Your Opticam

“We see the world, not as it is, but as we are──or, as we are conditioned to see it.”

- Stephen R. Covey

To start with, I would like to give a little introduction to the title that I chose for my topic. But before that, my topic is going to be based on photography, so if you are photoholic, this blog post is for you. “Opti” has the meaning “light; sight” from Greek and “cam”, as we all know is often an abbreviated form of “camera”.

Now, the reason why I chose “Opticam” as the title is because, our eyes have the ability to capture every moment, just like a camera. A camera and an eye both have lenses and light sensitive structures. The iris controls the amount of light that enters the eye. The lens helps focus the light. The retina is a light-sensitive surface at the back of the eye. It captures an image of what you are looking at. The retina functions much like a film in the camera. It receives the image that the cornea focuses (or what you are seeing) and sends impulses to the brain along the optic nerve. Our brain then stores the image, ‘just like a camera’, which we call it as ‘memory’. And this is how our eyes are similar to a camera, and hence the name “Your Opticam”.

Photography has changed the way we see the world.

Photography has allowed us to see the world in a way we cannot. Due to advancement in technologies, everything from the interior of bacteria to faraway planets can be photographed. Photographs of distant galaxies have given us the ability to know about the formation of our Galaxy, Sun and the planets. Photography has also allowed us to see the changes that took place over time in nature. In other words, photography is nearly 200 years old, this means that we have an accurate record of how places have changed or altered over time.

Photography can affect your memory in two ways, positively and negatively.

According to a study, we get caught up in something known as “self-presentational concern”. Well, to explain it in brief, some people have a habit of clicking pictures of the ‘delicious’ dishes before eating and posting it on Instagram. This habit may affect the person’s memory in a negative way. It will make it harder for the person to remember how the food tasted. And this is because they are concerned about how presentable they are to others.

Contrarily, the act of taking a photo can positively affect your memory, if the photo was taken for yourself and not for sharing or any other purposes. Research shows that taking a photo in the moment will allow you to live in the moment and increase the pleasure that you derive from it.

Now let’s dive into the different kinds of software or tools used to edit the photos and as to why clicking a picture on the phone is an option.

Clicking a picture on your phone is just another option.

I have seen many people go around in search of expensive cameras to click a “perfect picture”. I am not saying it is not a good idea to do so, because that’s what the professional photographers do, but unless you want to become one. But sure, if you are photoholic, clicking photos by your phone’s camera is just another option. To give an example, the picture above and the pictures below were clicked by a phone’s camera. In simple words, its all about capturing the live moment and living in the moment.

Different editors used to edit the photos:

1. Adobe photoshop

When it comes to adobe, it does not need any new introduction in the world of photography. Adobe photoshop is one of the most popular photo editing software on the market. It is the primary tool for any photographer, editor, designer, artist or any illustrator out there. Unlike any other photo editing software, Adobe Photoshop is the only tool where you can find all the advanced and key features in one package. And it is because it is particularly designed for professionals.

Key Features:

• Cloning and retouching capabilities.

• Its best known for masking and selection tools.

• Comes with depth map support.

• Supports all types of files.

• Faster with larger size images.

• Uses adjustment layers for non-destructive editing.

2. Adobe Lightroom

Adobe Lightroom is known to be another best photo editing tool. In fact, it is a pioneer in releasing the best cutting-edge photo editing software. Preferably, it is perfect for the professional photographers who want a perfect tool to edit their photos. Lightroom also offers more user-friendly interface for image editing.

Key Features:

• Syncs with multiple devices.

• Sliders are customizable.

• Blurring and fixing tools.

• Gradient and brush adjusting tools.

3. Canva

Canva is one of the most popular tools to help you design your photo templates. Its known to be user-friendly and has enabled millions to edit graphics without any technical knowledge. It also allows you to add graphics and fonts to your images. Canva is a go-tool for professionals who want to edit their images for websites, social media, brochures, flyers, or other such purposes.

Key Features:

• Offers more than 8,000 templates.

• Offers speech bubble maker.

• Stores photos and designs in the cloud.

• Offers to download a mobile app, where you can edit and design your photos on the go.

• It is online and can be used on any decent computer.

4. Pixlr Editor

Pixlr is known to be a more powerful and a capable online photo editing tool. It is full-fledged photo editing web-app that offers impressive customization capabilities with a simple user interface.

Key Feature:

• Supports masks and layers.

• Allows you to choose from over 2 million effects.

• Can download its desktop and mobile version.

• Allows you to open pictures from desktop, URLs or simply import directly from social media platforms.

5. Stencil

Stencil is a web-based photo editing and designing tool that helps you create and edit images for social media, website, etc. It is mainly suitable for bloggers, small business owners, etc.

Key Features:

• Ability to store and upload multiple logos.

• Instant image resizing.

• Easy to use addons for Chrome, Firefox and Safari.

• Shares images on different social media platforms directly from your dashboard.

Not every photo has a story behind it.

Pictures have a way of telling a story in a way that words cannot describe. It captures the emotions, the memories, the anticipation of a split-second that be lost forever and makes it timeless. We believe that an ordinary moment can be magical and full of emotions. We believe that we have a story to tell. Everything has a story behind it and that it is worth of telling. And that is why we are passionate about photography.

On the other hand, I would like to say not every photo has a story behind it. It is all about capturing the live moment and living in the moment, as I mentioned earlier. While some of you may argue, the phrase, “Every picture tells a story” is used for images that are particularly significant or suggestive of real or imaginary events. So I would say this phrase only applies to this and that every photo does not always have a story behind it.