Android Editors Sunday Feature by Shreyas Jani

Description:
This photo was an experimental photograph. I wanted to blend in layers while keeping in mind that the subjects in the layers never overshadowed each others & spoilt their presence. The software I used for blending was lent to me by @sachiiin. This has been shot on my study table, which serves as a dark background to most of my works. Three screws of different sizes were taken, just because I have a weird obsession w/ odd numbers. Also, prior to the shoot, I had downloaded new font families, so adding them would have made me judge on how & when I would be using a specific font family! I was totally bored. The idea from this shot comes from applied mathematics. I study engineering, while I can’t keep in terms w/ maths. So I was somewhat “screwed” at that time, & not in a state of mind to continue solving problems. Those screws were a part of a tripod stand I was making at home. I set in the right amount of *natural light* coming in, adjusted the focus, placed my wrist watch behind to get some depth-of-field highlights & clicked.

Editing process:
I use my primary device, Htc Sensation’s 8mp shooter to click photographs. I never click w/Instagram’s built-in camera. If you are having difficulty judging how to highlight the subject while not losing it in the mandatory square crop, turn on the grid/guide lines in the camera. This helps a lot while deciding at what distance you would have to keep the camera so as to get a good pic. If you use a tripod, always use self timer after manually focussing on the subject. This helps cut down slight vibrations caused by pressing the shutter.

Mostly I rely upon custom settings, but @sachiiin had previously liked the way I had clicked a photo illustrating depth-of-field. So for this photo, I had decided that the focus totally would be on the screws, which were also depicting the state of my mind ATM, while the watch behind depicting passing time.

Post processing is also done on this device. I don’t have a laptop/pc at home ATM, so every bit of my work is post processed on my device.

I start off w/ PicShop pro, square crop the image, decrease brightness & increase contrast. Save the image, move to Sketchbook pro. Here, I start w/importing the image I just saved. Then I import #ndpatterns. The pattern gets overlayed on the image. Now, in the drop-down which says normal, I click on & change it to “add”. The images get blended. Now I use the eraser tool, set opacity to 100 & start erasing things I don’t want. Child’s work, although I make sure I don’t lose on the details! Save image. Export to gallery. Go to PicShop, do a square crop again because the Sketchbook exports the pic w/ a white background on the top & bottom. Enter Phonto, I had downloaded a new font “Rex Bold Inline”, & incidentally, it had a thin line in between. So that worked for me!

Proper placement of the font & I am done. Saved & ready for upload. Once in Instagram, I used the Hudson filter.

Proper credits too are important, & a watermark on the image helps too. All my work is original unless & until I have collaborated w/ an artist.

Bio:
Hi, I am Shreyas Y.Jani. I am a 19 y/o mechanical engineering student from the university of Mumbai, MH, Republic of India. I stay in suburban Mumbai. Besides that, I am a forum moderator at xda-developers.com.

I got into photography when I got a Nikon l-22 point & shoot, although I got up, close & personal w/photography after I got my #htcsensation #android device. @sujangalaxy has been instrumental in inspiring me to click photos, while another guy Siddharth, helped me w/ his constructive criticism every time I showed him my work! The Instagram community too has been appreciative about my work!

I still am an amateur at photography . I mostly like typography on my pics. @ruchi_12 makes sure I work w/ typography extensively. My work is inspired from other photographers. @onurbayindir has been a great inspiration to get me working w/ typography, although his work is much more superior than anyone else’s, where typography & minimalism is concerned.

I don’t follow more than 90 people. If I like some work, I make sure to visit the profile time to time & get inspiration. If the work is flawless, I follow that artist while un-following a someone I have been following for a long time. Continued efforts & looking around at how people use their devices,perspectives & their dedication to the art keeps me indulged w/ clicking & editing. Sometimes it does happen that I lose interest in a particular photographer’s style & ideas, I promptly un-follow, but make sure that I check back after some time has passed away. A great photographer doesn’t have to consistently produce great photos. For me, it doesn’t make sense to follow a hundreds of people if I don’t have time to look at their work, which meaning, I always take out time to look at each & every photo on my feed.

Thank you Android Editors for appreciating my work & featuring me. Thank you all for reading till the end!