Getting Better Pics of Yourself

 Avoid selfies, if you want really good pics. Usually they are the worst, other things being equal. Obviously, then, you have to get someone to click you and whoever is with you.

Assuming you do, get a good background, without standing at the edge of a cliff. But check around if you can find a better spot, and go for it. 

An angle and distance are the most important, and light is the most important.. that's what photography is about..

Smile, if that looks good on you. Sometimes, a non-smiley is more appropriate for the situation, or setting.

If the pic is really important, posed is better than candid. Candid ones can go either way. Silly poses too are fine, and sometimes better than serious ones. Wear a hat, if there's one. A Vietnamese conical one is best (from experience).. an Assamese one comes next. Or a detective type one, if you want to look like Sherlock Holmes.

If the background is unique, try and get it into the pic. Enhances you in the process. If it's not, close up on you is most effective.

Think about how you will use the pic- in what size, or where on social media.. of course, you can crop. Or correct some defects, but not all.

The difficulty of Taking a Good Photograph

 I have clicked half a million pics by now, I believe. I have also been subjected to-been the subject of- a quarter million, enough to keep my fb timeline occupied for the rest of my life. The ones I clicked have included portraits, landscapes, adults or kids as subjects, or inanimate objects-natural, or staged like an advertising photo.

Getting the light right is one major concern. Getting the frame right is the second, but can be done by cropping to some extent now. Getting people -adults or children, to behave or pose (most pics are posed, few are candid) is the third.

In spite of various difficulties, I think I have managed to create (in my opinion, of course), a few decent clicks. Let me begin with some portraits- 

New Revenue Ideas

Revenue streams are a lifeline- ads for the media, for example. Card companies invent Days of some sort- so far, there are only 365 of them, but in future, who knows?

Similarly, photographers need to invent new things all the time. Wedding shoots (and Baby Bump shoots) are passe, and there is too much competition for those. Pre-wedding shoots are also running out of steam, as all the bizarre locations and poses have already been exploited.

So, the new revenue for a photographer can only come from some of the following-

Honeymooning with the couple- if Kangana could do it alone (in Queen), what's wrong with a threesome?

Bungee-jumping with the jumper, skydiving with the diver.

Research-paper writing with the researcher- a photoshoot for academic types.

Agonising over homework- candid shots of a school kid.

Slapping your tantrum-throwing kids- an in-camera slap-stick! This cannot be done outside India/Asia, as it is illegal to slap a kid in some backward Western countries.

Suicide in progress- laws will have to be amended to make the photographer not guilty as an abettor.

You get the picture, right? Other ideas could be-

Doctor-patient conversations, lawyer-client meetings, first dates as a reality check, first kiss- no, let's not go there...