Software Photography

Often, the real world that we see around does not seem something that one would want to capture in a frame. The real world is a default mixture of colours, textures and materials. On the other hand, photography is the careful measurement of colours, textures and materials in a frame that creates & gives visual pleasure. We encounter a lot of visual content today as we live our everyday lives. Therefore, one may not always be able to find an appropriate frame to capture through a camera. Everyday lives thus secure a relegated position in our social set-ups. The aesthetic of the everyday lives is rejected since it is difficult to measure the right amount of it for a perfect visual frame.

In this context, the introduction of the handy digital cameras and further the mobile phone cameras have enabled a huge mass to experiment with visuals. In order that photography becomes accessible, what a photographer normally 'adjusts' has been converted into a kind of implicit 'code'. Thus we have phones with numerous embedded camera softwares which are able to change the captured photographs (which would otherwise hold no aesthetic value) into something that appeals everyone's eyes.

Recently, I decided to engage in these photo software applications that I downloaded on my phone over the Android Market. Having studied the effect of the photographs I took, I invariably found myself clicking everywhere around. Even the most mundane scene around me would be changed into a stunningly interesting palette. Sepia, black and white, varied frames, etc, reduce the number of decisions you need to make (regarding frame, colour, light, etc.) and yet give out interesting results.

However, looking back at the whole process, I believe the escape from colour by choosing to click pictures in a black and white mode allowed me to study 'form' in greater detail than the colour. As architects, we are always more interested in form than the colour. With colour photographs, one has to be sure if it's being taken in the right kind of light. Places become photogenic because of their natural light conditions. In some places (as I once discussed with my colleagues), the light conditions throughout are so beautiful that any frame you capture gives a pleasing result. The camera otherwise, is not able to capture always, what you see with your naked eye. That can be really disturbing. Thus, the absence of colour in a black & white photograph creates shades of greys that always supplement the content of the frame. Moreover, this mode defines the diagram of things, rather than distracting you in its visual content. Further, the softwares help emphasize this diagram by strategically enhancing the tones that heighten the sense of perceiving a picture. That is the reason why you have camera 'modes'