Thursday 9 May 2013

Hello Kitty

Hey,

There are some things in everyone's lives, the sight of which just makes you go Awwwww!!! And this is one such Aww-some story of my tete-a-tete with - a Kitten!*I named it Meauw*.
It was just another hot summer evening when I was working with the door left wide open (fresh breeze lover, you know). Suddenly I felt like there's someone peeping from the corner of the door and that was my *Awwwww* moment. To my surprise it was a small little kitten, god knows where she came from. As soon as she realized I was looking at her, she started purring, a soft-sad-attention seeking purr. It took me a while to realize why she must have been here. I realized she was hungry, and unfortunately, like a typical bachelor's house, there was nothing to feed her. After almost ransacking the house, all I could find were some almonds which my Mom had packed into my stuff while I left home. Indian moms I tell you! :D

This experience was one I'll never forget. That cute look on her face, her big glazing green eyes and that white furry body, stimulated the photographer in me and tadaaaa! I took out my camera and started clicking. And here I am, sharing the moment with all you guys, hope this gives you also a reason to go Awwwwww !!!!!

The peek
Meauw meauw  !!!
Then how slowly she settles down and our silent conversation begins :)

How i offered her the almond nuts and how she just ignored.

The Awwwwwww moment.

I'll soon be putting up a tutorial with some DO's and DONT's,  when you shoot with animals.

Do share if this made you go Awwwww.. !!!!!

Tuesday 15 January 2013

Ripples of Pearl


Its always fascinating to see pretty ripples of water right?
Ever thought about capturing the process? 
Sounds intriguing, but tough eh?





I took this with my dslr and my mumma's tawa. 
Want to know how I did it? check here


Droplets - Fast Shutter Speed

Today I am writing about photography using fast shutter speed so that you can capture some great shots which are usually missed by the naked eye. Its a general notion that you need to have good professional equipments to capture such images,  but today I'm gonna show u how u can use your entry level dslr and a 50 mm lens and capture these high shutter speed pictures. As a subject we'l use water droplets, as they are my personal favorite. :) 

So, just to give u an idea what kind of picture we will be capturing, here's the final picture which i got after this experiment.




Requirements
*Dropper
*Water color [ though I used Ujala for this one :p ]
*Black coated utensil placed on a flat surface 
       [ take out a Tawa from your kitchen ]
*Few white blank paper sheets.
*Tripod mounted with ur camera [ that's obvious! ]


Now, the set-up of the whole experiment should look somewhat like this.




Some things to remember.

*White paper sheets helps to define the water splash and  
 droplets being a plain background. It also helps reflect 
 light for better results. 

*Make sure you have sufficient amount of light, either   
 artificial or natural, because that is the factor which will  
 allow you to set you exposure to max and hence reduce 
 the blur effect. Use your dslr flash if required.

Basic Camera settings -  f / 11
                                     1/400s
                                     iso 400
                                      50mm
This worked for me but do adjust your camera according to the set-up you are in.

*Its nothing to worry about if you cannot arrange for the 
 stand/ holder, you can take help of your friend to hold the 
 dropper for you. 


*Timing is the key to capture some excellent  water droplet 
 shots. In the absence of the pro gear you will just have to 
 observe the droplet fall and adjust your timing. And if you  
 are lucky enough, you will have a terrific end result :)

Once everything is in place you should start CLICKING !!!

Do not be disheartened if you do not achieve the desired result. Without the use of scientific equipment, it is a 
'hit or miss" thing. So keep clicking until you get that perfect shot. I also faced a lot of difficulty in getting that one perfect shot. Some of the trial n error shots are down here for your reference.

Happy Clicking. Happy Flashing.








-

Abhilash LR



Tuesday 8 January 2013

Black n White Photography



This is a follow up of my post "Colours of Black n White."  Here I am gonna give out some knowledge and tips for shooting B/W images,  and all through self-learning.


Subject Selection.
Thanks to the user-friendly technological advancement, today any one can convert a picture into B/W using the available softwares and apps. But when you talk about creating a picture of professional quality, you don't just convert any random color picture into B/W, but you have to run your imagination. And *that's what makes you different from the numerous other camera owners out there.*
So its the imagination and your brain's creative juices  which will trigger when you see a location / subject and tell you that YES, THIS IS JUST THE THING WHICH MIGHT LOOK AMAZING IN BLACK AND WHITE. If we talk technical, any subject with a good balance of Bright and Dark Colors can result in a good B/W photograph. 


Sample
For this learning section, I am taking one of my own B&W picture as an example.

This is the view through my apartment window, a shabby old building *which is a common scene in Bombay*. The day I first saw the view, it was stuck in my head, and I thought to give it a shot. *My Imagination*. So then I took a sample shot in the evening just to see how will it look on camera, and this was the result.



I was a little disappointed with the output as it did not look at all the way I imagined it would. 

As evening dawned, people started to turn on the lights and suddenly, I noticed the balance of Brightness-*light* and Contrast-*dirty walls, trees*. And a thought of capturing the place at night struck me - * a learning section on Night photography coming soon :)*. 

I clicked some more pictures of the same place when it was a little dark. Due to the increased activity, being that time of the day, the pictures turned out to be a mix of motion blur and light trails *learning section for the same coming soon :)* and these were the results.





and I selected this image from the lot to publish.


Now the idea was to create a b/w photograph so the rest of the work was done in processing, where I turned the image into B/W and just enhanced the contrast and brightness. *Lightroom 4.1 was the application used to process the image*
So this is the final output, an amazing picture in just Black n White.



ISO 100
50 mm
f/10
30 sec. exp.



Tip - any subject with a good balance of Bright and Dark Colors can result in a good B/W photograph. 

I would love to hear about your experiences and thoughts. Do share it down in the comments column.

-Abhilash LR












Friday 4 January 2013

Sun rise n Sun set.

Sunsets are one of nature's best acts- *visually*. For any photographer, professional or amateur, sunsets are a popular and favorite subject to shoot. Though the lighting makes it a little challenging but the resulting images can be stunning. 
Sunsets have been a source of inspiration to many form of arts and artists. Lot of us, including myself, love to just sit and watch the Sun set. It is like a moment to look into the inner self, or something much above that. Something like DIVINE ? 
And I bet all of you have fond memories related to sunsets!

Here I am showcasing some of my sunset photographs, hope it brings some of your memories ALIVE :)

Sunset, at Om Beach, Gokarna 


Shot this when I stepped out of my college classroom after a boring lecture. This view brought back the freshness on my face after that 1hr of boredom. :)


Hide and Seek.


The BATMAN Returns.


Cloud Play


Ray Burst, at Kudle Beach-Gokarna


Gateway to Paradise.

Perspective.


Sunset at Gokarna.



Just the 2 of us.




Hope you enjoyed going through these photographs.
I am sure you will also have your story of SUNSET(s). Write about it below and let the world know your story.

A detailed tutorial on Sunset Photography will be up soon, hope it may help some fellow photographers. Stay Tuned .


I Would love to hear from you.  


- Abhilash LR




Tuesday 1 January 2013

Colours of Black N White.

Whenever i saw pictures of my grand parents, the images with the kind of contrast between the White and the Black, the texture, always attracted me. Many of the modern photographers, including me regard it as the purest form of Photography. You may think B/W pictures aren't difficult to create. That is the beauty of it, SIMPLE but Critical.
 A set of some B/W images from my collection are here, hope it will justify when i say B/W images are BEAUTIFUL :)





 A tutorial with some of my tips on Black N White Photography will be up soon in "Learn the Art" column. 
Do write to me, whether you Like it, don't Like it, or if you have any other thoughts, would love to hear.

- Abhilash LR