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Photo: M.Periasamy

Touch of creativity S. Sankar Sathyamoorthy at work

“Cut the light in the backdrop,” S. Sankar Sathyamoorthy tells his assistants as they make the final arrangements for a photo shoot. The venue, Park Plaza, was packed with action as the shutterbugs zoomed in their lenses to learn what it takes to bring magic in portrait photography.

“It is a combination of creativity and lights,” says photographer Sankar from Chennai, who specialises in portraits and ad films.

Organised by Glo Digital Press and HP, the workshop gave the members of Coimbatore Videographers Association an introduction to portrait photography, fashion photography, and also a demo on the latest version of Adobe Photoshop software.

“The basic idea is to create an opportunity for the photographers to brush up their skills, and also give an exposure in the world of advanced photography,” says Ramanan of Glo. “Portrait photography is sheer flattery with the creative use of lights,” Sankar says.

And, the camera he uses to capture the magic is Canon 1 Ds mark II that comes with a whopping 17 mega pixel.

“The challenge is to make an ordinary person look extraordinary. So, everything matters — the costume, make-up, backdrop, the angles, and, of course, the lighting. One need to think visually,” says the photographer who has worked on special photo stills of the movie Pithamagan, and ad films such as Power soap and Idhayam Dots appalam. He has also done the portfolio of popular actors, including Asin.

As, light is the essential thing in portraits, Sankar gave a demo on how to balance lighting, how to shoot close-up shots, full lengths and three-fourths with five lights, single light and double lights. He clicked the photograph of a model using soft lights.

Thermocol boards were used to block the light on the backdrop, and the freeze frame was taken with lights only on the right side. A demo on ‘rim lighting’, to highlight the hair, followed.

“The light shouldn’t leak to the nose,” he tells the photographers. When asked how to use ‘catch light’ on eyeballs, he says it is best to eliminate it and shoot portraits.

He says that with media awareness, more visual communication students are opting for careers in photography and cinematography.

“With the availability of digital cameras, things are simplified. But, cameras are introduced every six months, so they need to update on the developments. Knowledge on technology such as the latest photo software is also important,” he adds.

K. JESHI

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