Up above the world so high

I used to find cloudy days really depressing, all dull and grey. And this place where I used to live, was this way for nearly six months a year. It wasn't until this day when I had risen above the clouds, did I see this mystical sight, that I started appreciating the clouds.

PS: It is preferable to have a camera with a silent mode, when clicking on board an aircraft. People have a tendency to stare if you go *click click click* in mid air.

Dogs

It brings back fond memories as I write this post. A stray dog had been adopted by our office building's guard, and it had given birth to some really cute pups. I had taken my camera to work that day, just to get a few shots of them. Somewhere around noon, I slipped out of office, and found my way to the parking lot. Never having interacted with animals before, I found these strays rather patient subjects. I clicked a few snaps, and made my way back. On reviewing the pics I realized that this was another lesson in photography. When clicking animals, it is important that you do not shoot wide open. Stopping down gives you a better depth of field, and hence more details. This fact, although more visible in furry animals, is also applicable to humans. In case there just isn't enough light, and you are forced to shoot wide open, remember to get the eyes in focus, because the slightest blur will in the eyes will ruin your shot. This one pup came really close to me, and I kneeled all the way to the floor to capture him. I called him Bozo, since he was dumb enough to come close to me.

What's Cooking?

There is something about food that really makes me really happy, and just the thought of red bell pepper being sauteed in olive oil gets me salivating. This isn't such a good shot, but it's the glossy red always forced me to take this shot. White light is particularly tough to click in, and this was one of the first shots that I clicked that made me realize this fact. Looking at the Meta Data, I'd used the prime, wide open (f/1.8) for the extra light, at ISO 1600 and an exposure of 1/13 sec, hand held at 50mm. It wasn't that I was allowed to take multiple shots for this one, but I did manage to get it right on the first one. Looking back I could have used a little defused flash, and that could have given me at least two-thirds stops more of light. But what's done is done. I didn't have time to shoot another one, and I got a decent one at the first go.

Sleepless

So this one morning, I was all alone at home, and I got up early, really early. The sun wasn't out, and I had spent an hour trying to go to sleep, so I decided to make the most of the early hour. Stepping out I realized that it was drizzling and my camera isn't weather proof, so I stayed indoors, clicking my most faithful and patient subject, the tree outside my window. The security lights were on, and the sun was illuminating the clouds. I took a bundle of books from my bedside, and placed it on the window sill, placing my camera over it (I still don't own a tripod). Clicking without a shutter release is trickier when the camera is peculiarly balanced. I managed to get 2 shots, one with a lot of shake, and one without, before the security lights were shut off, and the scene didn't appear as lively as it did a few minutes ago.

White Balance : HJKL

White Balance is something that defines a picture. The human eye is very versatile when it comes to adjusting to the lighting conditions. You can actually try this out to get what I am saying. Take a red cloth and cover a window (during the day) with it. Now make sure that one eye has the red glowing (from the light from the window) cloth in it's background and the other doesn't. Now see a white sheet of paper (or even a visiting card) placed right in front of your face, about a foot away. Now look at it from one eye, and then with the other. If done correctly, you should see the same piece of paper in two different colors. The camera on the other hand cannot adjust that well. I have realized that pictures clicked under white light have a tendency to be cooler than you want them to be. I am really lazy when it comes to post processing, and prefer to leave most of my snaps untouched, unless it's a shot (not a snap) and prefer to tinker with the white balance on the camera itself. For eg, when clicking under white light, I make the picture a bit warmer by setting the WB to 'Flash'. This one though is warmer by virtue of post processing.

Show me the money.

It's been a while since I bought my 50mm (f/1.8) prime lens, and fell in love with it. The love for bokeh has finally worn off, though I am forced to keep the aperture wide open to take advantage of the fast lens. Anyway I leave you with one of my early pictures using the lens. It was a cloudy day and I sprinkled some water over the leaves for special effect.

Steady, steady.

A tripod is an essential piece of accessory in a photographers kit. I have often had difficulties clicking pictures in low light, but have figured out ways to keep the camera steady. If you are clicking pics with exposure times over a second, it is essential to take care of the shake caused, when you click the shutter release. An easy way to avoid that is to use the timer option of the camera. When set at a 2 sec timer, you have a good two seconds to click the button, and get a good grip of the camera before the picture is clicked. Also, if you are clicking pictures with exposure times of around the one second mark, the vibration caused by the mirror would also be a cause of concern, especially if you don't have a lens (or in rear cases even a camera) with vibration reduction. And for this you can use a feature called "Mirror Lockup", which I was kinda surprised to find hidden in my camera as well. What this does is, it locks up the mirror well before the image is actually captured. This way there is no mechanical movement when the image is actually clicked. The Live View option of your camera could also be used to solve this problem, but for some reason, it just doesn't do it for me. Anyway, I leave you with two images, both derivatives of the same picture. One slightly touched up, and the other a highly touched up picture, the result of an exploration session of the Adobe's Lightroom.