In an attempt to stay relevant, these last few months have seen services from education to entertainment take to the digital medium.
Using tools such as Facetime, Google Duo and Zoom, photographers also realised that a virtual photo shoot could be set up anywhere in the world from the comfort of one’s home.
Kerala-based photographer Nanda Gopan is doing just that. His choice of medium is Google Duo.
“Virtual photoshoots require good internet connection, as it is entirely done through a video chatting platform.
"The photographer takes a picture on his laptop screen, either with a camera or by taking a screenshot,” he explains. While many photographers do use a camera—at times, even a DSLR—they rue that shooting the computer/laptop screen often results in pixelated lines on the final image, also the image loses sharpness and contrast.
But the drawbacks are not stopping the photographers from experimenting. Most agree that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.
“The best thing about these virtual sessions is that you can literally set up a shoot almost anywhere in the world. Using Zoom, you can brainstorm with the stakeholders. Sometime ago, I did a shoot in Malaysia without moving an inch,” says Abhay Narayan, a Mumbai-based photographer.
“It is definitely a fun way of doing things, but creatively it is pretty restricting,” he adds.
Celebrities globally are also encouraging the trend.
From supermodel Bella Hadid to Ananya Panday and Jacqueline Fernandez closer home, everyone is now going online.
While photographers are learning the new tricks, the models too have to undertake a crash course in lighting and styling.
“I make the models walk me through their houses and show the position of windows and doors from which light streams in, to decide the composition of the frame,” explains Nanda, a final-year botany student of Mar Ivanios College, Thiruvananthapuram.
In the absence of a physical set-up, the model’s phone camera becomes the photographer’s eyes. As Abhay says, it does restrain creativity, but then as the saying goes: When in Rome…