Category: Photography

Topics, prompts, or occasions, which make me take the photos as an assignment!

AtoZ Challenge: H – Hot Shoe

Hot Shoe

It is a mounting arrangement found on the top of the camera bodies for mounting external flashes, commander modules, GPS modules etc. The hot shoe is generally found in a standard form and the various compatibility issues arise due to the different firing voltages which trigger them.

Nikon D7200, Hot shoe, Black and White

One may not find daily use of the hot shoe but it sure is an indispensable bit of the camera.

Tell me in the comments what do you generally mount on the hotshoe!

Last time, it was Hyperfocal Distance.

Cheers!!

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AtoZ Challenge: G – Ghosting

Ghosting

Ghosting is a phenomenon that is observed if there is strong light directly incident on the lens and it reflects off the various lens elements, the diaphragms and even the sensor, and causes multiple translucent artefacts to be created. This often causes the photo quality to degrade. One of the ways past this is to use a lens hood, or to use polarizer filters.

Ghosting, Marine Drive, Mumbai, Light Trails. Long Exposure

The above photo shows examples of ghosting.

Tell me, how do you deal with this?

Last time, it G was for Grain.

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AtoZ Challenge: F – Forced Perspective

Forced Perspective

Take a good long look at the picture below.

Forced Perspective Example

Often we see photos of people holding the tip of Eiffel Tower or leaning against the Leaning Tower of Pisa or even gobbling up the sun. That is what forced perspective is all about. We use the camera settings in such a way that the difference between the foreground and the background is intentionally blurred.

Now look at the photo below.
Explaining Forced Perspective

You notice that all the objects are in different planes, yet in the first photo they seem to be kept side by side. That is the beauty of forced perspective.

Go have some fun with the optical illusion!

Last time, it was Focus Stacking.

Cheers!!

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AtoZ Challenge: E – EXIF Data

EXIF Data

It is a condensed form of Exchange Image File format which is basically a standard format set to report the various parameters of a photograph. The data that are captured mostly include the make of the camera, shutter speed, focal length, the aperture, ISO. When suitably available, location coordinates are also available in the EXIF data. Extra information as to whether the flash fired or not, or the shutter count of a camera can also be found by studying the data.

Long Exposure photo, Fire works, Cars, Lighttrails, Mumbai

The EXIF Data for the above photo is shown here below as a screenshot from my phone.

Exif Data of the photo

This data is immensely useful if someone is trying to learn and take cues from other photographers as to what settings to be used in particular situations.

Do you check the exif data of other photogs?? Let me know!

Last time, it was Exposure Bracketing.

Cheers!!

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AtoZ Challenge: D – Double Exposure

Double Exposure

The origin of this interesting bit of art probably occured when someone, while shooting film, forgot to forward the roll to the next empty slot. As they shot, the already exposed negative got re-exposed and the photos superimposed creating something interesting and Voila! double exposure is born.
Now a days, we dont need to fiddle with the films, maybe just a bit in the digital darkrooms to get ourselves a nice double exposure photo. Some cameras and apps on phones allow you to take amazing double exposure shots.

Bike, Open Roads, Double Exposure
The shots here are proof of concept shots of double exposure.

Man, Moon, Double Exposure
The thing about double exposure is that one must be able to blend the photos and make some sense out of them.

Go ahead and make wonderful surreal photos and share them away!

Last time, D was for Depth of Field.

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AtoZ Challenge: C – Colour Temperature

Colour Temperature

Hot objects emit radiation. If the radiation were visible, say visible light, what would be the temperature of the body emitting the radiation? For example, for soft white light, it is accepted that the body must be at about 3000K. This 3000K is the colour temperature.

The usefulness of this knowledge in photography? Immense, unless you want to spend hours in the darkrooms making the photos look natural. The two photos below shall explain better.

Pug, Yellow Light, Cute, Unrealistic Colour
This one is a no colour correction photo, while the one below is with proper colour temperature settings dialled in.

Pug, Colour corrected, Brown and Blue , Realistic colours
Notice how the colour is realistic now. Since the place was lit by dim yellow lights, everything had a yellow tone, which is not the natural colour.
The settings that need to be tweaked within the camera to get realistic colours is the white balance. Dial in the on which matches your setting best, and shoot away.

Last time, it was Composition.

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AtoZ Challenge: B – Bulb Mode

Bulb Mode

Normally, a camera shall let us slow down the shutter speed till 30 seconds, but suppose we need an exposure of a minute, what do we do then?? We use the Bulb Mode.

30 Second Exposure setting on Nikon D7200
This mode shall keep the shutter open for as long as the shutter button is pressed. Ideal for use with astro photography and shots of milky way!
Bulb Setting on Nikon D7200

Go out there and shoot some milky way shots. I want to, someday soon, I will.

Last time, B was for Bokeh!

Cheers!!

 

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AtoZ Challenge: A – Artificial Horizon ( Virtual Horizon)

Artificial Horizon (Virtual Horizon)

The AH feature is prevalent in aeroplanes, gliders and also on ships. The main objective being an instant cognizance of one’s orientation by a glance. It uses a gyroscope for the attitude indications.
While taking photographs, if there is a single horizontal reference that we wish to measure against, it is the visible horizon. We take the horizon to be a flat line and orient our cameras accordingly.
One may use a level tube indicator for the purpose, but it cannot be integrated into the camera. Hence, the gyroscopic sensors!

Artificial Horizon, Lenovo K6 Power, Nikon D7200, Level Indicator

Shown above is a view though the screen of my Lenovo K6 Power’s camera, which features a AH indicator, focussed at the AH indicator on the Nikon D7200. These are useful tools when you are trying to shoot a photo with precision.

So, go ahead, switch on the AH feature on your phone, or your camera and shoot straight!

Last time, A was for Aperture!

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A to Z Challenge: Dec 2017

Hi there all,

Writing enough blog posts, after a 7 to 9 (pm that is) job is a tough thing, as I have come to know, and also you, my dear readers, by the meager number of posts. Now, I decided to pile up some more of the difficult stuff and do another A to Z Challenge. Check out the previous one here!

For the new joinees here, A to Z Challenge is a month long blogging marathon, where you blog letter by letter. Begin at A, finish at Z. Simple as that. Now, how you choose to blog and what you blog is entirely upto you.
I have friends who blog poem after poem, for 26 days straight and then there’s me, who picks up a word and expands on it.

Since I am a photographer, my challenge prompts shall be from the world of photography, pretty much like the last time. I shall try to keep the topics as varied as possible and avoid repetitions. I will backlink the same lettered posts from the previous stint in the upcoming ones.

Do follow the series as it unfolds, and let me know of your views and takes in the comments 🙂

Cheers!! Lets Begin!

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The Pre-PetFed Get together

A week or so back, I found myself at the first floor bar, the Zoobar, cuddling puppies and taking photographs. That was the Pre PetFed get together, being organized as a ramp up to the PetFed 2017 to be held on 16 and 17 of December, 2017.

I met some familiar faces there, from the previous PetFed meet, The Pupper Party, while there were some new ones too.

Siberian Husky, Dog

Border Collie, Dog

Small Pocket Dog

Cocker Spaniel, Dog, Cute, Fluffy, Obedient

Shi Tzu, Dog, Furry, Cute

Shi Tzu, Dog, Furry, Cute

Cute, Fluffy, Dog

Cute, Fluffy, Dog, Shih Tzu

There were games and treats were to be won. We could see dogs battling it out to be the cutest out there. What was amazing is that so many dogs at a place, and most of them got along quite well.

Cocker Spaniel, Dog, Fluffy

Shih Tzu, owner, cute, fluffy

Labrador, Cute, Dog, Owner

Shih Tzu, Cute, Fluffy, Owner

Shih Tzu, Cute, Fluffy, Owner

Shih Tzu, Cute, Fluffy, Owner

Shih Tzu, Cute, Fluffy, Owner

It was amazing to work with fellow photogs Sarah, Simran, Rohan and Dolly! Judging by all the enthusiastic dogs and their owners, it is evident that the PetFed 2017, is going to be one superb event.  Hope to see you there, my dear readers!

Let me know which dog you find the cutest of all in the comments below 🙂

Cheers!!

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Big Brother!

En route Delhi, I spot an Airbus A320 and a Boeing 747-400 together!

Airbus A320 and Boeing 747-400 together, Air India, Go Air

The difference in the sizes of the aeroplanes and also the companies that run them is quite evident.

 

 

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Bokehs and Starbursts!

There are some amazing things one can shoot during night. Long exposure shots of light trails, amazing bokehs, starbursts, star trails, and much more.
Tonight, like many before, I was at office past sundown, and I had camera with me. Had a concept to try out too. So, off I went to the terrace to try out the shot.

Western Express Highway at night, bokehs of the lights

While I was up there, the Mahim bay glittered and tempted me to take the long exposure shot. Looks damn nice, right? Worth climbing up to the terrace for a peek!

Long Exposure shot of the Mahim Bay, Bandra Worli Sea Link in background

Something I noticed, while processing the photos, if you suspect that there may be some dirt on your lens, shoot a bokeh at night, the dirt ll show up as a shadow in the orb!

Guess I need to clean the prime!

Cheers!!

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