Taking Portraits in Landscape Mode – A Handy Guide

A portrait is taken generally in portrait orientation. (That’s why the name portrait, I guess!). But there are no set rules that discourage a landscape orientation for portraits.  Lately I have been noticing that portraits in this mode have some features in common – especially in the way the eyes are positioned. This post discusses 3 such prevalent techniques in landscape mode of “Portraitism”.

Align Center – Eyes straight

An insane close-up of the face with the eyes staring straight at the viewer can be both captivating and menacing.

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10 Pros Say What They Wish They’d Known about Photography

As I was reading the recent dPS article – 21 Readers Tell What they Wish They’d Known about Photography, it dawned on me that a handful of pros have already talked to us regarding what they wish they’d known. Here is a compilation of their answers.

Q. Is there anything you wish you knew when you started photographing?

A.

Sriram Guruswamy (Style – Potrait)

I never had the luxury of a mentor or of a formal training. My Photography style is totally self-taught and it took years to get evolved. I realized late that photography is not just about capturing something that is already beautiful.
There is a bigger dimension to it as being an honest perspective into those real moments of truth depicted in an aesthetic way.

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Akosoto.com — Your Child’s Friend

Akosoto.com is a place where nursery rhymes, songs, riddles, games, do it yourself toys, illustrated stories… are compiled in the Malayalam language. This is a new venture from antzFx.com. Let us try to know more about the website.

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Design — Calendar 2012: Nature

Here is a beautiful and pleasing 2012 Calendar for you. This calendar is titled “Nature.” The photos featured in this calendar are taken by aneeskA (FULLfx). Download links are available below. Also we are sharing the design thoughts. Don’t forget to tell us what you think of our designs as a comment.

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Stock Photography – A Brief Guide

Off late, a lot of our friends have been asking us to tell them how do I make money online. One of the favorite ways of mine is – stock photography.

What is Stock photography?

How do I make money through Stock Photography?

Stock photography refers to a collection of photos that are available online for use to designers and individuals for free or for a nominal fee,  to be used in their design projects and presentations. It can be the picture of a ball, a chair or even the sky that people can download and use.

For example, consider that I am writing an article on chocolates. Instead of googling up an image of a chocolate, I download stock photo of a chocolate and use it . Stock photos are licensed for such kind of use. Some sites offer them free while others offer them for a small fee which goes as royalties to the photographer .

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One stop newbie guide for buying a DSLR

Update : Only after publishing this post did it hit me. Its been a year since I own a DSLR. It has been quite an eventful journey so far. (status) Thank you folks for being so wonderful and supportive.

Recently a friend of mine asked me to help his friend buy a DSLR. To be frank, it left me scratching my head as I was at a loss as to what to tell him. Then I realized that the posts that have been published in antzFxWay are indeed a great place to start, if read in the right order. Once I sent him the mail, I figured it could help more people. So here is the post from where you can start your research.

	A Beginners Guide to Buying a DSLR (from a Beginner) I wanted to make a transition from P&S to DSLR. So I asked Google, my all-knowing ever-faithful friend, “What should I do?”. The keeper-of-all-knowledge promptly dumped thousands of camera reviews in front of me to choose from. “Oh my!” - I pinched myself.
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Design — Business Card v3.0 for antzFx

The last redesign of our antzFx business card was more than two years ago. So we decided to do a v3.0 redesign. This is the story of our design and you can download a free business card design template in PSD format too.

Click on the image for a closer view.
Blank ‘Business Card’ stock image by: Brian Lary, Madison, US

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Fabien Bravin – In close encounters with nature

An aeronautical engineer by profession, Fabien Bravin is a macro photographer who has chosen to walk a path rarely trodden by photographers of similar interest. A self-confessed addict of macro photography, he tries to emphasize the beauty and poetry of nature in his shots. Here we are in talk with the man who has produced an array of stunning pictures.

Fabien Bravin Flickr | 1x | Blog Technique: Macro

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My Tweets in August, September, 2011

Advertising

• Are you going to make advertising your career? See ‘A life in advertising’ http://www.munnaontherun.com/2011/08/life-in-advertising_05.html “Must be true!”
• You can turn any car into a convertible! A social service campaign by Amélie Company. http://osocio.org/message/you_can_turn_any_car_into_a_convertible/

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Design – Logo for BarCamp Goa: First Edition

The very first edition of BarCamp Goa is happening on 30-Oct-2011, Sunday at BITS Pilani Goa Campus. When my friend Niju Mohan contacted me for a logo, I jumped and took the opportunity.

Why? Because I love to do a design under a lot of constraints. I believe that this will help me to explore and find innovative solutions. If I am correct, this is my fifth logo for a BarCamp (BarCamp Bangalore 7, Bangalore 8, Bangalore 9 and Kerala 9, Bangalore 10). I have tried to give an individuality to each of them. I suddenly found myself in an ideating mood.

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