Interview with Rick Becker-Leckrone, CEO of BlendImages Stock Agency
John: Rick, I know you as the CEO, principle founder and chief architect of Blend Images, a young and very successful stock agency owned and run by photographers. You have a long history in stock as a shooter, an entrepreneur and in management. Can you fill in the details on your experience in stock?
Rick: I graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology in 1990 with a BFA in Photography and headed west with my then girlfriend, Megan, who was to be a PhD student at UC Irvine in California. I was intrigued by stock photography in the late 80’s when I stumbled upon one of Westlight’s early catalogs. Naturally, I contacted Westlight when I landed on the west coast and ended up taking a job within months of getting settled in Irvine. At Westlight, I started on the light-table doing research – pulling transparencies from the filing cabinets for client requests. I then moved on to be an Account Executive and finally a Photo Editor working directly with photographers. I, too, began shooting some stock but it was a bit intimidating as I edited work by some of the world’s top editorial and commercial photographers like Craig Aurness and Chuck O’Rear.
After a relatively short time at Westlight, I was hired as a Director of a small traditional photo agency in Orange County, CA called PhotoBank. While a much smaller operation, I enjoyed the opportunity to work in a collaborative environment and to have the flexibility to work both with photographers creatively and in digital systems development both on the imaging side and on the business systems side.
Having been a computer geek since my father purchased me one of the first Apple II in about 1979 while I was in Junior High, I have always enjoyed programming and still “get under the hood” every now and then. Following Photobank, a close friend of mine purchased a software company which produced programs for Mac users in Real Estate. He asked me to come on board as President and oversee development of the products.
As I had begun to spend a lot of my time shooting stock, and I was very interested in early digital image databases – like those starting to come on board for MLS services and Kodak’s new stock on-line service based on PhotoCD, I thought running a software company would be a fun change of pace. BusinessEdge ran for about 3 years and we ended up moving to Santa Barbara and becoming an ISP and a web-design company emphasizing database services.
Our first client was DigitalStock, one of the first Royalty Free agencies, located in San Diego. Coincidentally, I had been producing stock content for one of the owners of Digital Stock, at the same time the other owner used BusinessEdge software to run his real estate company and had contracted with me to build their first web-site. One thing lead to another and I decided to come on board to work with the owners in developing Digital Stock from both a technical and creative perspective.
We ended up selling Digital Stock to Corbis, and I joined Corbis as Co-Director for Commercial Content Worldwide. I truly enjoyed my time at Corbis and met some great photographers and created a lot of wonderful content. Due to an integration of RF into the larger RM strategy at Corbis, I was laid off in 2001. Often opportunity comes from what one might perceive as a difficult situation. Having the free time to actually shoot stock was a real blessing.
I signed with a few agencies, and did some custom work for Corbis and was having a great time being a full time stock photographer for the first time in my life. My wife had moved to Las Vegas as she took a job as Professor in the English department. So, I moved from Los Angeles to Vegas (we were a commuting couple for several years), and shot a lot of stock photos for all the usual agencies.
After about 3 years of shooting, I got wanderlust again and missed the company of working with others and the entrepreneurial energy of the ‘start-up.’ Throughout my entire career in stock there was always one unresolved constant – a dearth of high-quality, non-stereotypical, multi-ethnic business and lifestyle content.
As a photo editor at Westlight, Digital Stock and Corbis, it was all I could do to get photographers to really concentrate on generating these much needed images. And as the world around me seemed to be continuing to become more and more diverse, it seemed to me the time was now to “to it right” – not just shoot a few African-American images, but to really put together a collection with breadth and depth and with a real mission to create content that helps everyone communicate respectfully with one another through marketing and advertising messaging.
So, I knew what I wanted to do, and tossed the idea around with my friend Jack Hollingsworth, and we got together a list of photographers we thought might be intrigued with the idea. I said, “come to Las Vegas and bring your checkbook, I’ve got a thought.” They all did, they all wrote checks and committed to shoot, and Blend was born. We started with no images and of course, no revenue. About 4 ½ years in we have about 80,000 images, over 70 photographers and sales just over 6M a year. It’s been a great ride so far.
John: Blend Images is about four years old now. From just an idea, to a full service agency with $6,000,000.00 in sales, an innovative and fast growing web site, an ownership position in a larger agency, and a roster of some of the biggest names in stock, Blend has been a remarkable success. Can you share with us some of the factors that have made Blend so successful?
Rick: Three things made Blend successful
1. Our photographers and their photographs. We only brought in top selling stock shooters to start Blend, and we’re really choosy with whom we offer contracts to shoot for Blend. We have a small staff and we simply don’t have the ability to ‘hand-hold’ shooters who are just getting started (but always happy to help photographers find a good home for their work.) I believe in experience when it comes to stock. We have 23 owners / investors who founded Blend. There is only one of these investors younger than me (I’m 40). Why? Experience counts. I’m all for new blood, new techniques, hep, cool, pix. But understanding the concepts that sell and those who have survived, and indeed thrived throughout the ups and downs and changes in the stock world are folks I want on my team. We had such a strong roster coming out of the gate, that we signed many of our distributors without showing them a single photo. They got it. And they wanted to be a part of it.
2. Our staff. We have a small staff only about 9 full-time employees. But each, in their own right, is an entrepreneur. They all have the ability to do jobs outside of their main discipline. In fact, we just hired a new employee to handle our royalty accounting. But, true to form, she was one of the first employees at Photodisc and has done everything from creative to sales. Training took about 3 hours. She’s up and running. We all take the trash out, we all do windows. I only hire people who have their own ‘deep bench’ in terms of skills.
3. Timing. We got lucky to start the company when we did. Everything came together at the right time.
John: You have twenty-four founding photographers. There are many who have said that it would be impossible to get so many photographers to work together successfully. Has that been difficult?
Rick: Yeah, I think it was Jonathan Klein, CEO of Getty Images who gave me a friendly reminder that “co-ops” are hard to run. Or maybe he said “you’re f’ing crazy” – something like that. Truth is – they are. Photographers are passionate people and they all have relevant business experience. So there are a lot of cooks in the kitchen from time to time. It’s to be expected. But we’re really blessed to have just the right amount of sugar and spice. We do an annual owner’s meeting in NYC every year where we can all talk about the business – what’s working, what’s not.
But ultimately the key to our success so far with regard to corporate governance is that we immediately set up a management structure which allows me to operate the business unencumbered day to day. Of the 24 owners, we select 4 to manage our LLC, and the CEO also sits on this Board of Managers. This group hires the CEO, and the CEO is tasked with all of the day-to-day operations. The CEO then reports monthly – financial / operational reports to the Board of Managers and we in turn report to all the owners quarterly with updates. It works out pretty well. Of course, some of us ‘get into it’ now and then, but it’s like a family. It happens. But we’ve been fortunate to work through individual concerns in a respectful and constructive manner.
John: What can you share with us about your vision for Blend’s future?
Rick: Blend Images will be the “go to” service for licensing ethnically diverse media for marketing and advertising. We have room to grow both vertically and horizontally through our brand. Obvious extensions are motion content, audio content, and editorial content. We may have a lower-priced RF collection as well. To grow the business further we will, of course, need to shoot the best pictures we can. But also, we need to continue building out our technology base to generate a “closed-loop” between photographer, agent and client.
We want photographers to be able to understand what our clients are looking for and be able to respond rapidly. Our new back-end system for photographers we call “Loupe” allows our shooters to track their sales in real-time, download their royalty reports, and review their sales history all the way back to day one of Blend. In the future, photographers will be able to analyze all aspects of our sales data.
What’s are the best selling Latino subjects in the UK? Do African-American family dining shots sell better than African-American family TV watching shots? Craig Aurness, founder of Westlight, was a master of data mining. I learned a lot from him and want to give our photographers as much information as possible. Agencies hold this kind of data too close to the chest in my opinion.
Micro agencies have been successful for a number of reasons – price not being the top reason in my opinion. Transparency, community and ease of use are prime drivers of micro’s popularity. Blend has learned from micro’s success and while we’ll never be a micro agency, we do want our photographers and our creative team to understand, as much as possible, objectively what’s working and what’s not.
John: Blend has expanded beyond the original founding photographers and now includes contributing photographers as well. Is Blend continuing to take on new contributors?
Rick:What do you look for in contributing photographers?
We’ve been blessed to have so many great photographers want to be a part of Blend. And yes, we’re always looking for new contributors. Blend is more than just a photo agency – we truly are a community. Blend photographers are automatically added to our Stockpros forum where top end commercial shooters share information, offer assistance, and sometimes just let off steam. Are you looking for a modeling agency to work with in San Diego? One post to the Stockpros list and you’d likely have it solved.
We also provide our photographers with more creative research and feedback than any other agency that I’m aware of. It’s understandable that larger agencies can’t offer one on one service as much as they used to -- just too many photographers and too many images. Blend can still provide the one on one. We absolutely understand that our shooters make images for many different agencies. Heck, I do.
I wouldn’t suggest to anyone to put all your eggs in one basket. What we aim to offer our shooters is, of course, to make a decent return on your shoots for Blend, but as important to open doors to a community of the best of the best stock shooters. When you’re a Blend photographer our concern is that you do well in stock – all of it – not just at Blend.
We all celebrate a shooter having a great year at Getty or Superstock or Veer. Our feeling is together we’ll all do better -- it can be lonely out there! Of course anyone interested in learning more about our agency, just e-mail Sarah Fix, our Creative Director at sarah@blendimages.com, or you can even e-mail or call me directly. We’re casual.
John: We are in a very challenging time for stock photography. Microstock has burst on the scene and is sorting itself out, RF seems to be drowning in its own weight and the economy is setting the wrong kind of records. Can you give your perspective on Microstock, the oversupply of Royalty Free, and how the economy is going to be impacting stock?
Rick: The economy is in shambles. Advertising and marketing budgets are some of the first to go. It will get better in time, but seriously – it’s a mess out there. 2009 is going to be very hard for the commercial creative arts. It’s not a Microstock thing (completely). It’s not an oversupply thing (completely). It’s mostly a ‘the whole world is broke’ thing. But still – even if there’s a 50% decrease in stock sales, we’re still talking about, what? 700M in sales out there.
One thing is especially important to keep in mind – now is not the time for a shotgun approach to production. The last decade was about creating massive amounts of RF imagery. Now there’s too much similar content. RM has been underserved with new imagery, but it’s a relatively small market. Micro is interesting, but a lot of hard work and not completely clear one can generate the same returns as in traditional stock. (Yes, some do, but very few.) Chill out in 2009. Figure out what you’re truly good at shooting, figure out what the market is missing and make fewer, but better targeted content. Don’t count the success of your 2009 in the number of images you produce.
John: Blend is pioneering a new model; Non exclusive distribution of RM stock. How does that work, and how is it working?
Rick: Truth is there are very, very, few exclusive sales -- a couple of percent per year. So we handle exception sales through our Seattle office and notify sales partners where appropriate. The bottom line is that RM imagery simply has much less exposure than RF imagery. RM shots might sell a few times a year, micro shots might sell hundreds of times a year. Most folks license RM pictures because, well, they like the picture – not that it’s RM. We sell RM on our site every day. We sell RF on our site everyday. Often the price point is the same.
John: Do you see the market for stock photography changing? If so, how?
Rick: I would concur with some of the stock smartypants folks that yes, there will be less need for high-res content as pictures are used more and more in digital environments. But low-res doesn’t necessarily have to mean low cost. We’ll have to work out new pricing paradigms in the future. I know Jim Pickerell has given this a lot of thought. And, no, the Micro or subscription model can’t work for all content -- just not possible.
It’s one thing to license a “long tail” shot for $399.00, quite another to license one for $1.00 A lot of content will simply not make enough money to justify it’s production costs in a micro environment. Photographers will figure that out eventually. And the rush to micro by photographers will abate. The market will find new equilibrium – photographers need to make a living, clients need a good value, agencies need to generate profit.
Right now in the micro world, some photographers are making good money, I assume Getty for example finds running iStockphoto profitable (and be careful here, being an agency owner I assure you that not all agencies are profitable), and clients seem to love the model (some clients of course.) But if more and more shooters pile in more and more similar content, each shooter will make less and less and at some point, it’s just not worth the effort. So, then the photographer will decide to make less fungible content – unique content – but truly unique content doesn’t work well in the micro environment which requires massive multiples of sales. That shooter moves into doing traditional RF or RM content naturally. The nature of images in the traditional RF and RM libraries is likely to change in the future because of micro option.
John: What advice would you give to someone just entering the field?
Rick: Find a veteran, and offer to be a second shooter or assistant for a couple of years to learn the craft. Don’t just throw stuff up on micro sites and assume the results you get are indicative of our skill. Such an endeavor might be indicative of your skill at producing for micro – and / or your lack of understanding of key-wording, how micro agencies rank content, etc. but get with some folks who’ve been doing it a long time. Heck, come by our office in Seattle. Always love to meet new shooters. Always help to point you in the right direction.
John: Stock photography, looking ahead…optimistic, or pessimistic?
Rick: The world is getting more visually oriented, not less. Still images don’t require a captive audience like motion. Still images are portable and can evoke emotion almost instantly. The world will continue to need more pictures and as “developing countries”, well, continue to develop, contemporary photography will be licensed more and more.
There will be micro RF collections, and subscriptions and RM, and even medium and high-priced RF. -- lots and lots of options for licensing. Database technology will continue to improve which will help researchers target content more effectively. The value add an agency can provide to a client will be in the agencies ability to locate the right imagery from vast collections of content.
The editing function / research function will become increasingly important. At some point every agency could represent every picture (for all intents and purposes), the key is who can drill down most efficiently? There used to be massive product differentiation from one agency to the next. Of course with the consolidation of the industry at the top there is less and less differentiation. At the next level, though, there is becoming less differentiation as well. Ultimately agencies have to answer the “why shop here?” question. This is something I ask myself all the time. “Wow, another RM sale on our web-site!” “Why did they come to Blend?
I know our content rocks, but there are so many places to buy our content.” – ultimately, for business and lifestyle shots, we’ve got a nice collection without having to dig through a bunch of other stuff. In other words, our collection, in and of itself offers instant relevancy to certain clients. Agencies that can provide the best search and retrieval tools for their clients are bound to do well.
As far as being optimistic – sure – why not? The best thing about a massive economic depression is that at some point it’s all going to point up.
1 Can older film-using photography camera lenses be used on new digital cameras?
My dad has an older camera that takes film, and it has 30+ lenses (like for tunnel-vision, etc) I'm not sure on the size, but I think he said something in the 30mm range. He doesn't want me using his camera, because I live at my moms house and he doesn't want it over there, plus I want one that's digital so I can upload my pictures onto the computer fast and easy. I'm looking at used photography cameras, but I've seen that lenses are WAY expensive! I'm poor and 13, providing for myself, and I really want to do this, I even have been offered a full scholarship for a photography class at our poetry house starting in a few weeks, to help get me started off. Thing is, I can't afford to start buying things like lenses, so I was hoping that some of my dad's lenses could fit on a new digital camera, if I got the same size camera. Would that work?
We really need to know the make and model of your dad's camera to answer intelligently.
My True Vision Wedding Photography - Something Different
digital vision photography5 digital vision photography5
1 Nikon versus Canon High End digital? Pros and cons?
Would love to hear some stories about high end nikon and canon digitals, especially shooters who have used both. I am looking to do stock photography and continue wedding photography.
Canon has 3 things going for it that Nikon will have a hard time matching:
1. Market share - Canon owns the DSLR market with Nikon and Sony a long ways back in #2 and #3 spots. There are going to be some more casualties along the way as the traditional 35mm SLR companies pass out of view and likely out of business. Market share means lots of choices in after market product for Canon users.
2. Optics - Canon has a much broader array to chose from, with a 3 tiered line up to select from. Canon's line up has product for the amateur, semi-pro and pro at corresponding price points. There's just more to choose from, especially when you include the after market.
3. Hardware - Canon manufactures all its own components - sensor, processor, etc. so they have a lot more control and insight into the components and can use this to drive a lot of product out the door. From the mighty 1DS to the 300D Canon delivers a unmatched selection of depth.
Three very powerful arguments for going Canon. In the days of film, Nikon may have gotten a leg up for its optics. But the world is digital now. Nikon's day in the sun is history.
Search For Photo, Stock Photo Search, Photo Research Servic
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The Written Word: Rajeev Jain (Indian Cinematographer) Visual wizardry....
Philosophy
The world just got a whole lot smaller. I am still in a state of total disbelief. The horrific crimes of recent suicide bomb blasts were beyond comprehension and human logic. How is it that our goals and aspirations can be so different in spite of coming from the same mould? As a father, I am always trying to encourage my two little angels Abigail Jain (17yrs.) and Kimberly Jain (13 yrs) to work hard, be fair, be honest, be kind and humane and most importantly, be open minded and tolerant of other people.
The terrorists who executed this deadly plan lied, cheated, murdered and judged all others who did not subscribe to their twisted perversion of faith and morality.
This is a very difficult time to be positive, but the future of our children and rights of a free democracy depends on everyone continuing to protect the choice to pursue what is important and right for every individual.
The marketplace is in a total state of flux. Everyone in our business is scrambling to firm up existing clients and struggling to keep what they have. Add the challenge of preparing for HDTV and the plethora of format choices to the equation and you've got a difficult situation.
Climbing to the higher planes of the industry was not overnight. A native of Lucknow and a graduate of University of Lucknow and Bhartendu Academy of Dramatic Arts (Bhartendu Natya Academy/ Bhartendu Natak Akademi), My career has taken me over the years from Lucknow, to Mumbai / Bombay in pursuit of my dreams. And the companies have ranged from organizations, TV stations to ad agencies and Features. Despite all my accomplishments and obviously varied skills, I remain very true to my first love, and that is the love for cinematography.
I believe that the DOP has one primary job: to serve the director s vision of the story. Some DOP seem bent on making a different movie than the one the director is making - such behavior is completely unprofessional, even silly. I strive to maintain a fully professional attitude whether we are shooting 16/ 35mm film, High Def 24P or Video. Shooting is shooting, I try to make every shot the best it can be.
One of the great pleasures of filmmaking is the collaboration. I take great pains and efforts to put in nothing but the best i can into each shot. I try to understand the vision that the director is striving to bring to the fore- front, presenting that vision in all its totality and making it as realistic as possible then becomes my sole purpose.
Some directors prefer to control every aspect of the image, and at the other extreme, some prefer to concentrate on directing the actors and pretty much leave the photography up to me. Most commonly, of course, majority of director s fit in somewhere the middle. I am completely comfortable working either ways.
The DOP has another job, of course, and that is to help the production to stay on schedule and within the prescribed budget. I take those responsibilities very seriously as well. Being a Director of Photography is much more than just being good at lighting and camerawork (although those are primary, of course); it is also very much a "management" job: you are in charge of a number of people, different departments, equipment, schedules etc. My experience on productions large and small; from very simple to very complex shoots gives me the experience to handle the various responsibilities and keep the balance.
I am as big a gear head as the next guy, but please!
The reality is that you had better know your client and be honest with yourself about which marketplace your doing most of your business in. The mistake a lot of people make is dreaming about what might be and not concentrating on what is.
For me, I have an eclectic mix of works. I continue to shoot Commercials, Feature Films and Music Videos.
I personally believe that you better enjoy what you are doing and have as much fun as you can while doing it. I have been very fortunate to hook up with a bunch of great people, both crew and production houses.
I have noticed that instinct is starting to rule my life. I no longer fret about the "what if s", I just do what feels right and amazingly it seems to work out. The old rule is true, if it sounds to good to be true.... Hard work is the only substitute for lack of natural luck, hell I do not even know how to spell luck. As a freelancer, you have got to make your luck, you have got to sit back and think about what type of work you want to do and then make the contacts, place the calls and pursue what it is you want.
There are a hundred ways to go wrong and only a few to go right. There is only one goal: Beautiful pictures that serve the story and flow together in the edit.
It has been a weird year (2009). I lost a number of commercials in Africa, Asia, Europe and Middle East due to the downturn in the economy, war and terrorist extremism.
And finally, this year (2010) I turned 43.
So, if you get a call from me one day, do not be too surprised.
MY MISSION To use my skills, experience and professionalism to provide productions with distinct and compelling cinematography.
RAJEEV JAIN s TAKE ON......
PREP I work out the complicated problems in prep to execute simple solutions in production. From location scouts, shot listing, story boarding, script meetings, watching rehearsals, testing stock, lenses, makeup and wardrobe, to scheduling and collaborating with department heads - I do not wing it. I prepare to the point where I can use my intuition to respond to the unexpected, rise above the game plan and take the film to the next level.
DIRECTORS What gets me excited - is to work with passionate directors who take risks. Whether the film is meticulously storyboarded or improvisational, from prep to wrap, I try to unlock what the director has in their head, understand it, refine and capture it.
PRODUCERS I know how to collaborate with a producer to get a dollar out of fifteen cents. Whether it is tapping my extensive contacts to efficiently scheduling the crew and equipment; to finding innovative and resourceful ways to shoot a film; to nailing a shot on take one - I take no expense for granted.
CREW I have the contacts to put together a camera and lighting crew for most any sized project and the experience to delegate and supervise them. My roster have skills and aspirations bigger than their job titles; but also have the attitude to keep it fun. I hire crew that take initiative, love movies and read the script.
STYLE I hope I am not accused of it. I want the audience to feel what I shot, not to pay attention as to how it was shot.
FRAMING I shoot for the edit. I frame for the drama.
LIGHTING I believe there is no best way to light. Every film has its unique demands. Some directors may want 360 degree dollies while others do not move the camera at all; others like to work with marks while some do not; some schedule 20 shots a day while some just 10. In all cases, I have to find an approach that reinforces the director s instincts, stays within the production s resources while at the end the day, elucidates the drama.
FORMAT Whether it is Super 16, HD or 35mm, I am format agnostic. I work closely with the director and producer to not only choose a viable format; but also, to exploit it to the fullest.
EQUIPMENT Through my contacts with vendors and rental houses; my collaboration with key personnel; and from years of shooting at a variety of levels - I keep productions from paying for unnecessary gear, while making sure we have what we need. But I also believe in finding ways to get the most of what you got.
POST My job does not end on the set. I supervise the look of the film from dailies to digital intermediate through release prints. In post, the DP s eye is critical in creating the finishing touches as well as maintaining a visual continuity and integrity.
MOVIES From classics to new release, from horror to romance, I know my films and genres. It's the experience of escaping into a great film that I'm passionate about. I'm not a gadget head, don't fall in love with shots or obsess about technical matters. I do obsess about films that move me and do all I can to be part of making them.
Quotes from some famous DP's......
... I Believe
" I admit a fondness for commercials. It is the perfect blend of many skills. You have 30 seconds to sell an audience a product or idea using the visual techniques of lighting and camera movement to reflect and comment upon current culture. "
" Every director brings a different viewpoint to spot work. Their backgrounds vary as much as the products do and that diversity is what makes every job different and unique. My challenge as cameraman is to capture that special uniqueness on film. "
" I never wanted to be pigeon-holed in commercials. I don't care to restrict myself to shooting just cars or tabletop. My background is still photography, documentaries and theater. I've traveled my whole life and I want to incorporate that into my work. Commercials reflect constant change in markets and audience. This medium demands that one be aware of the evolution in lenses, film stocks and accessories as well as to be actively involved in the quickly evolving technology of digital imaging. "
"Filming kids is the ultimate in spontaneity. You have to be ready at any moment for something to happen. It all has to do with lighting and planning. You also have to find the right place for the camera so that the kids can work in a given space and be comfortable without a lot of noise and distraction... finger on switch. "
"If you know how to light, it doesn't matter what you shoot. If you don't know how to light... it does not matter what you shoot." - on shooting film vs. shooting High Def:
"Cinematography is the art and craft of the authorship of visual images for the cinema extending from conception and pre-production through post-production to the ultimate presentation of these images. All and any processes, which may affect these images, are the direct responsibility and interest of the cinematographer. Cinematography is not a subcategory of photography. Rather, photography is but one craft, which the cinematographer uses in addition to other physical, organizational, managerial, interpretive, and image manipulating techniques to effect one coherent process. Cinematography is a creative and interpretive process, which culminates in the authorship of an original work rather than the simple recording of a physical event. The images which the cinematographer brings to the screen come from the artistic vision, imagination, and skill of the cinematographer working within a collaborative relationship with fellow artists".
"Cinematography is the process of capturing a vision on film. As both an art and a craft it is a dynamic process that involves the composition of light, shadow, time and movement. For the cinematographer this requires a synthesis of technical skills and creative sensibility".
"A great deal of work happens between scouting and shooting and it can be a very tedious process. In the end, if any of that behind the scenes work shows in the final product, then I think that work has not been for nothing.
Q&A With Rajeev Jain, ICS WICA Indian Cinematographer On Film
Indian Director of Photography, Rajeev Jain, ICS WICA is a Cinematographer based in Mumbai, India. Rajeev specializes in shooting television commercials in the 35mm motion picture film format as well as HD Digital formats. Rajeev started in the early days of the music video revolution, before venturing into narrative filmmaking. His eclectic body of work includes Army, Badhaai Ho Badhaai, Carry on Pandu, Kadachit, Kalpvriksh - The Wish Tree, Mirabai Notout, Pyar Mein Kabhi Kabhi and Rasstar .
QUESTION: Where were you born and raised?
RAJEEV: I was born in Lucknow, India. There was no seminal event that happened to me as a young person that made me want to be a cinematographer. It certainly wasn’t the quality of the light in Lucknow. I remember it was gray; was stained brown from the traffic and the sky dark. But as I say that, I realize the suppressed palette of the place did affect me emotionally. Saturates leaped out against that neutrals, as in a dream or a post-industrial nightmare.
QUESTION: What did your parents do?
RAJEEV: My parents were just ordinary folks. I don’t think they were particularly ambitious for me. Their main concern, I think, was that I wasn’t an embarrassment. We moved to the Etawah and then back to Lucknow, where I completed my education. My degrees were in Theatre Arts.
QUESTION: Did you have a career goal at that point in life?
RAJEEV: I wanted to be a writer, but like Mohan Rakesh I thought too much and wrote too little. That is too say I was more a reader then a writer, more academician then poet. I got very interested in semiology and structuralism (the study of how language encodes ideas). Initially I studied how the spoken and written language worked, but then became more interested in how codes worked in other languages, like the language of film. My interest in film language led me in a rather convoluted way to cinematography.
QUESTION: That’s interesting. Can you be a little more specific?
RAJEEV: I became very interested in understanding how in altering light, composition, camera angles and camera movement a cinematographer alters an audiences perception of the visual event, and thereby the audience’s emotional response. It is a difficult thing to quantify. I remember specifically thinking back to seeing Pather Panchali when I was a child, and how its images had always remained in my imagination, not only for their pure beauty and sublime scale, but because they affected me emotionally, striking some unconscious but responsive cord. Later I saw Ray's "The Apu Trilogy". I had much the same response, but now my understanding was informed by my studies. It would be accurate to say that the cinematographers of these two films, Subroto Mitra, were those who most influenced my decision to become a cinematographer.
QUESTION: How did you make a connection between words and photography?
RAJEEV: In writing essays and articles about film. I realized that film images worked very much the way the spoken/written language works. You want to express certain ideas. There are culturally agreed and understood codas. These shapes, which we call letters, have agreed upon pronunciations. These letters form words. These words have agreed meanings. But it is of course arbitrary. The word “cat” has no innate “catness” about it, but on hearing this word the listener forms an idea in their brain. A cat. We can then add adjectives, and qualifiers, to make it a black cat, or an angry black cat. These words are codes, but not universal codes. They are specific to a culture that shares that language. Photography in some respects is a much more complex language system. The denotative (specific) or connotative (symbolic or implied) meaning of an image can be ambiguous, but also complex. Perhaps the best literary analogy is the Haiku poem. The fewer words have greater potential meaning — the more words that are added in longer literary forms, the more specific the meaning. An image offers both specific and non-specific meanings. It can work on many layers, conscious and not.
QUESTION: Did you have any mentors or were you totally self-taught?
RAJEEV: I’ve learned a lot from other DP’s. But it’s mainly from studying their work. Ashok Mehta and I talk a lot, and he’s given me a great deal. But I was self-taught. I studied art extensively, particularly early 20th century artists, and late 19th century artists. I learned a lot about light from them. I’ve stolen an idea from every good film I’ve seen, probably. Particularly the work of Subroto Mitra (ISC), Ashok Mehta (ISC), Binod Pradhan, and Santosh Sivan (ISC).
QUESTION: Do you think of yourself as an artist, a technician or both?
RAJEEV: I think that’s a very important distinction. I don’t want to sound pretentious, but if you consider the nature of art, it is meant to give us new eyes to see the world. I want audiences to respond viscerally to what our intentions are for a film. I think that cinematography works very much like music in that it is difficult for us to measure or quantify why audiences respond to what we do. So it is an art. And its practitioners must therefore be artists.
QUESTION: Tell us more about your analogy of music and cinematography.
RAJEEV: I can sit in dailies and I can see the other people watching the film with me respond physically and emotionally to the images; but it is very difficult quantifying what they are responding to. If you watch people listening to music, they may also respond, but you would hard put to quantify why they are responding.
QUESTION: I’ll borrow a phrase from Subroto Mitra, who said, cinematographers are the authors of the images. But, that isn’t widely recognized.
RAJEEV: Part of the problem lies with our collective culture. Films are reviewed as theatre rather than as a unique art form. Critics will talk about scripts and performances. They talk about things they understand, but they understand them because their own cultural antecedents are principally in traditional theatre, though they may not recognize that. In this context, cinematography and music aren’t understood, except to say they were beautiful, because there is not a particular language developed within criticism for their description. Unfortunately, many reviewers don’t recognize how decisions made by the director, cinematographer and composer made a profound impact on the visceral reactions and intellectual responses of audiences. I’m not saying that cinematographers aren’t recognized. We are, at least within the industry, but not in the consumer press. I don’t think I read a single review that mentioned the significance of Subroto Mitra’s (ISC) decision to use 16mm film and other formats in certain scenes in The River, yet that made a profound impact. I consider that a significant artistic decision worthy of comment, in fact, essential to an audiences understanding of the film’s artistic treatment.
QUESTION: The collaboration between directors and cinematographers is unique.
RAJEEV: An important thing about that collaboration is that cinematographers have to integrate their vision for a film with the director’s vision.
QUESTION: Do the many music videos you shot influence you today?
RAJEEV: Not really. None of my films look like music videos, but the great thing about music videos was that we could experiment with different lighting, film stocks, lenses and filters. We would decide to try putting four filters on the lens, force process the film, or put a negative through a reversal film postproduction process to see how it comes out, and then try it again the other way around. It was a great way to learn.
QUESTION: Are there other cinematographers whose work you follow?
RAJEEV: I can mention all the obvious names, but the truth is I learn from all cinematographers. I can watch a television program shot by a 29-year-old cinematographer and find something that he or she did that is quite interesting. I’m constantly learning from other people. I still read every magazine and journal about cinematography and photography that I can lay my hands on. I still study art. I collect books of photographers and paintings. But it’s not just the good work that others do that I learn from. I learn from my own mistakes that I have had ample opportunity to make over these last 20 years. When my son Adam was in the seventh grade, he wrote an essay in which he was required to say who his hero was. He said it was me. “My father is my hero because he messes up all the time, and he lets me see it.” So I feel o.k. about messing up. I think that’s a hugely important lesson to learn. It’s o.k. to mess up, and you will sometimes mess up if you’re willing to push the limits of your craft.
QUESTION: Did any other mentors influence your thinking?
RAJEEV: I was a graduate from the University of Lucknow for a short while. That’s where I met Renu Saluja who was a really important mentor. She pointed me down some really interesting avenues as regards film theory.
QUESTION: How do you decide that something is a film you want to do?
RAJEEV: Early in my career anything that was offered was a film I wanted to do. Today, two things are likely to affect my decision. One is my first meeting with the director. That relationship is like a marriage only, oddly, much more intense. You have to decide whether you’re going to be able to get along with that person for the long time that you’re going to be together. I think I have gotten along well with over 90 percent of the directors I have worked with, and many have remained friends. The second thing is the photography. I’m always interested in doing new and different things. If the project is very much like what I have done before, and the script is not great, then it is less likely I will be interested. Sometimes a project comes along that is just so interesting it is impossible to resist.
QUESTION: What do you tell students and other young filmmakers when they ask you to share the secret of success? Do you tell them the truth about the odds?
RAJEEV: I think you have to be patient, and not let yourself believe that things are going to happen quickly. You need integrity and honesty about who you want to become. That way, even if you fail, you can fail with some dignity. If you compromise and fail, what do you have left?
Rajeev Jain, ICS WICA - Indian Cinematographer / DOP, Talks about ... Kalpvriksh - The Wish Tree - Your Dreams Are Just a Touch Away
Like any artist, Rajeev was born with innate talent burnished by experience and cultural influences. Born in 1968, his first introduction to movie magic came while observing his uncle as a projectionist at Ravindralaya Theatre, Lucknow. “I remember sitting in that little projection room and watching films with my uncle,” the Indian cinematographer recalls. “It was like watching silent movies because you couldn’t hear sound in the booth. I just saw the images and would try to understand the story. My uncle would show us Charlie Chaplin movies, which, of course, were silent. There is no doubt that he put his dream of becoming a cinematographer into my heart.” Originally from India, cinematographer Rajeev Jain ICS WICA studied at the Bhartendu Academy of Dramatic Arts in Lucknow, India.
The day after completing his studies, Rajeev went to work as a trainee on an anamorphic picture. He contributed to ten more movies as assistant cameraman before becoming a DOP. “From that moment on I considered the camera to be like a pen that you use to draw images,” he states. “Operating a camera is mainly about composition and rhythm. I also operated the camera for Bollywood songs. It was very primitive. While we were shooting, someone with a watch was timing every pan and zoom. He would say, ‘You have 5 1/2 seconds to do that zoom.’ It was a great lesson for me, learning to make each element of a shot work in that amount of time.”
I thought it was fascinating that film speaks a common language that everyone in the world can understand," he recalls. "That's especially true for cinematographers, because we are communicating with the audience non-verbally." “To me, making a film is like resolving conflicts between light and dark, cold and warmth, blue and orange or other contrasting colours. There should be a sense of energy, or change of movement. A sense that time is going on — light becomes night, which reverts to morning. Life becomes death. Making a film is like documenting a journey and using light in the style that best suits that particular picture… the concept behind it.
The first important decision regarding the visuals was to shoot in anamorphic (2.4:1) format, as they had done on Kalpvriksh – The Wishing Tree. Rajeev explains that Manika likes to manipulate the subjective and objective viewpoints, sometimes in the same frame or even at the same time. In a simple example, a shot will begin on a subject, and then an actor will step into the frame, creating an over-the-shoulder shot, changing it from subjective––in which the viewer sees what the character sees––to objective. "One of my first suggestions was shooting Kalpvriksh – The Wishing Tree in Super 35 format," Rajeev continues. "I felt that would give the film an edge that you don't expect to see in Drama. I felt we could use the wider frame to create a claustrophobic feeling in the Shabana’s cave and more interesting composition showing Shabana in the world." She, director Manika Sharma, designer Mansi and other members of the creative team discussed the possibilities for composing Kalpvriksh – the Wishing Tree in widescreen format, while drawing upon such visual references as another drama with an improbable theme. Though Manika storyboarded scenes, Rajeev utilized the sketches primarily as a communications tool. While shooting, the director remained open to veering from the storyboards to take advantage of unexpected opportunities. “Our production designer Mansi and costume designer gave us rich sets and costumes. Even though pushing two stops in the development sometimes is not as faithful to colours, their collaboration with this technique allowed us (especially in the dinner / fantasy sequences) to have a warm and yellow-looking scene, as if all that was lit was candle light,” he says.
In one dramatically lit scene, the school principal (Mahabano Kotwal) is sitting on the chair, looking out a window at the falling rain. “The whole scene was lit with one hard day light, an ARRI 6K,” says Rajeev. “We brought one light through the window. In order to light the door, we used a 4 by 4 mirror just out of frame to the right. The light is modulated by the rain on the window, and it stretched over to the book. We were ‘gathering chestnuts.’ It was serendipitous, and it all worked out with one light.” “For fill light on this movie, we used either very, very little or absolutely none,” he adds. “I find that with the film stocks we were using, if you’re overexposing a little bit, you can read the shadow detail incredibly well. When I saw the picture at Theatre on the 70-foot-wide screen, on the dark side, which is dead black, you can actually see hairs going into actors’ heads. I found it very interesting. I hope it works on a subconscious level for the audience.” Even though Rajeev knew that he could not shoot wide open at a T2 or a T2.8––because the Super 35 format chosen has a shallower depth––he still wanted this tool to give the story a greater stage presence. The bigger negative allowed him to push the envelope. And, he knew the grain would still be acceptable, if he stayed within the T2.8 to T4 ranges on interiors. “We could still use real sources and it wouldn’t be hard for our camera crew to follow focus,” he says confidently.
Like many of his colleagues, cinematographer Rajeev Jain has many concerns about changes that can be introduced to imagery during the post process of our electronic age. Such considerations only become intensified when one is dealing with a profusion of visual effects, which was the case with Kalpvriksh – The Wishing Tree. "I tried to make a concerted effort to stay as involved in postproduction as possible - which is sometimes tough because it's 'off to the next job' - to work with the digital effects and optical house to ensure that there wouldn't be any problems with the answer printing process. “You don’t see any lights in the master shot,” he says. “The master shot that we started out with was an impossible shot to light. We were jammed back in the corner with a 35 mm lens and there was a two-way mirror in the background. So we used a technique Rajeev Jain called a ‘driller.’ Simply put, you’re normally shooting horizontally across a room, and there are horizontal surfaces, like the tops of mantels and tables. If you come from directly overhead with a light and drill it down onto that surface, it works quite well. It doesn’t seem wrong. If light comes from a place that’s not normal or usual, people seem to accept the element that’s being illuminated without really figuring out what’s going on in terms of a source. Shadows go straight down, so they don’t end up looking strange or calling attention to the source. You see it on the table and then it comes off the table and lights the faces to a degree. It’s interesting because you’re not lighting the people at all. You’re lighting the environment that they’re in.
Anamorphic gives you the space in the frame to do that,” Rajeev says. “Manika has no problem filling an anamorphic frame in a contemporary picture. The story also has an elegiac aspect, so it seemed better to tell it without rock video cutting and frenetic camera movement. With the amazing cast, we knew this film would be about the performances. All those ideas––as well as ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’––factored into our decision to shoot anamorphic.” To determine a visually appropriate approach for the various moods needed in Kalpvriksh – The Wishing Tree, Manika and Rajeev chose to forego in large part the usual business of viewing other films during prep. "We used a lot of book work, referring to other kinds of artists working in two-dimensional forms, still photography and drawings mainly," Rajeev relates. "This was a nice and different way to prep. Looking at movies to see how a particular sequence worked is great, but this approach started me on this incredible round of self-education, covering still photography from 1890 up 'til now. Now I can't stop myself from buying the books. It is amazing how much visual reference source material is out there when you go back to basics. These were great jumping-off points for us.
The cinematographer also had to avoid telltale reflections of camera gear and personnel on the water surface. Along with a disciplined crew, that required careful light placement and camera angle selection. He discovered that putting the plastic at the right distance from the lens for tighter shots from Shawn's point-of-view rendered slightly distorted images with a hint of grain, which amplified the look that he and director Manika desired. Rajeev also occasionally added reflections of characters and objects on the water's surface to draw attention to the barrier separating the boy from other people. Sometimes the camera takes a subjective, spectator-like stance while other times the audience seems to share Shawn's life-in-the-bubble experience. "There was no simple formula for deciding when to put the audience inside the bubble with Shawn. It was a question I asked the director for each shot in every scene. Are we with Shawn inside the bubble, or are we outside looking in?"
I didn’t believe this and obviously neither did neither director Manika Sharma nor producing company Rhombus Films. Another picture shot in an old house in Bollywood required us to actually operate two generators to power all of the lights. By the time we were done, however, I was able to shoot two-thirds of a long sequence by dollying along with the reflections seen in a long fishpond at night (Shabana’s cave). “I think it’s a visual reflection of the fact that one’s position in life can change almost instantaneously,” he says. “It’s extremely effective visually. It seems to work on a number of different levels. Using this different approach seems to freshen up all your overs and reverses. There’s a very interesting scene between Shabana and kid that was staged on an under the tree, and there’s a sense of disquiet and possible aggression. It’s very ambiguous, yet the spatial dynamics really underscore the feeling.”
There is a great advantage in working on location versus a studio. For example, the muslim house I mentioned had real marble floors. An experienced DOP knows how to utilize this reality something he can only simulate in a studio," mused Rajeev. Reflectors were used extensively throughout the film, usually on the fill side to pick up some ambience or an edge of the keylight, and to redirect some of that light to the fill side. In most cases it was very subtle, however, just reflecting in the shine of the skin. “We used the reflectors as almost more of an eyelight,” Rajeev says. “There is such tension between these three characters. There are a lot of internal emotions beneath the surface of this movie. I felt that the audience needed to have access to the internal life of the characters, so I tried to keep eyelights going, especially when we’d get in close. Often it was done with a small reflector thrown in at the last moment.
One of the most important aspects included previsualizing the character of Shabana herself. "To nail her down, we started off by working on storyboards with an artist," says Rajeev, "who drew terrific boards and is a brilliant artist as well. We told him our thoughts on how the Shabana looked and he set to work. Manika credits him with creating a good part of the final look, since his drawings were used to communicate to hair, make-up and wardrobe departments what Manika wanted for his look." Part of Cave ' guise involved the use of a wig that often obscured the actor's face - which on occasion made for a less than ideal lighting situation. "During hair and make-up tests, I saw that while Shabana looked amazing, they were going to be difficult to deal with for 2 weeks. She had a big headgear and a huge costume also, so there was a question of whether we were ever going to be able to really see her. I told Manika that at times she was on the verge of becoming a headgear with hair. Being very sensitive to the needs of actors, Manika didn't want to get the hair out of her face, so we tried not to mess with her and solve it on our own."
On Kalpvriksh – The Wishing Tree, Rajeev opted for Vision 200T (5274) for everything but night exteriors, explaining that the smooth grain of this non-intrusive emulsion records deep blacks, true colours and a wide tonal range. Rajeev shot day exteriors on Eastman EXR 100T (5248), using an 81 EF filter to half-correct and retain the cool blue of winter. Daylight-balanced 250D (5246) Vision stock was selected for day interiors, while he exploited Vision 500T (5279) on most night interiors and exteriors. Since shooting, the cinematographer did extensive tests with different materials to search for the right thickness and translucency. "It's the same as using a cheap filter on the lens and we realized that any distortion or loss of focus would be magnified when the lab optically 'squeezed' the images into the 2.40 aspect ratio. In addition to selecting the right plastic, it was important for us to record a strong negative with properly focused images. We were shooting through filters at least 90 percent of the time.
While shooting forest scenes with the lead actor, Rajeev employed what he calls a Nine-light sandwich. "Others might call it a book light, but in any case, we were bouncing a Nine-light Maxi Brute off a piece of bead board, then letting the light pass through a diffusion frame usually fitted with either 216 or light grid. The resulting soft light striking He had a very beautiful quality, plus some serious pounding of foot-candles. This soft light had enough to punch through Shabana’s hair, and I could control the amount of light just by clicking off various globes. But it also required a lot of flagging and took up much space." On other occasions, Rajeev illuminated the Forest by directing the light from more extreme angles. "I came in much lower and more frontal with his key than I would have normally, but the approach succeeded in letting her hair fall naturally, so, while it was tough, it worked. It did make me thankful for the scenes when Shabana is dressed up with her hair pulled back, since I could get a nice edge on her through side lighting."
When kids arrive at tree before the climax, production established the famously setting by filming the actors in front of blue screen and green screen. Those elements were digitally composited with stock background plates culled from Ladakh. Harry and Arjun from Red Chillies’ in-house facility supervised the visual effect shots. "I don't think these scenes could be any more believable if we had travelled to Ladakh to film them live," marvels Rajeev. "How can you miss when you begin with 70 millimetre background plates? We matched everything to those plates."
There were a few daylight scenes in there, so we decided that cracks in the cave roof let hard sunlight in," he continues. "I put some signs of this in on the walls behind the actors and let some light bounce off the floor. For the most part though, the cave scenes are set at night - lit by firelight or lanterns or the imaginary glow coming off, which isn't plugged into anything. For the Water, I chose to use a slightly blue key light on the actors but didn't put any flickering movement in because I felt that it was distracting. The only flickering on their faces comes from the actual water. What I did add was a slight flicker effect on the walls, which I found to be more pleasing while lending a bit of realism.
Front-end lab work was done by Gemini, which provided film dailies. "After her experiences in the commercial world where you work on a monitor all the time, Manika loved watching film dailies - it opened up a new world for her," says Rajeev. "For example, there is a shot of a Shabana delivering a line at the end of a long shot under the tree. When Manika saw it played back on the [video tap] monitor, she didn't feel good about it. She seemed too small in the shot. She remarked that maybe her line would have to disappear in editing. After some time, Manika saw it projected on a big screen and loved the shot." When asked if such glad tidings extend to the on-screen drama as well, Rajeev smiles, and says, "Would you be surprised if I said there is a happy ending?"
The cinematographer does not use diffusion on the camera lens, instead preferring to soften his subject as needed by selectively affecting the light source. "I've never liked it in films when the overall resolution of the lens changes visibly during cuts in to a close-up during a scene," he declares. "The whole business of putting heavy diffusion in front of the lens to make [an actress] look 'better' is just crazy to me. I don't want to see the cinematographer's effort to make someone look good. Instead, I want to see the character look well, and I think that happens when the actor is both integrated into the scene properly and lit in a flattering manner. My solution is to soften at the source of illumination, and let the image be as clear as possible. Some people think Primo lenses are too sharp, but I love all that perfection. When you combine years and years of research and development on the film stocks from Kodak, with what has gone into these Arri lenses and the lab work at Gemini, and then put all that into a film being projected properly on screen, the result is such awesome perfection! So I take a lot of pride in delivering a really perfect negative. We may want to mess it up later, and that's fine, but I believe in starting with something well-exposed and sharp."
With all the many visual treatments necessary to depict the Shabana's perceptions, Rajeev and Manika needed to settle on parameters early on for the more elaborate manifestations requiring visual effects. "We're telling a story that is seen in part through the eyes of a crazy person," offers Rajeev. "She's an incredibly brilliant crazy person, but crazy nonetheless, so there's a sense of the fantastic about these visions, but they are not in the tradition of science-fiction movie effects. We had submitted a wish list of visual effects for budgeting, but it came back priced four or five times higher than we hoped. This meant we had to pull back, and that decision ultimately worked better for the film we wound up making. Most of the effects are things we did ourselves, with practical light cues, or as a combination of those cues with digital enhancement."
I'm glad that this movie's look seems interesting to the eye, but I'm also pleased that the visuals don't supersede the story. Early reviews are praising Shabana's performance as one of the best she's ever given, so it wouldn't make sense to do anything that took away from that aspect. Lots of films now seem overwhelmed with effects, but Manika isn't one to tell that type of story.
When Indian Cinematographer Rajeev Jain, ICS WICA is asked if, he would do anything differently today, the master artiste replies, “Ninety-nine percent of the time when I see my old films I am serene. It was the best I could do at that time of my life with what I had to work with. What’s important is your life and how you evolve as a human being and as an artist.
Kalpvriksh - The Wishing Tree - Yours Dreams Are Just a Touch Away
Two-time Winner Indian Cinematographer Rajeev Jain ICS WICA Creates Special World of Light, Shadows in his recent film Kalpvriksh the Wish Tree Yours Dreams Are Just a Touch Away
Rajeev Jain has a way of seeing that takes an image to its outer limits. In his years as assistant, electrician, grip, and in the past 16 years as director of photography, he has developed a visual sensitivity and expertise.
Rajeev takes his inspiration from directors such as Satyajit Ray (Pather Panchali) and cinematographers Ashok Mehta, ISC (36 Chowrangi Lane) and Binod Pradhan (Parinda) for their use of colour and lights and shadow to amplify the emotional content of stories. I find the ability to allow the characters to operate in shadow is a real art, he says. Ashok Mehta allows his characters to function in darkness. He lights everything so the blacks are really rich - yet you can see everything.
His work in Kalpvriksh, a film by director Manika Sharma exudes a period quality with an edge. Rajeev was especially intrigued by the non-narrative, fragmented script, because it offered a myriad of visual possibilities. Shooting primarily on Kodak to give contrast to the exterior scenes, Rajeev experimented with warm and blue filters to get the look he wanted. The result is a stark, almost surreal journey into the minds and actions of the film's bizarre characters.
Up-front collaboration on any film is essential, Rajeev emphasizes.
It's important for me to go through the script scene by scene with the director Manika Sharma, Rajeev says, to try to see what is in her mind. I want to know what the scene is saying, who the most important character is at that moment, and how the characters move through the scene. We also share photographs and movies, which gives us a visual base to work from.
A graduate of Bhartendu Academy of Dramatic Arts in Drama and a beginning still photography, Rajeev took a course in filmmaking. Intrigued by the film medium, he saw the possibilities of combining his interests with film in commercials. Searching for a way to learn camerawork, he offered his assistance (unpaid) to cameraman Subroto Mitra to learn the craft.
He taught me about his SR package, what the lenses were, and how to load magazines, he said. Then he started me by working on Shyam Benegal’s documentary on Nehru.
In 1996, Rajeev got the first opportunity to shoot a film, Army, with Mukul Anand. After eight weeks of stressful shooting - his every move was watched.
After 6 more features, then came Kalpvriksh in 2007, allowed Rajeev to explore a new visual technique to add nuance to the story. The film includes a dreamlike journey that Rajeev wanted to give a dreamlike quality. We tested filters and a bleach bypass process to give that section of the film its own special look," he says. "Instead we decided to use a swing tilt, a view camera attachment that allows the operator to change the plane of focus. It let us throw different parts of the frame out of focus, which is difficult to do in a wide shot because of increased depth of field.
Rajeev is currently finishing production on Carry on Pandu, a feature being shot in Mumbai, as well as doing Commercials.
Indian, Cinematographer, Dop, Kalpvriksh, Rajeev, Jain, Wishing, Tree
About the Author
Surendra Rahi was born and raised in Delhi, India, surrounded by pet animals. After twenty years as a farmer, he turned to teaching and then to writing children's books. Rahi writes mostly about animals: farmyard fantasy, as he likes to call it, often about pigs, his special favorites. He enjoys writing for children, meeting the children who read his books, and knowing that they get enjoyment from what he does. Among his well-loved books is Kid, The Gallant Kid, which was recently made into a major drama, and was nominated for an Award. Surendra currently lives with his wife in a small cottage, about three miles from the house where he was born.
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1 At What resolution our Eyes see, Megapixels, Frames per Second, read on...?
If our Vision were to be converted ito digital photography or a Video, 1) Wht is the Raw Resolution and megapixels our Eyes see at ? 2) How many Frams per Second 3) If one Frame of our Vision would be converted into a Digital photo, wht wud be the size of the file ? 4) If our eyes see at so high resolution, why can't we Zoom in, or must i say Like see some thing which is far very Clear, In more Detail ? Because in a Digital photo if when zoom in, we can see better if the Picture is of higher resolution. 5) By any Modification in the cells of the eyes, do u think in near future we are goin to get night vision if we want ? 6) why cannot a complete eye be transplanted from one person to another? 7) Suppose if we had black and white vision, wud u like it ? :D 8)if we cud see Ultra violet radiation or far infra red radiation, wht wud the colour be like?
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1. our eyes have been equated to about 24 megapixel camera 2. we view things at about 22-24 fps. 3. the file would be in megapixels 5. there has been work with replacing vitamin A with a product which may been useful in the infrared range. it takes a while to replace all of the vitamin A & beta-carotene. 8. colors are a type of feeling like all colors we preceive. this is best indicated with people with red-green disease. they see both colors as the same.
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A digital photographer also needs to be acutely aware that whatever output he delivers will uncover the care, readiness and awareness of the various very important points to remember in taking pictures.
Requirements for a Flourishing Digital Style Images
1. Correct Lighting- The photographer ought to use curtains and reflectors. Use a tripod and set mild to both left or proper aspect of the item at an angle of forty five degree. As a lot as attainable, keep away from vibrant lights, or else use polarizing filters. And lastly, by no means underexpose components or expose the entire picture(e); by no means expose your entire photograph, underexpose other parts.
2. Good Color Harmony- Photographers can make use of backdrop materials to give emphasis on tint and color. Use reflectors, filters, see-thru transparency, and diffusers to neutralize colors. It is recommended to use gray and white backgrounds.
3. The Artistic view of a Photographer - As a professional photographer, your audience may not see what you see in the picture. People pay value to the subject and not on the background. It should connect each other. About the Author
Hi everyone, I am Amelia Girard. I was always fascinated about fashion from a very early age and gradually this became my passion. The areas of my expertise mainly include fashion and lifestyle. I make it a point to give genuine solutions to all my readers about the do's and don'ts related to fashion. You can read here more about fashion dresses and mens fashion tips .
How To Sell your stock digital Photos Online
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