Sat Feb 09 03:15:23 UTC 2008

Photo Masala

The Hindi word masala describes a flavorful blend of spices that can liven-up even the most basic of everyday meal recipes. To Bollywood movie-goers, the term sparks visions of exciting music and dance, along with hot, passionate love affairs. Wow! So what does this stuff have anything to do with photography? Well, when it comes to digital photographs and photo-processing software - much! More specifically, you can use your controls and insightful vision to "tweak" your photographs to their optimum best . "Spice 'em up", as it were and transform "marginal" pictures into "selects" you didn't realize you had. Take the two examples below, both made at a country garden shop on the outskirts of central London.

In the first (extreme left) of the two picture sets below, I've come in and created a "tight" composition, colors are harmonious (I've relied on a minimum of hues - always the best color-palette "formula" for strong imagery) and centered my main subject ("Apple Juice" tag), such that other elements within the frame "revolve" around it, keeping the viewer's eye in circulation about the picture. So far so good, but is there anything else I can do to make this shot "pop"? Masala in this case? Three-fold - I first added a "dash" of yellow to enhance the prevailing color scheme (orange). Secondly, I increased "contrast" by three steps to lend a sharper "edge" and lastly, I boosted color "saturation" by a small amount. This combination of digital ingredients yielded a picture (second of set / right) that initially appeared only "in the rough". It took just a "pinch" of digital enhancement to bring the image to life.

The second set of photos (two women) offers a similar lesson. The same "spice" was added here too, but if you look closely at the details present in both of these shots, you'll see differences - subtle, but meaningful in terms of just which is the "best shot possible". If you were an editor, what would be your choice? What small things separate one from the other? Three such fine points make the cut for me. These are: 1) the book - it's pages are in motion in the photo on the right. This initiates a "sense of moment" in the composition. The photo to the left lacks this exact dynamism; 2) The extended-hand gesture displayed by the woman on the left in the second of this photo-set. The same is not present to this degree in the first picture and; 3) the perched mouth of the woman on the right in the second of these two shots. Captured in the act of talking, this small detail adds visual energy to the scene and completes my list of "decisive spice" for a clear-cut photo choice.

So much for my "brief" post. Long story made short - enjoy what's on your photographic plate, but don't neglect the small enhancements that can turn your image into a compelling result.