Cubbon Park Coolness
There was a vintage bike owners' meet-up at Cubbon Park that i stumbled upon this morning.
Feb 28
Jan 30
Photographing The Moon
The human eye is incredible because it can discern ranges in exposure that are beyond the capability of today's cameras. You look at the moon and at once, you can see the details within the moon (the rabbit on the moon) and the glow around it. Cameras fare miserably at this. At normal exposure, all you get is a washed out moon with a little glow around it. Underexpose it and you get great details within the moon, but all the glow around it is lost. Overexpose it and the glow is radiant, but there are no details at all. A simple image search will show you what i am talking about.
Yesterday, apart from being a blue moon, the moon was also at its biggest and brightest for the year. I wanted to photograph it as close as possible to how the human eye sees it. Knowing this was impossible with one shot, i set up my tripod and captured multiple shots of the moon at different exposures. My assumption was that once i was done, i could simply use a HDR creation software (like qtpfsgui), combine the images and get the perfect exposure. It was only after i got the images on the computer that a fairly obvious thing struck me. The earth moves. And fast. All the images had the moon at slightly different positions; these differed by mere pixels, but that was sufficient to completely confuse the software.
To save me time and accommodate for my lack of patience, I settled in on two images. One was made at -5EV exposure and the other at +4EV, with all other settings the same. The first image got the details within the moon and the second one got the glow fairly well. I used GIMP to create two separate layers with these images and lined them one on top of the other. Finally, i adjusted the exposure of this composite image the best i could, in aperture.
Here it is:
Next stop, photographing the moon with the stars!
Jan 16
BR Hills
The first time i had gone to BR Hills (sometime in April 2007, i think), here's what i had written:
Trees of various hues, swaying to the summer songs of the birds, stand in a guard of honour as you enter. Turn your gaze upwards and little streaks of joyous colour whiz past, linger long enough to earn your gasp and become a blur of vividness yet again. Heaven? maybe not, but it certainly comes close.
Take a walk in the woods and the sea of green is punctuated with the effulgent colours of the elusive butterflies that captivate you the moment you set your eyes on them. Trek to the top of the hill in the early morning and witness the halo of mist around the other hills, which descends as rapidly as the sun rises in the sky. In the night, the innumerable stars beaming down on you like diamonds carelessly strewn on a velvet carpet will take your breath away.You feel so insignificant when you are in the company of such unbearable beauty.
Trek through the jungle. If you are lucky, you will notice the fleeting glimpse of the spotted deer or the glaring stare of the extremely curious sambar deer. If you are not, you will hear only the hoofbeats or perhaps encounter the great indian gaur boring down on you. Any short trip will be incomplete without a glimpse of the several exotic birds - from the scary crested hawk-eagle to the incredibly attractive black headed oriole, from the magnificent racket-tailed drongo to the innocent looking brown hawk owl.
My advice to everyone planning a weekend trip - Don't come here. Its an addiction which will leave you with severe withdrawal symptoms when you quit.
This is still every bit true. A few photos from my trip this week:
I promise to get over my black & white mania soon.
Jan 10
Butterflies In Monochrome
Shooting butterflies is always fun. Shooting butterflies in black and white is even more fun. You get the opportunity to explore the shape of the perch, the texture of the wings, the contrasts and the camouflage. When you don't have the crutch of the mesmerizing colors of the creature, it forces you to be a little more creative. The shape of the butterfly becomes more noticeable and the the body patterns jump at you. You realize that nature is glorious even if you strip it of all its colors.
Oct 31
iPhone Photography
Blurry images. Candid shots. Subpar lens. Convenient ubiquity. Unsatisfactory quality. Great in-phone applications. Listening to an old husband's tale. Letting sleeping dogs lie. Experimenting with light. Playing with emotions. Half an hour of fun. A day filled with joy. iPhone photography.
Aug 23
The Photographer's Journey
Photography is easy. Almost everyone i know does it. It is probably the perfect thing for a programmer - the general demographic of people i know. A camera is a sufficiently curious piece of technology to tweak around and experiment. With the entry costs extremely low (more so if you are 'onsite') and the desire to get away from town on the weekends, photography is a growing hobby. Stumble into a conversation among a bunch of photographers and you will hear phrases like 'depth of field', 'low f-stop', 'level correction' or '50 to 500 telephoto'; phrases that will make no sense if you aren't in the coterie. Don't be surprised if you find a group of men comparing the size of their lenses. All you have to do is get a hang of these technicalities and you are welcome to the club.
Photography is hard. As is all art. And like any art, there are various levels of proficiency - from journeyman to master. In the beginning, (after having learned the technical details mentioned earlier), the photographer captures images as they are; good non-shaken images at the right exposure. Slowly, she begins to think about composing an image, she realizes what to leave out from a scene as much as she knows what to capture, she understands the rule-of-thirds and she understands when to not use it. The third level is when the photographer begins to manipulate the image to match the picture in her mind's eye. She knows exactly which direction she wants the light to come in from, she can precisely control what aspect of the image is in focus and she knows what angle to shoot from. She captures the dew on the flower and the bird in flight, she captures the city night in all its glory and she captures the monument in early morning light. She captures those magical moments and she inspires awe.
Then, there is the master. Her photograph simply tells a story. It is a zen-like state when the image draws the viewer into its world and yet leaves something to the imagination. It is a state where the technicalities cease to matter. Of course, the exposure is just right. Of course, the light streams from the right direction. Of course, the shutter is clicked at the precise moment. But it is a state when all of it pales into insignificance. She captures photographs that could be epic poems, photographs that break any possible barrier of communication, photographs that, perhaps, change the world.
I would like to believe i am somewhere between the 1st and the 2nd level. I can competently capture non-shaken images and i am beginning to understand exposure and composition. Henri Cartier-Bresson once said, 'Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst.' I am halfway through my worst.
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