Challenge and Selection  I was interested in photography since childhood. But, in India a kid pursuing photography as hobby is  looked down upon and doomed to fail in his future. Hence, I pursued engineering as everyone else. To  be easier on myself, I was interested in the gizmos and paraphernalia, and had a skill for coding and  hence pursued computer science engineering. Post engineering, I bought myself a mid-level dslr and  started clicking passionately. I clicked 100 straight days in manual mode and acquired plenty of photos.  Few were great by luck, but most of them were worse with no purpose of keeping them in my hard  drive. I started showing my photos (respectively good ones) to my friends and colleagues and they each  said how I should improve and what is lacking in the photographs which I made.

The challenge was to somehow improve my photos and make them liked by my social circle. I chose the  same set of environment and similar scenario to click images but with a twist in them. The tool I used  was the mind-mapping where I jotted down various elements which could have gone wrong. Starting  from color of the image to positioning of the subject with respect to the negative space.

Application  I then short listed the major parameters I can change and the element which I could improve upon  instantly was the vantage point. Vantage point is the viewing angle of a person. So, I started changing  the vantage point of my camera. Sometimes I will click from the flat ground and other times I would  raise my hand high in the air to get a birds’ eye view.

Insight  Over the period of next hundred days I changed my vantage point and started clicking again. The image  quality had not changed much but now the same set of friends and colleagues started liking the images.  This changed the people opinion towards the images. The color and the contrast were still off but they  found something different and since they had never seen such a vantage point, most of my viewers  started liking the images. I noted that people liked something which is much different then what they  see usually.

Post my insight of changing the vantage point, I worked my scene with various other parameters. I  created an arrow diagram making those parameters inter-dependent to each other and what to do  when I need to work the scene.

Approach  Mind mapping helped me chart out what steps I needed to improve in my image and to date I use the  mind map technique to work my scene and get the best results out of it. Starting with where the sun is  located, where should I place my subject, where should it’s shadow fall, whether I want the shadow in  my frame, what’s in the background, whether the negative space is distracting, whether I can follow the  1/3rd rule or the s-curve to improve the image and finally whether my ISO, aperture and shutter speed  are rightly set.


Challenge and Selection I was interested in photography since childhood . But , in India a kid pursuing photography as hobby is looked down upon and doomed to fail in his future . Hence , I pursued engineering as everyone else . To be easier on myself , I was interested in the gizmos and paraphernalia , and had a skill for coding and hence pursued computer science engineering . Post engineering , I bought myself a mid - level dslr and started clicking passionately . I clicked 100 straight days in manual mode and acquired plenty of photos . Few were great by luck , but most of them were worse with no purpose of keeping them in my hard drive . I started showing my photos ( respectively good ones ) to my friends and colleagues and they each said how I should improve and what is lacking in the photographs which I made . The challenge was to somehow improve my photos and make them liked by my social circle . I chose the same set of environment and similar scenario to click images but with a twist in them . The tool I used was the mind - mapping where I jotted down various elements which could have gone wrong . Starting from color of the image to positioning of the subject with respect to the negative space . Application I then short listed the major parameters I can change and the element which I could improve upon instantly was the vantage point . Vantage point is the viewing angle of a person . So , I started changing the vantage point of my camera . Sometimes I will click from the flat ground and other times I would raise my hand high in the air to get a birds ’ eye view . Insight Over the period of next hundred days I changed my vantage point and started clicking again . The image quality had not changed much but now the same set of friends and colleagues started liking the images . This changed the people opinion towards the images . The color and the contrast were still off but they found something different and since they had never seen such a vantage point , most of my viewers started liking the images . I noted that people liked something which is much different then what they see usually . Post my insight of changing the vantage point , I worked my scene with various other parameters . I created an arrow diagram making those parameters inter - dependent to each other and what to do when I need to work the scene . Approach Mind mapping helped me chart out what steps I needed to improve in my image and to date I use the mind map technique to work my scene and get the best results out of it . Starting with where the sun is located , where should I place my subject , where should it ’s shadow fall , whether I want the shadow in my frame , what ’s in the background , whether the negative space is distracting , whether I can follow the 1/3rd rule or the s - curve to improve the image and finally whether my ISO , aperture and shutter speed are rightly set .