Interview with Sherif Karas Part 2

Ur documentary shots are impressive , whats ur standard "bag" of equipment when u go out on the streets , to take those beautiful shots...?

I do it with my DSLR camera while using a tele zoom lens for people or wide angle for general shots like streets or buildings.

How do u manage to shoot people in the street smoothly without any troubles , tell us ur experience there , cause sometimes (and this happened to me personally) , u can meet one or 2 people who arent happy about it....

Well if you’re shooting with a big camera like SLRs you’ll certainly face a lot of problems but if it’s a small one then it’s much easier, my advice to those who are using big noticed cameras is to use tele zoom lenses & do the shot quickly to avoid others sensitivity & their feeling of being in spot.

Tell us how its different , shooting for a magazine , than when ure out shooting for fun , i assume theres pressure .

Well it’s not a matter of pressure, it’s a matter of meeting your client needs because you’ll be paid & getting the best shot because your name will be on it.

Frankly each photo i take i do it with professionalism & not fun because I might use it commercially after that.

Shooting editorials has certain requirements , i assume , cause u have page layouts to consider , like when ure shooting a mag cover for example , u have to leave enough space, consider color choices , because u have to take in account the headlines , and all the writing that goes on the picture..... tell us more about that from ur experience.....

That’s for sure ahmed, if you’re working with a magazine then you should know the magazine’s art director requirements in your shot first then you put your special sense to it & do it with several shots to let him choose from.

Interview with Sherif Karas Part 1

A while back ive been lucky enough to get the chance to interview one talented artist , Sherif Karas . And now ive finally got the chance to post the interview , so enjoy ....

# So tell us Sherif how it all started, how u and photography came to know each other , when the love began...?

Since my childhood, my dad had this hobby too, he owned an old Zenit SLR traditional camera with a basic & wide angle lenses + a tripod.

Of course i realized that it was much complicated than other point & shoot cameras that i was used to see with our friends & since i didn’t like complications at all i only started to use this camera at the age of 16.

There are really two main things that pushed me towards photography:

First was that i feel like i really have a lot of imagination & a good eye to select the right scene . You can consider that genetic or a way of raising (more or less) since my father & uncle are both painters & designers too . So my eyes got used to see alot of art in a very young age whether from my family or from works of others which my dad has always taken me to see.

Unfortunately i don’t have the gift of painting so that’s why i’ve headed to photography as a means to bring out my ideas.

Second because i really loved to study cinematography & i found that it was pretty basic to start from photography since it really intensify all in a shot.

# Great thats as far as the emotions part goes, now how did u start proffesionally , i notice u do a lot of editorials , tell us how u made ur self noticable to the magazines out there , did u mail them ? Connections ? how did that come about..?

At first, my intentions were to practice photography as an art & nothing else . So i took this thing seriously in the year 2005 when i bought myself a 3.2 megapixel camera & decided to make an exhibition to see others’ feedback.

In November 2005 i’ve held my first exhibition at Elsawy culture wheel under the name (A taste from Egypt) where i’ve tried to present some faces & places that still preserve their genuine Egyptian look.

Right after the exhibition i’ve been interviewed by Egypttoday magazine in an article considering photographers in Egypt & i then found my name among those giants of photography in Egypt & categorized as one who represents a new school of photography . http://www.egypttoday.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=6341

Shooting high key using windows

Its a simple trick , just place the subject infront of a window on a sunny day and slow down ur shutter speed a lil ( anywhere between 1/40 to 1/10 at 2.8 depending on the brightness outside ) overexposing ur background ( window ) which will look white in the photo , then use flash to nicely expose ur subject . Again the flash strength will depend on ur external brightness and aperture size . This pic is a quick demonstration of the technique on my cousin :) ...

Integrity and predictability by Tammy Cravit

A good read from Tammys blog , heres a teaser :

So, take a look at your portfolio and marketing materials. Are they fully communicating the range of what you can -- and want to -- do? Are they communicating areas of work which you don't want to do, but which you included because someone told you that you have to? Are they showing the types of work and assignments you really want to land? If not, what can you do to make sure that your samples speak with integrity about what you're about and what kind of work and style you want to be doing? What can you change to make it better?

For the full article check http://nicepicslady.blogspot.com/2008/02/integrity-and-predictability.html

selflearning

Dan Heller said:

1:Painting by the Numbers

I am asked the following question far too often:
"What were your camera settings when you took that picture? It would really help me to know that, because I'm a beginner."
This reminds me of the story where Ansel Adams was teaching a photo workshop in Yosemite National Park, and a student raised his hand. "What was the aperture setting and shutter speed on that photo?", asked the student as he pointed to a classic black and white print of Half Dome. Ansel replied without batting an eyelash, "f64 at 2 seconds." This prompted another student to do the same, "And what about that photo?" Again, he quickly replied, "f32 at 1 second." This goes on and on, while the students scribble in their notebooks the technical information they were told, as if the magician were giving away secrets. Finally, someone
asked, "How do you remember all that information?" This time, the answer was more direct, "I don't. I'm making it up." The pencils stopped. He continued, "beginners always wonder about this information, but it's meaningless. When we get to learning how to shoot, it won't even occur to you to ask such questions."
http://www.danheller.com/tech-intro.html

Some awesome photo courses

News news news ... For all of u living in dubai , or going there anytime around May . Checkout these photocourses by some pretty famous photographers ....

http://www.gulfphotoplus.com/gppnew/Main.php?Show=N&PH=All&Lev=%3C+Show+All+Levels+%3E&EventID=18&Page=ScheduleLayoutOrder.php&SS=