created.

Well, I let these lines just take their place in the frame. Didn't fiddle much there. 

I basically worked on the size and placement of the Two Triangles on the right, primarily by my physical movement. My movement included all four ways i.e forward, backwards, to my left and to my right.

After about 4 shots, I got the frame that I wanted. 

The Photo falls under the Minimalism Type: Simple Geometry. The Simple Geometric shapes being Triangles and Lines. 

The lens used here is Canon 100mm Prime L Series Macro Lens.

Camera Used is Canon 600D Crop Sensor. 

Hope you enjoyed the shot.

Have a nice day.

Another Shot from the same angle 

• 10 Squares 2 Triangles

Zebra Crossing

Minimalism as Less Elements

Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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Alright, so this shot was very tough to take. 

Although I wanted a Man to pass by the Zebra Crossing with an Umbrella in his hand during a rain shower, instead I was happy to keep this shot of a Man riding the bicycle.

Monsoons have arrived in India early and I had already planned to take a few shots of people walking in the rain with an umbrella in their hands. 

Therefore, I first looked for a Coffee Shop at the first floor of a building. So that I can shoot these people "Top-down" from height.

Soon, I found such a Coffee Shop and it was quite near to my office. 

In the morning, it was cloudy and so I decided to take my camera with me to work. I planned that I would sneak out of my office (not photography related) for about an hour, shoot and get back. 

I even had my own umbrella ready, in case it started to rain before I reached that Coffee Shop.

The time was 4 pm and that's exactly the time I take a break from work for about 45 minutes to have my coffee in peace everyday. I walked out from my office. It had started to drizzle a bit and I was OK to walk in that. 

I reached the Coffee Shop and ordered my Coffee. I told the waiter to deliver my order to the first floor where I would be taking a seat. 

This Coffee Shop has huge glass windows. Through one of the windows, I could see a traffic signal and the Zebra Crossing near it. 

I Was on my 50mm prime lens and my Crop Sensor Canon 600D Camera. 

I was still waiting for it to rain heavily. But the opposite happened instead. It stopped drizzling. So I thought let me just wait a little.

But to my surprise, I saw the clouds disperse. 

I told myself never mind, you can click those umbrella shots some other day. 

I started to practice framing for my next visit to the Coffee Shop. In one of my practice frames, I placed these Zebra Lines diagonally, just as you see in the photograph above.

I was pretty happy with the angle, the distance. I clicked a few empty frames with just the zebra lines in it. 

Later I waited for unique subjects to pass by. The most common subjects passing by frequently were Cars, Bikes, some Tuk-tuks and of course people walking by. 

A lot of Bicycles also passed by. Since I have a thing for bicycles, I decided to use that as a subject in my shot. I was just practicing.

In one of my shots, I happen to get this man riding the bicycle on the bottom right of the frame. He was exactly on the rule of thirds area of the frame. I also avoided the street traffic here. So, No clutter as well. 

I told myself, Yes, you got one. This is very Minimalistic.

But again this shot wasn't my first priority, as I told you before. 

This photograph, made it to the blog post only when:

a) I converted the it into black and white and

b) created a silhouette of the man by adjusting "Levels" in editing. 

Now, the man is neither too close nor too far in distance. The overall size of the mans shape is also not too big or small enough. 

The original shot was taken colored. And the shot was falling under the Street Photography category and not Minimalism as Such.

So I had to do away with the Identity of the man by converting him into a silhouette, to get this photo fall into the Minimalism as Less Elements Category of Minimalist Photography

On the other hand. If the shot stayed colored, but the Distance in the shot was more or the man on his bicycle looked very small in the frame, then even the colored photograph would have fallen into the Minimalism Category (would still have been street photography as well though).

I hope you got the point I am trying to make.

I had no idea that I would be writing a Maximalist Blog Post like this to explain this Minimalist Photograph. Anyways let me stop right here and take your leave. 

Hope that you enjoyed the behind the scenes action/story.

Have a nice day.evening. 

The Missing Leaves

Minimalism as Less Elements

Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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My posting schedule seems to be as random as the shape of the clouds in the sky. I believe those who have subscribed to my blog posts via e-mail must be getting my mails when they don't expect and vice-versa. 

Never mind, since I am yet not full-time into photography, my posting schedule is going to be the same. 

So you must be wondering what made me post today, If you were not wondering, still no problem I'd still tell you ;)

I open my laptop less often these days. I just came here today to randomly check my mails and some other social profiles. Usually I am glued to my phone for the same. So, today was different.

Since I was getting bored I got my ear phones on and started listening to a latest Bollywood romantic song "Mai Phir Bhi Tumko Chahunga" (in english "I'd still love you",) from the new Bollywood movie Half-Girlfriend. 

While I was doing that, I thought why not open my Minimalist Photography Folder and check the edited pictures in it. The above photograph has been edited about 4 months back but I had still not posted it.

Something stopped me every-time I tried to post.  While I began writing this post, I observed the Photograph carefully and then I realized it actually relates to the song I am listening to. 

So, my sub-conscious mind made me select this photograph by correlating the words of the song to it. The song's lyrics are "I'd still love you" the rest of the assumption in general is "no matter what"... So, "I'd still love you, no matter what".

If we consider the stem of the plant with leaves, as a person who was in love but got heart-broken. The same is represented here by both The Missing Leaves and the Lack of Color in the Photograph ie. it being Black and White. 

And for a moment it appeared to me that this person is singing this song "I'd still love you, no matter what" (despite being broken, despite The Missing Leaves.)

You might think I am crazy but for me this is the plus side of being a Minimalist Photographer. My sense of observation has increased a lot and I am able to now co-relate things. 

Anyways, lets take a look at the Composition:

The Composition is quite Simple. Just place the subject in the right, and leave some empty space. That is all. But wait, this is Gray. Gray is challenging to edit. Make sure to adjust the Highlights and Contrast in the right proportion. This took me a very long time to edit, just to get the gray right. 

The Photo, as most of my Minimalist Photos, Falls under the Minimalism as Less Elements category of Minimalist Photography. 

I found the leaves lying on a plastic chair near a road side kiosk, that sells bangles near Jantar Mantar, Jaipur.

The Lens that I used was the Canon, 100 mm prime macro lens.

Thank you for reading this till the end. 

Have a Nice Day !  

Rhombus and Rectangle

Minimalism as Simple Geometry

Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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Black and White Minimalism with Simple Geometric Shapes, is what I have a personal bias for. Such images just hit the head. 

Geometry per say, communicates something at a subconscious level. I simply cannot put that into words. 

What I found interesting here, was the Rhombus or Diamond like shape appearing on the white pillar and a subsequent Rectangle being formed on the floor, extreme left.

This kind of placement of the two geometric shapes, balanced the frame nicely. 

Also I knew, this would look better in Black and White, so I simply de-saturated the image in post processing.

Photo Highlights

• The photograph falls under the Minimalism as Simple Geometry category of Minimalism.  
• Light and Shadow Play by Nature, always makes the photo stand out. The reason being, when nature is in action, it always paints a pretty picture.
• The dark scratches on the wall adds extra zing to the image. 
• Location: Jawahar Kala Kendra Jaipur
• Lens: Canon 50mm F/1.4 prime 
• Shot Handheld

Bird Vs Lines

Minimalism as in Small Objects

Photo by © Prakash Ghai
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A Black and White Minimalist Photo of a Bird sitting on the wall, with lines complimenting it.

This Minimalist Shot was taken at Jawahar Kala Kendra - Jaipur, using Two Colored walls of different colors to show Contrast between them. Later during editing, I turned the Photograph into Black and White and that further enhanced the contrast between the two walls. 

This Photograph has been intentionally captured from a distance, so that the size of the Bird appeared very small, making it a perfect fit for the "Minimalism as in Small Objects" category of Minimalist Photography.

A Word on the Composition.

The Little Bird sitting between two Diagonal Lines caught my eye to begin with. I had to be fast enough, which I was, so that the Little Bird did not fly away during the composition of the Photograph. Thankfully, the Little Bird stayed long enough and I had a decent Black and White Minimalist Photograph.

This is a Multi-layer shot. There is some distance between the two walls. The light gray one is nearer to the frame and the dark gray one is quite far. I joined these two sections visually and placed the Little Bird nearly at the intersection of the lines of the Two walls.

Also, I had to move a lot to my left and right, and I tried various combinations and angles to get this right.

Below is a Similar shot from the Same Location that you might be interested in:

• Lone Dove

Thank you. Have a Good Day !

Zigzag (Minimalism using Architecture)

Minimalism as Simple Geometry

Photo by © Prakash Ghai
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A Black and white Minimalist Photo of the Side view snippet of an old traditional builing at Johari bazaar, Jaipur 

Primary intention here is to show lines and the geometry in the structure. This Shot was captured at one of the most famous Bazaars (or shopping market) of Jaipur i.e "Johari Bazaar".

Johari Bazaar is host to some of the best Jewelry in the city. The traditional architecture is a key highlight of the Jewelry market and a lot of tourists come here for its admiration. Of course the classic and ever so unique jewelry designs are a must to explore by any tourist visiting Jaipur city.

Placing the subject was a little tricky. I had to tilt and re-adjust the camera multiple times to get the frame that I wanted. The tip is, never to be satisfied with just one shot. Try and take multiple shots from different angles. 

Another reason to take multiple shots is, when you open some shots on your computer screen, they look entirely different from what you saw on LCD screen while shooting.

Hope you enjoyed this Black and White Minimalist Photograph. 

Stay tuned for more.

Right angled Triangle Vs the Square

Minimalist Photography as Simple Geometry 

Photo by © Prakash Ghai
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I have used light and shadow here to highlight the geometry in the frame. The core of the photo involves two basic shapes.

a) Square and 

b) Triangle. 

Also, if you observe closely, there is another square being formed within the primary square, because of the light and shadow game-play. The shadow triangle on the bottom left acts as the supporting actor like in films, for the main lead i.e the Square. Keeping the photo to monochrome is always preferable when shooting Minimalist Photography as Simple Geometry as all the shapes and lines get accentuated. The visual impact is more.

Other Minimalist Photos that also contain a Square:

- Circle Square Waves

- Lines Vs Square

- White Square

- 10 Squares