An Open Letter To Tanmay Agarwal

Hello,

I am sick and tired of this thing that you are running in the name of a workshop which has in fact turned into a physical and psychological torture for some of us. I am afraid but I don’t think you are any spiritual guru though you seem to be a failingly aspiring one at that. A person who practices exactly opposite of what he preaches is unfortunately no where close to even becoming a friend, let alone spiritual guru.
Also after the behaviour you have meted out to us and especially me in the last few days cements my belief on that. I still went on carrying out your dictated terms only with the hope of its end and because I don’t want my fellow classmates to be affected anyway.
What happened in the last few days, especially the last two days and the conversation between us at the end of it which only we two of us are witness to unfortunately has made me reach a point where I think it is now beyond my self respect and dignity to attend what you call your class. And I sincerely hope that your wide angle understanding of “ego” is exclusive of the two qualities that I have just mentioned.
I choose not to write anything dictated by you on my blog and especially promoting your website through my post which you have blatantly asked to do.
I tried to keep up my respect for you for quite some time but sadly enough I find you undeserving of that.

-Mainak

P.S.- I don’t think you have the qualities and capabilities to be a part of any academic institution.

And to my suddenly-holier-than-thou classmates, I will love to talk to you when the cataract clears. I know I’m probably making the least sense now. Good luck!

Naked.

Lighting and Lensing workshop with Tanmay Agarwal, Day 5

As it has been through these few days, I reached the institute at around 8 in the morning and started writing yesterday’s blog. I also had to upload a video that I edited all night and that being of quite a significant size needed time. So, I finished all these by another hour and a half and reached the department to find almost everyone there. The rest who were missing also joined in another ten minutes or so. We all were surprised to learn that Soumee and Hindol have been staying over for the whole night there only. Though they both have slept in segments, on the chair, resting on the table and even standing, they looked dog tired. In spite of this Hindol was still typing away on his blog. I wondered how much is he writing! I was reading others’ blogs. As I finished reading Sreecheta’s blog, https://sreecheta26.wordpress.com/2015/02/01/the-thin-red-line/, I asked the others present there whether they have read it or not. They all said yes and asked me what I feel about it? I said I need to see it in real actually to believe it. Soumee, Hindol, Jubaraj and few others were however unanimous on the stand that they do not believe a single word of it.

As it was nearing 10am by now we all shifted to class and I was still reading the remaining blogs. Sreecheta was also there, though it was somewhat decided the day before that she won’t attend the workshop anymore.

Some time passed and since the class did not start yet we thought of updating our blogs as all of us had few things to add more to those and we headed back to the internet room in the department. Also my video failed to upload properly earlier so I put it on upload again. Here it took astonishingly lesser time than earlier! (video link in yesterday’s blog). In the meantime, sir, Mr. Tanmay Agarwal, came and joined us in the net room and left to the class after exchanging greetings. We were all about to head to the class when Soumee came back and said that we can continue as he i.e. sir is going to take some time with Sreecheta separately.
Moments later, I went to the class, for some reason which I don’t remember right now and sir was talking to Jubaraj and Kirti about how to go about the day and to collect and screen a couple of films and then we can talk about it after he again joins us back then. So I said if he would like to see the video I made and he replied, “Later.” Well till here I had no idea that in another split second my day would change completely and shift on to a different track.

He suddenly picked up my blog and asked the people present in the class then about what do they think about it? Jubaraj said he had already commented and that it needed more on actuality and it seemed as if I was hiding a lot behind the humorous sarcasm. Himel expressed that it appears from Sreecheta’s and my blog that we haven’t got it yet. Kirti didn’t read it till then. Fair enough. Sir then pointed to me and asked me to join him and Sreecheta as well. So I rushed to the internet room to log out from the work that I was doing to join them as he suddenly came back and said no let’s sit here and read your blog first. He started reading it and pointing out what all image and idea almost every line of my blog is projecting. It appeared self-righteous and extremely egotistic throughout and it was only analytical and my conclusion on things without listing out the actual events. I understood what he was trying to say. I agreed. However, I knew for myself that this is not something that I have done with any intention and thought in my mind. Rather I did not have any such hidden grudge on anyone either. It was anything else but a planned attack. Honestly, at that very moment I realized that this is something intrinsic and not entirely in my conscious self. I agreed with him.
So to do away with it he offered me two options, one – an epiphany that would make me find my answer as to what’s wrong and the other is that I work on it gradually which will take time and we are not sure when that dawns. He asked me to choose and I chose epiphany.
We, all of us, except Sreecheta, are now out in the lawn, and I slightly shaken and eagerly waiting to see what’s coming my way to lead to epiphany. He asks me my age and I say 28. He says there are two islands in the campus and on one of them there are stones lying around and asked me to pick up 28 stones and build a tower that will be taller than me and aesthetically finest. Roadies task!! I said okay.
Sreecheta was called in next and asked to watch me through this, not watch over but follow. We left.
As I was about to leave for the task we were called and everyone assembled in the class again. He said, “I forgot to mention couple of things to you then which are that as long as you don’t find your answer you won’t speak to anybody or even make eye contact. If somebody crosses your path walk past with your head down.” We nodded. He then asked Sreecheta what is your question that you are looking the answer for? She said, even though human eye has variable focal length why doesn’t it behave like a zoom lens? Honestly I didn’t know what to say to her then, I guess we all felt the same.
Kirti wanted to ask or say something to me before I left but sir put in a censor mechanism there and after hearing it from her didn’t let it reach the audience. I would still like to know what it was. I still felt a little touch being several feet apart.

We left for the island. Few meters past, Kirti comes rushing to Sreecheta and they had a conversation which I couldn’t make out as I was at a distance. They return. I wait for her to come and after spotting her walking back I start towards the island again. Few steps taken, Sumana comes rushing to Sreecheta now and takes her phone away. I reach the snake island now and find not a single stone there. I wait there on the bridge for some time and then move to the duck island to check. No stone there as well. I wonder. I take a little time more to gauge what can be the way, or the purpose, what lies beneath this? I return to the department now to find no one there as well. One of the office staff calls me from inside the office, I can’t avoid but listen, he asks me to take a pair of scissors and give it to my batchmates on the shooting floor. I nod but don’t take the scissor and go check the floor. Even there I find no one. Kind of helpless I return to the department again and wait. Now there is no light either, electric supply went off. I wait there for some time and the electricity comes back. Now I walk to the outside again when I spot sir there, coming from the Café Bar. I go ahead and tell him that there are no stones around, at least not such 28 of which will be taller than me. He says even better. Figure out how you will do it. He points me to the bricks stacked up around a construction site just next to the department and said let’s remove the restriction of 28, do it with 280 but do something. I leave again but I tell him that they won’t allow me to pick these up. He says search for unclaimed ones. I leave, now determined to finish the task.

I start picking up bricks from a pile of rubbish, two at a time and dump them on the duck island. The geese around there scream their anger on me. I continue. Silently. I pile them up, one on one on another first, criss cross. Then I break it down. I put two on two now, criss cross again. I count for the first few pairs and then I stop counting. I start wondering why am I doing this, how will this lead to an epiphany sparking my answer..?! I finish till my shoulders. A tall straight tower of bricks, in balance. I spot a dried, worn out, gaping piece of tree trunk lying around. I put it on top of this. It’s more than my height now by a little. I top it with a perfect cube made of concrete. Few other bricks were there which I arrange around the tower on the ground. I place another tree trunk behind one side of the tower, just to make the base a little more stable.
By this time others of our batch have scattered around the lake on the other side doing something. I spot sir there too. I walk to him again and wait. Himel comes in the meanwhile and clicks a photo of mine with his pinhole DSLR. That’s what they all have made in this time I realize.
I speak to sir now and say that it’s done. He asks me if I have got my answer yet. I half-heartedly say not entirely but somewhat of it. He says the task is about finding the answer and not building the tower. “Is it taller than you?” I say, “Yes.” “Do you think it is the finest?” I keep mum. He leaves for lunch. They all leave for lunch one by one. I stand there, hungry. Sreecheta sitting at a distance under the shade of a tree. I think. And I think again. I realize that I know what is wrong but I haven’t started working on it yet. I knew it for some time now and I have already spoken about it to my closest ones as well. All this is happening only because even after realizing it for quite some time now I haven’t taken a hold of it and changed. I stand by the railing of pavement around the lake and wait. Wait for me to cumulate and articulate all that I already knew was wrong but didn’t pay much heed and went around. Except for close corners. I know what I need to say. I know there has been a growing disconnect between me and my surroundings for a stretch of time now. We have all grouped up and act and behave as disjointed molecules. I also know that a principle that I lived by even before coming here and also through few initial months into this place, I’ve stopped following it now. Though there are good and bad reasons to it may be but a series of events had led to this somehow. Though I have not misbehaved with anyone or offended anyone but there has been a serious lack of empathy and mutual respect that I have sensed in the recent past and have done nothing about it in myself. I know all these for quite some time now but have stayed away from it for long enough which is why it probably have shaped up into increasing arrogance and withering humility. As a matter of fact, I also know how gradually and what all have contributed to this but I cocooned myself in temporal happiness and lived with it all, happily. Virtual.

There was no epiphany yesterday. There was only the courage to get these up and speak them out. Not a silent acceptance but a vocal confession.
I decided to move. I went to ask about the class to my batchmates in the canteen and I said I now know what to say but what does Sreecheta do after that? They had no clue like me and advised me to go and speak to sir. I went, knocked on Room 204 and said all that you just read and much more. Among all that he said the most important was “you are not committed to the process and question the essentiality of it.” I nodded. He said “go and try to make the tower finest and then you need not come and talk, we will all get to see it.” I leave.

This time around I start to make it finer. I pick up the bricks with characters in them, broken, bent, twisted, deformed and start putting them around the two-bricked tower. It started looking better. I found out I can’t raise its height any more as I am losing balance on top and hence went on to make it more stable by these. I raised two support structures by its two sides till my waist and on the other two sides till my knees. There were people around this time, who weren’t there in the morning, seeing me do this. I wanted to make it look good and stand stable as I was also worried that this should not fall on any goose and kill it down. I was picking up two bricks at a time and rushing to the island and again coming back. On my way back this time I see sir standing by the lake and clicking continuous photographs of mine. I don’t look up and continue with my work. One round. Two rounds. He has now come to the island. Three rounds. On the fourth round when I picked up two more and was heading towards the island he was there and said “Chal, chalte hai.” I paused and said “achcha lag raha hai…” He said “bas wohi toh chahiye tha, aaj ke liye itna hi” I drop the bricks there and smile. But I cried within. I cried even when writing this blog.
He makes me put the bricks from where I have picked them and we walk back to the department. He said, “haath aur kapde saaf karke aa ja”. I went to the washroom and splashed cold water on my face to control.

I joined back my mates and got down to make another camera with a magnifying glass now. It was around 5pm.

(The details of this session will soon be put up in another post.)

The Army of Directors.

TALL, Day 4

A bright lazy Sunday morning and we are at the lawn in front of our department soothing in the breeze and sun. Cut to:
Inside the department, standing in a circle, identifying who is our leader. Though most of us unianimously agreed that it is Mr. TA undoubtedly, two of us had some doubts about it and they were proposing “amra sobai raja amader ei rajar rajotye” (we are all kings in this kingdom) which was soon done away with and it got clear who’s the boss, courtesy the gifted power of the gab that Mr. TA possesses.
Now that we have recognized who is the boss we needed to salute him and acknowledge his authority. But here we stand completely out of sync and trying hard to get the act together. Failing time and again.
We now decide to select someone among us to lead the troop and Mr. High Definition appears highest in people’s choices.

Here we are practicing Attention! & Stand at ease! right in front of our classroom and changing our leaders one by one as the earlier choice retires to get the act together. The batton finally moved to yours truly with two down. Though duration wise it might be the longest stay at the field but wasn’t devoid of flaws picked by the General. Mr. TA.

Finally, some respite is found as he stops us and shows us a film made on us during these three days of our monkey acts. 😛 We are asked to title the film. My title for that would be, “The Clueless Ten”. 😀

Next the conversation suddenly takes a turn towards the absent lady of the lot due to someone voicing a concern for her. Her idea or ignorance about quite a few things including herself cost her the battle. It is decided that she will have to pack bags. The march moves on.

Mr. TA then points out the terrible lack in all of our blogs in humongous proportion and asks us to raise the notch up. The entire day since then till almost midnight went in us trying to polish up our shabby act.

Here is the video link of our behind-the-blog efforts:

http://youtu.be/HZVyaQGLQEw

We then sat down on a round table conference to discuss on the issues that ignited quite a few tanks last day. Though the apparent purpose of this activity was to recollect what all happened so that we can put them down for your, the readers’, entertainment but the rather powerful underlying idea was to shed all the past baggage and march ahead lighter. Kudos to the general Mr. TA! Salute.

I could capture bits and pieces of this event but the video is pending edit. Will put it up as soon as possible.

In the evening we sit down again to understand our prime tool, the camera. Not the silent era pinhole one but the postmodern DSLR. As it has been the tradition for the last few days, we end up fumbling there too. So here is a glossary of terms that came up in the conversation, if it helps you to understand your camera better. 🙂

1. Metadata :
Metadata of a photograph means the technical details of the photo and primarily includes the focal length, f-stop (aperture), exposure time (shutter speed) and ISO enabled to click that particular photograph.

2. Modes :
Modes in a camera are the setting preset in the camera which allow certain functions of the camera to be manipulated by the user and certain others to be controlled by the camera with its own intelligence. Examples of mode are, Manual (M), Shutter Priority (Tv), Aperture Priority (Av), Program (P) etc.

3. ISO:
ISO when expanded means International Organisation for Standardisation. So how it is related to photography? Well, they have standardised a certain set of values regarding the gain of the camera hence the name. What it does is it increases the voltage gain of the pixels on a sensor which is why under low light they appear brighter. However the downside of this is more the ISO more the noise as well. Hence under high values of ISO you may have grainy images as it blows up the pixels in terms of brightness.

4. F-Stop: 
The f-number (sometimes called focal ratio, f-ratio, f–stop, or relative aperture) of an optical system is the ratio of the lens’s focal length to the diameter of the entrance pupil. It is a dimensionless number that is a quantitative measure of lens speed, and an important concept in photography. The more the F-number the lesser the aperture and vice-versa. It also controls the depth of field of the photograph. The lower the F-number the shallower is the depth of field.

5. Aperture :
The aperture is the opening through which light enters the camera. The entrance pupil is usually referred to as aperture.

6. Shutter Speed :
The speed at which the shutter falls, that is the time for as long the sensor or the film is exposed is called shutter speed. It usually ranges from few thousandth of a second to few seconds. The light or brightness of the photograph is also controlled by this parameter. This control is however used in a creative way to capture motion blur and other such images.

7. Exposure meter :
This is a linear scale on the camera that helps you preview the amount of exposure the current settings of the camera are allowing for the photograph. It moves left or right with changes in f-number, shutter speed & ISO.

8. Underexposure & Overexposure :
When a the light or brightness of a photograph is less than zero on the exposure meter, it is called as underexposed.
And when the light or brightness of a photo is more than zero on the same scale it is known as overexposed.

9. Color temperature:
Based on an ideal black body radiator the color temperature of all the colors across the spectrum are determined. To understand it easily if you heat up a black body (eg: charcoal) it glows red at one point of time and if you heat it more it turns blue and then white. Accordingly color temperature of red is the lowest and blue is highest. It is measured in Kelvin. Blue is the warmest color you see!

10: White Balance :
The very next thing that comes in line after color temperature is white balance. White balance is a method in which the user tells the camera to see white as white under various light conditions. As white reflects all light rays and hence picks up the ambient color the camera, if not pre-programmed to measure white as white the entire color tone of the photograph will be affected. Hence, as the camera is factory set to rate or recognise other colors based on a 18% grey card setting which it knows as white, it is required to set the white balance according to the light you are shooting under. Some preset settings of white balance are Daylight (around 5200K color temperature), Tungsten (3200K), Shade (7000K), etc.
Now the question may arise as why white balance and not any other color? I think the reason is because white is one end of the spectrum and is a distinct color in itself to avoid confusion.

11. Custom White Balance:
If there is a situation where none of the preset white balance settings in the camera are reproducing the same light in the photograph then you may choose to opt for customizing white balance. In a DSLR camera this property works as a setting where you will have to click that particular surface which you want the camera to recognize as white in that particular light and then utilize that photo for customizing the white balance for that particular ambiance.

12. Picture Style:
These are some presets in the camera which render a particular color tone to the photograph like monochrome, sepia, neutral, faithful etc.

Well, this doesn’t end the endless glossary of photographic jargons that are thrown in on you these days, so will update this post with another set of ten terms very soon.

Till then, happy reading!

Cheers!

Ah! Munnabhai F.T.I.I. !!!

TALL, Day 3

Sirjee, Mr. TA at work! Focal Length – 85mm. F-stop – 5.6. Shutter Speed – 1/20s

Another day starts and here we are faced with another new crisis on the same lines. Alpha58 didn’t write his blog. Now that’s a block. Oops! Lensing terms again. 😉 Well, so as you may now predict, the class halts. Back to square one. The drama unfolds. A verbal tempest between him, Mr. TA & yours truly. And slowly another one makes her presence felt in our support system. The irony, on hindsight, of this spat I feel was that we all were arguing about related issues but standing on separate grounds. Alpha58 was venting out his rooted frustration and was defending his act of defiance, of not completing what was supposed to be completed. The lady was trying to stand up for free will on the ground of her doubts being left unanswered and the class wasn’t allowing that to happen and I was rather angry about the waste of sessions after sessions on the point of someone lagging for/by his own choice. My stand being that how long will we keep on skipping the more important things on these individual grounds. I was actually in my mind speaking for the benefit of the class which I think was largely misunderstood by others, unfortunately. Mr. TA was however polished in his handling of the situation and he made humble efforts to calm us down without obviously letting his stand down. So, basically everything was in a mess and we were all stuck at the same point. Spotlight shifted to the other defiant one who had a block with blog again and was shooting out Powerpoints without any power in his point. So he succumbed in two tackles and was out of the class to write his blog. We all got a timeout.
Mr. TA said ta-ta and left for his temporary abode in Melies House.
Behind the screen now, I start a conversation with the peers on how do they think this is going and are they happy about the workshop? Strange enough I find resonance in them but in different sense. Here lies the turning point of my story, the eye-opener if you may call it so, few counts down on my f-stop and I get to see something which makes me go, “Oh bhencho! main bhi toh yehi chaah raha hun!! Phir ho kyun nahi raha hai…?!!” They, there were five six of them hence not trying to name, were in unison with me to agree that we have learned nothing on lighting or lensing but whatever we have learned is important too and that we all are equally eager to learn all about camera and lights and we will do anything to start that, which includes all that Mr. TA asks us to do. They also agreed that we are similarly angry about this workshop not progressing. I was surprised and told them that’s exactly what I want too and I have not had any problem with whatsoever Mr. TA has asked us to do. They countered by asking me that do I realize that by trying to debate about this I am also contributing in the delay of the class as well..?! And the flash popped up firing itself the brightest. The wider image sunk in. That was the last shot for me. 🙂

There was a post lunch session after this, which Alpha58 chose not to attend and we were trying to figure out how to be warm enough to someone to make him skip his house-warming but unfortunately again he chose to leave eventually. In the middle of this however we were one by one leaving to try the silence-theory with Alpha58 with a latent target to fetch him back. And it was close to 5pm when three of us succeeded to do so.

Well, the realization that dawned on me late is the amazing approach towards things Mr. TA practices and is leading us towards to. I have to admit, it does reinforce my trust on Sirjee. Kya baat hai! Maza aa gaya! Though he doesn’t exercise “jaadu ki jhappi” but he promotes the same philosophy of “Gandhigiri” and wants us to do so among ourselves. Fair enough, but how far and long is truce still?!
As the eminent writer, Paulo Coelho says, “Life starts when you move out of your comfort zone”, here we are faced with the same crisis everyday which eventually results in a loss of several man-hours on the work front but when seen as a larger picture I believe it’s for the betterment of “us” in entirety.
Though by the end of 2 and 3/4^th days into the workshop we have progressed only a baby step towards the set agenda but truce was smelt close enough. And with a renewed understanding of the situation and newborn love for each other and ‘aadarniya Sirjee’, Mr. TA, we finally move on to rather narrow ourselves down to Cinema and hence Camera. Phew! Now let’s get down to some work.

Continued to Day 3, with the cameras that we made yesterday, we now go out experimenting with the pinhole cameras. Unfortunately though I/we have missed taking photographs of every step that we traced with our ‘Camera Obscura’ but it’s worth mentioning in the text.

The Subject.
Focal Length – 79mm, F-Stop – 9, Shutter Speed – 1/200s , ISO – 1000

Light at the end of the Tunnel… I mean Pinhole! Focal Length – 41mm, F Stop – 8, Shutter Speed – 1/20s, ISO- 800

So, as I already mentioned above, about the whats and hows of a pinhole camera the fundamentals must be somewhat clear for you.

An inverted image of a hanging bulb through the pinhole camera. Focal Length – 92mm, F Stop – 6.3, Shutter Speed – 1/20s, ISO – 800

It is important to remember here that the image formed is inverted. As you can see on the left, we were viewing a tungsten bulb hanging from the top but the image you see here is of an upright bulb. Hence the image formed is inverted as it is even the case with normal human eye where the brain has a mechanism to invert the image formed and hence we see things as they are. In modern cameras as well the primary image formed is inverted but a mirror set up next inverts the image before it comes to the viewfinder. Thus you can realise that this device is the most basic imaging device that can be made and I must admit I just realised under the mentoring of Mr. TA that all the necessary fundamentals of photography can be easily made crystal clear through this device. A glimpse of the experiments we did are given below which I think will give you an idea of what I’m talking about.

Experiment 1: We remove the viewfinder part and check the image.

Focal Length – 55mm, F-stop: 5.6, Shutter Speed – 1/50s

Result: The image is lower on intensity, reason being the ambient light falling on the part where the image has formed. The light from the surroundings is not blocked and hence it fades the brightness of the image formed.
Hence the viewfinder is necessary in a camera.

Experiment 2:

Focal Length – 18mm, F-stop: 4.5
Shutter Speed: 1/60s

We make the pinhole bigger in diameter.

Focal Length: 18mm,
F-Stop: 4.5
Shutter Speed: 1/60s

Result: The image formed is blurry. As a bigger hole means a multiple number of pinholes overlapping each other and hence more light enters through it and thus overlap of several images within an non-perceivable distance makes it appear blurry.
The photographic conclusion here is bigger the aperture more is the incident light.

Experiment 3:

Focal Length – 18mm,
F-Stop: 4.5
Shutter Speed: 1/60s

Focal Length: 18mm
F-Stop: 4.5
Shutter Speed: 1/60s

We check the image of the same light source in a smaller diameter camera and a bigger diameter camera. That is the diameter of the tube of the two cameras are different and not the pinhole diameter.

Focal Length: 18mm
F-Stop: 4.5
Shutter Speed: 1/60s

Result: The image formed in the bigger diameter pinhole camera is larger in size. This is because in a larger diameter camera, the sensor i.e. the image forming plane is also larger in size. Also in the thinner tube the image gets cropped as a tele lens.
So the photographic conclusion here is bigger the sensor larger the image.

Experiment 4: Stick the viewfinder side of the pinhole camera to our eyes and see and then see it from a little distance which is our average reading distance.
Result: The image when viewed from a reading distance is more sharp and easy to see.
The photographic inference drawn here is the viewfinder should be at a reading distance from the sensor. In modern cameras the use of diopter is what helps in adjusting this.
(P.S. – Sorry! A video for this couldn’t be uploaded. Will do it ASAP.)

Experiment 5: Multiple pinholes on the camera.

A pinhole camera with multiple pinholes.
Focal Length: 45mm
F-Stop: 6.3
Shutter Speed: 1/20s

Result: Multiple recognizable inverted images.

Multiple images formed through the above pinhole camera. Focal Length – 48mm, F Stop – 6.3, Shutter Speed – 1/20s, ISO – 800

6. Experiment 6:
We try with two pinhole cameras of different lengths.

Focal Length: 55mm
F-Stop: 5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/100s

Result:-
The one with the longer tube looks bigger and the one with the smaller tube looks smaller.

Focal Length: 55mm
F-Stop: 5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/100s

Focal Length: 55mm
F-Stop: 5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/100s

The photographic conclusion of this is that the longer tube works as a tele lens and the smaller tube works as a wide lens.

7.  Experiment 7:
If we move the pinhole towards the left and right keeping the  object in frame.
Result:
The image exits in the opposite direction as it is inverted that is when we move the camera to left the image exits left too and vice-versa.
(P.S. – Sorry! A video for this couldn’t be uploaded. Will do it ASAP.)

8. Experiment 8:
This is not an experiment as such but a question in fact. Why is the brightest object only visible through the pinhole camera?
A: After all these experiments we are still at the lurch wondering why is it that only strong light sources can only be seen through a pinhole camera and not anything else.

Though we see a character standing behind the light still we can’t get his image on our camera.
Focal Length: 57mm
F-Stop: 5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/20s
ISO – 800

Well the answer to that is since the pinhole allows only a miniscule amount of light to pass through the normal human eye can’t see anything of that low intensity and hence only strong light sources are only recognizable on the imaging membrane. So now the next question arises as to how to reach that? When and how will we be able to see a brighter and sharper image through a pinhole? My answer to that is, this is where lens comes in. A pinhole is only the aperture, which is the iris part of human eye. Unless and until there is a lens fixed just behind the iris the images formed won’t be sharper and brighter. Hence a lens, which is of the focal length equal to the distance between the pinhole and the membrane of that particular camera will help in converging more light rays much accurately on the membrane to form a sharper and brighter image. This is exactly what Giambatista did to a pinhole camera in the 16^th or 17^th century.
So we have traversed 7 centuries in one day which erases all my doubts to claim that “There is Light at the End of the Tunnel… umm I mean Pinhole!!”

Cheers!

Keep Calm & Follow Sir

TALL, Day 2

Other than what I learned today and how’s it different, the mandatory questions to be answered in today’s blog are:

1. If the human eye has a lens of variable focal length then why doesn’t the image magnification change when the focal length changes, i.e. why can’t we zoom in as we do in a camera?
2. Post eye surgery, how does the newly implanted lens adapt to the “accommodation” mechanism of the eye?

I will answer the second one first. Whenever there is a surgical replacement of the lens in the human eye, the replaced lens i.e. IOL (Intraocular lens) is what is implanted in the eye. These are mostly monofocal lenses and are matched with distant vision. These lenses do not have any “accommodation” qualities in general and also the Ciliary muscles of the eye don’t aid these to achieve the “accommodation” mechanism that what used to be natural. So a pair of spectacles are must to attain near-vision after surgery regardless of the age of the person.

Secondly, there are multi-focal IOLs available now at a much higher price range which accommodate far and a little bit of near vision as well but the eye rather the ciliary muscles in the eye remain dysfunctional only.

Now going back to the first question, the difference between a camera zoom lens and a normal human eye, though both being of variable focal lengths, is the field of view. With a zoom lens, when narrowed in, the field of view becomes narrower which crops out the periphery gradually to give a sense of closer reach towards the subject. Whereas, in human eye the field of view doesn’t change with change in focal length. Which is why again in a camera lens the zoom mechanism has nothing to do with focus on the subject. You can zoom in as much as you can but that doesn’t ensure focus on anything. The focus ring and the zoom ring are two completely different entities. Whereas, the “accommodation” mechanism in the eye is about setting the focus on the subject than narrowing the field of view.

Hence, even after having a variable focal length, the human eye doesn’t behave like a camera zoom lens.

Now to come to the standard content and intent of publishing this blog is the daily learning that we gather from the workshop.
As the title of the blog suggests and as the respected guest lecturer, Mr. Tanmay Agarwal suggests that any dialogue is a power game and all we intend to do with any dialogue is look down upon the other person and that making the effort of being silently present by the side of any irresponsible person will automatically embarrass that person and turn him/her into a responsible being that too pretty immediately, I choose to be silent on anything and everything that happened today.

Thank you.

TALL – Tanmay Agarwal Lighting Lensing workshop.

Ah! Another workshop. “Lighting” and “Lensing”!! Bas yeh seekh jayenge toh bhencho* ban hi jayenge, Philim makers!!

Day 1:
(Regular class hours) 😉

Before you start reading this post further, dig out your cell phone and switch it off, because that’s how it is. In the world of films, whether you are learning the basicest-basics in class or shooting it or you are watching it at an upscale multiplex “theatre near you” you should have your cell phone OFF. So basically, don’t have it.
That’s it. Rule set. No, wait.
Now keep it on the edge of something high up in your room so that even if the lizard on the wall farts the phone should fall down. “There should be some damage!”
Don’t worry, do it, I am just making this blog interactive for you. 😉

So, here we go, with all our phones piled up one above another kept on a dangling chair, quite a few of which have a reputation of doing away with their entire table-tops forget our pretty phones.

Next, we are out collecting sticks to hit ourselves!! Neo-jainism! Punish yourself to attain moksha and all that. Halfway through the first half of the workshop we are looking at ten collected sticks and searching philosophical associations with it when we are pulled into this profound debate of whether to show an apple as an apple or an apple as a pear?! Our good friend JJ found some emotional resonance with this phrase and professed it for quite some time responsibly. He then clicked a photo of those ten sticks up against a pillar and proclaimed with an orgasmic relief, “ah! This is apple as apple!” Gandu, they are bloody sticks! 😛

So, we come to rule two.
*Flashback*: EXT. Outside Department. 10:20 AM.
Everybody is around except the guest faculty, TA. Even Hindol, the one who doesn’t pursue happiness but pursues pain, has reached, who’s usually stuck at various areas around Kolkata for some “prakritik”(natural) reasons. The mood is then chill, relax, apne jaisa lagta hai, achha banda hai, thoda late chalega phir, cool.

*Back to Now*: Same place, 11:45AM
TA: “If the class is from 10, reach here at 09:45.”

I wish I could draw one of those stick figure memes here saying “Le me, Total Confused!” 😮

Finally, after the eternal realization about collective responsibility as a team and the philosophy of filmmaking and deciding to give each other “wake-up calls like demo” (chalo, demo ka kuchh toh kaam aaya… sshh, don’t tell her) we enter the class and get down to work.

Task one, to click a shot of those piled up phones! JJ again goes looking for an apple-as-apple with his new Alpha58! We all find our sweet spots, which were not so sweet, health conscious people you see, and click photos of that pile.
Review time. And we have a 360 degree demo shots of the pile of phones! Phew! Guru TA, picks up my photo and says, “this looks like the building Antilla!” Actually, let me tell you a secret, the man is from School of Planning and Architecture, unko har jagah building dikhta hai…!! Tabhi ek ke upar ek rakhwaya tha… Old habits, die hard. 😉
Anyway, jokes apart, now I know what is an apple-as-pear.

Post lunch. Task two.
TA: “There are quite a few bridges around. Go and click one picture-perfect shot of any one Bridge.”

(Maine kaha tha na Guruji planning & architecture se hain..!! Dekha..?!)

So here it is, the one by yours truly,

Phir pareshan! Guruji successfully perplexes me about what is this a photo of?! The red pipe or the bridge or the man coming down the bridge?! So after all this and getting a 6/10 for the photo from my peers, now I know how to shoot an apple as pear, as orange and as grape!

Hold yourself, there’s some more to go. By the end of day one of TALL, we are profusely confused about what the fuck is focal length and some of us are even debating if the lens of our eye changes shape or our eye moves back and forth to focus on subjects?! Also whether focal length of human eye is variable or fixed?! Beat that.

Wait, will sort it out.
Focal length is the distance between the centre of a lens and the focused image of an object when the object is at infinity.
Human eye focuses on anything by thickening or flattening the lens with the help of the muscles around it.
Focal length of the human eye is variable indeed as the shape of the lens changes to “accommodate” the image the focal length varies. That is, the converging point, the plane of image formation (not retina) changes every time we look at objects of different distances.

Anyway, eagerly looking forward to day two of TALL and as Guruji says, “Swanta sukhaye” !! 🙂