Follow his advice and you could be a winner in “Celebrating My City.” This is Canon Middle East’s photography competition, which runs through April 20 and encourages photographers of all abilities to submit a metropolis inspired image from the region. One winner from each of the thirteen participating countries will take home a DSLR EOS 500D or Pixma Pro 9500 Mark II photo printer. The grand prize winner will be awarded an all expenses paid trip to Dubai and Beirut, as well as Canon’s latest DLSR — the EOS 550D.
The competition is open to amateur and professional photographers, either citizens or expatriates residing in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. To enter the competition or to view images submitted, visit www.gulfphotoplus.com/canoncompetition. Note that each photographer may submit only one photo for the competition. The photo can be taken with any camera, but winning photos must be made available to Canon in high-resolution format, and a release must be signed by any person recognizable in the image.
“Canon Middle East is committed to supporting photography in the region and aims to empower creativity among grass root photography enthusiasts and professionals alike. The great cities of the world have inspired some of the most iconic images of recent times, so it’s only fitting that the theme of this year’s regional competition is Celebrate My City. Given the diverse cityscapes across the Middle East we are anticipating receiving some amazing images from local Saudi based photographers that capture the essence of the Kingdom’s city life,” said Hendrik Verbrugghe, CCI marketing manager, Canon Middle East.
So how can you picture a winning city scene? Mohdad believes that a great shot begins in the photographer’s imagination.
“Before taking your camera and going out hunting for great images of your favorite city, close your eyes and think about what makes that city your favorite. Then create a photograph of that thought in your visual mind,” he explained. “If you ask me to do this exercise, the city of Tripoli in north Lebanon will be my favorite city due to my experiences there as a photographer and filmmaker, plus small everyday moments that remain in my memories.”
Mohdad has shared with Arab News’ readers a few of his photographs of Tripoli to highlight some of the techniques that separate good photographs from more mundane images. He has found that “exceptional” photographs are ones that either cause people to react or those that provide a clear message about an unusual situation or event. Photographs are composed not only of shadows and light, but also by the angle of the lens and what might be included or excluded from the composition.
Once you’ve found your favorite city scene, be very still while taking the photograph - don’t even breathe - and then shoot the scene again and again, varying it just a little. Move forward and backward, to the left and to the right and of course, up and down. Change the angle and if your camera allows it zoom in and out and change the lens. Then, download the images to your computer, where they can be fully viewed. Move the best shots to a separate folder and print the very best of these.
“Good light will make a good picture with well saturated colors, and black and white density. There is no reason to use a flash when photographing a city,” said Mohdad. “Usually the light in cities is best in the early morning or afternoon. Night photographs can be attractive, but for that use a tripod or put your camera on a steady support for shooting clear images with long shutter speeds.”
Light is what can give the photograph charm or create an unusual scene. Images are most often taken with the photographer’s back to the sun, but placing the lighting source to the left or right can create extended shadows that reveal or hide city features. In modern cities a building’s façade may be glass or polished materials. Using such surfaces can create the illusion of a framed image inside the main photograph.
Digital single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras offer amazing versatility, but don’t think that you can’t get a great image with something more basic. Mohdad pointed out that many of today’s mobile handsets include cameras that capture high-resolution images and are equipped with quality lenses.
“In fact, I was outside yesterday taking some photos with my mobile phone,” Mohdad commented. “To take shots with a handset, first clean the lens to remove all the dust and fingerprints. Then, carefully look at the scene you want to photograph. Don’t try to shoot moving objects with a mobile handset and be sure the focal point of the image is well lit. Move to the best position so there’s no need to use the zoom. Consider the scene and then hold the handset steady, even stabilize it on something firm. Click, be still and do it again from a slightly different position. View the photos on a computer before making any editing decisions.”
The Canon competition allows just one entry per person so Mohdad encourages photographers to first look at photographs of the Arab World online at www.arabimages.com and other sites. Then join a photo-sharing site to get feedback from others about your shots before entering the competition. “Finally,” he said, “you should always keep in mind, that photography is nothing other than writing your feelings about a subject by using the light.”
