Month: January 2018

Goddess in Progress

Saraswati Puja 2018 convened a few weeks back all across the country and abroad. Saraswati, being the goddess of knowledge and art, is cast into idols with care, affection and respect.

I was in Dhanbad, my hometown for a week, preceding the puja and it gave me an opportunity to capture the goddess being cast and in progress.

Saraswati Idol in progress

Rows of Saraswati Idols

Saraswati Idols waiting to be painted

Face of a would be goddess, Saraswati

Saraswati Idol

I was with one of my teachers whom I admire and look up to, Mrs. Chaitali Sarkar (CA Maam for the DPS Dhanbad alumni out there), who is now a Youtube Vlogger. She has an exceptionally pretty terrace garden and she lets you in on her secrets in her channel; check it out here.

Am still working on the next batch of photos from PetFed 2017. They shall be up soon.  Here is a link for the Part 1 of the same.

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PetFed2017 Mumbai – Part 1

For the pet lovers out there, the owners and the pets themselves, one of the best and amazing events that took place in Mumbai last year was the PetFed2017.
There were dogs of varied breeds from tiny Chihuahuas to big fluffy Chow Chows, Alsatians, Labradors, Golden Retrievers. The most common members were from the Pug and Shih Tzu categories out there, the trend owing to the limited spaces found in Mumbai. There were a couple of Spaniels and Huskies too in the crowd. Few cats had shown up and they had separate swag of their own. There was also one rabbit in the huge list of attendees.

Lets have a look at some glimpses of the event.

White Maltese Puppy

A gorgeous Afghan Hound

The cat named Nemo

This is how Nemo travelled around

French Bulldog

Shih Tzu

Siberian Husky, different eye colours

Persian cat

Chow Chow Puppy

Alsatian

Angry Persian Cat

Golden Retriever Puppy

Chow Chow

Shih Tzu with different eye colours

Labrador Puppy

Shih Tzu puppy

Glenn of Imaal Terrier

Possibly Maltese puppy

Shih Tzu

Dogs bonding, Golden Retriever,

Cute desi kitty, cat, white

Cocker Spaniel

Intense looking kitty, Cat

On the first day, during the day time, the pets got exhausted quickly with all the running and frolicking around in the high sun. On day two, things changed quite a bit. What I learnt was that there are a lot of dogs and breeds of whom I had no idea at all existed or were family members right here in India. It was quite amazing to be able to hug and cuddle them 🙂

Part 2 shall be up real soon.

Cheers!!

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AtoZ Challenge: The Glossary

The AtoZ Challenge has already come to an end for the second time, and as a result, now a glossary of the terms can be made. I believe this shall come handy for future references!

A – Aperture, Artificial Horizon

B – Bulb Mode, Bokeh

C – Colour Temperature, Composition

D – Double Exposure , Depth of Field

E – EXIF Data, Exposure Bracketing

F – Forced Perspective, Focus Stacking

G – Ghosting, Grain

H – Hot Shoe, Hyperfocal Distance

I – Infinity Focus, ISO

J – Juxtapose, JPEG vs RAW

K – Keylight, Kelvin

L – Latitude, Lens Distortion

M – Manual Mode, Macro

N – Normal Lens, Noise Reduction

O – Optical Zoom, Overexposure

P – Panning, Post Processing

Q – Quality, Quiet Release

R – Red Eye Reduction, Rear Curtain

S – Spot Metering, Shutter Speed

T – Tonal Range, TTL Metering

U – Urban Landscape, Underexposure

V – Vignetting, Vibration Reduction

W – Watermark, White Balance

X – X Speed, X Process

Y – Your Rapport, You

Z – Zoom (Digital), Zoom Burst

Have a look at these terms and let me know if I ought to add some to the list.

Cheers!!

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AtoZ Challenge: Z – Zoom (Digital)

Zoom (Digital)

We all know what zoom is and that there are two types, optical zoom and digital zoom. Optical zoom changes the focal length of the lens and closes in on the subject, while the digital zoom uses algorithms and software to do the same. The effects, however are not similar.
Optical zoom shall not degrade a picture quality, where as digital zoom will. To demonstrate, this post.

Below is a photo of a cute shih-tzu puppy named Bitsy.

Shih tzu puppy

And then I was curious to see what has reflected off her eyes, so, I zoom in digitally.

shih tzu puppy, zoomed

What I get is a blur. A pixellated image with horrible quality.

On the contrary, in a previous occasion, I had optically zoomed in to the eyes of a squirrel and the result is shown below.

squirrel

I hope the comparisons shall make it evidently clear that no matter what the camera companies publish in their camera brochures about the digital zoom capability, one must always base their opinions on the optical zoom provided.

In the previous series, Z was for Zoom Burst.

This post finishes up the A to Z series, for the second time. I ll summarize all the phrases in a separate post, and then, you, my dear reader shall have glossary of 52 terms, related to photography with suitable images and explaination for your ready reference.

See you all in the upcoming posts soon.

Cheers!!

 

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AtoZ Challenge: Y – Your Rapport

You and Your Rapport

This is not a photographic term, as one may call the others, but rather is an important supporting virtue to have if you intend on taking portraits. In my opinion, it is best to establish a rapport with your subject before you proceed to take a photo.

It puts them at ease and the expressions that you get and genuine.

And, it also helps you to know, who can help you produce the shot that you want.

The above photo needed to have someone with a super expressive eyes, and knowing Gowri, I knew she was the perfect choice.

Even if you are shooting someone new, for the first time, take a moment, talk to the person, and then take the shot, makes things easy.

In the last series, Y was for You.

Cheers!!

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